There is one big reason why this election feels so different: Donald Trump is lost

[Metaphorical]

4. Because the media does not want the Democrats to win.

The media is not neutral here, and hasn't been for a while. The bigger question is WHY the media does not want the Democrats to win:

* Consolidation of media ownership means that most larger outlets are now controlled by about five (conservative) families, and they are stacking the newsroom.
* Stacking the newsroom means that liberal voices are being replaced by conservative voices at the editorial, broadcast, and journalistic level, even as circulation is trending more liberal.
* Fake media - generated by bots or extranational social media farms - is increasingly flooding the zone. This makes it easier for more "legitimate" outlets to choose a seemingly more balanced reportage while increasingly shifting the Overton window to the Right.
* Advertisers - have been exerting pressure on news outlets to push content that is favorable to them. This may be backfiring.
* Right-wing ownership of private social media makes it easy to silence any alternative voices on these platforms.

They are in a quandary right now, because Harris is big news, and their bias is becoming almost ludicrously obvious.