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A deeply divided America votes Tuesday in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century and an acute economic crisis to decide whether to renew the term of President Donald Trump for four more years or send Democrat Joe Biden to the White House.
Voting centers will remain open, depending on the state, until 01:00 on Thursday in Chile, but more than 100 million have already voted early, a record number that represents more than 72% of the total votes cast four years ago.
When the massive flow of early votes is expected to delay the count, and thus the announcement of results, Trump insisted – while visiting a Republican party campaign headquarters in Virginia – that the Americans have the “right to know who won” on the day of the election.
However, downplayed claims that he plans to declare himself the winner before the vote count is complete.
“I think we are going to have a victory, but only when there is a victory,” he said earlier during a telephone interview with Fox News. “There is no reason for games,” he said, predicting a “very solid chance of winning.”
While Trump lashed out at his rival and warned about the risk of the country becoming “socialist,” Biden started the day by attending mass in Wilmington, Delaware, where he resides.
In that church he goes to every Sunday are the graves of his son Beau, and his first wife and little daughter, tragically dead.
Then, he went to his first home, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he stamped on the wall of the living room, under a painting, the following sentence: “From this house to the White House with the grace of God,” he signed and it added the date.
Trump, 74, the first president to seek to renew his term after being acquitted in an impeachment trial, lagged behind Biden, 77, who is facing his third run for president.
The former vice president of Barack Obama raises 50.7% of support compared to 44% of the current president at the national level, and leads by 2.3 percentage points in states crucial to winning the election, according to the average of RealClearPolitics polls.
But as it happened four years ago with Hillary Clinton Biden may win the popular vote and lose the White House if he does not achieve the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to be crowned the winner, according to the US system of indirect universal suffrage.
In addition to the presidency and vice-presidency, today 435 seats are elected in the House of Representatives, where Democrats are expected to maintain and possibly expand control.
It is also in contention near one third of the Senate, where Republicans risk losing their 53-47 majority.
Many of the early votes are deemed Democrats, while Republicans expected a massive turnout in person.
Armored cities
The possibility that the country turns to the democratic blue, or remains in the republican red, raises fears unrest following the sometimes violent demonstrations against racism that rocked the country this year.
The capital Washington, like other large cities, woke up with its shops and offices boarded up and police forces on high alert.
The hispanic They came out with force to vote: more than 8.6 million did so early, more than double the number in 2016, according to the Naleo Educational Fund.
The first ethnic minority in the country favors Biden and your vote can impact key states, according to experts from Naleo and the consulting firm Latino Decisions.
Polls show Biden also leading among the women from suburban residential areas, the black community and the elderly.
However, Trump claims to have won the support of many voters in all minorities.
Tuesday’s election is closely watched around the world following a first Trump term marked by tense relations with NATO allies, Washington’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate and the World Health Organization, and the resignation of the nuclear agreement with Iran.
The American continent will also observe the result in light of the new T-MEC with Mexico and Canada, the United States’ harmony with Brazil, and the confrontation with Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
The power’s link with China, soured over the last four years not only for commercial reasons but because Trump blames Beijing for the pandemic, worries the whole world.
This morning, Wall Street opened higher after a long and bitter US presidential campaign.
Finally it closed with a strong increase in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.05% (to 27,477.40 units) and the Nasdaq technology rose 1.85% (to 11,160.57 points).
Meanwhile, the expanded S&P 500 index gained 2.13% (to 3,380.86 units). Last week Wall Street had its worst week and ended its worst month since March.
“You don’t need money or fame”
Now the The contest is close in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, where both opponents concentrated their final efforts.
In Miami, Annie Belman – wearing a mask and sunglasses – voted for Biden, who has focused his attacks on Trump’s handling of the covid-19, which kills more than 231,000 in the United States.
“Trump’s approach to science and his reckless behavior is one of the many reasons I would never vote for him,” said the septuagenarian in a deserted voting center.
For her part, Clara Giménez, a 49-year-old Cuban who arrived in the “Mariel” boat in 1980, said that she voted for the president “because he is anti-communist and because he is a millionaire, he does not need money or need fame.”
Biden’s low-key campaign, with vehicle rallies and general masks, contrasted with Trump’s frenetic pace and his mass gatherings without physical distance and with lots of red “MAGA” paraphernalia, initials of his motto: “Return America to Greatness ”.
Trump, who a month ago was hospitalized for covid-19, and his wife Melania Trump, who was also infected, are planning a party at the White House to await the results. The first lady of Slovenian origin voted in Palm Beach.
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