US election results: Trump takes battleground states in 'historic' US presidential race

On the cusp of a resounding victory, Donald Trump has addressed supporters in Florida promising to usher in a "golden age of America".

"This was a movement like no one has ever seen before. And frankly this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time, there's never been anything like this in this country and maybe the earth. And now it is going to reach a new level of importance, because we are going to help our country heal.

"We made history for a reason tonight," he said.

Ballots are still being counted in seven states. Trump is ahead in every remaining swing state but is three electoral votes short of the 270 needed for victory.

The biggest swing state on the board has officially been called for Donald Trump, putting him on 267 electoral votes.

What's clear from today is that Donald Trump has again outperformed expectations and some of the pre-election polling.

The Associated Press has yet to officially call the key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. If he sweeps them all, he will enjoy a bigger victory than when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Celebratory scenes have been snapped at a Trump rally in Palm Beach, Florida, with key swing states still to be called.

Backers such as Robert F Kennedy Junior and former British politician Nigel Farage are among those to have been spotted in the crowd, as well as Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, the Australian Financial Review reported.

There are two Southern swing states: Georgia and North Carolina. They also happen to be the two swing states where the polls close the earliest — and where the votes are counted the fastest.

Trump has won them both.

Does that mean he has the election all sewn up? Not quite. The pre-election polls showed Trump with narrow leads in both Southern battlegrounds. In other words, they were already leaning his way. A win for Harris in either, or both, would have made her path to 270 electoral votes easier. But losing both doesn’t make it impossible.

So what is Harris’s path now?

Pennsylvania is by far the most important state left on the board. If Trump wins the Keystone State, he can effectively guarantee himself at least 270 electoral votes — and the election.

That makes Pennsylvania a must-win for Harris. Assuming she pulls it off, and barring big surprises elsewhere, she would have three remaining routes to 270:

• Win Michigan and Wisconsin as well (exactly 270 electoral votes)

• Lose Wisconsin, but win Michigan and Arizona (271 electoral votes)

• Lose Michigan, but win Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada (272 electoral votes)

In 2020, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. Harris doesn’t have to hold all five of those states to succeed her boss as president. But she does have to win most of them.

Donald Trump has won the second major prize of the night, flipping Georgia's 16 Electoral College votes back into the red, the Associated Press reported.

Joe Biden narrowly carried Georgia in 2020, but Republicans have won every other Georgia presidential vote since 1996. Trump tried to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia, setting off a political and legal struggle that led to his indictment in the state.

Read more about the results in Georgia here.

At this point, Trump only has to take two of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin or Arizona to win, while he also has a lead in Nevada.

Donald Trump is expected to face the media and supporters in Florida shortly while a campaign source told the Associated Press that Harris won't be speaking tonight.

Videos on social media show a jubilant crowd of Trump supporters singing the national anthem outside the Palm Beach Convention Centre where he is expected to appear soon.

With votes still to count in critical battleground states, a potential victory by Trump has been described as a "historic" comeback in political terms.

Emmy award-winning American correspondent Sara Jones told the ABC, if it does come to pass, it will have a profound impact on the political landscape in the country.

"If he does win, I think you would have to say it is the single biggest comeback in American political history, so either we have that kind of political history or we have a history of the first woman as President of the United States," she said.

Republican Deb Fischer has won reelection to the US. Senate in Nebraska, defeating her independent challenger Dan Osborn, according to the Associated Press. The victory gives Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in four years, flipping it from Democrats.

With North Carolina called for Trump and Georgia looking as if it will follow suit, Democrats are putting their faith in the so-called "blue wall" states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to eek out a 270 electoral vote win for Harris.

But here's how things currently stand in those states:

Pennsylvania: With 83 per cent of the votes counted, Trump leads Harris by a margin of 51-48.

Michigan: With 46 per cent of the votes counted, Trump leads Harris by a margin of 52-47.

Wisconsin: With 76 per cent of the votes counted, Trump leads Harris by a margin of 51-47.

The air is coming out of the Harris campaign and its supporters.

Dr Emma Shortis from Melbourne's RMIT University and the Australian Institute described the atmosphere at a Harris rally in Washington DC as "tense".

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia from the rally, she said the mood was very "subdued" as Trump takes a lead in the swing states.

"People are starting to leave," she said. "They haven't given up by any stretch, but they're worried."

It happened in 2016 when Donald Trump became president and it's happening again now. Google has seen a huge spike in Americans searching 'How to move to Canada'. Google Trends indicates a 400 per cent increase in the search as Trump defended key battleground North Carolina, taking an important step in his bid to return to the White House.

Dismayed Kamala Harris voters expressed their concerns online, saying they were looking for a way to get out of the country if Trump won the election.

