US election recap: Exit polls reveal who voted for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris presidency

As election week draws to a close, so too does The Nightly’s live blog.

If you’re just joining us, feel free to scroll through the posts below to recap a huge week in world politics.

Thank you for joining us throughout the week as we witnessed an historic election result and the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

Our coverage of US politics doesn’t end here though.

Stay tuned to The Nightly for all the latest news and updates on the incoming Trump Government and don’t forget to download your free edition of The Nightly every weeknight from 6pm AEDT.

Donald Trump’s granddaughter Kai has released a photograph with the whole family. And Elon Musk.

The caption reads: The whole squad.

From The Economist: When Donald Trump claimed victory in the wee hours of November 6 before a fawning crowd at Palm Beach County Convention Centre, he did not have a single vituperative word to say.

He aired no grievances and made no direct criticisms of his defeated rival, Kamala Harris, or her boss, the incumbent president, Joe Biden.

Gone was the angry, crude and vengeful candidate of the final weeks of the campaign. Instead, Mr Trump pledged to unite a divided nation — just as he did with surprising graciousness in 2016 before initiating four years of chaos.

This time Mr Trump’s victory was even more resounding, if less surprising.

Read the full article here.

Exit polls have painted a clearer picture of which Americans backed which candidate in the race for the White House.

Kamala Harris’ strongest support came from women (53 per cent) and non-white Americans (64 per cent), according to the NBC News exit polls.

She secured her strongest support among Black voters (85 per cent), particularly women (91 per cent), and African-Americans over 65 (93 per cent). Asian and Hispanic voters also predominantly voted blue (54 and 52 per cent, respectively). Ms Harris also secured 86 per cent of the LGBTQI+ vote.

In a twist to the election tale, Donald Trump’s strongest voting bloc wasn’t white voters (57 per cent voted Republican), but Native Americans (65 per cent).

Broadly, Mr Trump’s strongest support also came from white men, middle-aged men, Christian men, Americans who never attended college, and those who live in suburban or rural America.

He did, however, win over suburban white women (53 per cent) which he has historically struggled with.

Donald Trump’s stunning return to the White House means hundreds of insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 are likely to get off scot-free.

The US Department of Justice has spent just almost four years investigating the attack striving to identify and prosecute all those who tried to derail Congress’ electoral count to confirm Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

The DOJ says it has charged more than 1560 people with crimes tied to the insurrection. Prosecutors have estimated as many as 2500 could face charges.

But under a second Trump presidency, they are likely to never be charged.

The Republican, who was impeached for a historic second time for inciting insurrection, has criticised the investigation into January 6 and tried repeatedly to water down the bloody attack.

He has vowed to pardon many of the defendants who have already been charged or conflicted for their involvement in the riots, even for those who acted violently “if they’re innocent”.

The DOJ was already racing against the clock to charge those involved in the riot before a five-year statute of limitations elapses on January 6, 2026. Now it appears they have just two-and-a-half months to complete their investigation before Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Vice President-elect JD Vance has chimed in to support Trump’s appointment of Susie Wiles as his chief of staff, saying the 63-year-old will be a “huge asset” to the administration.

“She’s also just a really good person,” he wrote on X.

Peter Dutton says Labor needs to be on notice after the US election, saying there is an “eerie parallel” between the US election result and what’s happening in Australia.

The Opposition Leader said Donald Trump’s victory happened, in part, because so many Americans didn’t believe the Biden Administration had been listening to their cost-of-living struggles, and felt a “real disconnect”.

Here’s what he had to say this morning.

The Democrats have hit back at Independent Senator Bernie Sanders’ scathing take-down of the party.

As the Democrats licked their wounds from a bruising election loss, the 83-year-old progressive blasted the “disastrous” campaign, and said it came as “no great surprise” after the party had “abandoned the working class”.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison rejected Mr Sanders’ criticisms, replying to his post on X saying: “This is straight up BS”.

“Biden was the most pro-worker President of my lifetime,” Mr Harrison wrote.

He also defended Vice President Kamala Harris’ election promises as plans that “would have fundamentally transformed the quality of life and closed the racial wealth gap for working people across this country”.

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“There are a lot of post-election takes and this one ain’t a good one,” Mr Harrison concluded.

Donald Trump has doubled down on his vow to lead the largest deportation effort in American history, telling NBC News his plan to remove millions of undocumented immigrants from the States is a top priority for his administration.

When asked how he would pay for the deportation push, Trump said there was “no price tag” because he had “no choice” but to deal with immigration.

“We obviously have to make the border strong and powerful and, and we have to – at the same time, we want people to come into our country,” he said.

He added that it’s not that they don’t want people coming into the country - “we want people to come in”, but legally.

“It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not – really, we have no choice,” he continued.

“When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.”

The Associated Press may have called the Pennsylvania Senate race for the Republicans, but the Democratic incumbent Bob Casey is refusing to budge.

A spokesperson for the Senator has insisted that “tens of thousands of ballots” were uncounted as of Thursday, local time, when Republican Dave McCormick led the race by 0.5 points - or more than 30,000 votes.

“This race is within half a point and cannot be called while the votes of thousands of Pennsylvanians are still being counted. We will make sure every Pennsylvanian’s voice is heard,” Maddy McDaniel, a spokesperson for Mr Casey’s office said in a statement.

Senator McCormick’s victory would secure the Republican’s 53rd for the Senate, further eating up at the Democrats’ previous majority. Two Senate races in Nevada and Arizona remain too close to call.