US election recap: Exit polls reveal who voted for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris presidency
Donald Trump has been elected President of the US for a second non-consecutive term. Recap a huge week in politics by scrolling through the posts below.
Key Events
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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.
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What is going on in must-win Pennsylvania
Philadelphia County, the largest county in Pennsylvania, has received around 182,00 early votes.
From those, between 75,000 - 100,000 will be released around an hour after the poll closes.
The state has said things are on track but warned they might need significant time to confirm a result.
Breaking down early exit poll on ‘issues’
Voters were asked to select the most important issue in the US that influenced their voting choice.
The options were: Abortion, the economy, foreign policy, the state of democracy and immigration.
Early exit poll issues result
- The state of democracy (35 per cent)
- The economy (31 per cent)
- Abortion (14 per cent)
- Immigration (11 per cent)
- Foreign policy (4 per cent)
Once more traditionally Republican states close their votes in the coming hours, the data is expected to change.
Exit polls: Democracy and economy biggest issues for Americans
The first exit poll data has been revealed painting an image of how Americans have voted.
Pollsters Edison Research conducts exit polls in counties across America to find out what factors are most important to voters.
The early data shows the two strongest factors for Americans voting decisions are:
- Democracy
- The economy
Other less significant factors included abortion, immigration and foreign policy.
The polls do not ask how people voted. However, Kamala Harris has campaigned strongly for democracy, whilst Donald Trump focused more on the economy.
What time do the polls close?
The first polls are set to close around 10am AEDT, and we should start to see some early results flowing in then. Early results may go some way to determining how soon we’ll see the outcome.
Virgina voters predict outcome and explain their vote
Multiple states targeted by ‘Russian’ threats
Multiple states are now blaming Russia for attempting to interfere in the election.
Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger has given an update after “Russian”, bomb threats sparked evacuations
“Georgia is not going to be intimidated,” he said.
“Russia decided to pick on the wrong Georgia, we are not going to be intimidated.”
Michigan has also confirmed they have received multiple bomb threats which they too believe have “Russian origins”.
So far all bomb threats have been found to be “non-credible”.
Man ‘smelling like fuel’ arrested in Washington DC
An arrest has made in Washington DC after a man who “smelled like fuel, had a torch and a flare gun,” was located by police.
“Our officers just arrested a man who was stopped during our screening process at the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC),” police said in a statement.
“The man smelled like fuel, had a torch & a flare gun.”
He allegedly told police he wanted to get to Congress.
Warning issued: ‘Chaos, confusion, fear and division’ ahead
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has issued a warning to American voters, telling them to be vigilant against “foreign bad actors”.
“Don’t fall for it,” Ms Benson said on Tuesday.
“We know that they will use all sorts of misinformation and other tactics today and in the days ahead to create chaos, confusion, fear, division and sow seeds of doubt about what is a very clear, transparent and secure election process.”
Her officer were not aware of anything preventing Americans from casting their vote.
“Once we hear something — and we’re monitoring everything that’s posted online — we actually physically go to those locations and see what’s going on,” she said.
“We have yet to see anything actually materialize, anything that’s been alleged online as an irregularity actually be true.”
Bomb threats had ‘Russian origins’
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said the “non credible” bomb threats had “Russian origins”.
“We’ve heard some threats that were of Russian origin,” Mr Raffensperger said,
“In the interest of public safety, we always check that out, and we’ll just continue to be very responsible when we hear about stuff like that,” he added.
FBI issues statement on ‘non-credible’ threats
The FBI “is aware of several bomb threats that have been made around the state of Georgia, a spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Election integrity and protecting our community is our highest priority, and the FBI is working closely with state and local law enforcement partners to respond to election threats and protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote.”
