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

Republican Former President George W. Bush has congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his landslide win.

“I congratulate President Trump on his election as 47th President of the United States of America, as well as Vice President-elect J.D Vance and their families,” he said in a statement.

“I also thank President Biden and Vice President Harris for their service to our country.

“The strong turnout in this election is a sign of the health of our republic and the strength of our democratic institutions.

“Laura and I are grateful to the election officials, poll workers, and volunteers who oversaw a free, fair, safe, and secure election.

“We join our fellow citizens in praying for the success of our new leaders at all levels of government. May God continue to bless our great country.”

Reports claim President-elect Donald Trump’s aides are tracking which world leaders reach out either by sending messages or by trying to lock in a call.

Sources close to Mr Trump’s campaign team claim that world leaders are lining up, attempting to lock in time with Mr Trump.

Former Republican United States Representative and fierce Kamala Harris supporter Liz Cheney has told Americans to “accept the results”.

“Our nation’s democratic system functioned last night and we have a new President-elect,” she said.

“All Americans are bound, whether we like the outcome or not, to accept the results of our elections.

“We now have a special responsibility, as citizens of the greatest nation on earth, to do everything we can to support and defend our Constitution, preserve the rule of law, and ensure that our institutions hold over these coming four years.

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China is looking forward to a relationship of “win-win cooperation” under a second Donald Trump administration.

Acknowledging his win, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said: “China’s US policy is consistent and clear. We view and handle our relations with the US under the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”

Despite the positive message, deep issues between the nations exist.

Vice President Kamala Harris will soon call President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his victory.

It is understood the call has not yet been made but will occur before Ms Harris speaks in just over 3 hours.

Vice President Kamala Harris secretly left her election watch party early on Tuesday night as it became clear she did not have the votes.

Thousands of supporters were left standing at Howard University into the early morning until a campaign official confirmed she would not speak and was no longer there.

Whilst the world waited to hear from the defeated Ms Harris, a source close to the campaign told CNN: “Please give the Harris campaign time to define their own strengths and weaknesses.”

Ms Harris will address the nation, from Howard University, at 8am AEDT.

Wall Street’s main indexes have soared to record highs as Republican Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election in a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House.

Wall Street is anticipating lower taxes, deregulation and a president who is quick to sound off on everything from the stock market to the US dollar, even though tariff hikes could bring challenges in the form of higher deficit and inflation.

The Republican’s win powered a rally in Trump trades as US Treasury yields surged, bitcoin hit a record high and the US dollar gained.

The Dow added more than 1,250 points while the benchmark index inched closer to the psychologically significant 6,000 level.

“There was relief that there was a quick and undisputed election result,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

The small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 4.1 per cent to a nearly three-year high as domestic-focused stocks expect to benefit from an easier regulatory and tax regime as well as be less exposed to likely import tariffs.

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LATIKA M BOURKE: So now we know. Donald Trump was no anomaly. No one-off, no accident.

Assassins could not stop him. The law could not prohibit him. His political rivals could only complain about his style but proved impotent when it mattered.

God-like, his supporter’s cult-like faith in him and his MAGA mission is vindicated.

The Trump campaign was confident of reclaiming the White House. While the Democrats said the result could take days to finalise, every trend was in Trump’s favour.

Trump was overperforming his 2020 run and gained support from Latinos and black men. He leads the popular vote.

This means enough Americans have accepted that the insulter-in-chief, convicted felon, and inciter of an insurrection is suitable to be restored as Commander-in-Chief and, by extension, ruler of the free world.

And it means that MAGA, rooted in isolationism and a brute expression of America First is in the bloodstream of the US for the foreseeable future, its future guaranteed with JD Vance and Elon Musk – who used his social media platform X to boost Trump and Republican messaging – its next generation torchbearers.

The United States of America – threatened for global supremacy by authoritarian China – is our protector against that geopolitical re-ordering but risks becoming our unstable ally.

Trump may be transactional and thereby persuadable, but he is not dependable.

​Read Latika M Bourke’s full analysis here.​

As he campaigned to regain the US presidency, Donald Trump said he would be able to end Russia’s war in Ukraine in 24 hours, warned Israel would be “eradicated” if he lost the election and vowed sweeping new tariffs on Chinese imports.

Now that he has claimed victory, many at home and abroad are asking an urgent question: will Trump make good on his long list of foreign policy threats, promises and pronouncements?

The Republican has offered few foreign policy specifics, but supporters say the force of his personality and his “peace through strength” approach will help bend foreign leaders to his will and calm what Republicans describe as a “world on fire”.

They blame the global crises on the weakness shown by President Joe Biden, though his fellow Democrats reject that accusation.

Trump’s 2017-2021 presidency was often defined on the world stage by his “America first” protectionist trade policy and isolationist rhetoric, including threats to withdraw from NATO.

At the same time, he sought to parlay his self-styled image as a deal-making businessman by holding summits with North Korea, which ultimately failed to halt its nuclear weapons program, and brokering normalisation talks between Israel and several Arab neighbours, which achieved a measure of success.

“Donald Trump remains erratic and inconsistent when it comes to foreign policy,” analysts for the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote in a blog post during the US campaign.

“Europeans are still licking their wounds from Trump’s first term: they have not forgotten the former president’s tariffs, his deep antagonism towards the European Union and Germany,” they said.

How Trump responds to Russia’s war in Ukraine could set the tone for his agenda and signal how he will deal with NATO and key US allies, after Biden worked to rebuild key relationships that frayed under his predecessor.

-- Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

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The Dax rose significantly by 1.5% to 19,544 points in early Xetra trading, German news agency dpa agency reported.

Robert Halver, Head of Capital Market Analysis at Baader Bank said that “since Donald Trump stands for the economy, it can be assumed that stock markets around the world will go up. With one exception: China, because he (Donald Trump) will definitely impose tariffs at least on China. That will certainly make life difficult for the Chinese.”

“The nice thing is that European stocks, German stocks and export stocks can also benefit. Because we are still so well positioned in the industrial sector that we are helping America to become big again in the industrial sector, so to speak,” he added.

-- Kirsten Grieshaber, AP