Harris or Trump will inherit a mixed legacy in 2024 US election

WASHINGTON: Americans head to the polls on Tuesday in a mood of discontent and division, with opinion polls showing nearly two-thirds of voters believe the country has been heading in the wrong direction under President Joe Biden.

While the United States economy is the envy of the industrialized world, emerging from Covid shutdowns with strong job growth and wage increases, many Americans complain those gains were gobbled up by high grocery and housing prices.

Biden’s promise of a return to a more humane immigration regime than under Republican former president Donald Trump soon collided with the reality of a spike in illegal border crossings.

The Supreme Court upended the legal landscape around abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade, inflaming one of the most divisive issues in American politics. And despite Biden’s pledge that America would serve as a stabilizing force in the world, overseas conflicts have overshadowed his presidency.

Whoever triumphs in the election - Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris - will inherit the legacy of a Biden administration that made good on some promises, saw others swept off-course by events, and others still only partially fulfilled.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, with almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests and regular gunbattles between security forces and Palestinian fighters.