thank you for joining me i am jessica dean in new york we have finally enter the home stretch of the 2024 presidential campaign and with just two days until the election both campaigns are storming swing states today as they enter this final lap of the race for the white house. the presidential candidates are spending their closing hours warning voters about each other and pleading with their supporters to head to the polls. so far more than 72 million americans have already cast their vote in this historically close race. and with just 48 hours until election day brand-new polls from the new york times and siena college are giving us one last-minute snapshot of how tight this race is. you see there the polls show no clear later in every battleground state. and in georgia, michigan and pennsylvania those numbers

are tied. former president donald trump will soon speak at a campaign rally in battleground north carolina that is the second of three campaign events he is holding today and three separate swing states. he started the day in pennsylvania where he continued to dial up the dark and violent rhetoric in the closing days of this campaign. he took aim at the media. >> i have a piece at last over here and i don't have a piece of glass there. and i have a piece of glass here. all we have over here is the fake news, what? and to get me, somebody would have to shoot through the fake news and i don't mind that so much. >> cnn's alanna is joining us now from that trump rally in north carolina and the trump campaign already scrambling to clean up the former president of violent remarks that we just

played for everyone. what more are they saying? >> reporter: jessica so those comments there this comes as he has made a series of inflammatory comments throughout that speech in pennsylvania but also increasingly over the last several days i do want to read for you some of what the trump campaign is saying in response to this trying to clean it up some of this is what one of his advisers stephen said he said quote president trump was brilliantly talking about the two assassination attempts on his own life that went on to say that trump's statement about quote protective glass placement has nothing to do with the media being harmed or anything else. it went on to say that he was actually looking out for their welfare far more than his own, now clearly jessica i only read you some of that but that was the gist of the statement, this is not in line, you heard the audio being played there this seems like a lot of spin from the campaign. but look it also

comes as donald trump said a lot of other things during that speech, he continued to air his grievance and mocked his political opponents and also talked about or tried to really begin sowing the seeds of doubt for this upcoming election. talking about so far unfounded claims of election fraud in this current election that is going to happen on tuesday but one other thing that i found very striking is one moment when he was talking about past accomplishments from his former administration and from his time in the white house he said i shouldn't have left referring to the he should not have left the white house this is something that is very much in line with much of the reporting we and other outlets had shortly after donald trump's election loss when he had told advises that he didn't think he should leave despite losing to joe biden so again all of this coming at a very critical moment for the trump campaign which is two days left to go until election

day and i can tell you when i talked to trump's team this is not the closing argument that they want the former president to be making, right now there are couple things they want to keep in mind, one is turnout. right now much of the message they are trying to get out to voters is to show up for him, to not think that they have this in the bag into not turnout, they are trying to encourage people to get out there and vote but the other thing is of course trying to continue to remind voters about the top policy issues that they believe donald trump is polling better on it than harris, that includes the economy, the border, the question of whether or not they think they were better off two years ago than they are now, these are all things they want donald trump to be talking about and instead so much of what we are discussing i think the media and others are taking away from his speeches is some of this violent inflammatory rhetoric that he continues to use off script i should say in these final rallies before tuesday. jessica? meantime vice president

kamala harris is spending her day campaigning in the key blue state of michigan and started at a church service in detroit and over the next few hours she plans to make several other stops across the state before holding a rally tonight in east lansing this is just a few moments ago. where she was stopping by and chatting with people at a detroit barbershop, covering the hairs campaign for us in michigan and eva how are they feeling about michigan obviously she is spending a lot of very valuable time there just two days out from the election. four well, michigan in its 15 electoral votes as part of the blue wall still presents the cleanest possible path to victory for the harris campaign so that is why she has spent so much time here. >> reporter: it's notable that the events that she has had here over the last several weeks i've really been labor focused. focused on manufacturing jobs as she tries to lean into the organizing strength of local labor unions. but she is also making very explicit appeals to black voters who saw that today at a

