US election like no other enters tense final month

US braces itself for cliffhanger ending with Trump and Harris neck and neck in polls

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WASHINGTON - Ms Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are enter ing the final one-month sprint to the most dramatic US presidential election in modern history, with both candidates warning the fate of a divided nation hangs on a result that is still too close to call.

The 2024 race has seen more twists than a Hollywood blockbuster, from the Vice-President's shock replacement of Mr Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, to the Republican former president riding out two assassination attempts as he eyes a sensational comeback to the White House.

Now the US is bracing itself for a cliffhanger ending with Trump, 78, and Ms Harris, 59, neck and neck in the polls - and the Republican warning darkly of a repeat of the chaos that followed the 2020 election if he does not win this time around.

The world is meanwhile waiting to see who ends up in the Oval Office, at a time when the Middle East slips ever closer to all-out war and Ukraine's fight for survival against Russia hinges on the US support that Trump has previously criticised.

"This is a tremendously important election," Associate Professor Peter Loge, director of George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, told AFP.