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Trump, Biden battle for Midwest voters

U.S. President Donald Trump rallied his Midwestern supporters in Swanton, Ohio Monday night (September 21) as he goes to head to head with his opponent, Democrat Joe Biden, in key battleground states ahead of November 3.

The stakes of the presidential race were upended Friday with the passing of liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

And at Monday's rally Trump promised to fill Ginsburg's now-vacant spot on the Bench as early as this weekend -- cheered on by crowds chanting "fill that seat."

"Now they want to impeach me again if I nominate somebody, as I'm constitutionally obligated to do to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Go ahead. I want them, I want them to do that. I want them to do that. (CROWD CHANTS "FILL THAT SEAT") We will, we will."

Trump is currently ahead in Ohio, which he won by 8 percentage points in 2016.

But with U.S. coronavirus deaths now hovering around 200,000 -- Biden tried to steer conversation towards Trump's handling of the health crisis on Monday.

He was visiting an aluminum plant in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

"Due to Donald Trump's lies and incompetence, the past six months have seen the one of the gravest losses of American life in history. In history. But, sadly, it's not over. As awful as the past 180 days have been, the next 90 days could be twice as bad.

The two candidates' campaign events are a reminder of the importance of battleground states.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll Monday showed that Biden currently holds a lead among likely voters in Wisconsin.

But Manitowoc County, which also supported Biden and former President Barack Obama back in 2008, went to President Trump in 2016.

That helped deliver Wisconsin to a Republican presidential candidate for the first time since 1984.