black church, a few weeks ago with the high profile event aimed at black men with charlemagne the god and several other stops that she has made today. and this all comes at a time when she is warning against the possibility that the former president could prematurely proclaim victory, take a listen to how she is thinking about this. >> so here we are on the sunday before the election and i would ask in particular people who have not yet voted, to not fall for his tactic. which i think includes suggesting to people that if they vote , their vote will not matter. suggesting to people that somehow the integrity of our voting system is not intact. so that they don't vote. and again, i think that it is a tactic. >> and just now we are learning that the vice president is among the millions of americans that have already voted, she voted by mail, her ballot now

in route to california and she ends today with the big valley in east lansing michigan. thank you so much for that. and for more on all of this let's bring in margaret, senior contributor for axial, good to see you. >> thank you. >> let's go back to what alayna was talking about these comments that the former president made in pennsylvania at the rally that it's okay to shoot through the media that are covering his rally that he should not have left the white house in 2020. his continued unfounded claims about election cheating. listen those are not focused on the economy and immigration which is what republicans really want him talking about and what alayna was saying the campaign really wants him talking about. what do you think about his closing message as it were? >> well, it is disturbing obviously if you are a journalist or care about the free press. both of them are troubling in different ways.

sort of teasing the idea of violence against any group that you consider critical of you is emblematic but the offhanded comment that he should until left office will also be problematic and should be problematic to some of those voters i think on the fence who are maybe center-right or former nikki haley voters still trying to make up their minds , there are not many of these voters left. this close to the election. but there are some and many of them are in the state of pennsylvania so, i think it is very hard to know whether this was instinctively strategic or just blowing off steam. the former president is not easily frustrated about a poll from iowa last night that he disagrees with and says is an outlier, but nonetheless it's frustrating him but it also if it is strategic if that's his instinct, it is a turn away from trying to persuade voters who are still undecided and a turn toward just trying to turn out that

base that likes this kind of rhetoric. >> you mentioned this des moines register poll that came out last night that just reminding everyone that showed harris leading trump in iowa although it is within the margin of error by our standards that means there is no clear leader but nonetheless, margaret this was a pretty shocking result from what is considered to be a gold standard poll a lot of people have a lot of thoughts on this, what stood out to you? >> i might be wrong we won't know until after election day but it may show that the race there is much closer or perhaps even then i will voters are ready to go back to their behavior during the obama era which was to support the democratic nominee for president so i think we will see but sort of top lines suggesting a couple of things and one is that the women's vote could be really crucial in the final day or two of voting. and the other thing it shows is

that we have all spent so much time completely focused on seven states, seven states that all of the data and past behavior and registration and polling and surveys of focus groups tells are the most important seven states and iowa has not been one of them. but you know what, it's six electoral votes and if it's that close i was going to say iowa will matter a whole lot. i would have people thinking what does any of this mean? i think it does go to show that it does not only matter whether you turn out, people who think their vote does not matter it really matters in seven states but hey it might matter in more than seven states also so think voters actually can individually have an impact even though we know that many of them feel that they can't. >> they certainly can and while trump is continuing to try to appeal to his basis we were talking about harris has been making sure to point out young first-time voters at her rallies in michigan i want to play quick clip. >> i see an incredible number

of our young people , our young leaders. oh, it would inspire you to see how they are organizing for change, what i love about that generation , they are quite inpatient. in the most wonderful way. >> and that was her speaking at a church earlier today but i know you just did a piece in which you walk through some data showing younger voters millennial's and others are more likely to lie about who they are voting for this election cycle can you walk us through that? >> absolutely and obviously making young voting for her contagious she's had some trouble getting enthusiasm among other voters due to issues with gaza. this great series called the vibes poll which is not related to vice president harris it is just the harris poll but that latest survey found that about a

quarter of americans say they lie about who they are voting for the people close to them and people who they love but that number doubles and is nearly half of gen z saying that they lie about their vote, and what we believe that this means and what our pollsters think it means in part is just that these are voters who are coming of age and perhaps even voting for the first time in a climate where the only climate they have ever known is the trump era of hyper political polarization and it's dividing families and they don't want to get into it or lose a relationship with their loved one but, you might ask who does it help more? we don't know the answer to that, we don't know and we saw that men disproportionately lie compared with women in this survey, does that mean that men are lying to wives or girlfriends i'm voting for harris when they are really voting for trump or doesn't mean that they are telling their dad or their brother yes i am voting for

