Results are streaming in from more than half of the US states in the US presidential race between US Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump after millions of Americans cast their votes on Tuesday.
Preliminary poll results released in the final hours of voting showed that the economy, immigration and the state of democracy were the main issues prompting people to vote in the critically important election that will determine control of the White House and Congress.
The latest state polls closed at 9 p.m. ET, including Wisconsin and Arizona, which are among seven battleground states considered crucial to a Harris or Trump victory.
Georgia was the first of those swing states to begin reporting after polls closed at 7 p.m. ET. However, some polling places in the state were allowed to stay open a little longer due to false bomb threats that delayed voting earlier Tuesday.
The Associated Press has announced so far that Trump will win 17 traditionally Republican states, including Texas, South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida, while Harris will win nine strongly Democratic states such as New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts. None of the candidates have flipped a state in the 2020 results so far.
As of 9:15 PM ET, Trump was winning the popular vote with more than three million votes counted.
Exit polls showed strong anxiety among voters, with a large majority of voters surveyed expressing negative opinions about the current situation of the country.
About three-quarters of voters surveyed in AP VoteCast, CNN, NBC Newsand ABC News Opinion polls said when they left the polls that they felt disappointed and even angry about the way things were going in the country. However, the CNN poll indicated that more than 60% of respondents believe that “America’s best days are in the future.”
Polls found that between three and four in 10 voters ranked the economy as the top issue in this election, followed by about 20 percent who said immigration. Between 10 and 20 percent said abortion was their top issue.
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However, the same polls find that the future of democracy outweighs all of these issues as a motivator for voting. In each poll, more than one-third to half of voters said democracy was the most important factor.
Tens of millions of Americans on Tuesday added their votes to the 84 million cast early, choosing between two candidates with very different temperaments and visions for the country. Those who cast ballots on Election Day mostly experienced a smooth process, with scattered reports of regularly occurring obstacles, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.
Multiple bomb threats reported at polling places in critical states like Georgia and Pennsylvania were considered a hoax emanating from Russian email accounts, according to the FBI.
Turnout is expected to be high and could break the record set in the 2020 election, when more than 66 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.
In Congress, Republicans flipped the Senate seat in West Virginia, where former Governor Jim Justice won the race to replace retiring Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. This capture puts Republicans one step closer to regaining the majority in the Senate.
Democrats are looking to flip control of the US House of Representatives from Republicans, who entered on Tuesday with a narrow majority.
The very close presidential race is expected to be limited to seven swing or swing states that will decide the winner in the Electoral College, which is used to elect the US president. Trump and Harris focused most of their campaign time in those states, especially Pennsylvania but also in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada.
The result may not be announced Tuesday night because of how close the race is and how long it may take to count millions of mail-in ballots, which in some states cannot be opened until Election Day. In 2020, which saw a sharp increase in mail-in voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic that overwhelmed some counting centers, the winner was not announced until four days later.
Harris is expected to be the first female president if elected, and has promised to work across the aisle to address economic concerns and other issues without radically deviating from the path set by US President Joe Biden. Trump pledged to replace thousands of federal employees with those loyal to him, impose comprehensive tariffs on all foreign imports, and organize the largest deportation operation in US history.
Either outcome would have major implications for Canada, especially on the economy and immigration but also on foreign policy.
Canada is also bracing for the possibility of unrest and violence in the days following the vote.
Trump, who has repeatedly spread false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election and whose supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, posted allegations of “fraud” in Pennsylvania without evidence on his “Truth” social media account as voting continued on Tuesday. .
In response, Pennsylvania District Attorney Larry Krasner said there was “absolutely no factual basis within law enforcement to support this wild allegation.”
“If Donald J. Trump has any facts to back up his wild claims, we want them now. now. “We are not holding our breath,” Krasner said in a statement issued by his office.
Harris, who had previously mailed her ballot to her home state of California, spent part of Tuesday in radio interviews encouraging listeners to vote.
Election Day brought an end to one of the most bitter and eventful election campaigns in modern American history, which saw Trump alone survive two assassination attempts and be convicted on multiple criminal charges in his old home state of New York.
Harris was propelled to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden ended his re-election bid this summer, following a disastrous debate performance against Trump in June, which raised questions about the 81-year-old president’s health and fitness.
—With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
