Welcome! We've been covering the final presidential debate which took place on Thursday night in Nashville.

If you watched the first debate, you'll have seen a chaotic, insult-filled exchange between the two candidates. But on Thursday, the personal attacks were (mostly) out - instead audiences got the chance to hear some of what Biden and Trump had to offer to Americans.

The muted mics probably helped to cool temperatures and the moderator, Kristen Welker, has been celebrated for encouraging a higher standard of debate.

With arguments on coronavirus, race, climate change and corruption, both candidates made it clear how different their visions for the US were.

You can watch the highlights here.

Noel is a dual UK-US citizen and undecided. Before the debate, he said he preferred Biden as a person but was more supportive of Trump's policies.

What moment stood out in the debate to you?

There were two things. First, when Biden admitted policy mistakes in the past, which is very rare. Trump could probably learn a lesson from that. Second, Biden was completely wrong when he spoke about the minimum wage.

Did Trump or Biden do enough to win your vote tonight?

The debate did very little to help me. I am leaning more towards Trump after the debate because I didn't like what Biden said about the economy.

One word to describe Trump and Biden tonight?

Trump - erratic; Biden - politician.

Read what other members of the BBC's Voter Panel thought of the debate.

Image source, Getty Images

American pop star Ariana Grande has channeled the election mood - and dropped some hints to her fans.

While the lyrics "Positions" aren't political, the video shows the singer as president in the Oval Office and in cabinet meetings.

The single was released after Thursday night's debate and has already been viewed more than eight million times on YouTube, external and received 3.8 million likes on Instagram.

But the song is the closest the 27-year-old will be able to get to the presidency for some years yet - under US law, presidents must be at least 35.

Earlier in the campaign, Grande urged fans in her home state of Florida to register to vote before the deadline, adding: "Florida has the potential of swaying the election."

The state later extended the registration deadline by a day after the online registration site crashed under a sudden surge in trafffic.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Moscow Correspondent

Image source, Russia 1

Exactly four years ago - on 23 October 2016 - Russian state TV’s star anchor delivered an extraordinary monologue. Quoting Wikileaks and Mark Twain - what a combination! - the newsreader cited “proof” that the US presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump. He dismissed the vote as “neither free nor democratic, a mass of falsifications”.

The Russian state media had been openly backing Trump: newspapers here described Hillary Clinton as “a cursed witch” and “war-like and Russia-hating”. But Moscow seemed to have concluded that she was unassailable. So, in the run-up to election day Russian media (echoing candidate Trump) concentrated on questioning the legitimacy of the vote and predicting chaos in America.

Fast forward four years to reports of Russia hacking into US sites (denied by Moscow) and claims that the Kremlin is plotting to sow doubt about the integrity of the US election.

Familiar pattern? To an extent. But there are important differences. So far, no-one here has described Joe Biden as “a cursed wizard”. On the contrary, today the Russian government paper suggested that under Biden, American policy on Russia would be “more predictable” and criticised Trump for being “a weak president".

This time round the Russian authorities appear to be hedging their bets, leaving the door open (possibly) to building a relationship with a Biden administration. I say "possibly", because in the event of a disputed election and political and social upheaval in America, Moscow may calculate it has more to gain from seeing the US experience a prolonged period of chaos.

Joe Biden has been ahead of Donald Trump in most national polls since the start of the year. He has hovered around 50% in recent months and has had a 10-point lead on occasions.

The latest polls looking at key battleground states have put Trump slightly ahead of Joe Biden in Texas and Ohio - but the president has fallen far behind in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Among Texas respondents, 50% said they preferred Trump, compared to 46% who said they would vote for Biden.

In Michigan, however, 50% of likely voters said they preferred Biden, while 43% said they preferred Trump. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Biden also led by five points.

We're tracking the polling in more detail here.

Image source, Getty Images

Remember foreign interference in the 2016 election? Well the threat is raising its head again - that's according to US security officials. On Thursday they said that hackers had targeted dozens of computer networks in the US in recent days, and stolen information from at least two servers. Russia and Iran were to blame, they said - see our story from Thursday. Both countries deny the accusation.

But now Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who is House Speaker, has urged caution on statements coming from intelligence officials in the run-up to the election. "I think we have to be very careful about any statements coming out about the election from the intelligence community at this time," she said.

