Who will win the US election? Latest odds and polls
Polls suggest the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is on a knife edge as voters cast their ballots.
It's polling day in the US, with Americans set to decide whether Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.
Opinion polls show the pair are locked in a tight race, with Harris bolstered by strong support among female voters while Trump gains ground with Hispanic voters, especially men.
Voters overall view both candidates unfavourably, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, but that has not dissuaded them from casting ballots: more than 78 million Americans have already done so ahead of election day, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab.
This is approaching half the total 160 million votes cast in 2020, in which US voter turnout was the highest in more than a century.
On Sunday, Harris told parishioners at a church in Detroit that the election will "decide the fate of our nation for generations to come".
Trump, at one of three rallies, frequently abandoned his teleprompter with off-the-cuff remarks in which he denounced opinion polls showing movement for Harris. He also called the Democrats a "demonic party", ridiculed Joe Biden and talked about the high price of apples.
Here, Yahoo News UK takes a detailed look at the latest polls and odds ahead of Tuesday.
What do the polls say?
The weighted average of the national polls shows Harris holding a 0.9% lead over Trump – which is down on previous weeks. The vice-president is sitting on 47.9% compared to Trump's 47.0%.
Here is how the pair's poll ratings have changed since the summer, according to YouGov.
With such a tight race, the election is expected to be won by small margins in the seven "swing" states.
And even these remain extremely close, according to the final New York Times/Siena College poll.
The opinion poll showed Harris with marginal leads in Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin and Trump just ahead in Arizona. The two are in close races in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, according to the poll.
In all seven states, the matchups were within the poll's 3.5% margin of error.
However, a shock poll in Iowa - which Trump easily won in 2016 and 2020 - had Harris ahead by 47% to 44%. This poll was disputed by Trump, who claimed it was "heavily skewed toward the Democrats".
Where are the swing states?
A majority of US states are known to reliably back either the Republicans or Democrats.
However, there are certain states which have flipped between red and blue in recent years, or have come down to razor-thin polling margins, meaning they are less predictable.
These are known as "swing" or "battleground" states, and winning them is crucial. This means campaigns often devote time, energy and money to these states in order to clinch the election.
Traditionally, seven key states (carrying more than 90 electoral college votes of the 270 needed to win the election) are classed as swing states. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina.
What do the latest odds say?
While the opinion polls suggest a tight race with Harris just in the lead, the bookies currently have Trump as favourite to move into the Oval Office.
As of Monday, betting aggregator site Oddschecker has Trump ahead at 3/4, meaning a £10 bet would return £17.50.
Harris was listed at 13/10, meaning £10 would return £23.
Who is on the Republican ticket?
Trump named Ohio senator JD Vance as his vice-presidential nominee in July during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Vance, 40, was once a strident critic of Trump but has become one of his staunchest supporters.
A venture capitalist who went to Yale, Vance is the author of the bestselling novel Hillbilly Elegy, which was subsequently adapted into a film.
He admitted he had said "bad things" about Trump in the past but that it was important to admit he was wrong.
Who is on the Democratic ticket?
Harris selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate in August.
A US Army National Guard veteran, Walz, 60, has been a schoolteacher, football coach, hunter and gun owner. He is considered as someone who has deep connections to rural US voters, who in recent years have voted broadly for Trump.
Walz has pushed a progressive agenda that includes free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for workers.
He faced criticism, mainly from Republicans, over his handling of the protests that emerged after the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
