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Donald Trump took an early lead after polls closed after Tuesday’s presidential election and picked up significant support in the two key swing states of North Carolina and Georgia as he barrelled towards victory.
The former president looks set for a return to the White House for an historic second term, with counties across the US reporting significant swings towards him compared to the 2020 results.
Exit polls released before polls closed on Tuesday evening showed Trump performing well among Latino voters, with fewer losses among women than analysts had expected.
He quickly took Florida, now a reliably Republican state, and extended his lead there by several points.
As Trump fans gathered in West Palm Beach and Kamala Harris’s supporters at Howard University in Washington DC, the results quickly showed greater than expected gains for the Republican contender and weakness among key demographics for Ms Harris.
The tipping point came after results showed Pennsylvania was likely to fall to Trump. Almost all of Ms Harris’s possible routes to victory ran through the state, which has 19 delegates to the Electoral College.
Shortly before 1am Eastern Time, Ms Harris’s team told her supporters to go home, as Trump prepared to give an acceptance speech in Florida.
Trump is on course to become only the second president in US history to lose an election and return to power after a term out of office. He is set to be inaugurated on January 20 in Washington, DC.
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ExileInParadise242 on November 5th, 2024 at 22:43 UTC »
Voting against him is probably the closest point in his life that Donald Trump has ever come to satisfying a woman.
me_xman on November 5th, 2024 at 22:34 UTC »
Women sending Trump to nursing home whether he likes or not
TheTelegraph on November 5th, 2024 at 22:31 UTC »
Female turnout in the US election is set to be high, according to early exit polls that could prove to be a boost for Kamala Harris.
Early data shows women accounting for some 53 per cent of the vote, six points ahead of men, and one point up on the last election.
In another possible boost for Harris, voters think the state of democracy is the most important issue at this election
Ms Harris has put abortion and the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump at the centre of her campaign.
The exit polls showed 35 per cent of voters say the future of democracy in the US is a top concern, ahead of the economy (31 per cent), abortion (18 per cent) immigration (14 per cent).
Millions of voters across the US have flocked to polling stations with reports of record turnout in a number of states, including key battlegrounds such as Georgia and North Carolina.
Read more from The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/05/us-election-latest-news-polling-trump-kamala/