Trump and Biden in final scramble for votes before election day
with just two days to go until america goes to the polls donald trump and joe Biden are making whistle-stop tours of the key battleground states in a bid to catch undecided voters our north america editor john supple is in Washington for us john tina thanks very much yes the nation’s capital is preparing itself for Tuesday maybe that should be bracing itself because wherever i look shops businesses they’re all boarded up the fear of violence is serious whoever loses this election meanwhile on the road the candidates are out seeking to get every last vote the ponderous marathon that is a u.s election campaign is now a sprint hello michigan hello pennsylvania multiple stops a whirl of swing states and the person running fastest is donald trump with polls suggesting he’s lagging behind not that you’d know it from his confident bullish
demeanor he’s so angry you know why he’s angry because he’s losing that’s why he’s like no it’s very agitated i don’t think he knows he’s losing i don’t think he knows anything actually joe biden has also upped his pace and is now being helped in these closing stages by the former president barack obama tweeting at the tv doesn’t fix things making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better you’ve got to have a plan you’ve got to do the work even off stage redefining political long shot no drama obama still able to command attention that’s what i do and america’s third president and founding father of this nation would surely look down with delight at the millions who’ve already voted suggesting that turnout is going to be way up in 2020. wherever you go there are long lines of people but there’s also a mood of deep apprehension you can
tell the tension i mean i think the world can even feel the tension in the us it’s like a pressure cooker everybody’s feeling to me it’s kind of like voting for a lesser of two evils i think it’s very important that people you know come out and vote vote but especially for this year it’s just almost like crisis is going on this is the great celebration of any democracy the moment when we the people decide whether our rulers get another term in office or get turfed out it is empowering but there is a fear stalking america a deep unease about what might come next in this bitterly contested presidential election and how is the nation’s capital preparing for this celebration of democracy well everywhere you go you see teams of
workmen boarding up shops and offices something similar happens in the deep south during hurricane season with acts of god but on tuesday america seems to be bracing itself for a very different type of storm and one that’s entirely man-made if britons were voting in this american election then joe biden would win decisively according to an opinion poll which showed that he was way more popular than donald trump but of course they’re not but who would be best for britain and for the special relationship who wins the election on tuesday night our world affairs editor john simpson
reports mr mcmillan praises the partnership between his country and the united states it’s been a partnership for decades but never a partnership of equals and britain has faded in importance as the years have passed this sculpture in new bond street in central london represents the way a lot of brits think about the relationship with america best mates essentially churchill and roosevelt sitting side by side planning the second world war but the americans don’t necessarily see it that way at all and now we’re onlookers at an election which will affect us immensely trump favors brexit and will offer us a trade deal on america’s terms biden dislikes brexit and has said that boris johnson is a donald trump clone kim dara as britain’s ambassador to washington criticized trump and had to resign if it’s donald trump second term i think we can get a quick free trade deal he would prioritize that and if joe biden wins post-brexit britain no longer sitting around that eu
table can no longer be a spokesman for uh influencer for u.s views on what the eu does and that used to be an important part of the relationship in the biden camp there’s still a lot of hostility towards boris johnson personally his past attacks on biden’s friend and close ally president obama haven’t been forgotten biden himself isn’t at all anti-british but he is strongly against a no deal brexit i reported on barack obama’s victory as the first black president in 2008 now after the killing of george floyd and black lives matter race is an issue again biden’s biggest decision was his choice for vice
president kamala harris of african and asian descent she’d be hugely influential if biden wins especially to people here who’ve been moved by these campaigns she will be the second most powerful person on the planet and it’s just i can’t even say how overwhelming this is going to be it matters enormously because it’s going to change the landscape the last four years under trump have done tremendous damage to some key british interests like nato for instance and joe biden will take america back into the paris accords on climate change another key british interest still donald trump has set a new standard for america abroad biden would have to match trump’s tough approach biden has already made noises actually about protecting american industry from chinese dumping and so on so don’t expect biden to be softer than
trump it is quite simply the most important election the world has seen in decades and in britain it’ll affect the lives of every one of us john simpson bbc news and in that election it looks that turnout is going to be way higher than four years ago and just a word about the polls we’ve had the final polls in the key swing states which are fascinating they show joe biden ahead in all the key places but not by such a margin that he can take anything for granted and donald trump is not so far behind that he would think all is lost tuesday is going to be a nail biter john thank you very much john sopel in washington