And even Australia, more than 11,000km away from the US mainland, has piqued the interests of some US residents, with 'How to move to Australia' searches seeing a spike in the past few hours as seen below.

Donald Trump has defended North Carolina, officially claiming the first battleground state. It's an important result for Trump and a meaningful blow for the Harris campaign. The state was considered to be a potential 'backdoor' to the White House for the Democrats. But it has been slammed shut with the Associated Press calling it with nearly 90 per cent of the vote counted.

According to AP, Trump has 50.8 per cent of the vote in North Carolina to Harris's 48.1 per cent.

Read more here.

A bombshell poll released just days ahead of the election which had a shock result of Harris ahead in Iowa has proved to be far off the mark.

The respected Des Moines Register/Selzer poll published on the weekend sent shockwaves through the campaigns, but hasn’t materialised on election day.

A majority of Iowans backed Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but chose Trump decisively in 2016 and again in 2020.

With 60 per cent of the vote counted, Trump has claimed 56 per cent to 42 per cent for Harris, the Associated Press reports. He takes it for a third straight year.

AP, meanwhile, has also called Kansas for Trump.

There have been some positive signs for Trump early in the night, but the race is far from over.

Not one of the seven key swing states has been called — only states that were considered safely red or blue.

Right now, Trump is probably feeling good about the result in Florida: a 13-point victory (with more than 95 per cent of the precincts reporting) in which he beat his 2020 numbers across pretty much every county. The polls (on average) predicted a 6.5 per cent victory for Trump. So he doubled that margin on Election Day.

Trump is also overperforming in Virginia, where about two-thirds of the votes are in. Again, in county after county, his final 2024 numbers are significantly better than they were the last time around — and significantly better than the polls predicted.

But Trump is very unlikely to win Virginia, and he was widely expected to win Florida. So what about the places where things are still up for grabs?

In Georgia — the first swing state to close its polls — Trump has improved on his numbers in dozens of small, rural, very red counties... but Harris has improved on Joe Biden's 2020 results in many of the (much bigger) suburban and even exurban counties around Atlanta (in sharp contrast to the trends in Virginia). The big question is now whether Harris does better than expected with the last few waves of Election Day voters in the metro Atlanta area.

If she doesn't — and if she narrowly loses Georgia along with the other southern swing state, North Carolina — then all eyes will turn to the "blue wall" states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. In this scenario, Harris's most plausible remaining path to victory would be sweeping all three of them.

So far, Trump looks to be holding his own in the rural parts of the blue wall; Harris is holding her own in the big cities. The suburbs of Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee will likely tip the scales one way or the other — and in doing so, they could decide the election.

With half the votes counted in Pennsylvania, Trump has drastically closed the gap with the state currently sitting on a knife-edge.

Trump has pulled ahead with 50 per cent of the vote to 48 per cent for Harris, according to the Associated Press as the data pours in.

A Kamala Harris win would likely require the so-called "blue wall" states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

A major exit poll shows while women have favoured Harris, they have not voted for her at the rate many expected.

According to the Associated Press' VoteCast data, 55 per cent of women aged between 18 to 44 voted for Harris while only 52 per cent of women aged over 45 voted for her.

The ABC's number cruncher Casey Briggs noted the surprise numbers during the national broadcaster's coverage this afternoon.

"The AP Votecast survey suggests that men, Donald Trump is winning men by eight points. And importantly, that is a shift towards Donald Trump from the last election of 3 per cent. Kamala Harris is winning women by 9 per cent. And that again is a shift towards Donald Trump," he said.

As Election Night rolls on, all eyes are keeping a close watch on the swing states that will ultimately decide who will become the 47th president of the United States.

Pennsylvania: With 22 per cent of precincts reporting, Harris leads Trump 57-42.

Georgia: With 74 per cent of precincts reporting, Trump leads Harris 52-47.

North Carolina: With 51 per cent per cent of precincts reporting, Trump leads Harris 51-48.

Michigan: With 12 per cent of precincts reporting, Harris leads Trump 53-45.

Wisconsin: With 8 per cent of precincts reporting, Trump leads Harris 56-42.

No results have yet to be reported in Arizona or Nevada.

For the third consecutive presidential election, Texas has gone to the Republicans, the Associated Press reports, adding 40 electoral votes to Trump's tally. The state gained two more electoral votes this cycle after the 2020 census showed an increase in population.

With 64 per cent of the vote counted, Trump has a 10 point lead in the southern state.

The Associated Press has called Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Louisiana and Wyoming for Trump.

Harris has picked up the state of New York.

The Associated Press has called Arkansas for Trump. Meanwhile Harris has collected New Jersey, Joe Biden's home state of Delaware and Illinois.

Trump 101, Harris 71.

In two key swing states — North Carolina and Georgia — early results have begun pouring in and are giving mixed signals for the Harris and Trump campaigns.

