Most expensive campaign in history enters final stretch, candidates to spend half a billion dollars in the last month and a half

(Patria) - Just over 40 days remain until the US presidential election, reports HRT.

According to polls, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris leads by more than four percentage points over Republican Donald Trump at the national level.

The most expensive presidential campaign in US history is underway – candidates will spend more than half a billion dollars on TV and radio advertising in the last seven weeks of the campaign alone.

Early voting began on Friday in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia. Even before Election Day in the US, Tuesday, November 5, polling stations opened in the state of Virginia, where a record number of voters have registered to vote.

"On the first day of voting, by 3:30 PM, we had over a thousand voters, and in 2020, that was the total for the entire day," said Alexandria Election Center Director Angie Maniglia Turner.

Virginia well reflects the uncertainty of this presidential race. Democratic presidential candidates have been winning here since 2008.

Joe Biden was trailing Donald Trump in the polls. Then, the current Vice President entered the race and changed the predictions.

"Although many have said they don't like Kamala Harris, even more have said they didn't know enough about her.

Now that the nominated candidate is present on the national stage, people are forming opinions that favor her," notes Professor Todd Belt from George Washington University.

"Donald Trump, I've spoken about this many times, has a different plan. And in many ways, he is an unserious man. However, the consequences of his return to the White House are extremely serious," claims Harris.

Trump is not changing his strategy and is not trying to expand the coalition he needs to win.

"Today I am here in California with a very simple message for the American people: we cannot allow Comrade Kamala Harris and the communist left to do to America what they have done to California," says Trump.

"I served in Congress when he was president – we were elected on the same day. I am proud of that, I remain a Republican, but I would never support Trump, I think he is a complete disaster," stated John Leboutillier, a member of the "Republicans for Harris" initiative.

The campaign has not led to a discussion of the important issues facing the country.

"I think the main issue of the election is the economy, and it will be important to see how the candidates will offer a better life during their government. We haven't heard much of that so far, but rather attacks on the other side," says Todd Belt from George Washington University.

If the elections were held tomorrow, according to polls, Kamala Harris would receive the majority of votes. However, the victory in the race for the White House is decided by electoral votes, and only from a few states.

Both campaigns have engaged legal teams in case the winner is decided by the court due to close results.