Vice President Harris and former President Trump are locked in an incredibly close race going into the final full week of the campaign — at least if the opinion polls are right.

Harris holds a narrowing lead in national polls. Her edge is down to less than one point in the polling average maintained by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).

In recent elections, Democratic candidates have needed a bigger national lead than this to prevail in the Electoral College.

President Biden won the popular vote by more than four points nationally and eked out a narrow victory in 2020. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than two points and lost the election.

The polls are tighter still in the seven battleground states. The Hill/DDHQ state averages show Michigan in an exact tie and Trump leading in the other six swing states as of Friday evening.

However, nowhere was Trump’s edge greater than two points. In three of the six states, it was under one point.

Given the extreme closeness of the election, each side can take heart — or get panicked — by individual polls.

A New York Times/Siena College national poll released Friday morning showed a tied race. This was bad news for Harris, not least because she had led by three points in a poll from the same organizations at the start of this month.

On the other hand, an ABC News/Ipsos poll, also released Friday, indicated that fully 49 percent of registered voters consider Trump to be a fascist.

Here’s where things stand right now in the battlegrounds.

Trump’s strongest bets — Arizona and North Carolina

There is a sliver of separation now between these two states and the other battlegrounds — in Trump’s favor.

In The Hill/DDHQ averages, the former........

© The Hill