trump and there really voting for harris? that's the 64 zillion dollar question, we don't know but we do know that this polarization is really having an impact on the new generations of americans who are just withdrawing from politics and do not want the debate because they are afraid of the conflict and the divisions. >> that is fascinating and guess what? we will know next week we will get a lot of answers to a lot of these questions margaret inc. you so much good to see you. >> thanks jessica. today is election night in america and from the first votes to the critical count and nobody covers it like cnn, special live coverage starts tuesday at 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. the race to win over latino voters in the battleground state of nevada as new polling shows no candidate with a clear lead in that state. stay with us.

with just two days to go nevada is proving to be a critical swing state as the race between harris and the trumps continues to be incredibly tight. just two points separate them in the latest poll there again no clear leader, latino voters in the state could prove to be a deciding factor. john king spoke to voters in the state this past week. >> reporter: don in battlegrounds nevada, the vegas morning rush. one week to election day. >> it's very tense, you know it is nerve-racking. because

you just don't know what's going to happen. >> antonio on the 911 taco bar. he is a veteran and a retired las vegas police officer. undecided and unhappy with his choices when we first visited 11 months ago. when we returned six weeks ago and now definitely harris, trumps weekend rally in new york removed any doubt. >> that was very exciting, upsetting where they spoke about mexicans and having kids like nothing it's like where do you come up with this stuff? why would you say something like that? in an atmosphere like that? and that is very troubling. >> he is betting on a narrow harris win here that says the latino community is more evenly split than in past campaigns. because of housing and grocery costs. >> inflation has affected a lot of people here in our community and they don't see their dollar going the way used to go you know? >> i think they really think

trump is going to make it better which one person can't come in and just inflation is going down, it's a process. >> early voting runs here through friday and more than seven and 10 live here in this county. the republican embrace of early voting. for veterans for trump event to kick off the final week. one in five nevada voters is latino and a big election year focus at fiesta 98.1 is urging listeners to flex their political muscles. rafael sarris junior is one of the owners, six weeks ago he told us he was undecided. and that trump was running strong among latinos here. >> anything different from the last time? >> a lot. >> he is now voting hers and says the racist insult at the weekend trump event exploded on

social media. trigger listener calls, texts, emails. >> that flipped a lot of people on that were going to go for trump, now saying hey, maybe i'm not too sure. >> maybe i'm going you know with harris. you know, the rhetoric whether directly from you know the candidate or not, it is kind of scary especially for latinos here in vegas. specifically you know my mexican people. >> he doesn't know who allowed those speakers to speak at his rally. >> that's bs. >> bs. >> cnn, las vegas. when we come back cnn's exclusive interview with house speaker, mike johnson as he campaigns to save the gop's razor thin house majority.

san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor. mark farrell endorsing prop d, to bring the changes we need for the city we love. san francisco's leadership is failing us. that's why mark farrell is endorsing prop d. because we need to tackle our drug and homelessness crisis just like mark did as our interim mayor.

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this morning two key senators weighed in on former president trumps false claims about election fraud on cnn's state of the union, let's start with bentivegna democratic senator john fetterman. donald trump has been laying the groundwork to challenge the election results, i just want to show one example, just one of what he is posting on truth social and saying elsewhere, we caught them cheating big in pennsylvania, must announce and prosecute now. this is a criminal violation of the law must stop voter fraud not only have we seen evidence of his claims local officials are saying it's not true, how worried are you about what is going on i mean that is my question? how worried are you? >> oh, it made me tingle hearing , it's the same thing he played in 2020 and that did not go anywhere.

