Neither candidate has reached the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House But Biden eclipsed Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan two crucial Midwestern battleground states overtook the president in Georgia early Friday and was inching closer to doing the same in Pennsylvania where votes were still be counted.US Election Results 2020 Live Updates: Three days on, America is still waiting for the results of the US presidential election, as is the rest of the world. The fight between Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden is so close the media is holding back on making projections until the last votes are tallied.
The outcome of the election depends on the four key battleground states of Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Trump is marginally ahead in three of the four states — except Nevada — but a win in any one of these states will propel Biden across the finish line.
At present, Biden has won 264 electoral college votes against Trump’s 214. He has garnered 50.5 per cent of the vote (7,34,86,646) while Trump has won 47.9 per cent (6,96,22,185), according to a tally by The Associated Press (AP.) The AP had earlier called Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Hampshire for Biden, and Florida, Iowa, Ohio and Texas for Trump.
Breaking his silence after two days, Trump Thursday renewed his claims that Democrats were trying to “steal” the election, and said he would win if “legal votes” were counted. Unleashing harsh criticism of pre-election polling that showed him trailing Biden, Trump claimed without evidence that the ballot-counting process was unfair and corrupt.
“If you count the legal vote, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” Trump said, adding the election might end “at the highest court of land”.
The high stakes election was held on November 3 against the backdrop of an unprecedented pandemic that has killed more than 2,30,000 Americans and wiped away millions of jobs. Both candidates spent months pressing dramatically different visions for the nations’ future, and voters responded in huge numbers with more than 100 million people casting votes ahead of Election Day. (An Expert Explains: Looking back and ahead in US elections — polls, courts, transition)
US Election 2020 Results Live Updates: Supporters of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden (obscured) wave flags and hand out information to arriving voters outside an early voting polling station in West Palm Beach, Fla., Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden stands with his wife Jill Biden and his grandchildren during a drive-in rally at Heinz Field, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
As per the latest tally, Biden is moving closer to victory woth over 1097 plus votes. However, both candidates are still tightly matched.
1. The race is still too close to call. But for now, Joe Biden holds a vote lead of over 3.8 million. As per AP, he is just 6 electoral college votes away from presidency.
2. Democrat Joe Biden is now leading President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia.
By Friday morning Biden overtook Trump in the number of ballots counted in the battleground a mustwin state for Trump that has long been a Republican stronghold. Biden now has a 917 vote advantage.
3. As things stand, Biden either needs to win Pennsylvania or clinch two out of Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia
4. While Fox News and Associated Press have called Arizona for Biden, Trump campaign is strongly believes the state is still in play.
An AP analysis showed that Biden’s vote margins grew as counties processed mail ballots cast in his favour. There is a potential that the race could go to a recount.
Under Georgia law, if the margin between Biden and Trump is under half a percentage point of difference, a recount can be requested. (AP)
"President Donald Trump delivered the most dishonest speech of his presidency on Thursday evening. I've watched or read the transcript of every Trump speech since late 2016. I've cataloged thousands and thousands of his false claims. I have never seen him lie more thoroughly and more egregiously than he did on Thursday evening at the White House. On the verge of what appeared to be a likely defeat by former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump emerged in the press briefing room and took a blowtorch to the presidential tradition of defending the legitimacy of the democratic process." (CNN)
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is lavishing praise on Stacey Abrams and other activists groups active in Georgia for the result, which seems to flip to blue
Biden overtook Trump in the number of ballots counted in the battleground, a must-win state for Trump that has long been a Republican stronghold. Biden now has a 917-vote advantage.
The contest is still too early for The Associated Press to call. Thousands of ballots are still left to be counted — many in counties where the former vice president was in the lead. (AP)
Here's the latest update from the four swing states
So, what does a smaller majority in the House mean?
Well, what it means is that Speaker Pelosi and her Democratic leadership team are going to have less of a margin of error to pass legislation. Pelosi likes to say that votes are the “currency of the realm,” and when you have less of them to spend it can make passing bills harder. You’re often likely to lose votes from your own side, especially on difficult issues, and Republicans often vote in lockstep against Democratic bills.
What does it mean for Nancy Pelosi?
