(NewsNation) — As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris head into the final stretch of a neck-and-neck presidential election, a recent poll shows that the vast majority of Americans believe the country is more divided than united.
An Ipsos Poll, conducted on behalf of the “With Honor” organization, shows that 81% of U.S. residents believe the country is more divided and that 69% believe most Americans want the same things.
“I think everybody wants a nice life and a pursuit of happiness and opportunity,” Bill O’Reilly said during a televised town hall on Wednesday night.
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O’Reilly said the nation finds itself the most divided it has been in history only behind the Civil War. Yet, while the nation is split in its support of Trump and Harris, O’Reilly said that instead, the battle is over the progressive values that Harris promotes and the tradition trumpeted by the former president.
“That’s what people are going to vote on,” O’Reilly said.
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The bigger priority, O’Reilly said, is the economy – an issue that he said will force Harris to enter Election Day facing a deficit because of the cost Americans are paying for basic necessities compared to four years ago when President Joe Biden took office, he added.
“People know what they’re paying – and they don’t like it,” O’Reilly said. “That’s going to work against Harris.”
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However, Stephen A. Smith, the former ESPN personality who has delved more into politics, said during the NewsNation town hall that he believes reproductive rights will play a huge factor in Tuesday’s election.
With women representing 53% of the electorate, the overturning of Roe v. Wade is something, Smith said, that “potentially could comeback back to bite Donald Trump.”
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But Smith said there is also a “white issue” with white voters making up 57.4% of the population – the lowest it has been in recent history, Smith said. That, Smith added, could potentially be a deciding factor in how a certain population of Americans vote in Tuesday’s election.
“When you have a former president that was speaking about immigration, closing the borders, not letting people in illegally, and eluding – if not flat-out saying – that to some degree, they are costing you, you have to remember that you once considered that you’re a very powerful entity,” Smith said.
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“And you believe that power is dissipating before your very eyes and somebody comes along, and they are literally transfixing your attention on that as the issue and that is the reason why, it not only builds fear, it builds grievance, When people go to the polls, the first thing that serves as a motivational factor is grievance.”