- Young Chinese turn to AI pets for emotional relief
- Allen outguns Jackson as Bills beat Ravens, Eagles sink Rams
- Champions Cup success perfect Six Nations warm-up - France skipper Dupont
- Yamal symbol of rising Barca aiming for Champions League progress
- Asian markets track Wall St and Europe rally after Trump-Xi talks
- Trial into stabbing spree that sparked UK far-right riots to open
- No sweat, no shake as Svitolina cruises into Melbourne quarters
- Late night tears and hugs for released Palestinian prisoners
- Trump vows to end 'American decline' at inauguration eve rally
- TV host issues on-air apology to Djokovic over 'insulting' comments
- 'No matter the faith': east Ukraine marks Epiphany despite war divide
- Straka shakes off nerves to win US PGA American Express
- New 'oligarchy' under fire as elites descend on Davos
- Barkley dashes through the snow as Eagles beat Rams
- Djokovic condemns 'violence' against protesters in Serbia
- Barkley powers through the snow as Eagles beat Rams
- Trump vows 'speed and strength' at inauguration eve rally
- 'Back on track': Trump supporters brave freezing conditions to attend rally
- On last full day as president, Biden urges Americans to 'keep the faith'
- Marseille slump to Strasbourg draw as title hopes dwindle
- Inter beat Empoli to keep pressure on Serie A leaders Napoli
- India uses AI to stop stampedes at world's biggest gathering
- Sinner, Swiatek eye quarter-finals at Australian Open
- 80 killed, thousands displaced in Colombian guerrilla violence
- 'We want peace' say Colombians displaced by fresh guerrilla violence
- 'Mufasa' claws its way back atop N.America box office
- Dele Alli attempts comeback at Serie A outfit Como
- Swiss police clear hundreds of anti-Davos protesters
- Weary LA firefighters brace for 'last' dangerous winds
- Foden stars as Man City hit Ipswich for six
- 'We are worst team in history of Man Utd': Amorim
- 80 killed in three days of guerrilla violence in north Colombia
- Penaud scores six, Dupont shines as French clubs dominate Champions Cup
- Man Utd, Spurs sink again as Forest maintain Premier League title dream
- Mbappe shines as Real Madrid thrash Las Palmas to claim Liga lead
- First Israeli hostages freed as Gaza truce begins
- 'Our mission': Auschwitz museum staff recount their everyday jobs
- After celebrations, displaced Gazans return home to destruction
- Everton beat sorry Spurs to ease relegation fears
- Trump says will delay TikTok ban, proposes US part-ownership
- Brighton rock woeful Man Utd after Law tributes
- Hamas hands over first Israeli hostages as Gaza truce beings
- McGrath leads Norwegian sweep of Wengen World Cup slalom
- Hatton holds nerve to clinch Dubai title from Hillier
- Lopetegui linked with vacant Belgium job
- Leverkusen's Terrier out for season with Achilles tear
- Olympic champion Axelsen wins record-equalling third India crown
- Djokovic refuses Australian Open interviews over 'insulting comments'
- Djokovic braced for 'big battle' with Alcaraz at Australian Open
- Russians take Epiphany dip in waters hit by oil spill
Trump, Harris tied on eve of televised presidential debate
The US presidential race remains neck-and-neck according to polls released Sunday, two days before Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold their first -- and potentially only -- televised debate.
The latest polling confirms that Trump retains locked-in support from about half of voters, despite the Republican's historic status as a convicted felon and his role in instigating the unprecedented attempt to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Harris, who only jumped into the race after President Biden abruptly quit in July, has rapidly transformed herself from a little-noticed vice president into a serious contender. However, the polls show she has not made a major breakthrough, leaving the race a toss-up.
A New York Times/Siena poll found that 78-year-old Trump is leading Harris nationally by 48 to 47 percent, well within the margin of error.
US presidential elections are decided by tallying the results of state-by-state contests, rather than an overall national popular vote, meaning that a tiny handful of swing states typically decide the balance.
The poll found Harris, 59, narrowly ahead in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and tied in four other swing states -- Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.
A CBS News/YouGov poll put Harris ahead by one percentage point in Michigan and Wisconsin and tied in Pennsylvania.
The election is already chaotic, with 81-year-old Biden dropping out amid concerns over his age, Trump narrowly surviving an assassin's bullet at a rally, and fears mounting that Trump will again refuse to concede if he loses in November.
However, the latest numbers confirm that each candidate retains a remarkably stable base of loyalists, almost evenly splitting the country.
One game changer could be Tuesday's ABC News debate, the only one scheduled between the two.
Trump will be under pressure to rein in his characteristic use of insults and intimidation as he stands next to a mixed-race candidate vying to become the first female president in US history.
Harris will need to use the huge viewership to connect with Americans in a way that she was unable to as vice president and has had little time to accomplish in her super-condensed campaign run.
With Trump now the oldest presidential nominee in US history, she is pitching an optimistic, forward-looking message in contrast to Trump's apocalyptic claims that the country faces terminal decline without him in the White House.
- Sexist taunts -
At the same time, Harris will have to solve the conundrum of how to debate Trump, who habitually makes false statements on nearly every topic and loves to get under his opponents' skin. Biden, in his only debate against Trump before dropping his candidacy, found himself entirely unable to cope.
Already, Trump has been subjecting Harris in his speeches to racist and sexist taunts, deliberately mispronouncing her name and calling her "crazy" and a "Marxist."
"It will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate," Harris supporter and current transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN.
The Harris campaign announced it would "barnstorm battleground states" after the debate, beginning in North Carolina, then Pennsylvania.
Trump held a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday where he appealed to his mostly white, working class base with a dark speech claiming that he is struggling against a "rogue regime" where Democrats "imported murderers, child predators and serial rapists from all over the planet."
On his Truth Social platform, he warned that once back in the White House he would impose "long prison sentences" on all those he said were planning "cheating" in November.
V.Dantas--PC