[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – In the midst of a final race of candidates courting crucial states on the battlefield, the United States is preparing for an election in which the outcome appears to be uncertain, possibly even contested.
About 24 hours before the polls open on Tuesday (November 3), Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden stayed ahead of his Republican rival Donald Trump across the country.
But in some battlefield states that are crucial to winning the presidency, the former vice president’s advantage is very slim or, in fact, tied with Trump.
This means that Trump could still get a majority of the Electoral College votes to become the winner.
However, analysts do not expect Election Night to go smoothly, especially since millions of mail-in ballots, which are generally considered to favor Democrats, will potentially still be left to count.
This is not unusual; the election night result is normally requested on the basis of trends and projections that make it obvious, not on a final official tally. But this time, the volume of mail-in ballots appears to be higher than in previous years.
At least 92 million people have already cast their votes in early voting, nearly double the number who voted in early 2016. Some 230 million Americans are eligible to vote in the presidential election.
For months, the president has been criticizing vote-by-mail as prone to fraud, of which experts say there is little or no evidence.
“We should know the result of the elections on November 3. The night of November 3,” Trump insisted on Sunday. “So it has been and it should be.
On Sunday, Axios reported that the president had told confidants that he would take the opportunity to declare victory Tuesday night when the results come in, at a time when he is ahead of Biden.
Trump denied it, but said: “I think it is a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election. I think it is a terrible thing when states can tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over.”
And pointing to prolonged legal battles and days of uncertainty, he added: “We are going to go at night, as soon as the elections are over, we are going to go with our lawyers.”
This election looks different than in 2016, when Trump was also behind longtime rival Hillary Clinton, but won the Electoral College by winning a handful of states by fewer than 100,000 votes in total, the polling organization Morning Consult said on Monday. in the morning. Biden’s lead is 8 percentage points compared to Clinton’s three points in 2016.
However, Nate Silver, founder of the political analysis website Five Thirty Eight, said in a Monday morning note: “Projected margins in tipping point states are considerably narrower than margins in the national popular vote. “.
“More specifically, Joe Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania, the most likely inflection point state, according to our forecast, is solid but not spectacular – around 5 points in our poll average.”
Pennsylvania has 20 votes in the Electoral College.
“Without Pennsylvania, Biden has some paths to victory, but there is no alternate state that he can feel particularly confident about,” Silver wrote.
President Trump was scheduled to hold five rallies in four states in the final hours of the campaign: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
He planned to finish in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the same place where his 2016 campaign ended.
Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris were to focus on Pennsylvania and Ohio, and Biden would end up with a drive-in in Pittsburgh with pop icon Lady Gaga. Pennsylvania, where Biden will gather African American voters and union members in the Pittsburgh area, has become central to the election.
Meanwhile, fears of riots and violence have risen, especially if the election result is questioned.
Over the weekend in New Jersey, a caravan of Trump supporters blocked a highway.
In Texas, Trump supporters on a highway invaded a Biden-Harris campaign bus; the Democratic Party canceled events for security reasons. The president tweeted: “In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong.”
In Washington, DC, the perimeter of the White House is being fortified with a tall fence, and surrounding shops and establishments have been bricked up. Some 250 National Guard soldiers have reportedly been put on hold.
For live results and updates, follow our live coverage of the US elections.
[ad_2]
