2020 US Election

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2020) Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden continued to expand his lead with less than 3 weeks until election day, new polling revealed shortly before the two candidates held separate simultaneous televised town hall meetings.

Biden during his town hall on Thursday, which consisted of answering questions from voters, said that if elected he will eliminate a fraction of his predecessor's tax cuts that benefited the top one tenth of one percent. The former vice president also vowed to halt oil industry subsidies, promised not to ban fracking and said his administration would shoot for net-zero emissions by 2035.

Trump during his town hall meeting in Miami, Florida, went head to head with NBC news moderator Savannah Guthrie on several personal issues such as the president's experience infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), his tax returns, in addition to several policy issues.

A face-to-face debate had been canceled after Trump tested positive for the virus and refused to engage in a virtual setting. The final debate between the Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden will be October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Biden would beat President Donald Trump by 11 percentage points nationwide if the presidential election were held today, a three point drop since the days following the candidates' September 29 debate, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal (WSJ) poll revealed on Thursday.

The poll conducted after Trump returned to the White House from his hospitalization for the coronavirus, found Biden ahead 53-42%.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview on Thursday that the result of the upcoming November 3 presidential election should be available on Election Day.

The president has predicted on multiple occasions that the race will be decided by the Supreme Court and not on election day. He also put plans in motion to contest a Biden victory because he believes mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud.

Biden shared a flight with an individual who was diagnosed with coronavirus, but never approached him close enough to necessitate quarantine measures, campaign manager Jen Dillon said in a statement.

The Biden campaign later in the day said the former vice president tested negative for the virus. An announcement came hours after Biden's running mate Kamala Harris suspended her travel plans through Sunday as two people from her entourage tested positive for the disease.

US voters plan to take advantage of early voting by almost a 2-to-1 margin with Biden voters far more likely to cast such ballots, a Rasmussen Reports poll said on Thursday. 80% of Biden supporters will vote early compared to 46% of those who back Trump, the poll revealed. Overall, 65 percent of those in jurisdictions where early voting is available say they plan to take advantage of the opportunity,

The US state of Colorado has witnessed unprecedented early participation in the presidential election this year, with the number of voters at this time outpacing the 2016 count by 24 times, the state's Secretary of State Jena Griswold said on Thursday.

"Colorado is seeing record turnout. As of yesterday, over 300,000 Coloradans have voted, which is 24 times more than at this point in 2016," Griswold said via Twitter.

Unlike many other US states, Colorado has had a mail-in voting system in place since 2013 in which ballots are mailed to all registered voters.

The US company Fortitude Ranch will operate its three vacation condos as survival communities on November 3 in anticipation of possible civil unrest that may follow the presidential and general elections, the company's Vice President for Sales and business Development Alicia Cachuela told Sputnik.

"We are going to open up as a survival community on November 3 and spanning out for several days after that for the members... just in case of civil unrest, social unrest, the potential of a civil war," Cachuela said.

The United States has experienced protests and riots after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. In addition to peaceful protesters, a number of armed far left and far right paramilitary groups have emerged and become more visible, including the NFAC, Black Legion, Redneck Revolt, Army of God, Aryan Nations, White League, Alpha 66, Hutaree, Boogaloo Boys, Militia of Montana and others.