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US Presidential Election Live: countdown to the polls

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FBI clears Clinton over emails...again

Hillary Clinton will not face any charges after the FBI revisited her use of emails, FBI director James Comey has told US Congress.

The race is on

That's all from our live blog for today - we'll be back with a new blog very shortly.

It's just after 7.20am in Pensacola, Florida, where Donald Trump will take to the stage in a few hours.

As the sun rises, Trump and Hillary Clinton are both preparing to criss-cross the country to sway any undecided voters and shore up support at rallies.

Join us from 5am AEST for all the latest election news.

Donald Trump at a rally in Iowa on November 6.
Donald Trump at a rally in Iowa on November 6. Photo: AP

Most-Googled US election phrases

From October 29 to November 4, Australians took to Google to answer some burning questions about the US election.

According to figures from the search engine, Australians searched for Donald Trump 57% of the time, and for Hillary Clinton 43% of the time.

Some questions could be answered easier than others.

Trending questions: Donald Trump

  1. Who will win, Clinton or Trump?
  2. What happens if Trump wins?
  3. What nationality is Donald Trump's wife?
  4. Is Trump winning?
  5. Is Donald Trump Republican?

Trending questions: Hillary Clinton

  1. How could Hillary lose to Trump?
  2. What are the Clinton emails?
  3. What happens if Hillary drops out of race?
  4. What is Clinton's email problem?
  5. What has Hillary Clinton done wrong?

Source: Google

Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Sunday.
Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Sunday. Photo: AP

'Gays may prove to be Hillary's secret weapon'

Recent polls have projected Hillary Clinton will win 72 per cent of the LGBT vote.

There are many reasons for this, writes Joel Meares - including that she is "fierce" and "fabulous":

"When gay people look at Hillary Clinton, they see someone who has gone to war with the fears and hatreds most of us have confronted at more than one point in our lives – we know those dark crannies well – and won. It's why she'll win so many minority votes.

"The straight guy who fears that a woman president somehow makes him less, is that same guy who called us a "poof" in high school and the same man who fears that our exchanging vows somehow affects his own marriage.

"As Democrats fret about an enthusiasm gap this week, the gays may prove to be Hillary's secret weapon."

Read more here

Hillary Clinton at a rally in Cleveland on November 6.
Hillary Clinton at a rally in Cleveland on November 6. Photo: AP

How Aussies have talked about the election

Social media network Facebook has crunched some numbers and revealed how many Australians are engaging with US politics.

In figures provided to Fairfax Media, Facebook says 5.3 million Aussies have liked, posted, commented and shared information about the US election. In total, this makes for 65 million interactions.

As the debates heated up - with moments like Donald Trump calling for Hillary Clinton to be jailed - Australians were among 470 million people around the world who tuned in to watch video, Facebook says. In total, there were 3.3 billion views of debate-related videos globally. (Figures were collected from September 25 to October 20.)

Facebook could also provide a clue about the popularity of the candidates heading into the polls.

The social media platform's figures show 58 million people in the United States have interacted with Hillary Clinton over the last 30 days, while 66 million interacted with Donald Trump.

The candidates' posts were interacted with 899 million times and 1.1 billion times respectively.

More than 5 million Australians have engaged with US politics on Facebook.
More than 5 million Australians have engaged with US politics on Facebook. Photo: Facebook

'If you don't vote you can hardly complain'

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been united with one message these past few days: people need to go out and vote on Tuesday.

Fairfax's Helen Pitt, who lived in the US for more than a decade, shares that view.

She writes:

"Just because you find none of the candidates particularly appealing doesn't mean you should stay away from the polling booths.

"[S]urely you need to show the rest of the "free" world you're prepared to have your say about who is your leader. If you don't you can hardly complain."

Read more here

People waiting at an early voting centre in West Miami, Florida, on November 5.
People waiting at an early voting centre in West Miami, Florida, on November 5. Photo: AP
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Whirlwind schedule for last campaigning day

It's now past 1am in both Leesburg, Virginia, where Donald Trump left the stage a few minutes ago, and in the city of Sarasota, Florida, where he is due to speak again in just under 10 hours.

Trump has five more speaking rallies scheduled for Monday local time. He will fly to Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and finally Michigan.

Hillary Clinton also has a packed schedule for the last full day of campaigning before the US goes to the polls.

She will hold four rallies: two in Pennsylvania, one in Michigan, and one in North Carolina.

President Barack Obama will also speak in support of the Democratic nominee at a handful of rallies, as will Michelle Obama, Al Gore, vice president Joe Biden, and her running mate Tim Kaine.

Donald Trump has left the stage to applause after speaking for around half an hour.

As he left, he urged the "strong" people who waited up until 1am to go out and vote, and again said he will make America great again.

The crowd cheered as he slowly walked off the stage, alternately holding his fist in the air, pointing, clapping, and giving two thumbs up.

'Build that wall'

Donald Trump has again said he will build a wall to stop illegal immigration into the United States and Mexico will pay for it.

"Don't worry about it, we're going to build the wall folks," he said.

"It may be almost 1 o'clock in the morning, but I guarantee we're going to build that wall."

Crowd chants "build that wall".

Trump then says he will suspend the Syrian refugee program if he's elected and the crowd cheers.

He equates Syrian refugees to radical Islamic terrorists.

Trump is rolling out some of his favourite catch phrases.

He's called Hillary Clinton "crooked Hillary" and said she's going to raise taxes "bigly".

The crowd has spoken with Trump in unison, as he promised to rid Washington of corruption.

"When we win on November 8, we are going to," he said, beckoning the crowd to speak with him, "drain the swamp".

Trump says Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt person to ever seek the presidency of the United States.

