Tailwind for Trump, but several states uncertain

Trump supporters Kurt and Kent Eberhardt celebrate Election Day in Lewiston, Idaho.Image: Pete Caster / AP / TT

When it became clear that Trump had won in Florida, the spirits among the hundreds of Biden supporters who are keeping vigil outside the White House waned.

The mood has gone from funny to edgy, while the voice count is followed on large screens.

– We went out to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and we were hoping to celebrate. I’m a bit disappointed in Florida, which is my home state, Tammi Girgenti, 51, told AFP.

– I feel good. A little nervous and worried, but I think Biden can squeeze in later tonight or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow.

At 6.30am Swedish time, Biden delivered a speech to his supporters, in which he said he had hopes of winning the election.

– I am here to say that I think we are about to win this election, he exclaimed to the cheering audience.

The opposite message comes from Trump.

– In my eyes, we have won. A tragic group of people is trying to deprive us of this, but we will not tolerate it, says US President Donald Trump, before a gathered crowd of supporters and journalists at the White House shortly after 8 o’clock Swedish time. .

With more than 96 percent of the votes counted in Florida, Trump is the winner with 51.7 percent to Biden’s 47.8. Trump thus gets the state’s 29 electoral votes, giving him a much-needed boost on the way to the White House. The president has also taken home the emptiest states of Ohio, with 18 electoral votes, and Texas, with 38 electoral votes.

The latter state is traditionally a Republican stronghold, but previously Biden and the Democrats seemed to have a chance to break that trend.

Biden, on the other hand, is heading for victory in Arizona, where Trump won in 2016. Both Fox News and the AP news agency judged at 9 a.m. Swedish time that Biden will take home the state.

One of those keeping his fingers crossed for the president is Juan Carlos Bertran, a 60-year-old Cuban-American mechanic who lives in Miami and believes that Trump has done a good job of putting the economy in order.

-Now I have two jobs, before I only had one, he tells AFP.

Biden now hopes to win the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. If he is victorious in all three, he has enough electoral votes to win the election.

But it can be tricky.

With 74 percent of the votes counted in Pennsylvania, Trump currently holds 55.7 percent. The result is likely to be delayed, however, many of the state’s votes are not expected to be counted until Friday.

Despite this, Trump claims to have already won in the state.

Trump is also leading in Michigan, although so far only slightly less than 70 percent of the vote has been counted. There, the result may be delayed until Wednesday night US time, report Bloomberg News and Reuters.

In Wisconsin, counting is faster. With 81 percent of the votes reported, Trump has 51.1 percent to Biden’s 47.1.

The large number of mail-in ballots in this year’s election may mean that the final election result may take several days or even weeks.

At home with the McGregor family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Democratic challenger Joe Biden, the atmosphere is upbeat and tense. A dozen family members have gathered in front of the television, and as soon as Joe Biden wins a state, Virginia McGregor rings a bell.

– Florida is a disappointment, but does not decide the elections. And it’s not completely finished there, says McGregor, who is active in the Democrats nationwide, to the TT envoy.

Florida is more important to Trump than to Biden, according to Dag Blanck, a professor of American studies at Uppsala University.

“Biden can win in several other states than Trump,” he told TT.

Trump’s own constituency, Palm Beach, where his Mar-a-Lago property is located and where he voted, appears by a large majority to go to Biden. There, as elsewhere in Miami, many young people have been seen at the polls.

Lexi Palys, who is studying computer science at Marywood University in Scranton, Joe Biden’s hometown, Pennsylvania, is so nervous her hands are shaking. He follows the vote count through television, his computer, and the telephone in his apartment on campus.

– I voted for Joe Biden. I want a reliable president who respects science. The nail in the coffin with Donald Trump is his handling of the virus pandemic, it’s like a big joke, he tells the TT correspondent.

Megan Byrnes-Borderan, who cast her vote in New York, is also keeping her fingers crossed for Biden. She believes Trump’s threats to hold court to decide the election are “unpleasant.”

“I think Trump will do everything he can to win,” he told AFP.