Local time on November 5 is the official voting day for the U.S. presidential election. Just after midnight Eastern Time on November 5, voters in the small town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, were the first to begin voting, marking the official start of the 60th U.S. presidential election voting.
On that day, the vast majority of polling stations across the country opened in the morning and remained open until the evening of the 5th. According to data from the University of Florida's Election Lab, as of the morning of November 4, over 78.02 million voters had already cast their ballots early.
The candidates for the upcoming U.S. presidential election are Democratic candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris, and Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump. U.S. media generally believe that the 2024 election is the most closely contested presidential election in recent years.
According to the final pre-election poll results released by NBC News on the 3rd, Trump and Harris have equal support rates, each at 49%, with only 2% of voters indicating they have not yet decided whom to vote for. Despite both camps' recent weeks of 'fervent' campaigning and spending billions of dollars on advertisements, their support rates have only increased by one percentage point compared to the same poll in October.
NBC News reported that this unusually close election battle highlights the strong polarization in today's American politics and society, with a 34-point gender gap in voting tendencies between men and women. Overall, Harris's campaign is boosted by the abortion rights issue and the enthusiasm of Democratic voters, while Trump has an advantage on economic and cost-of-living issues. However, polls show that regardless of who wins, 60% of voters believe that American public opinion will continue to be divided. About two-thirds of voters believe that the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction.