(HIGH) Fox News predicts that Republican candidate Donald Trump has won the US presidential election, defeating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, marking an incredible comeback four years after he left the White House.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Donald Trump told a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida after Fox News projected him as the winner .
Other media outlets have yet to report the election results, but he appears to have won by a landslide in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, and is leading in four others, according to Edison Research. In West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump is scheduled to address supporters at a convention center, the crowd cheered and chanted “USA! USA!” as Fox News declared him the winner.
Trump won the swing states of North Carolina and Georgia and led in several others, according to Edison Research. The former president showed strength across the country, improving on his 2020 performance in everything from rural areas to urban centers.
Republicans meanwhile also won a majority in the US Senate after flipping Democrats in West Virginia and Ohio. Neither party appears to have an advantage in the battle for control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a majority.
Mr. Donald Trump. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Trump entered Election Day with a 50-50 chance of winning the White House, a notable change from January 6, 2021, when many pundits declared his political career over. That day, a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol building in a violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump has more support among Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and among low-income households, who have felt unsettled by rising prices since the last presidential election in 2020, according to Edison exit polls.
Trump won 45% of Hispanic voters nationwide, behind Harris’s 53% but up 13 percentage points from 2020. About 31% of voters said the economy was their top issue, and they voted for Trump 79% to 20%, according to exit polls. About 45% of voters nationwide said their families were worse off financially than they were four years ago, and they backed Trump 80% to 17%.
Global investors were also racing to price in a Trump victory late on Nov. 5. At Howard University, where a large watch party was being held for Ms. Harris, supporters turned out in droves, anticipating that the vice president would not address the crowd on the night of Nov. 5 (local time). Cedric Richmond, Harris’ campaign co-chair, gave a brief speech and said Harris would not speak. “We still have a lot of votes that haven’t been counted,” he said. “We still have a lot of states that haven’t been called.”
Trump’s superior campaign
Trump is winning by a larger margin than he did four years ago in most parts of the country. By 12:30 p.m. ET, officials had nearly finished counting ballots in more than 1,600 counties — about half the country — and Trump’s lead was up about 2 percentage points from 2020, reflecting a broad if not particularly dramatic shift in Americans’ support for the president they ousted four years ago.
He improved his numbers in suburban counties, rural areas and even some big cities that were traditionally Democratic strongholds; in high-income and low-income counties; and in places where unemployment was relatively high and where it is now at record lows.
Harris had been betting on a large margin among urban and suburban voters, but her support there is lagging behind President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Americans vote in a politically divided context – Photo: Reuters
Nearly three-quarters of voters said American democracy is under threat, according to exit polls, underscoring the depth of polarization in a country whose divisions have only become more pronounced in a fiercely competitive race.
Trump voted early near his home in Palm Beach, Florida. “If I lose the election, if it’s a fair election, I’ll be the first to admit it,” Trump told reporters. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a prominent Trump supporter, watched the results at Mar-a-Lago with Trump.
The November 5 vote capped a race that was fraught with unprecedented drama, including two assassination attempts on Trump, Biden’s surprise withdrawal and Harris’s meteoric rise. No matter who wins, history will be made.
Harris, 60, the first female vice president, would become the first woman, woman of color and South Asian American to win the presidential election if she is elected .
Trump, 78, is the only president to be impeached twice and the first former president to be convicted of a crime. He would also become the first president to be elected to non-consecutive terms in more than a century if he officially enters the White House this time.
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