US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton stepped up their campaigning in key swing states with just five days to go until election day as polls showed a tightening race.
The nominees and their top surrogates swept through eight battleground states on Thursday with Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton making multiple appearances in two must-win states for the Republican candidate, North Carolina and Florida, in a bid to woo over undecided voters.
The Real Clear Politics average of national polls showed the Democrat’s lead over her Republican rival narrowing to less than two points, about a third of where it was two weeks ago.
The latest nationwide poll from CBS News and the New York Times gave the former US secretary of state a 45 per cent to 42 per cent edge over the Manhattan-based property developer. The new tracking polls from ABC News and the Washington Post showed Mrs Clinton with a two-point edge, 47 per cent to 45 per cent. A CNN average of polls gave her a four-point lead.
Across the battleground states that will determine the outcome of this election, polls show Mr Trump ahead in Ohio, Florida, Nevada and Iowa and tied with Mrs Clinton in North Carolina.
Comfortable lead
The Democrat can lose the closely watched races in Ohio, Florida and North Carolina if she wins
Virginia
, where she has a comfortable lead, and
Colorado
, where her advantage has dropped, on average, from eight points to less than two in a fortnight. That is on the basis that she holds the solidly blue states of
Wisconsin
,
New Hampshire
,
Michigan
and
Pennsylvania
.
Mr Trump sent his wife Melania to deliver a speech outside Philadelphia in her first solo campaign appearance in a final push to win over suburban female voters in the battleground of Pennsylvania to offset Mrs Clinton's strong support in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Mrs Clinton’s lead in the state has narrowed in line with declining enthusiasm for the Democrat in the wake of the FBI decision to renew its investigation into her personal emails.
This was Mrs Trump’s first speech since she spoke at the Republican national convention in Cleveland in July, an address that was remembered for plagiarising part of first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic national convention.
Sexist remarks
Melania Trump
sought to humanise her husband in her short speech, softening the image of a man who has alienated many college-educated women with sexist remarks, notably his vulgar boasts on a leaked 2005 recording about kissing and touching women without their permission.
“He loves this country and he knows how to get these things done, not just talk. He certainly knows how to shake things up, doesn’t he?” she said, in a strong eastern European accent, drawing cheers from the crowd.
She touched on her upbringing in a small village in Slovenia, her work as a fashion model in Milan and Paris and her 10-year process in becoming a US citizen.
As first lady, she said she would like to be a champion for women and young people and singled out a plan to address cyberbullying and negative comments on social media.
“As adults, many of us are able to handle words, even lies, children and teenagers can be fragile,” she said. “Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough.”
Without referring to her husband’s use of abusive language or his attacks on opponents on social media website Twitter, Mrs Trump spoke about the need to teach young people about kindness, honesty, respect and compassion.
“We have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other,” she said.
