Dan Mitchinson: US correspondent on the mood from voters ahead of the US election

There's less than two weeks to go until the US election, and new data shows the race is still very close.

New polls show the margins are narrow in the seven key swing states - and recent reports from the American Psychological Association reveal the election is one of the biggest stressors impacting US voters.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says early voting numbers have hit a record high - but Trump and Harris will have to work to capture the battleground states.

"I don't think they're panicking - I think Trump is going to, between now and election day, do what he does, which is not stay on target... I think Harris and her campaign are going to try and make her look more presidential."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks edb Hey.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
For our politics segment this week, we're going to head
to the United States because it is a very busy
time in the US less than two weeks out from
the November fifth election, to talk us through how things
are shaping up. I'm joined by US correspondent Dan Mitchison.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Dan, and good morning to you. Hey.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I believe that the American Psychological Association has come out
talking about how stressed voters are.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, and I don't think, honestly this just applies to
the average person, but I think it's one of the
reasons why we're losing a lot of people in this
business over here too. And by this business, I mean
the media. I think people are tired of working for
what they see as a partisan news organization over here,
which is something that we've dealt with for a number

(00:57):
of years now. But this report that came out, you know,
found that money and health and family are still wearing
people down. But the issue that is dominating it right now,
you said were less than two weeks to the Olympics.
It feels like it feels like the right. Yes, is
the election is politics? Seven out of ten adults say
that this is a big stress in their lives and

(01:19):
the lives of their friends and family.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
And all the polls are saying it is so tight down.
Do you feel that the polls are an accurate indication
of how people on the street are feeling.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
That's a good question. I wish I could say yes
or no. I would say at this point in time,
it feels a little bit more like the polls are accurate,
and it does feel like that both candidates are just
have a razor depending on which pole you're looking at,
a razor thin margin a victory over one or over
the other. I mean, a few months ago, before Kamala
Harris got into this race, I think it was a

(01:51):
foregone conclusion that Donald Trump was going to come back
and he was going to serve a second term, and
Joe Biden just couldn't get the support from voters. There
wasn't any excitement and any enthusiasm. And that's saying a lot,
because honestly, Donald Trump just didn't seem to have that
spark over the last few months that he had had previously.
But then Kamala gets into the race, and now all
of a sudden, you've got people that are saying, well,

(02:13):
wait a minute, here, this is this is a little
bit more interesting. And you've gone from a race that
had two very elderly white men to uh, we could
be looking at the first you know, a mixed race
of Indian African American female president in our nation's history.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Dan Post debate harris head momentum. Why hasn't she been
able to push a heat?

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, I think I think that she she has sort
of kind of ebbed and flowed in this. In this case,
you know, she was very careful about who she spoke to.
In fact, she didn't speak to a lot of people.
And I think, uh, there was a lot of projection
by voters who didn't know a lot about Kamala Harris
once she did get into the race, because you know,

(02:57):
let's face it, a vice president doesn't do a heck
of a lot. You know, when when when when Trump
comes out and says, you've had four years to implement this, Well,
she hasn't had four years. Joe Biden had four years
to implement this. She's had four years to support what
Biden has or maybe try to make a little inroad
on something like this, and then all of a sudden,
she does this media blitz and depending on the polls

(03:18):
that you look at, some of the polls went up,
and others said, wait a minute, this isn't the person
that we necessarily thought that we were hoping she would be.
We started listening to her speak, and she's not the
best speaker in the world, but neither is Donald Trump.
And look at how well he does. I mean, he
can just ramble like he did on this podcast with
Joe Rogan this weekend, who has the most popular podcast

(03:40):
in the world, and he went on for three hours.
A lot of it was just rambling.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
So what is it going to take for Trump or
Harris to get on top here? What do they need
to do?

Speaker 3 (03:52):
I think what they're going to have to do is
I mean, it's this voter turnout that we're looking at
this year. I mean, early voting is at record levels
in a lot of the battleground states. We have six
or seven that really are going to, I think, determine
the outcome of this election, and the vote count in
these states have already exceeded more than half of the
turnout that we had four years ago, especially in Georgia.

(04:16):
The polling suggests from what we're seeing, still a very
razor thin margin in the race between these two in
Pennsylvania and Arizona and Georgia and Michigan, and let's see Wisconsin, Nevada,
and I believe North Carolina. So it's going to come
down to the election night. And I think that while

(04:36):
we may be closing in an election day, the race
may not be called until a day or two after
because each state has different regulations on how they count
the ballots. Here and remember, if we go back to
when Biden was declared the winner, that wasn't until I
think it was two days after the election. Here was
the seventh of November.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Is anyone panicking the Democrats of the Republican's panicing.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
I don't know if they're panicking. I think Trump is
going to between now and election day do what he does,
which is not stay on target. I think he's going
to sort of zig and zag. I think Harris and
her campaign are going to try to make her look
a little bit more presidential. We're going to see her
in these surroundings with flags behind her. Hopefully she's going

(05:20):
to stay on the teleprompter. She just had a big,
a big event with Beyonce. Trump is speaking in New
York at Madison Square Garden this weekend. So I think
he's just going to do what he does when he
feels like it, and it doesn't matter what he says
or what he does, he's still going to make headlines.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Dan, really appreciate your time because I know you're busy.
That was Dan Mitchinson there from the UIs.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio