Harris appeals to hurricane-hit voters with presidential race neck and neck

Kamala Harris yesterday spent a second day in North Carolina, a state hard hit by Hurricane Helene and a crucial battleground in the presidential election.

- Edward Helmore

The Democratic candidate and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, spent the day trying to shore up support among what they perceived to be must-have voting blocs with polls showing them locked in a tight race.

The vice-president was planning to attend a black church in Greenville, North Carolina, as part of her campaign's "souls to the polls" push. She was also scheduled to hold a rally to talk about her economic plans and highlight Thursday's start of early voting in the state, her campaign said.

Meanwhile, Trump was in Arizona, looking for black and Latino support as he seeks a second presidency, after a rally in California a day earlier.

Both candidates are attempting to get a decisive edge among undecided voters. Surveys show that early voting, which tends to favor Democrats, is down 45% from previous election years - a sign that there may be millions of undecided voters.

Trump has now switched from condemning early voting as a Democratic plot to engineer his defeat to Joe Biden in 2020 to urging people to vote early and by mail.

A recent ABC News-Ipsos poll showed that support was split down gender lines, with women voting 60-40 to Harris and men voting for Trump by a similar margin.