Demetri Sevastopulo, Lauren Fedor, Kadhim Shubber and Courtney Weaver in Washington
Almost 99m Americans had already cast ballots either in person or by mail by Monday evening, equivalent to 72 per cent of the entire 2016 vote and putting the country on track for a record turnout.
The majority of early votes have been cast by Democrats, according to the US Elections Project, meaning Mr Trump must convince Republicans to turn out in big numbers on Tuesday if he is to overcome their advantage.
There will be fewer undecided voters up for grabs on election day this year owing to the surge in early voting by Americans who did not want to contract the virus at crowded polling stations.
Mr Trump has threatened legal action to block the counting of ballots in critical battlegrounds if they arrive after election day. However, those efforts suffered a blow after judges in two battleground states rejected lawsuits intended to stop the counting of ballots.
The final result could be delayed by days if not weeks as Democrats fight expected legal efforts by Republicans to prevent some mail-in votes from being counted.
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