Trump slams Harris as she fends off 'garbage' remarks

Donald Trump has pulled an election stunt with a garbage truck as the US presidential campaign was forced off-piste by muddled remarks from President Joe Biden about the Republican's supporters that caused a headache for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Harris had hoped to spend the day expanding on the final-week "closing argument" but found herself instead disavowing Biden's remark that appeared to label Trump supporters "garbage."

Trump was on hand to exploit the misstep with a photo op on Wednesday, climbing into a garbage truck at an airport in Wisconsin and answering questions from reporters.

"How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honour of Kamala and Joe Biden," Trump said from the cabin of the vehicle.

"You can't be president if you hate the American people, which I believe they do," Trump added later at his rally in Green Bay, still wearing his high-visibility jacket.

Harris meanwhile travelled to North Carolina and onward to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, focusing again on three of seven battleground states that could determine who wins the closest election in modern US history.

Trump was also in North Carolina on Wednesday — in the town of Rocky Mount, about an hour's drive from Harris's Raleigh rally — before he headed to Wisconsin. More than 57 million have already cast their ballots via early or mail-in voting, over a third of the 2020 total.

Harris' response

At his North Carolina rally, Trump again cast doubt on the fairness of voting machines and called for a return to paper ballots.

His campaign on Wednesday made a fresh plea for campaign donations by referencing Biden's comments.

The Republican is already seizing on commonplace verification processes by election officials to amplify his claims of widespread "cheating."

Harris, meanwhile, was forced to off questions about Biden's remarks, which came when the president reacted to a comedian at a Trump rally referring to Puerto Rico as "a floating island of garbage."

"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters," Biden said, before the White House sought to clarify that he was referring to Trump's rhetoric, not to his supporters.

"Let me be clear, I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for," said Harris, Biden's vice president.

In North Carolina, Harris hammered home her campaign's message to "turn the page" on Trump, leading the crowd in chants of "We are not going back!"

"This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power," said Harris.