NEW YORK - Ms Kamala Harris and Donald Trump exchanged barbs over the airwaves Oct 8 as they reached out to the few remaining undecided voters in the final stretch of an election seen as one of the closest in modern US history.

Ms Harris has maintained a lead of two-to-three points in national polling since mid-August, despite presidential and vice-presidential debates, encouraging jobs data, an interest rate cut, escalating international crises and a devastating hurricane.

“I literally lose sleep – and have been – over what is at stake in this election,” the Democratic vice-president, 59, told radio icon Howard Stern in a 70-minute live interview.

A poll from Siena College and The New York Times out Oct 8 highlighted the deadlock, finding Ms Harris ahead of her Republican rival by 49 per cent to 46 per cent – although it had the pair in a dead heat in September.

Poll-watchers expect the stalemate to break only in the last couple of weeks before election day on Nov 5, as the small fraction of wavering Americans who will decide the election break one way or the other.

In the seven battleground states seen as likely to determine the election, the race is even tighter.

The new poll gave Trump the edge on who is the stronger leader but, crucially, revealed that registered voters see Ms Harris as the change candidate.

‘Loser’

Ms Harris – who has spent much of the campaign under pressure to sit down for more interviews – is spending the week targeting women, Latinos and young voters through traditional media and via appearances on influential podcasts and YouTube shows.

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a staple of the evening comedy talk show circuit, was set to air a pre-recorded interview late Oct 8 with Ms Harris – and in excerpts shared ahead of the broadcast she called Trump a “loser”.

Trump “openly admires dictators and authoritarians,” she said during a weighty section of what was, at times, a light-hearted ...