As Election Day approaches, it's worth remembering what this means for Americans.

A friend told me she couldn't understand why her schedule had meetings scheduled on Election Day.

Did they not understand how worried she would be?

If the election is as close as predicted, half of this country's population will be deeply disappointed after an ugly campaign full of drama and violence in which they were told the stakes could not be higher.

And with polls opening soon, the race is closer than ever.

The Americans will decide between two candidates who could not be more different in many ways and who have both made remarkable comebacks in the run-up to this day.

Four years ago, many of his critics thought they had seen the last of Republican nominee Donald Trump as he reluctantly left the White House in 2020, defeated and twice impeached.

Maybe they should have marked his words to supporters before he boarded Air Force One one last time to fly to Florida.

“Goodbye. We love you. We will come back in some form,” he said.

And here he is.

Four indictments, a guilty verdict, and a finding of liability for sexual abuse and fraud have not stopped him from consolidating his influence over the party and its base.

A second comeback

A few years ago, not many observers would have bet that Trump's opponent would be where she is.

Overall, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris proved to be an unpopular vice president. She made mistakes when faced with the unenviable task of addressing the causes of illegal immigration. Rumors of dysfunction in her office leaked out.

President Joe Biden appeared to change his mind by handing over the reins to his deputy and, as he had promised, becoming an interim president.

Then came the debate, as the 81-year-old president slurred his words, lost his train of thought and stared open-mouthed at Trump.

It was unbearable.

In hindsight, it's easy to say that it was only a matter of time before Biden became convinced that his candidacy was no longer viable, but for a while he persisted, insisting that he was a fighter who was always underestimated had been.

As Trump, with his bandaged ear, was being hailed as some kind of deity at the Republican convention, Biden contracted COVID-19 and had to cancel his campaign events and return to Delaware.

At that moment everything really seemed to be over.

By waiting so long to resign, Biden arguably gave Harris the best chance of becoming his successor.

How “strange” came and went

At a high-profile party conference in August, the Democrats found new momentum and new energy.

A victory against Trump suddenly felt like a real possibility.

“Thank you for bringing the joy back,” Tim Walz said of his new boss.

Walz, the Minnesota governor, had been brought out of relative obscurity to become Harris' running mate choice, in large part apparently because his way of describing Republicans as “weird” was catching on.

The joy has become scarcer now.

Harris and Walz no longer lean toward the label “weird,” but rather paint the other side in much darker tones.

As the campaign has progressed, Democrats have increasingly returned to the message Biden tried to convey: that Trump is a threat to democracy and freedom.

In a speech that served as her closing statement, delivered from the Ellipse where Donald Trump cheered on the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Harris told the crowd that this election was “more than just an election “between two parties” are two different candidates”.

“It is a decision about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”

Harris' strongest campaign theme is a promise to restore abortion and reproductive health care rights, which have been eroded in much of the country since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Unlike the woman before her, Hillary Clinton, Harris has not made her gender a feature of this campaign.

The vice president has also largely dodged questions about her racial identity.

She refused to be drawn when Trump claimed she “accidentally blacked out.”

“Same old, tired playbook, next question please,” the vice president told CNN.

But for many of the supporters I met, Harris' race and gender matter.

“It's an honor to see someone with similar skin to me and a woman who has the opportunity to be president of the United States of America,” one woman told me at a Harris rally in Georgia a few weeks ago.

“It brings me to tears.”

An angry Trump races toward the finish line

Trump's campaign has also changed over time.

His rally chatter seems to have become darker and uglier. When he tries to approach women, he seems to do so in unlikely ways.

The man proud of convincing the Supreme Court that struck down the constitutional right to abortion has dubbed himself the “Father of IVF.”

This is a particularly confusing claim given that the overturning of Roe v. Wade opened the door to efforts to restrict access to IVF.

Trump says he will “protect women” “whether women like it or not.”

And he has suggested that a prominent critic, Republican Liz Cheney, wouldn't be such a “war hawk” if she had guns pointed at her.

Perhaps this is Trump's way of appealing to the “bro vote,” to young men who he believes will find this language appealing or funny, but in the final days of this campaign there was a sense that Trump was tired and gets angry.

There was the bizarre dancing incident when he swayed to his favorite songs on a rally stage for a full 40 minutes.

He then got really, really angry about a malfunctioning microphone, punched it, appeared to make sexual gestures with it, and told the crowd he was “seething.”

“Do you want to see me destroy the people backstage?” he asked at the rally in Milwaukee.

Trump's strongest issues are the economy and the border.

It found the Biden administration did too little, too late to curb illegal migration at the southern border.

The Trump campaign has highlighted the stories of young women and girls who were allegedly murdered by undocumented immigrants.

There is no evidence that undocumented migrants commit these crimes at a higher rate than Americans, but many Trump voters say concerns about the border are top of mind.

If Trump wins, it will also be due in large part to cost of living pressures.

Inflation may be under control again, but prices are high.

Many people make it difficult and tell you that life seemed more affordable under Trump.

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A nervous wait for the morning after

If Harris doesn't win, the bloodshed will come quickly.

Those who thought Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro should have been her choice for vice president will feel vindicated, especially if she trails on the key issue that appears to be on a knife's edge.

Shapiro could position himself to run in 2028, as could Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and perhaps Maryland's Wes Moore.

In four years, Democrats could get the open primaries denied them by Biden's insistence that he is fit for another four years.

There are real fears about the prospect of more political violence.

If Trump loses, it is likely he will challenge the results.

There is increasing evidence that the seeds of such moves are being sown.

If Trump wins, on the other hand, many Harris supporters will worry about what it will mean for their freedoms and freedoms, and not just in terms of reproductive rights.

The former president has repeatedly promised to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and unleash the army on what he calls “the enemy within.”

Whatever the outcome, Americans are preparing for a bumpy ride.