The crowd again chants "lock her up".

"Right now, she's being protected by a totally rigged system," Trump says.

"This is a rigged system. Hillary Clinton is guilty.

"Now it's up to the American people to deliver the justice."

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Donald Trump takes to the stage

Donald Trump has just taken to the stage in Virginia, where it's almost 12.30am.

"We'll call this the midnight special speech," Trump says. He quips that the "dishonest reporters" have followed him everywhere and they're exhausted.

Just before Trump took to the stage, he had an extended introduction by Jerry Falwell Jr.

Falwell, the president of Liberty University, mentioned Hillary Clinton's "crimes".

The crowd got fired up chanting "lock her up".

Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham has just left the rally stage in Virginia, as the crowd waits patiently for Donald Trump.

In the middle of her speech, she listed off the rights Americans enjoy.

The second amendment to the constitution - the right to bear arms - gets a cheer. The first amendment - freedom of speech and religion - gets a cheer.

But when Ingraham mentions freedom of the press, the crowd appears puzzled and some boo.

Ingraham, an author and talk show host, says the press are good people and they're learning slowly.

Here's what the polls whisperers - not pollsters, but analysts of polls - have to say with less than 36 hours to go.

Nate Cohn of The New York Times says when it comes to polls, Obama and Trump have a lot in common.

"Trump has even won supporters among some of the same white voters who backed Barack Obama in 2008. It suggests that Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama might have a little more in common than you might think — at least from a political standpoint.

If Mr. Trump wins the presidency, that will ultimately be why. It has been a consistent pattern all year. Whenever Mr. Trump fights his way into a tight race with Mrs. Clinton, it's because he manages to run up the score with blue-collar white voters."

Read more

Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight says Clinton's lead has stabilised..

"Still, if you look at our win-probability graphic, while Clinton's chances were slightly declining already after she came off her post-debate peak, the rate of decline began to accelerate a couple of days after [FBI Director] Comey [revealed more investigations into Clinton], once we began to receive some post-Comey polls. Now the decline has leveled off, and her lead has held steady over the past several days.

Read more

When experts talk about down ballot races, it normally refers to the race for Congress seats. But if you go down-down ballot, there are some other issues Americans get to vote on, such as pot and porn. The issues sound frivolous, but as Nick O'Malley reports, the marijuana ballot in California could have some far reaching consequences. 

Trump is about to take the stage at his final rally for the day in Virginia, several hours late. As they wait, an ally is keeping the crowd fired up with yet another wild concoction:

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Trump finally arrived for his fourth rally of the day - this one in Pennsylvania - just after 10pm tonight, about two hours late. The big crowd, waiting on the tarmac at the airport in Moon Township didn't seem to mind though, giving him a rapturous welcome.

His speech focused on bringing back blue-collar jobs: "We're putting our steelworkers and our miners back to work."

He also lashed his opponent ("Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt person ever to seek the office of the United States"), the media ("I call them the corrupt media. Bad. Bad. Real liars!") and Syrian refugees, saying Clinton would import "generations of terrorism... into your schools and throughout your communities".

He's still got one more rally to go tonight, in nearby Virginia.

 

Trump supporter gropes himself on stage

From Donald Trump talking about the size of his genitalia to talking about grabbing women by theirs, and Anthony Weiner being investigated for sexting a minor, the American public have endured an election season of unending smut and machismo.

So it's fitting perhaps that in this final gasp of campaigning, one of Trump's supporters inexplicably groped his own genitals onstage at a rally in Michigan tonight.

Musician Ted Nugent warmed up the crowd bragging about how many guns he owns: "I got a couple hundred right now and they're loaded" and, for some reason, also did this:

Ivanka Trump worried about her brand: NYT

Ivanka Trump has been one of her father's most valuable political surrogates on the campaign trail - polished and well-spoken, with a high public profile already thanks to her own womenswear business - she's played a key role in softening his image. 

But selling her father's candidacy has not come without cost - she's bristled under scrutiny and her clothing line has been the target of a boycott by consumers repelled by her father's comments about women.

Today the NYT revealed she's concerned about her close association with the campaign damaging her personal brand:

"His polished older daughter, Ivanka, sat for a commercial intended to appeal to suburban women who have recoiled from her father's incendiary language. But she discouraged the campaign from promoting the ad in news releases, fearing that her high-profile association with the campaign would damage the businesses that bear her name."

Read the full story and view the ad here. 

Ivanka Trump is reportedly concerned about brand damage.
Ivanka Trump is reportedly concerned about brand damage. Photo: Bloomberg

Clinton speaking in New Hampshire

Hillary Clinton conceded that her former rival Bernie Sanders "cleaned my clock in the primary", as she addressed a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire.

"But it was a great primary because it was about ideas," she said.

Clinton urged people to turn up and vote on election day, and to "think for a moment about how we would feel on November 9 if we were not successful".

"Our future is in our hands, and anyone who says they're going to stay on the sidelines ... really doesn't understand what's at stake in this election," Clinton said.

"We have to heal this country. We have to remember how to disagree without being so disagreeable."

 

Khzir Khan to Trump: 'This isn't your America'

Khzir Khan, the father of a fallen American Muslim soldier, has received a deafening response while introducing Hillary Clinton at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Khan made headlines earlier in the campaign, when he spoke passionately about the death of his son, while rebuking Republican candidate Donald Trump.

He continued that criticism on Sunday, local time, drawing a huge response from the crowd.

"Would anyone who isn't like you have a place in your America, Donald Trump?" Mr Khan said.

"Well thankfully Mr Trump, this isn't your America. On Tuesday, we are going to prove America belongs to all of us."

 

 

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