>> but that's why i'm asking you this question. how worried are you? about this being a repeat because he didn't win but it caused a lot of problems? >> i'm not worried about it it's the same thing that he tried in 2020. and you know we had probably a secure election. and now there was voter fraud in pennsylvania and it was a handful of republicans and they had their dead moms voting for trump. and i like to remind everybody that they were all caught and prosecuted and again the dan patrick in texas still owes me a significant amount of money for the reward that he owes it from 2020. there was no voter fraud, he tried and i would just tell him that desperation is the worst cologne and i expected that he was going to do that it's not going to be effective any more effective than it was in 2020. and anyone that platform his

lies that was a very expensive kind of habit as well too, you know fox had to pay over $800 million for those kinds of lies. and all of his supporters they were all dragged into court and they all turned their minds and are like oh, no. i'm so sorry that i lied. and remember the cracking you know, and her defense was nobody takes her impossibly seriously, it's again the same sad story that he had in 2020 and i would like to remind everybody that biden wrecked him by 80,000 votes and now we are going to be back in the same situation he will try to lie and claim these baseless things but now we are going to have a new team leading america and that's going to be harris and tim walz but it will be close. >> our colleague also pressed republican south carolina senator tim scott on the false election fraud claims and also

the question of whether trump will concede if he loses the election. >> what i'm asking about is what if he doesn't win? and the fact of the matter is that trump is already spreading false claims about cheating in pennsylvania. he has repeatedly predicted a massive victory even though polls show the race is very close. he is setting the stage for his supporters not to believe the results, if he loses. do you want him to stop doing that? >> i would never tell any candidate on the ballot to talk about what happens if they lose, obviously they are going to lean into the victory especially when the latest polls and battleground states say that you're running for and ahead of your candidate. >> saying false things about fraud. >> you think it's okay to spread false rumors about fraud and undermine the integrity of the election? regardless of what happens? >> the liberal media is doing a better job of spreading

misinformation that any candidate i have seen so far. that's true, listen here's the fact, we are not seeing the coverage of two assassination attempts on cnn. >> we did wall-to-wall to coverage. >> don kelly called him a fascist, his former chief of staff. >> giving people and she repeated it, giving people the opportunity. >> wouldn't you if the former chief of state called her fascist? and donald trump has called him one as well. >> the bottom line is this, we should focus on the issues that the american people are talking about, they are talking about the greatest invasion across our southern border, black communities across this country particularly in inner cities are talking about the devastation of the presence of venezuelan gangs leading to more crime. we are talking about a rise in the

unemployment rate of african-americans and of course black men are now more open to the republican party and specifically donald trump. because the numbers are in. kamala harris and joe biden have done a terrible job addressing the issues of black men, therefore looking at the donald trump years we saw low unemployment and high enthusiasm. >> i want to allow you to make your point which i just did, but i can't let go of the fact that you are saying it is the media spreading claims, it is not true. it is donald trump who is saying things , donald trump is saying things just about pennsylvania one example that local officials are saying is not true, we saw what happened on january 6 as a result of that and many other things, you were there at the capital, are you saying right now you want to leave this conversation and say you are okay with his rhetoric? >> what i'm going to tell you is the truth, the supreme court and local courts in

pennsylvania have ruled in favor of the trump campaign this election cycle. >> that has nothing to do with what he said. >> you are asking the question about voter integrity, election integrity i'm giving you the answer we have seen a strong shift in the right direction and that reasons for us to be optimistic that this election will be fair, i will of course say my candidate will win because the polls reinforce that fact and the evidence i am seeing on the ground only highlights or magnifies the fact that donald trump is doing very well in the battleground states. we are not just optimistic we are going to be a motivated which will allow us to mobilize our voters this election will be decided. >> if you believe, you said you believe that the election will be free and fair? so does that mean that you are confident that if donald trump loses, i know you think he's going to win but let's just play this

out, if he loses, that he will concede? >> i'm confident that he's going to win and yes i do believe that we will have a fair election. we will honor the results and celebrate the 47th president and donald trump. >> okay, dana there, meanwhile control of the house of representatives will likely be decided between competitive races in deep blue new york and california, republican speaker mike johnson telling cnn's reporter that he is convinced they will expand their majority next year, here is more from that conversation. >> the office of speaker of the house, declared vacant. >> it's been a chaotic two years in the gop led house. >> and ousted speaker, in rampant infighting. house speaker mike johnson is trying to do what once seemed improbable. hang onto power and even grow their razor thin majority. >> i'm here in new york, mr.

