US, (Al Jazeera) -  Polls have opened for the 2024 United States election, a national vote that will decide not only the next president of the country but also the makeup of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Tuesday caps a mad-dash stretch of campaigning that saw Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican challenger Donald Trump crisscrossing the country in hopes of shoring up voters.

For weeks, polls have shown a remarkably tight race, with no candidate having the edge going into Election Day.

Whatever the outcome of the vote, the result will define US politics and policy for the next four years. It will also be historic as voters will either elect the first female president in Harris or the first convicted felon in Trump.

In the final sprint of the race, both candidates have laid out vastly different visions for the country’s future. They have also staked out divergent positions on key issues like the economy, immigration, women’s rights and democracy.

Harris has pledged to “turn the page” on what she calls Trump’s divisive rhetoric. She has also positioned herself as a “new generation” leader who will boost the middle class, protect women’s rights and maintain the integrity of US institutions at home and abroad.

Nevertheless, she has faced regular protests over her support for Israel’s war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Trump, meanwhile, has promised a return to a US “golden age”. To do that, he has sketched a plan to lift economic regulations, project US strength abroad and crack down on migrants – a line of attack that regularly dips into racist tropes.

But while the candidates’ platforms have starkly contrasted in both substance and tone, they overlap on one lofty theme: that the outcome of this year’s vote is pivotal.