With 37 per cent of votes counted in Georgia, Trump leads Harris by 56-44.

With 9 per cent of votes counted in North Carolina, Harris leads Trump by 52-47.

If Harris were to win either of the two swing states, her path to victory would widen significantly. She could still win the election without claiming victory in either North Carolina or Georgia, but she would need to hold the so-called "blue wall" of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in order to do so.

Less than two decades ago, Florida was considered a bellwether state. Barrack Obama won it twice, both in 2008 and 2012 – the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 to carry Florida twice.

But, oh how things have changed. Florida is now firmly and undeniably in the hands of the Republicans.

"Florida was called the moment that polls closed by the Associated Press," noted Australia's Casey Briggs on the ABC News coverage.

"Who can forget the year 2000 when we were waiting for weeks for Florida to be called? Now it is in such a state that the Republicans are carrying Florida very easily, potentially winning counties like Miami-Dade that Democrats have previously held," he said.

According to the AP, Trump led Harris by 11 percentage points with about 80 per cent of the expected vote reported, leading them to call it.

The Associated Press has called a number of states as Trump takes a 95 to 35 lead in the early going of the Electoral College tally.

Trump has won:

• Mississippi

• Alabama

• Oklahoma

• Tennessee

• Florida

• South Carolina

Harris has won:

• Maryland

• Connecticut

• Massachusetts

• Rhode Island

One voter in Arizona has told MSNBC that he decided to vote for Trump after Harris failed to appear on Joe Rogan's popular podcast in the lead up to the election.

Rogan made headlines yesterday when he officially endorsed Trump while posting a lengthy podcast discussion with billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, who has heavily backed Trump.

The famous podcaster and UFC commentator had Trump on the show last week, which has been watched more than 45 million times on YouTube alone.

The Associated Press has officially added West Virginia's four Electoral College votes to Trump's tally.

From early exit polls, a couple numbers really stand out so far:

• Some 35 per cent of voters said the "state of democracy" was their most important issue, according to NBC News. That compares to 31 per cent who said "the economy" was the biggest issue. In the final Yahoo News/YouGov poll of the 2024 election, Democrats were nearly six times more likely than Republicans to choose "democracy" as their top issue, while Republicans were about 20 points more likely than Democrats to choose "the cost of living."

• NBC News also reports that just 49 per cent of white voters now have a favourable opinion of Donald Trump, down from 57 per cent in the 2020 exit polls. Meanwhile, Trump's favourable numbers have ticked up by 4 points among Latino voters (to 42 per cent) and Black voters (to 14 per cent) over the same period.

Milwaukee election officials, in the swing state of Wisconsin, must recount roughly 31,000 ballots because of a tabulation error, local news reported.

Hours after officials started to count absentee ballots early this morning, they realised the doors on some of tabulation machines were not closed properly. All the machines at the polling site were reset as an extra precaution.

"We are going to zero them all out again, 13 machines around, and then rerun the ballots that had already been processed," Jeff Fleming of the Milwaukee mayor's office told media. "It is going to extend the time that we will get the totals. We don't know how much longer."

There's much more at stake than just the Oval Office today.

Americans are also voting on seats for the House of Representatives and the Senate – in various races that will ultimately shape the next four years of US government policy.

For the past four years, thanks to the pledge of a few independents, the Democrats have the slimmest of majorities, and therefore control the Senate.

"If Trump does well that could ensure a Republican majority in the House and the Senate," Dennis Altman, Emeritus Professor of Politics at LaTrobe University, told Yahoo News Australia this week.

"In which case Trump would have extraordinary abilities to do all sorts of things."

In terms of the Senate, it's a tough year for Democrats who are having to defend a number of difficult seats. "I don't think there's any way the Democrats can win the Senate, even if Harris wins the presidency," Professor Altman said. If the Democrats can take back the lower house, "it would at least slow him down".

The very first states are officially on the board, in a surprise to no one. Trump has an early lead of 19 to 3 as Indiana and Kentucky are called for him by the Associated Press. Kamala Harris meanwhile has been awarded Vermont, with the Republican governor of the state Phil Scott casting his ballot for her.

Americans overseas have been able to vote in the US Election via absentee ballots. But what if you're not even on the planet?

Well four US astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS) need not worry as their votes are in.

Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague and Don Pettit have all cast their votes and on Tuesday (local time) showed off their US-themed socks from space. The group managed to vote early with Williams saying NASA "makes it very easy for us".

NASA has explained how it all works, saying astronauts fills out an electronic ballot at the orbiting laboratory before it is securely transferred encrypted to the county clerk responsible for the vote.