She had been widely expected to easily win another term as speaker in January, but having a smaller majority means she’ll have fewer votes to spare. No challengers to her position have emerged, however, and some Democrats are saying they don’t expect to see one. After all, Democrats still seem to have won the majority.
What did everyone miss?
It’s probably too early to say. The Democrats have a number of theories about what went wrong. Some say they didn’t fight hard enough against the Republican message that they want socialism. Others are frustrated that they were told not to knock on doors during the pandemic and instead rely on virtual events. Some say they made a mistake by not passing more virus aid before the election, and others say the party just hasn’t come to terms with what makes President Donald Trump so popular among a large swath of voters. So they have to figure out where to go from here. (AP)
Georgia has long been a Republican stronghold.
Voters there havent swung for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1992. Trump beat Hillary Clinton there by 5 percentage points in 2016. And the states government is dominated by the GOP. But the party's grip has loosened.
As older white Republican-leaning voters die, they are being replaced by younger and more racially diverse cast of people many of whom moved to the booming Atlanta area from other states - and brought their politics with them.
Overall, demographic trends show that the states electorate is becoming younger and more diverse each year. Like other metro areas, Atlanta's suburbs have also moved away from Republicans. In 2016, Hillary Clinton flipped both Cobb and Gwinnett counties where Biden is currently leading.
In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams galvanized Black voters in her bid to become the country's first African-American woman to lead a state, a campaign she narrowly lost. Many political analysts say it's not a question of if but rather when Georgia becomes a swing state.
That much was clear in the closing weeks of the campaign as Biden his running mate Sen Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama barnstormed the state. Trump too visited the state to play defense. (AP)
The CNN is reporting that Joe Biden has surpassed Donald Trump, and is in the lead in Georgia. The race is still too close to call, and no projections have been made. Georgia, which has 16 electoral votes, has completed 99 per cent of counting. No Democratic presidential hopeful has won the state since 1992. At present, Biden has 24,49,371 votes against Trump's 24,48,454.
There are 285,000 ballots left to be counted in the state of Arizona, says Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs while speaking to NBC News. "I think a large number of votes will be counted tomorrow. They expect to get through the ballots by the weekend," she adds. "The bulk of the pending ballots are early ballots."
Donald Trump's lead over Joe Biden in Georgia has fallen to 463 votes. The President has won 24,48,232 votes against Biden's 24,47,769. Both of them have won 49.4 per cent of the vote.
Even as Donald Trump continued to tweet about the US presidential election results, teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg responded to one of his tweets by parodying something the US President said to her in 2019. Many on social media have declared it the ‘best mic-drop ever’.
"So ridiculous. Donald must work on his Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill, Donald, Chill!" Thunberg tweeted, in response to the US President’s tweet that said “STOP THE COUNT!".
The tweet has been liked 1.2 million times on Twitter in less than 12 hours.
In December 2019, Trump tweeted to Thunberg telling her to work on her "anger management problem" and to "go to an old-fashioned movie with a friend". In response to Trump’s tweet, Thunberg had changed her Twitter bio to say: "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend." Here's how social media reacted
The Secret Service is deploying personnel to Wilmington, Delaware to protect Joe Biden, as his campaign prepares for the possibility of him winning the presidency, reports Washington Post.
"The Secret Service summoned a squad of agents to add to the protective bubble around Biden after his campaign alerted the Secret Service the Democratic nominee would continue utilising a Wilmington convention centre at least another day and could make a major speech as early as Friday, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the security protocols," The Post reports.
Georgia, which 16 electoral votes, is proving to be a tough fight between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. With 99 per cent of votes counted, Trump is leading by just 665 votes, according to a tally by the AP. Trump and Biden have won 49.4 per cent of the vote share. This state is key for Trump's re-election chances. On the other hand, Biden is just six electoral votes shy of winning the presidency and winning Georgia could secure his path to the White House.
'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert briefly broke down during a monologue following President Donald Trump's address to the nation from the White House Thursday. "We all knew he would do this... What I didn't know that it would hurt so much. I didn't expect this to break my heart.
"For him to cast a dark shadow on our most sacred right. From the briefing room in the White House - our House, not his - that is devastating," Colbert said. Watch here:
US President Donald Trump has said he "easily wins the presidency with legal votes cast". Taking to Twitter, he says, "The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!"