president. >> in october alone, johnson is hoping to turn out the base even if democratic leaning districts and making a pitch for unified gop control of washington. >> everybody in the world is watching what happens on long island and in the state of new york, that's not an exaggeration. >> to keep our in the house republicans had to defend 16 seats in districts joe biden won, including in california and new york. as they target five democratic districts that trump carried in 2020. that means the next house majority will likely be narrow once again. and another recipe for gridlock. why do you guys deserve another two years in power? >> we did pass a lot of legislation, it died on schumer's desk. we also had some big landmark legislation sent over there and it died because the democrats control the senate. >> you had a difficult time with this last one. >> i had the most narrow

majority in u.s. history i'm convinced we will have a larger majority this time and if we have unified government which i think everybody on my side will be in a much better mood and i think they will want to be part of the reform agenda and not a speedbump in a way. >> the race for the house poised to be the most expensive ever, democrats spending over $476 million on the air. outpacing the gop more than $100 million. the money in part spent to help save a five freshman new york republicans, whose fate could determine the majority. now bowing to improve on their track record from this conference. >> we will have an aggressive first 100 day agenda because we have to fix everything. >> the speaker gave fodder this week when he said no obama care. >> now johnson says killing the healthcare law is not in the cards. despite the years long gop effort to do so. >> does that include repealing the aca? >> no, no. this has been

described to me not what i said, we are focused on improving healthcare like every area. >> you have not had a plan for many years. >> we do have plans. >> he and i have a secret we will tell you what is when the race is over. >> but johnson now says that simply meant getting out the vote. even as democrats fear he and trump will try to block a victory. >> have you and him talked about not accepting the election results if harris wins? >> of course not i have taken an oath, we will do our job it shouldn't even be a question or controversy. >> he would accept the result if harris wins? >> yes, i will qualify this and this will make everybody forgot again if it's a free and fair election i am saying the exact same thing that others are saying. >> it's trump who once again is pushing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

>> selling doubts about the election about pennsylvania does that concern you? >> he is not sowing doubts but he and all of us are trying to do is have accountability to ensure that we don't have hijinks and irregularities. >> critics fear johnson's gop will do little to check his power. >> it's the enemy from within, all the scum that we have to deal with. >> if he's winning he has talked about going after enemies would you dissuade him from doing that? >> he will not go after his enemies. >> he said that repeatedly. >> the democrats have engaged in l'affaire so all this hyperbole trying to scare people is nonsense, that will not happen we will follow the law. >> thank you for that. can you take a picture at the ballot box? what to do if you forget your i.d.? what if the machines are not working? we will walk you through what you need to know before you had to vote, that is after the break.

it is not just the white house voters are making a slew of decisions this election cycle races in the house and senate as well as local and state levels there are ballot initiatives, 10 state will determine the future of abortion access in their states. others will decide whether to change the state's minimum wage. if successful california would have the highest in the u.s. at $18 an hour. a handful of states want to implement some form of ranked choice voting selecting candidates from first to last choice while others like alaska and missouri want to repeal or

ban the system entirely. four states are weighing in on marijuana legalization. and eight states will choose whether to require u.s. citizenship to vote even though it is already illegal for noncitizens to cast ballots in federal elections. joining us now to help go through all of this is derek mueller, professor of law at the university of notre dame, good to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> let's start first with his noncitizen ballot measure that seems a bit redundant considering that is already illegal? >> is illegal at the federal level, but states also get to administer state elections and local elections and a few places in the united states and some towns in maryland and vermont noncitizens can vote in local elections so can be a little redundant at the federal level where it's already illegal but some states want to prohibit the practice statewide

and ensure that does not happen at the local level and say school board elections as well. >> let's go to pennsylvania now officials said today that the state was aware of potentially fraudulent registration applications in lancaster county there and they are investigating that. what you think about that particular case? >> sure so when somebody drops of 2500 registrations at once it can signal something to election officials that it might be worth investigating and it will take a look and make sure there is not a redundancy or looks like fraudulent signatures that we have a valid address and things like that and they noticed some suspicious things but this is what election officials do, they go through the petitions and verify that the information in there is accurate and they determine how to handle them so i don't have many concerns about it and it's something to be concerned about but i think election officials in lancaster and elsewhere in pennsylvania are ahead of the problem and will hopefully address it in time for the election. >> i want to do some questions to help separate fact from fiction as people get ready to cast their ballots if they will vote in person on election day. so we would just kind of do these rapidfire, let's start with can you help a friend or family member may be someone who is elderly when voting? >> it depends on your

