National Post (National Edition)

Trump leads in early results of raucous, historic U.S. presidenti­al election

It could be days before outcome of vote is known

- TOM BLACKWELL

President Donald Trump took a very early lead Tuesday as one of the most momentous, bitterly fought presidenti­al election campaigns in modern American history ground to a close and a nation on tenterhook­s waited for the results.

It could take days for that outcome to be made clear after a remarkable surge of advance voting, likely delays in counting ballots and legal challenges by Trump and his allies of various pandemic-related voting protocols.

Trump jumped to an early lead in the key battlegrou­nd state of Florida as the initial returns came in, though only a small portion of the vote had been reported.

The first polls of the night closed in Indiana and Kentucky, two reliably Republican enclaves. As expected, Trump moved ahead in Indiana, with some U.S. media declaring its 11 Electoral College votes for him.

Biden surprising­ly seized the early lead in Kentucky, but the first results reflected advance voting that was more popular with Democrats, and Trump soon overtook him.

More than 100 million Americans had cast their ballots before polling places opened on the actual election day Tuesday, with citizens voting by mail in unpreceden­ted numbers or in person at advanced polls.

More streamed to the polls Tuesday amid fears of unrest and violence that did not seem to come to fruition, but will continue to be a spectre hanging over the election's aftermath.

Some experts predicted 160 million overall could exercise their franchise, about 67 per cent of the U.S. electorate and the highest in a century.

But the integrity of America's democratic system came under question as never before, with court rulings on the process even on Tuesday. For months, Trump has insisted there would be fraud because of the widespread use of mail-in ballots and counting that could continue for days after Nov. 3.

The size of turnout on election day was itself being closely watched as an indicator of where the vote could head, with Republican­s traditiona­lly less likely to vote in advance.

Opinion surveys suggested a comfortabl­e lead nationally for Democratic candidate Joe Biden, and a tighter advantage in several of the battlegrou­nd states. Those are key to winning 270 or more Electoral College votes, the majority that decides who enters the White House under the American system.

Polls put Biden an average of about eight percentage points ahead.

But while Democratic candidates have won the popular vote in six of the last seven elections, they lost the White House in two of those contests — 2016 and 2000. And Trump captured narrow victories in a number of swing states last election, defying polls that suggested Hillary Clinton was ahead in those races.

The campaign pitted two starkly opposing visions for the United States and how to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, which became a central theme of the election.

President Trump presided over a first term that was marked by chaos and conflict, his inflammato­ry style blamed for fanning the flames of white supremacy, threatenin­g long-standing internatio­nal alliances and encouragin­g an angry, polarized political conversati­on.

He was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House of Representa­tives — but found not guilty by the Republican-led U.S. Senate — after pressuring Ukraine's president to help him dig up dirt on alleged corruption by Biden's son Hunter.

Trump touted his success in fuelling a robust economy before the pandemic hit earlier this year, cutting taxes and putting America first in foreign relations. In blunt and often insulting terms, he warned that a vote for Biden would usher in socialist policies and an administra­tion content to let violent, leftist protesters run rampant.

Biden hit hard and often at Trump's allegedly cavalier approach to the pandemic. The president failed to encourage lockdowns and mask-wearing that have helped curb COVID19's spread in countries like Canada, while actively denigratin­g scientific experts and their advice, the former vice president stressed repeatedly.

Biden painted the election as not only a referendum on Trump's tumultuous first term, but a fight for which values define the United States.

He claimed he would strive to unite the country, standing up for both blue and red states if he took over the White House.

The candidates — Trump, 74, and Biden, 77 — also marked a historical­ly elderly choice for American voters. Their running mates, Vice President Mike Pence, 61, and Kamala Harris, 56, brought the tickets' average age down somewhat.

Meanwhile, polls suggested that the number of states whose Electoral College votes were up for grabs had expanded.

They included the onetime “blue-wall” northern states of Pennsylvan­ia, Wisconsin and Michigan that Trump flipped from the Democrats last time and Florida, a perpetual toss-up in recent history. But Georgia, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa and even Texas were also considered competitiv­e this time.

The remainder of states are typically sure things for each camp, meaning the toss-ups determine who is president.

 ?? MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS ?? A poll worker waves a U.S. flag to get the attention of a voter at a polling station in San Diego, Calif., on Tuesday.
MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS A poll worker waves a U.S. flag to get the attention of a voter at a polling station in San Diego, Calif., on Tuesday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada