Of course, due to the vagaries of the US electoral college system, it is entirely possible, as has happened in a number of recent presidential elections, for a candidate to win the popular vote but still lose the election. For example, in the 2016 election, Hilary Clinton won 2.8 million more votes than Donald Trump, but still lost the election.

Unsurprisingly, the Trump campaign wasted no time in seizing on Biden’s offhand remark, despite the White House’s attempt to clarify and deflect attention from it. However, it appears that Biden’s passing statement may have alienated some voters who may still be on the fence. Whether or not it causes additional damage remains an open question.

Apart from these considerations, the Harris campaign relies on the votes of many of the organized work. Historically, this segment of the vote has rallied around Democrats. However, since Trump has been in office, despite his failure to address the concerns of organized labor, he has made some inroads into this previously solid Democratic stronghold. For example, the firefighters union did not support either Harris or Trump. And so, it is possible that some of their members will move to the Trump camp.

These constraints, while appealing to members of the religious right, have generated significant backlash among broad swaths of voters across the country. Not surprisingly, Democrats in general and the Harris campaign in particular have made this a key issue in the campaign. Trump’s maladroit and contradictory statements on the subject also helped Democrats get their message across. Furthermore, JD Vance, his fellow executive, did not help matters with his convoluted and dishonest statements on the subject when asked for his views.

Few presidential elections in recent decades have been so closely fought. What happens on November 5th will have major consequences for both the United States and the world. Millions across the United States and around the world will be glued to their radios and televisions as the election results trickle in.

(Sumit Ganguly is Senior Fellow and Director of the Huntington Program on US-India Relations at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are those of the author. Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)