jurisdiction and some places you can and some places you might have to sign an affidavit or something like that i encourage you to check with your secretary of state's website to determine the ruling. >> what about what you should do if you are in line and the voting precinct closes? >> the stay in line, they allow you to vote if you stay in line. >> what should you do if you see a person or if you see a violation in person or if you see a ballot self picture online what do you think about that? >> so if you see a problem in person go to an election official, they want to help you and they want to keep the precinct safe they might have an explanation or they might take some information if somebody shares a ballot selfie in most states that legal and a lot of states where it is illegal there is a first

amendment challenge probably there that says it's okay to do. so be aware of that. >> it sounds like the consistent theme is check with your local officials for sure, last one, what should you do if you make a mistake on your ballot? >> if you make a mistake absentee you will have to go in and request a new ballot, if you make a mistake at the voting booth go back to the precinct election official and they will usually give you a new one maybe even a second new and if there is a problem but get the ballot corrected so it can be tabulated accurately. >> reminder to viewers if you do experience any issue well voting you can always call the election protection hotline it is 866 hour vote. thank you for walking us through all of that we appreciate it. coming up the very different approaches kamala harris and former president trump would take to make healthcare more affordable, what each candidate is proposing, next.

u.s. drug prices are nearly triple what they are in other countries and in this final week before the general election is a sobering cost remain central in both kamala harris and donald trump's campaigns. we have more. 22-year-old rose keller has cystic fibrosis. using a combination of drugs including a relatively new drug that treats the underlying cause of her disease she has been able to do pretty well. she graduated college, is now on

her way to becoming an attorney. >> i need these drugs to survive. >> it turns out survival doesn't come cheap. >> over the past 12 months i've spent $3500 roughly out-of-pocket on all of my medications. >> a federal report from this year found drugs in the united states cost nearly 3 times more than in other similar nations. now pharmaceutical companies will say that premium price reflects the research and development it takes to bring these drugs to market. and often times that means coming to the united states first. and benefiting patients like rose. >> in 2019 when the fda approved it, the doors kind of opened. all of a sudden i can start dreaming about hey maybe i want to go to law school and maybe i have postgraduate dreams. maybe there is a whole life out in front of me that i can take advantage of and make for myself. >> on the campaign trail, the candidates both say they have plans to make drugs more affordable. the biden and harris administration helped pass the inflation reduction act. which gave medicare the largest purchaser of prescription drugs the ability

to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies directly. the law also capped insulin prices to $35 a month for all seniors and limited out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for those on medicare to $2000 a year. harris says all americans should now benefit from those price caps. not just those on medicare. >> i will lower the cost of insulin and prescription drugs for everyone with your support. not only are seniors. and demand transparency from the middlemen who operate between big pharma and the insurance companies who use opaque practices. >> donald trump highlights transparency as an issue, saying his administration quote increased fairness through price transparency and further reduced the cost of prescription drugs. however the campaign has not provided additional details. according to a recent family foundation poll, over half of all americans do worry about

affording prescription drugs. and about 30% of adults skip their medications or they ration them because of cost. and for young people, ages 18 to 29 like rose, that figure rose to 40%. >> i just could not live without them. i can't really afford to have the same sort of young adulthood that everybody else has. i want to spend time with my friends and i want to go out to dinner. i want to buy holiday gifts for my partners family you know? but as of now, i have to make sure that the money is set aside. >> cnn. reporting. tonight on cnn a special programming lineup starting with the situation room at 5 pm eastern, only here on cnn.

hello and thank you for joining me. i am in new york with the countdown to election day now down to the final two days. with time running off of the clock, both campaigns barnstorming swing states spending hours closing warning each other and urging voters to head to the polls. so far more than 72 million americans have cast their vote in this historically close race and now with 48 hours until election day, brand-new polls are