The FBI director has said that US election systems were still secure and "resilient".

Meanwhile the New York Times is reporting that the threat from Russia is larger than from Iran,, external and that officials said they uncovered a plot to interfere with the election in the final days of the campaign.

Barbara Plett Usher
BBC News, Washington

Image source, Getty Images

Under a Joe Biden presidency, the US would re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement, rejoin the World Health Organization, and seek to lead a global coronavirus response.

The Biden campaign describes this as a plan to restore American leadership, and a promise to reverse the disruptive, unilateralist instincts of President Donald Trump.

This would be more style than substance, counter some Republican analysts, who argue that the Trump administration has engaged the world, just with sharp elbows.

Biden takes seriously the bruises inflicted on allies. Repairing the damage done would be at the top of his priority list, even if some core policy demands - such as pressure for Nato members to spend 2% of GDP on defence - stayed the same.

But there would also be sharp policy turns: an aggressive focus on addressing climate change, and an increase in refugee admissions. Expect change in the Middle East too: not in fulsome support for Israel, although the left wing of the Democratic party has pushed for a greater emphasis on Palestinian rights, but on Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Joe Biden would re-enter the Iran nuclear agreement if Tehran resumed its commitments. And he’s said he'll end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Read more from Barbara on this here

President Trump is a climate change sceptic, and wants to expand non-renewable energy. He aims to increase drilling for oil and gas, and roll back further environmental protections. He has committed to withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord - the international agreement on tackling climate change - which the US will formally leave later this year.

Biden says he would immediately re-join the Paris climate agreement if elected. He wants the US to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and proposes banning new leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands, as well as a $2tn investment in green energy.

How election could decide battle against climate change

Upasana Bhat
BBC Monitoring

Image source, Getty Images

Chinese officials had a curt response to US President Donald Trump's assertion that the air in the Asian country is "filthy".

"The sky is blue today," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian during a press briefing, according to state-runChinese newspaper Global Times, external.

Trump made the comments during the climate change portion of the presidential debate with Joe Biden. "Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at India - it's filthy. The air is filthy," he said.

Beijing usually sees severe air pollution during winter, with thick smog enveloping the city and people wearing masks. In recent years, China has made efforts to bring down its air pollution levels and the impact has been seen, but experts question whether this is sustainable long-term.

Amid speculation of foreign interference in the upcoming US election, Zhao added: "We are not interested in the US election. We also hope that the US does not make accusations against China in the US elections."

And China featured heavily in other sections of the debate also. The candidates accused each other of being influenced by Beijing, and Trump has often blamed China for the spread of coronavirus, which was first detected in Wuhan.

Image source, Getty Images

The number of people who have already cast their votes has now exceeded 50 million, according to the US elections project. , externalThat's more than one-fifth of those eligible to vote.

Many states allow early voting days or even weeks before the election in order to reduce congestion on election day itself. It can be in-person at a ballot box or by post.

Though it could be a sign of higher-than-usual interest in voting, it's important to remember that record numbers of people have registered to vote by mail this year - that's because many voters want to avoid polling stations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday the US Postal Service revealed it had delivered 100m blank or completed postal ballots since early September.

Image source, Reuters

Wondering what an electoral college is, and why there is so much focus on so-called battleground states? Curious to know why the Republican Party is called the GOP, or why the new president won’t immediately move into the White House?

Read our really simple guide to the US election 2020 for all the answers.

Reality Check

Trump said the excess mortality rate in the US was “much lower than almost any other country".

'Excess mortality' is a measure of how many extra deaths a country experiences above the number expected in a normal year.

The latest numbers out of the US show there were almost 300,000 excess deaths since the start of this year.

Making international comparisons is tricky, as countries record deaths in different ways.

Other countries also publish excess death data less frequently, but a recent study by Oxford University showed Europe’s excess death rate, accounting for March to July, was 28% below the US rate.

Reality Check has looked at US excess mortality compared to the other developed countries. While the US had a lower proportion of excess deaths than some countries - such as the UK - it was significantly higher than others.

A 19-year-old man is suspected of plotting to assassinate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden last spring, US media report.

The allegations against Alexander Hill Treisman have emerged in court documents, external filed in relation to charges he faces of child pornography.

The documents say Treisman posted a meme in April saying “Should I kill Joe Biden?” In the ensuing weeks he then carried out online searches of Biden’s home address, purchased a gun and night goggles and travelled within four miles of the former vice-president’s home.

