With just five days left until the U.S. midterm elections, national polls show Democrats in the lead, but several Senate races remain close.
President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama and Vice President J.D. Vance were on the campaign trail in Ohio, Georgia and North Carolina on Wednesday as the two parties battled for control of Congress.
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Here’s what you need to know:
What do the latest polls say about the US midterm elections?
According to RealClearPolling’s national polling average, Democrats lead Republicans 51.4% to 43.2%, a difference of 8.2 points.
But the national lead doesn’t translate into every Senate race.
In Texas, where a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race since 1988, Democrat James Talarico leads Republican Ken Paxton 48.5% to 46.7%, according to the polling firm.
In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has widened his lead over Republican Mike Rogers to 7 points, according to a Mitchell Research poll conducted for CBS Detroit.
The Oct. 26-27 poll showed Mr. El-Sayed leading Mr. Rogers 51% to 44%, widening from a 4.2-point lead earlier this month.
It was a close race, with El-Sayed at 48 percent and Rogers at 46 percent, according to RealClearPolling.
Despite this lead, Democrats continue to campaign for support among Michigan’s younger voters.
Will Lawrence, the Democratic candidate seeking to win Michigan’s 7th Congressional District from the Republican Party, told Al Jazeera: “We need everyone, young people are a big part of the coalition, and they could really be the deciding factor in the election on November 3rd.”
Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, who traveled from Florida to campaign for El-Sayed, said direct conversations with voters are especially important.
“We’ve all seen the negative bigoted ads, we’ve all seen the Islamophobic ads, but what hasn’t really happened is that no one has had a direct conversation about why Abdul is the right person to be a senator in Michigan,” he said.
The Republican Party is also trying to reach out to younger voters, with one supporter telling Al Jazeera: “I think there’s definitely a conservative movement among Gen Z that people don’t realize.”
Outside of Michigan, some voters told Al Jazeera they are dissatisfied with both parties.
“Each party wants to be in power, and they’re going to say what they want voters to hear,” said one voter in Lexington, Kentucky.
Democratic strategist Joel Rubin said the midterm elections could be “protest elections” as many Democratic voters seek to limit Trump’s power.
“I think the overwhelming majority of American voters who vote for the Democratic Party do so because they want to check President Trump’s power,” he said.
Republican strategist Suhail Khan said Trump is losing support among many voters in his home country who are unhappy with rising fuel prices, rents and mortgage costs.
In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, another voter said, “I continue to vote, I’m independent, I vote for both sides…I’m very frustrated and I don’t have any hope.”
Can the Democratic Party take control of Congress?
Democrats hope to overturn Republican majorities in both chambers, but the Senate poses an even bigger challenge.
They would need a net gain of three seats in the House and four seats in the Senate, where Republicans currently hold 53 of the 100 seats. There are 47 Democratic members, including two independents who caucus with the Democratic Party.
Democrats need to reach 51 seats to take control, but the path to a Senate majority will not be easy.
“Even the most optimistic Republicans will say it’s going to be pretty tough for Republicans to hold onto the House,” said Al Jazeera’s Scott MacLean. “However, the U.S. Senate is a different story.”
MacLean said even if Democrats win North Carolina and Ohio and maintain their current seats, they would still be two seats short of the 51 needed for a majority.
Alaska and Texas could help close that gap. But Republicans also hope to win in Michigan, where the race remains close.
Controlling a majority in the House of Representatives would still have significant implications for Mr. Trump. If Democrats flip the House, they could block some of his legislative initiatives and launch investigations into his administration.
The White House could object to such a request, but could also ask administration officials to testify before a congressional committee.
What happened in the US midterm election campaign in the past 24 hours?
Trump was in Ohio campaigning for Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who is running against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.
During the rally, Trump defended Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy following backlash over an ad featuring Democratic rival Amy Acton’s estranged mother.
President Trump said Ramaswamy was being treated “very unfairly.” “Is that really his problem?”
Trump also spoke about Jeffrey Epstein after a protester interrupted his speech, saying he had banned the late sex offender from his Mar-a-Lago club 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, former President Obama joined Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms.
President Obama criticized the Republican response to a recent Cheesecake Factory joke about White House renovations, saying he was more concerned about that than the rising cost of living.
“They’re not serious people. They don’t have solutions to real problems,” he says.
Vance also held rallies in North Carolina, where former Gov. Roy Cooper is running against Republican Michael Whatley in the U.S. Senate race.
What will happen to Trump, the Democrats, and the Republicans?
Trump will campaign in South Carolina on Thursday at 4:30 GMT, then head to Florida on Friday and Kansas on Saturday.
South Carolina is one of the Republican-held Senate seats Democrats are targeting, but the party faces an uphill battle in the traditionally conservative state.
In Texas, Vice President J.D. Vance will hold a rally in Weatherford at 5:15 p.m. Japan time, and Republican candidate Ken Paxton will face a tight Senate race against Democrat James Talarico.
Mr. Talarico will also be campaigning in Dallas on Thursday, starting at midnight Friday morning Japan time (7 p.m. Thursday local time).
Al Jazeera’s Phil Lovell reported from Texas that Republicans are particularly concerned about turnout in rural areas, where 21% of registered voters cast a ballot, compared to 24% in populous urban areas.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to campaign in Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is defending his seat from Republican Mike Collins.
Early voting in Georgia ends Friday, giving both parties a final push before Election Day.
