Trump takes lead in US presidential race but battleground states too close to call

06 November 2024 - 06:26 By Joseph Ax and Gram Slattery and Alexandra Ulmer and Stephanie Kelly
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Supporters of Republican presidential nominee and former US president Donald Trump watch election updates on election day near Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida on November 5 2024.
Supporters of Republican presidential nominee and former US president Donald Trump watch election updates on election day near Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida on November 5 2024.
Image: REUTERS/Marco Bello

Republican Donald Trump was leading in the US presidential election on Tuesday, broadly drawing more support than he did in his failed 2020 campaign, though the result remained unclear in battleground states that will decide the winner.

Trump, bidding to become the first former president to return to the White House in more than 100 years, had won 211 Electoral College votes compared with 145 for his Democratic rival, vice president Kamala Harris, with a third of the vote counted.

With Trump holding leads in the battleground states Georgia and North Carolina, Harris' clearest path to victory remained through the “Blue Wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. A candidate needs a total of at least 270 votes in the 538-member, state-by-state Electoral College to claim the presidency.

Decision Desk HQ was alone in projecting Trump would win Georgia and North Carolina. Other media outlets and Edison had yet to call the two races.

Trump picked up much more support in the polls from Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and among lower-income households that have keenly felt the sting of price rises since the last presidential election in 2020.

Trump won 45% of Hispanic voters nationwide, trailing Harris with 53% but up 13 percentage points from 2020, according to the provisional exit polls.

Currency and bond markets appeared to bet on Trump returning to power.

However, the race, as expected, was coming down to seven swing states, namely Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Reuters


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