He was arrested in late May in North Carolina, allegedly with a van full of weapons, books on bomb making, and $509,000 in cash believed to be his inheritance. An FBI search of his home also found thousands of child pornography videos and images, the documents said.

So one of the main points in Thursday's debate was the pandemic.

President Trump set up a coronavirus task force at the end of January which he says has now shifted its focus to "safety and opening up our country". The president is also prioritising the speedy development of coronavirus treatments and vaccines, directing $10bn towards such projects.

Biden wants to set up a national contact-tracing programme, establish at least 10 testing centres in every state, and provide free coronavirus testing to all. He supports a nationwide mask mandate, which would require face coverings to be worn on federal property.

Here's our simple guide to the US election.

Image source, Reuters

In Thursday night's debate, Democratic candidate Joe Biden took aim at the president over his handling of the pandemic, arguing that Americans were now "learning to die" with coronavirus.

And the former vice-president is set to continue this focus in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday, where he is expected to discuss his plans to tackle the virus and restore the economy, according to the Washington Post.

More than 223,000 people have died and at least 8.4 million people infected in the US since the pandemic began - the highest numbers of any country in the world.

The pandemic. Healthcare access. Race. Women's rights. The environment.

These are some of the biggest issues of the upcoming election - so where do Trump and Biden stand?

Read our guide to each candidate's views.

Image source, Getty Images

It would seem not even standing in torrential rain without a coat or umbrella is putting people off from casting their vote in the US state of Florida.

Voter Lawrence Bryant posted this video of a queue in Ocoee, Orange County, on Wednesday, and told the BBC that for half of his hour-long wait to vote the heavens opened.

"I just want folks to see how important this election is," he said of his reasons to post the video.

Early in-person voting began in the battleground state this week ahead of 3 November election.

With just 11 days until the election, here's a reminder of the most important parts of Thursday night's head to head:

• It was a real debate about issues that touch people's lives as Donald Trump and Joe Biden argued over climate change, Covid-19, tax and racism
• "C'mon! " was Joe Biden's catchphrase of the night and he said it nine times in disbelief, especially when Trump said the virus was going away (you can read more in our fact-check of the debate)
• When Joe Biden said he wanted to rely less on oil, Trump pounced: "Will you remember that Texas? Will you remember that Pennsylvania, Oklahoma?" - and Oklahoma's Democratic candidate for Congress tweeted that she disagreed with Biden., external
• "By the way, so far, I respect very much the way you're handling this. I have to say," Trump told Kristen Welker, the second black woman to host a presidential debate - and many agreed she came out with a win.

Read our full election countdown here.

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

Today there's a huge military event in China to mark the Korean War anniversary. This is known in China as "the war to resist US aggression", and so state media haven't devoted much time to the final US presidential debate. But they're sending a strong reminder today that they won't tolerate an aggressive America.

With that in mind, what media coverage there is of last night's debate has very much focused on the perceived aggressions or hostilities of the two candidates.

On Covid-19, Biden scored points with Chinese social media users, external for saying "people are learning to die with it", when countering Trump’s comments that people will have to "coexist" with the virus. Many in China have been extremely critical of Trump's approach and anti-China comments on the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden also won Chinese fans for his conduct after the debate. Horizon News told Chinese users that "the Bidens embraced and whispered warmly on stage", external whereas "the Trumps just held hands and had a brief conversation".

Users today on China's Weibo feel that "Biden’s performance was good" and that he "reacted quickly" throughout. Whereas they say Trump "threw personal attacks" and "wants Americans to die", because of his Covid-19 comments.

However, many in China are still of the view that both candidates are "anti-China", and that a President Biden would be tougher on China than Trump.

Now that the second and final presidential debate is over, both candidates are entering the final stage of the election campaign.

President Trump plans to hold two rallies in the key battleground state of Florida on Friday: the first at the The Villages, before travelling to Pensacola in the evening.

He will then cast his vote in Florida's West Palm Beach area (home to his Mar-a-Lago estate) the following day.

Joe Biden, meanwhile, will deliver a speech in his home town in Wilmington, Delaware, today, while former President Barack Obama is expected to make an in-person appearance in Miami, Florida, on behalf of his former vice-president on Saturday.