US election: Polling stations open in must-win state of Florida

Fifty counties in the key battleground state of Florida open for early voting

Polling stations have opened for early voting in the key battleground state of Florida, where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump remain in a tight race. 

Mr Trump is blitzing the state with five rallies while Mrs Clinton is also swinging through the Sunshine State. Early voting by mail began in Florida weeks ago, with over a million people having already cast their votes.

Mrs Clinton holds a narrow three-point lead over Mr Trump in Florida, according to a new CBS/YouGov poll. The former secretary of state had 46% of the vote compared with Mr Trump's 43%, the poll found.


Recent polls have put Mrs Clinton well ahead of her Republican rival both nationally and in several battleground states. A new CNN/ORC national poll put Mrs Clinton six points ahead among likely voters, at 51% to 45% in a head-to-head with Mr Trump.

Polling in Republican strongholds including Arizona, Georgia and Utah have also shown closer-than-expected races.

But speaking at a rally in St Augustine on Monday, Mr Trump, said: "Folks, we're winning. We're winning. We're winning." He once again blamed the media, which he described as being composed of "thieves and crooks" and "almost as crooked as Hillary", and said the system is "corrupt and rigged and broken".

Pollsters also came under fire, with Mr Trump claiming the hacked emails of John Podesta showed the Clinton campaign chair was "rigging the polls by oversampling Democrats".

The Republican nominee also hit out at his rival's use of a personal email server while secretary of state, saying the FBI and Justice Department had inappropriately let her off the hook.

"We have to investigate the investigation," he said. And he addressed the latest allegation of sexual misconduct from Jessica Drake, a 42-year-old adult film star who said the Republican nominee grabbed her and kissed her without permission 10 years ago.

"And she's a porn star... Oh, I'm sure she's never been grabbed before," he said, adding that he will sue all the "liars" after the election.