US National Guard has been or will be activated across 19 states to help maintain peace; Harris supporters optimistic but nervous, Trump fans say his win is inevitable Fear, suspicion, hope and bluster: All were on display Monday night as the US election campaign reached a crescendo, with Republican Donald Trump making a final pitch to supporters in Michigan and Democratic rival Kamala Harris looking to end on a high note in Pennsylvania.

At Trump’s final rally in Grand Rapids, the crowd of thousands was boisterous, convinced that his victory was inevitable, with some saying any other result would mean the vote had been rigged.

In Philadelphia, where Harris was preparing to host a star-studded rally featuring Lady Gaga and others, supporters said they were cautiously optimistic, and fearful of another Trump term.

With polls opening across the United States just hours after each of the candidates were due to speak late on Monday, both sets of supporters will have their answers soon enough.

More than 81 million people have already cast ballots in the 2024 election, or about half the number who voted overall in 2020. More people voted early that year because of the pandemic. Still, several states have reported record levels of early voting because former President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to vote that way now.

‘Awful suspicious’

“If you look at the numbers of people, you look at the rallies, it’s crazy the support that Trump has,” said Mark Perry, 65, who had lined up in Grand Rapids.

“If it goes the other way, I think we’re gonna be awful suspicious,” he told AFP outside the 12,000-seat Van Andel Arena, where supporters had braved hours of rain, some perched on fold-out chairs. Immigration tops the list of concerns for many Trump voters, inflation for others, while some defended abortion restrictions or an end to gender transitions for youths.

But no matter their stance on the issues, they share a deep skepticism that a Harris win could be legitimate, despite opinion polls consistently showing a dead-heat between the two. “It would be very hard to accept,” said Jacob Smith, 41, an HVAC technician from the area, as his wife Danielle chimed in to echo his concerns.

Trump has ramped up claims of election fraud ever since his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden and ahead of this year’s vote, though no evidence of widespread fraud has come to light.

On the campaign trail, Trump has called recent migrants to the United States “animals” and likened the wave of immigration to an “invasion.”

Still, some immigrants say they will vote for him because they back his conservative stance on hot-button social issues.

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