Friday, March 29, 2024

Trump leads Biden in must-win Florida, race close in other battlegrounds

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President Donald Trump was leading Democratic rival Joe Biden in the vital battleground state of Florida on Tuesday, while other competitive swing states that will help decide the election, including North Carolina, remained up in the air.

The two contenders split the early U.S. states to be projected in the White House race as expected, with conservative states like Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee going to Trump and Democratic-leaning Massachusetts, Vermont, New York and Connecticut going to Biden, according to projections by television networks and Edison Research.

But none of the approximately dozen battleground states that will decide the race had been settled as polls closed in a majority of U.S. states, with close races developing in many of them.

In Florida, widely seen as a must-win state for Trump in his quest for the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, Trump was leading Biden 51.2% to 47.8% with 93% of the expected votes counted. Electoral College votes are assigned to each state, in part based on their population.

Part of Trump’s strength in Florida came from an improved performance relative to 2016 in the state’s counties with large Latino populations. Trump’s share of the vote in those counties was larger than it was in the 2016 election.

For months there were complaints from Democratic Latino activists that Biden was ignoring Hispanic voters and lavishing attention instead on Black voters in big Midwestern cities.

The Biden campaign disputed this but in the weeks leading up to the election, opinion polls in key states showed Biden underperforming with Latinos.

Many younger Hispanics were ardent supporters of U.S. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders during the party’s primary campaign, but in opinion polls expressed little enthusiasm for Biden, viewing him as too moderate and out of touch.

In the Miami area, Latinos are predominantly Cuban Americans, where generations of families have fled communist rule in Cuba. Trump’s messaging about Biden being a socialist seemed to be working with them and with Venezuelans there despite Biden’s denials.

Edison’s national exit poll showed that while Biden led Trump among nonwhite voters, Trump received a slightly higher proportion of the non-white votes than he did in 2016. The poll showed that about 11% of African Americans, 31% of Hispanics and 30% of Asian Americans voted for Trump, up 3 percentage points from 2016 in all three groups

Edison’s national exit poll also found that support for Trump declined by about 3 points among older white voters, compared with 2016, while it rose by about 15 points among older Latinos and by 11 points among Black voters between 30 and 44.

Biden, 77, still has multiple paths to the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win without Florida despite having spent lots of time and money trying to flip the state that backed Trump, 74, in 2016.

Biden was neck and neck with Trump in the battleground state of North Carolina, tied at 49.4% with 86% of expected votes counted. In Ohio, another must-win state for Trump, the president was leading 50.5% to 48.1% with 69% of expected votes counted. In Texas, Biden narrowly led 49.6% to 49% with 72% of expected votes counted.

Voters, many wearing masks and maintaining social-distancing to guard against the spread of the coronavirus, streamed into polling places through the day, experiencing long lines in a few locales and short waits in many other places. There were no signs of disruptions or violence at polling sites, as some officials had feared.

Source: Reuters

18 COMMENTS

  1. Florida race is not a good sign so far. Most of the world would like to see Joe Biden winning to restore integrity ,honour and sanity .

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  2. Mzambia wa Zamani – Sorry, “most of the world” is not America. “Most of the World” is not America. The world actually needs Trump more than you think.

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  3. Great work comrade trump. This is how ecl will also show the small boys and girls how it is done in 2021. Ba diaspora you insult Zambia every day so live there with trump.

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  4. Trump might loose because of his weird approach to issues but he has improved the economy a lot, it was only covid which came to ravage the American economy. It is not like here in Zambia where the government is blaming covid for the run away economy when the down ward trend started way before covid. Though I have always been non partisan, my advice is that non performing governments like the one in Zambia should not be kept in power, what would be the motive of keeping a government where all economic indicators are down due to reckless borrowing.

  5. @kaizer, don’t speak too soon baba, last time I checked Biden was leading…who cares who wins?? We have Covid to worry about and how to bring the global economy round.. Look at a bigger picture ba kaizer

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  6. Trump is crashing.
    Right now he sounds like kleptoh².
    Trump, ” We did win this election…” as he claims “Major fraud”.
    Biden, “Keep the faith, guys. We’re gonna win this”.
    Important:
    Biden, “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare the winner of this election. It’s the voters’ place”, as he feels good.

  7. PF in your long list catalogue of excuses don’t forget to put locusts there, so far we have climate change, previous governments failing to invest in energy, HH for poverty on the Copperbelt, Covid 19 and others which I have forgotten.

  8. To all the upnd angry diasporans, if America gets the result that you don’t want e.g. trump wins. Our embassy there will offer you psychological help if you have swallowed your pride and registered with the embassy.

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  9. Americans have decided and it is Joe Biden the Democrat. Trump is screaming like a squirrel already trying to rush to Supreme Court so they hault the counting.

    Just like Bally will squeeze the PF candidate next year so shall be.

    We have had enough of Trump mediocre in this world just like we have this daft called Edgar Lungu in Zambia.

    We shall squeeze PF and its candidate.

    PF must go!

  10. I like how americans take to task their politicians, they only give you 4 years to prove your worth, unlike here sembe mwanvela ati no we should give him another term to finish the projects he has started, are you serious? who told someone can finish government projects, no one can , they just add on or subtract, for someone else to carry on. I feel sorry for trump, covid yamuletelela, economy wise he tried. but abenesu health is so paramount too.

  11. I am truly baffled by the sleeping UPND media team. This is the time to put the record straight that the current constitution does not bar the youths, women or the disabled from participating in any political role as it is being alleged by the PF. Any party which is serious can adopt women, the disabled and the youth if they so desire. Any party can even put their own threshold of even above 70% representation in their own parties. You must thwart the lie going around that the youth, women and the youth are doomed due to the death of bill 10. Also make it clear that the public order act did not require bill 10, all what is required is Police to be professional and stop issuing ‘permits’ as they don’t have any of such powers. UPND media team fast asleep as usual

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  12. @Kaizar Zulu and his friend ECL, these guys loves the current occupant of the oval office and the soon to be innagurated BIG LOSER. Thank you God

  13. KAIZAR ZULU : Ba diaspora you insult Zambia every day so live there with trump.
    NKANA KITWE: I can’t stand ECL being the president, will have to wait until he retires soon for me to even invest my US Dollars in Zambia.
    KAIZAR ZULU : Great work comrade trump
    NKANA KITWE: Trump is an AH, so Kaizar Zulu must be one too.

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