Donald Trump extends lead in US presidential race
Republican Donald Trump has defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the battleground states of North Carolina and Georgia in the US presidential election, Edison Research projects, taking him closer to completing a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House.
The outcome remained uncertain in five other states expected to determine the winner.
But Trump was showing strength across broad swaths of the country, winning 246 Electoral College votes to Harris on 182.
A candidate needs a total of at least 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College to claim the presidency.
The former president was headed to a convention centre near his home in Palm Beach, Florida, to address supporters, a campaign aide told Reuters.
Trump’s wins in North Carolina and Georgia left Harris with a narrow path to victory through the Rust Belt trio of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, although she was trailing in all three states.
Republicans won a US Senate majority after flipping Democratic seats in West Virginia and Ohio.
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Neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Trump picked up more support from Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and lower-income households that have keenly felt the sting of price rises since the last presidential election in 2020, according to exit polls from Edison.
Voters whose top issue was the economy voted overwhelmingly for Trump, especially if they felt they were worse off financially than they were four years ago.
About 31 per cent of voters said the economy was their top issue, and they voted for Trump by a 79 per cent-to-20 per cent margin, according to exit polls.
Some 45 per cent of voters across the country said their family’s financial situation was worse off today than four years ago, and they favoured Trump 80 per cent to 17 per cent for Harris.
Global investors were increasingly pricing in a Trump win late on Tuesday.
US stock futures and the dollar pushed higher, while Treasury yields climbed and bitcoin rose – all flagged by analysts and investors as trades that favour a Trump victory.
At Howard University, where a large watch party was being held for Harris, supporters were leaving in droves, anticipating that the vice president would not address the crowd on Tuesday night.
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Cedric Richmond, a co-chair of the Harris campaign, briefly addressed the crowd and said Harris would not speak.
“We still have votes to count,” he said.
“We still have states that haven’t been called yet.”
Trump was earning a bigger share of the vote than he did four years ago in almost every corner of the country, from suburban Georgia to rural Pennsylvania.
By 11pm US eastern time, officials had almost completed their count of ballots in more than 1200 counties – about a third of the country – and Trump’s share was up about 2.0 percentage points compared to 2020, reflecting a broad if not especially deep shift in Americans’ support for the president they ousted four years ago.
He had improved his numbers in suburban counties, rural regions and even some large cities that are historically bastions of Democratic support.
In Florida, a ballot measure that would have guaranteed abortion rights failed to reach the 60 per cent threshold needed to pass, according to Edison, leaving a six-week ban in place.
Nine other states have abortion-related measures on the ballot.
Trump, whose supporters attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he claimed the 2020 election was rigged, voted earlier near his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
He was watching the results at his Mar-a-Lago club – reportedly joined by Tesla CEO Elon Musk – before speaking to supporters at a nearby convention centre, according to sources familiar with the planning.
Tuesday’s vote capped a dizzying race churned by unprecedented events, including two assassination attempts against Trump, President Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal and Harris’ rapid rise.
No matter who wins, history will be made.
Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency.
Trump, 78, the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be criminally convicted, would also become the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century.
– AAP
