*This article was written at 10pm CST, so some information below may no longer be accurate by the time it is published. Since much of the information regarding the elections will be constantly changing over the next few hours, we thought it would be more effective to report in bullet-point form.
Live election updates by The Guardian, Vox, Al Jazeera, and BBC are placing Biden’s electoral college votes at between 192-210 for the moment, and Trump’s between 114-166.
As of Tuesday evening, Biden seems to be leading in New England, as well as western states like Colorado and New Mexico.
Trump has won Missouri and Kansas, and is expected to win Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee, among others.
As for congress, both parties currently appear to have around the same number of votes in the Senate, while Republicans seem to be leading in the House elections.
Sarah McBride (Democrat, Delaware) became the first openly transgender person elected to a Senate seat.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, defeated opponent Amy McGrath in the race for the Kentucky Senate seat.
States to keep an eye on:
Florida is the swing state with the largest population and most electoral college votes.
Biden appears to be underperforming in Georgia and Florida, and has lost support among Latino voters in these states plus Ohio.
The Guardian reported “With about 91% of the Florida vote in, Donald Trump leads Biden by about 3 points, 51%-48%. In Georgia, where 54% of the vote is in, Trump leads by 13 points, 56%-43%.”
Trump won Pennsylvania by just 0.7 percentage points in 2016, the first time since 1992 that Republican votes dominated the state. However, Biden seems to have secured around two-thirds of votes from those under 30 in Pennsylvania, where only 52% of this age group had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Several polls have noted the economy, national recovery from the pandemic, and racial justice as the electorate's biggest concerns.
According to a survey by CNN, two-thirds of voters see climate change as a serious problem, one-third of voters are looking for a “strong leader… while just under a quarter were wanting someone with good judgment and just over one-fifth thought a candidate who "cares about people like me" was most important. Fewer than one-fifth were looking for someone who can unite the country.”
More than 101 million Americans, equal to 73% of total votes cast in the 2016 elections, voted early, and, according to The Guardian, experts predict this election’s turnout could be as high as 67%, the highest in over a century. This will be the first time in American history that more people will have casted their votes prior to election day than on it.
Since more democrats are voting by mail than republicans, their votes may not be reflected immediately, making it seem like Trump has a lead at the moment.
Sources used:
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