MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE (USA), Nov 3: With less than a week left for the United States presidential election on November 8, Democrat Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are crisscrossing the battleground states to seal the outcome.
Both the candidates are making their closing arguments, with Clinton attacking Trump over his behavior towards women and his divisive campaign, while Trump is attacking Clinton for the use of her private email server while she was secretary of state. He is also attacking the policies of incumbent President Barack Obama.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey announced 12 days before the election date that the bureau was looking into other emails sent out by a top Clinton aide as these could be related to Clinton's own email use while she was secretary of state.
Republican candidate Trump jumped on this opportunity to energize his supporters, stating that the FBI investigation would take Clinton to jail on a criminal offense and not to the Oval Office.
The Clinton campaign attacked FBI Director Comey for bringing up the email case just ahead of the election and termed his move 'unprecedented' and as against law that bars FBI officials from using their authority to influence an election. The Clinton campaign spent around three days in defence and in attacking Comey.
Silence period for vice-presidential election begins tonight
Meanwhile, the Washington Post-ABC News Tracking Poll showed Trump taking a one-point lead. The Clinton campaign then decided to shift focus towards showing how 'unqualified Trump is to be the president of the US' and portraying him as 'a bully to women'.
Speaking at an election rally in Florida, Clinton criticized Trump for not paying taxes and 'bullying over women'.
Democrat Party leaders, including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who contested Clinton in the primaries, all attended separate rallies to support her and declare Trump a person 'unqualified to be President and Commander-in-chief'. President Obama called on people to 'look inside' themselves for bias if they have any doubts about voting for Clinton.
On the other hand, Trump has not limited himself to discussing the FBI investigation but has also announced that if he is elected president, he will repeal 'Obama Care', the US healthcare scheme criticized by some sections of the populace over its premiums policy.
According to CNN, around 25 million voters have already cast their votes in states which have the provision for early voting.
With the polls and some reports claiming Clinton to be ahead in the early voting, Trump has urged the early voters of six states, which also have provisions for altering early votes, to change their vote. Addressing a rally in Wisconsin, Trump urged early voters to change their votes to 'make America great again'.
Trump is not getting much support from senior Republican leaders, unlike what Clinton has been getting from Democrat leaders. Republican candidate for vice president, Mike Pence probably understands more than anybody else that it would be difficult to win the election without their support. "Fellow Republicans, this is the time to come home," Pence urged during the rally in Wisconsin.
