Biden maintains lead as Trump ‘plans to declare premature victory’

US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has maintained his national lead in polls over President Donald Trump with just one day to go until the November third election.

Biden is ahead 51% to 43% nationally in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, with the race remaining a toss-up in battlegrounds of Florida, North Carolina and Arizona as Trump trails by 7 percentage points in key state of Pennsylvania and 10 points in Michigan and Wisconsin.

The two candidates were on an eleventh-hour campaign trail Sunday across the US, including in swing states, to woo voters.

At a Philadelphia rally, Biden said, "In two days, we can put an end to a presidency that has divided this nation."

"It's time to stand up, take back our democracy. We can do this. We're better than this. We're so much better," he said.

The Democratic contender once again slammed Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic following the country's worst week for new cases ever, with more than 1,000 Americans dying daily.

‘Almost criminal’

Biden said, "In two days, we can put an end to a presidency that fanned the flames of hate, poured gasoline on every opportunity he had all across this nation."

He denounced Trump's response to the virus, which has disproportionately impacted Black communities, as "almost criminal."

The former vice president said his own pandemic response would include "a plan to address the disproportionate way this virus has been hitting and devastating the Black community across America."

Biden described the election as "the most important election of our lifetimes. We're at an inflection point, so we have to vote like we never did before."

Trump, meanwhile, was sprinting through five swing states Sunday as he vowed to again defy the polls.

Both Biden and Trump stand for endless wars

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump stand for endless wars, for corporate empowerment in the United States, Stephen Lendman has said.

"We're now leading," Trump said at a rally of supporters in Washington Township, Michigan.

"Look, we're leading in Florida. We're leading in Georgia... They say it's a very close race in Texas. I don't think so. They did that four years ago and I won in a landslide." The US president claimed.

Also, at a rally in Hickory, North Carolina, Trump called for businesses and schools to reopen and touted signs of a recovering economy -- though economists say underlying factors do not bode well.

Trump also continued his sharp criticism of Doctor Anthony Fauci, the widely respected government expert on infectious diseases.

Fauci told the Washington Post on Saturday that without "an abrupt change" in the country's public health practices, Americans face "a whole lot of hurt ahead."

White House spokesman, Judd Deere, said it was "unacceptable" for Fauci "to choose three days before an election to play politics."

‘Trump to declare premature victory’

The Axios news site reported that Trump has told confidants he would declare victory Tuesday night if it looks like he's ahead.

That's even if the Electoral College outcome still hinges on large numbers of uncounted votes in key states like Pennsylvania, the report said.

Trump called it a "false report" but also repeated his argument that "I don't think it's fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election."

Under the coronavirus pandemic, early and mail-in voting has reached unprecedented levels in the US. A record 93 million early votes have already been cast, according to the nonpartisan US Elections Project.

Fears of tensions on election night and afterward are growing as vote counting expected to continue due to the large number of mail-in ballots.

Many states will take longer than usual to count their mail-in ballots as some state laws, including in Pennsylvania, prevent election officials from counting mail-in ballots before Election Day.

Trump cast doubt on the integrity of the US election again, saying a vote count that stretched past Election Day would be a “terrible thing” and suggesting his lawyers might get involved.

“I don’t think it’s fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election,” Trump told reporters before a rally in North Carolina.

Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in ballots are open to fraud, and warned Saturday of "bedlam in our country" if no clear winner emerges quickly.

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