judy woodruff explores how psychology can help bridge divisions this thanksgiving.ew exhibit highlights the intersection of art and the brain. >> this is the pbs news hour, from our studio in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. william: donald trump has selected one of the nation's most prominent critics of covid-19 lockdowns and mandates to lead the national institutes of health. he famously co-authored what is known as the great barrington declaration, a manifesto that advocated for allowing covid to spread among most people in order to achieve herd immunity. it was widely criticized by top public health officials at the time. for more on this pick we are joined by the head of the pandemic center at the brown university pool -- school of public health. so good to have you back in the program. he is tasked with running the nations preeminent biomedical research organization. what do you make of this pick? >> it is very controversial. typically the people tapped to lead this organization are people wi

for the pbs news hour, i am judy woodruff in new york. ♪ ♪ amna: for what to watch for in the final days analysis of brooks and capehart. david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post. the race for the white house is as tight as ever. nothing markedly different in the latest: going to show you it gives us a sense of where we are still in pennsylvania, michigan and in wisconsin, these key battleground states. vice president harris has a 2-3 point lead within the margin of error. i want to step back. we are in the final days of a truly unprocessed -- unprecedented presidential election cycle. who these candidates are and how they got to the top of their tickets. when you step act from the daily headlines, how would you describe this race at this moment in american political history? >> praise jesus we are four days out and this is almost over. but in all seriousness i would say that of all the presidential campaigns i have watched and covered, this is one where the contrast between the candidates could not be more stark, could not be more plainly evident. i t

judy: for the pbs news hour, i'm judy woodruff in washington. ♪ >> for the second time in eight yearsr president and lost to the same man. despite strong support among women of color, vice president kamala harris lost ground with nearly every other demographic group compared to joe biden in 2020. a number of factors separate hillary clinton's run form harris, and a number of factors went into the win. but the questions being asked, is america ready for a woman in the white house? editor at large for the 19th news and the center for american women in politics joins us. welcome to you both. i will start with you. there are number of factors at play, we know the economy, a truncated campaign, frustration with the incumbent but what do you take away from what we saw with voters in terms of how much gender played a role, that there was a woman at the top of the democratic ticket? >> i wrote about how this election, how elections are not about either of the candidates about about who we are the country and again, what do we know about who we are as a country district? that america is still

. >> join us again tomorrow night when judy woodruff continues her series, this time talking to voterse way they did and what they believe it says about the visions across the country. >> for all of us here, thank you for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line's journey along the legendary mississippi river, travelers explore civil war battlefields and historic riverside towns. aboard our fleet of boats, you can experience local culture and cuisine and discover the music and history of the mighty mississippi. american cruise lines, a proud sponsor. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends including these people -- >> a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you and richard unity. life well planned. >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontline of social change worldwide. and the ongoing support of these institutions -- and friend

amna: and join us again here tomorrow night, when judy woodruff continues her crossroads series, thisbout why they voted the way they did, and what they believe it says says about divisions across the country. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i am geoff bennett. thanks for spending part of your evening with us. >> major funding for the pbs "newshour" has been provided by -- >> on any american cruise lines turning along the legendary mississippi river, travelers explore civil war battlefields and historic riverside towns. a our fleet of american riverboats, you can experience local culture and cuisine and discover the music and history of the mighty mississippi. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma k lorfine. >> allow partner discovers her grandmother up artistry and creates a trust to give the craft alive. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well

amna: david brooks is with us, jonathan capehart, and our very own judy woodruff who is back from hercross the country for her series, america at a crossroads. welcome to you all. amy, you will kick us off tonight. we will talk a lot about the specifics and data, and start us off with the big picture. what will you be watching tonight and what big questions are you looking to answer? amy: don't think i've ever experience an election night like this where the polls are so close and so few people have any sense of how this thing is going to break. i also come into this knowing that when you look at the way americans feel about our political system right now, the sense that they believe this is an existential election for them, that my concern going forward is what happens to the numbers of people who will be very upset with what the result will be, because it is more than just an issue, more policy that they're voting on. more broadly, big picture wise, i'm looking to see if the coalitions that we become comfortable with for the past 15 years or so, with democrats doing much better and

judy woodruff, would love to get your reaction on that reporting from william, especially speaking withne he people across the country, so many trump supporters, the idea that he's pulling back from social media allegations of election fraud and cheating and so on just a bit. don't know about later, but what you make of that? judy: it's interesting since he was talking it up. there were weeks during the campaign, recent weeks when it looked like harris might have some momentum. you hear more of that talk from former president trump. does this suggest he may be winning and he is feeling better and more confident as william was reporting? so he doesn't need to put allegations out there, which by the way, all of which were unfounded. there was no evidence of any fraud anybody could find. we have people all over the country looking in every state and voting jurisdiction. what was it based on in the first place? amna: the other thing we heard repeatedly from him, the continued election to nihilism from 2020. jonathan, we go back to the arizona senate race and we talked about candidate qualit