Joe Biden runs off-stage as rain interrupts Florida rally

Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden abruptly ended his campaign rally in Florida as he got caught in the rain on Thursday. Just before is ran off stage, he urged his supporters to vote immediately without any delay. US elections are due on November 3. Early voting is going on.

"I never forgot what President Kennedy said about going to the moon. He said we're going. You know why? Because we refuse to postpone. Let's not postpone and get out of the rain," said Biden.

Biden was holding the rally in Tampa, Florida. Donald Trump was in Florida as well. Florida is a key battleground state. It has 29 electoral votes. Whoever wins Florida will have a major boost in winning the presidency. 

In 2016 Donald Trump had won in Florida. This had proven instrumental in his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed Trump had essentially moved into a tie with Biden in Florida, with 49% per cent saying they would vote for Biden and 47 per cent for the president.

Trump has trailed Biden in national opinion polls for months, partly because of widespread disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus. Opinion polls in the most competitive states that will decide the election have shown a closer race.

The pandemic and an extraordinary level of enthusiasm have prompted Americans to vote early in unprecedented numbers.

More than 83.5 million votes have been cast either by mail or in person, nearly 61% of the total number of votes in the entire 2016 election, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.

(With Reuters inputs)