US election briefing: Polls show election tightening as Trump and Harris seek to shore up support

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris , spent Sunday trying to shore up political support in battleground states across the country, with polls showing them locked in a tightening race.

In North Carolina , Harris attacked her rival for spreading misinformation related to hurricanes Helene and Milton. The vice-president attended a Black church in Greenville, telling the assembled crowd “there are some who are not acting in the spirit of community … lying about people who are working hard to help the folks in need, spreading disinformation when the truth and facts are required.”

From Arizona , Trump spoke to Fox News, telling them he could impose tariffs higher than 200% on vehicles imported from Mexico. The former president said his aim would be to prevent the selling of cars from Mexico into the US. “All I’m doing is saying ‘I’ll put 200 or 500, I don’t care.’ I’ll put a number where they can’t sell one car,” he said.

Related: Democrats on edge in critical Michigan amid fears of waning enthusiasm

Here’s what else happened on Sunday:

• At his rally in Arizona, Donald Trump proposed hiring 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents and giving them a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, after he derailed a bipartisan bill earlier this year that included funding for more border personnel. In Prescott Valley, roughly 260 miles north of the state’s border with Mexico, he accepted an endorsement from the National Border Patrol Council.

• A New York Times poll published on Sunday found that Harris is underperforming among Latino voters , when compared with the past three Democratic candidates for the White House. An NBC News poll showed the candidates in a “dead heat” nationally at 48% support.

• A man armed with guns and false press and VIP passes was apprehended near a Trump campaign rally in California on Saturday, authorities have said. “The incident did not impact the safety of former president Trump or attendees of the event,” the Riverside county sheriff’s office said. Police said the suspect, Las Vegas resident Vem Miller was carrying a loaded shotgun, handgun and high-capacity magazine and is believed to be a member of a rightwing anti-government organization. He was released after posting $5,000 bail.

• President Joe Biden surveyed battered communities and debris-filled streets in Florida , vowing to continue supporting the state’s recovery from Hurricane Milton. The president reiterated his call for US lawmakers – who are on recess until after the 5 November presidential election – to return to Washington to approve more disaster funding.

• Republican House speaker Mike Johnson resisted White House and state lawmakers appeals to approve more disaster assistance , telling NBC News, “the states have to go and calculate and assess the need and then they submit that to Congress, and that takes some time.”

• Trump said he spoke to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “like two days ago”. Trump was asked when last he spoke to the Israeli leader during a Fox News interview. Joe Biden also spoke to Netanyahu last week, in what was the first known conversation between the two leaders since August. Trump called the lack of conversation between Biden and Netanyahu in nearly two months “pathetic”.

• Former president Bill Clinton urged churchgoers in Albany, Georgia, to rally behind Harris’ campaign . “Uniting people and building, being repairers of the breach, as Isaiah says, those are the things that work,” Clinton said. “Blaming, dividing, demeaning – they get you a bunch of votes at election time, but they don’t work.” Georgia is one of seven states seen as pivotal in this year’s presidential race, and turnout among Black voters could hold the key for Democrats to winning the state’s 16 electoral votes.