NORTH CAROLINA, USA (AFP) — Kamala Harris on Wednesday was forced to distance herself from President Joe Biden’s comments labeling Donald Trump supporters as “trash” as the US election enters its final week.

Harris traveled to North Carolina and then to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, refocusing on three of the seven battleground states that could determine who wins the closest election in modern U.S. history.

Trump was also in North Carolina on Wednesday – in the town of Rocky Mount, about an hour’s drive from Harris’ Raleigh rally – and then headed to Wisconsin to appear on stage with US sports star Brett Favre.

More than 57 million people have already cast their votes through early or mail-in voting; This accounts for more than 35 percent of the total votes cast in the 2020 election.

Trump is expected to reject the election result if he loses, and the Republican is already leveraging isolated irregularities identified by election officials to amplify claims of widespread “fraud.”

On Wednesday, Harris was hoping to bask in the sunshine after a speech attended by tens of thousands of people outside the White House, where the Democrat warned her rival was unstable and yearned for unfettered power.

Instead, the President was dodging questions about Biden’s apparent gaffe when he lashed out at a warm-up speaker at a Trump rally who referred to the island of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” in an off-color joke that risked alienating. Latino voters.

“I see the only garbage floating around is his supporters,” Biden said, before trying to clarify that he was referring to Trump’s rhetoric, not the White House’s supporters.

“Let me be clear, I absolutely disagree with any criticism of people based on who they voted for,” said Harris, Biden’s vice president.

At the Rocky Mount rally, Trump said Biden “finally said what he and Kamala really think about our supporters.”

“My answer to Joe and Kamala is very simple: If you don’t love Americans, you can’t lead America,” he said, adding that Harris and Biden were “despicable.”

In North Carolina, Harris delivered her campaign’s “turning the page” message on former president Trump, telling the crowd “we’re not going back!” He shouted slogans.

“This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, caught up in grievances and pursuing unchecked power,” Harris said, repeating the speech she made in front of the White House the night before.

Harris spoke there at the point where Trump incited a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a violent attempt to keep him in power despite losing the 2020 election to Biden.

But the vice president also offered an optimistic vision of the future of the United States, with the White House illuminated behind him.

Harris pushed for the votes of undecided moderates and in Raleigh compared her leadership to Trump, who has repeatedly called his political opponents “the enemy within.”

“I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are enemies,” he said. “He wants to put them in jail, so I’ll give them a seat at the table.”

During a campaign event in Pennsylvania, Harris was interrupted by a protester and the crowd quickly silenced them.

“Everyone has the right to be heard, but right now I’m speaking out,” Harris said.

On Wednesday, Trump took to social media to repeat his claims of voter fraud, seemingly setting the stage for a repeat performance around the false claim that his 2020 loss to Biden was fraudulent.

He condemned what he said was “cheating” in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania at “large-scale levels never seen before.”

At his rally in North Carolina, Trump again cast doubt on the fairness of voting machines and called for a return to paper ballots.

He also referred to Harris as “stupid”, “corrupt”, “deeply incompetent” and a “failure”.

His campaign on Wednesday issued a new appeal for campaign donations, citing Biden’s comments.

But one person who won’t be voting for Trump on November 5 will be Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former Republican governor of California who supports Harris.

“Rejecting the election results is not un-American at all,” he said of Trump.

Inflation and the economy have been key issues this election, and new data on Wednesday showed solid economic growth despite a slight slowdown.