Clinton holds narrow lead in polls as US prepares to vote

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump criss-crossed the United States yesterday in a frantic effort to shore up their support as a long, nasty and divisive presidential election campaign drew to a close.

US voters go to the polls today with opinion polls showing Mrs Clinton narrowly ahead nationally and in the key swing states where the election will be decided. In a two-minute television advertisement broadcast on two national networks yesterday evening, Mrs Clinton made a closing pitch for the presidency, contrasting her “hopeful and inclusive” campaign with the “dark and divisive” message of her opponent.

She spent the final day of the campaign in North Carolina and Michigan, a state with a large working-class vote, and was due to join president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at a large evening rally with Bruce Springsteen in Philadelphia to round off the campaign.

On a sweep through five states – Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan – Mr Trump insisted the polls were underestimating his support and warned he was the "last chance" to fix a broken country. In Sarasota in Florida, a vital state where polls show a dead heat, the property magnate said Mrs Clinton was "such a phony" and that the American people were "tired of being led by stupid people".

Mrs Clinton's campaign received a boost on Sunday with the announcement by FBI director James Comey that the agency stood by its July decision not to bring any criminal charges in an investigation of the former secretary of state's private email server.

Polls

The latest polls, taken before that announcement, showed Mrs Clinton ahead. A Fox News poll showed her leading Mr Trump by 4 percentage points among likely voters. Separate polls by ABC/Washington Post and CBS news also gave her a four-point advantage.

Mrs Clinton has the edge among women and minorities while Mr Trump enjoys solid support among non-college-educated whites. For both candidates, the final days of the campaign have been focused on translating support into votes that will enable them to assemble the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the election.

More than 40 million Americans have already cast early votes, a figure the Pew Research Center estimated could amount to 35 per cent of the total electorate, and about 110,000 polling stations will open across the country throughout today. Results from the first eastern states are expected at about midnight Irish time, when polls close in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and parts of Florida. In addition to Florida, the biggest battleground, the election will turn on results from competitive states such as Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Hampshire and Arizona.

Unless the race is exceptionally close, a clear pattern will emerge within an hour of polls closing in the east of the country. Television networks are expected to call the result just after 4am Irish time.