Much has been made about this election being largely divided down gender lines. Trump has certainly been gunning for the male vote, hoping he can get out young males who don't usually show up on election day, while Harris has been hoping women (and disaffected, more traditional Republicans) come out in force to carry her to the White House.

Abortion has also been a major issue this year since a conservative majority on the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, removing federal protections for abortions and making it a state issue. A number of abortion laws are also on state ballots today.

If Trump loses, it could very well be women who cost him – something a Republican operative admitted to CNN last week. "We’ve seen a women problem for all Republicans, up and down the ballot," they said. "It starts at the top."

The latest ABC News/Ipsos national poll showed Trump trailing Harris among likely female voters by 14 points – a margin that seriously outpaces Trump's six point lead among men.

Speaking on ABC News Breakfast from Washington DC this morning, Dr Emma Shortis from the Australian Institute outlined the scenario Harris is banking on.

"If Harris wins, it’ll be off the back of young women's mobilisation and the mobilisation of African American woman in particular," she argued.

In a stunning sign of the importance this election holds for many women in the country, the tombstone of Susan B. Anthony, an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement, has been adorned with 'I voted stickers'.

In the so-called Electoral College system which decides the president (explained further here) each state is worth a certain number as candidates try to reach the magic mark of 270 to claim victory. Trump and Harris both have about 220 'Electoral College votes' sewed up in reliably red or blue states, unless anything totally unexpected takes place. Then there are some 93 more crucial points available in the seven battleground states.

Of them, the biggest is Pennsylvania which carries 19 electoral college votes. While a number of scenarios are possible, it's likely the road to the White House goes through Pennsylvania.

"It is mathematically possible for either to win without Pennsylvania, but it's difficult," Dennis Altman, Emeritus Professor of Politics at LaTrobe University, told Yahoo News Australia ahead of the election.

"It’s very likely whoever wins Pennsylvania, wins the election."

But below you can use the arrows to play with the different scenarios on which way the swing states go, and therefore the election.

The seven swing states ranked by the number of Electoral College votes each brings to the table:

Pennsylvania (19)

Georgia (16)

North Carolina (16)

Michigan (15)

Arizona (11)

Wisconsin (10)

Nevada (6)

As many predicted, and Trump himself repeatedly signalled, the day could be filled with angry and unfounded claims of election fraud.

Taking to social media, the 78-year-old candidate claimed he had heard of "cheating" in Pennsylvania's biggest city.

"A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law enforcement coming!!!" he posted.

However the Philadelphia Police Department told CNN they were not aware of what Trump was referring to and did not know of any issues at polling stations in the city that required a response from law enforcement.

Last week, Trump continued to push unfounded claims of voter registration fraud in the state – something alluded to by CNN's fact checker below.

According to a massive survey by the Associated Press, the economy and immigration ranked as the top issues facing the country among voters – a sign that bodes very well for Trump.

However the future of democracy was also a leading motivator for many Americans casting a ballot, a concern that certainly favours the Democrats.

About four in 10 voters considered the economy and job to be the most important problem facing the country.

About half of voters identified the future of democracy as the single most important factor drawing them to the pol. That was higher than the share who answered the same way about inflation, the situation at the US-Mexico border, abortion policy or free speech.

Meanwhile nearly six in 10 said they are very or somewhat concerned another Trump term would bring the country closer to being an authoritarian country, where a single leader has unchecked power.

In 2020, the Covid pandemic and its handling dominated the election. This year the biggest issues can be seen below.

In this election, Kamala Harris is likely to be viewed by voters as the incumbent candidate, given she has been Joe Biden's VP for the past four years.

And that could be a difficult thing to overcome given an overwhelming majority of Americans report being dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country.

Despite inflation coming down, only about a quarter of Americans in recent years say they are happy with the direction of the nation, according to a long-running survey by Gallup.

Perhaps as a nod to a famous storyline in Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm TV series, Hollywood superstar Paul Rudd has delighted students in a surprise appearance at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, handing out water, posing for photos and encouraging people to vote as some reportedly stood in line for two hours.

"I just wanted to give people water," he told MSNBC. "They're waiting in line for a long time.

"It's a wonderful thing that all these young people are out voting".

Residents and businesses in Washington DC aren't taking any chances as they safeguard their properties, fearing political violence in the aftermath of the 2024 US election.

Security fencing and anti-riot barriers have also been set up outside the White House with the January 6 attack on the Capitol in 2020 following Joe Biden's election victory still fresh in people's minds.

Mayor Muriel Bowser has moved to calm fears, saying the city was working with federal authorities to ensure the safety of locals. She said businesses did not need to take precautionary measures but many fear ugly protests seen in Washington DC following the 2020 election could once again materialise.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in Florida this morning, Trump expressed confidence in the day's turnout.

"I feel very confident," he said. "We went in with a very big lead today, and it looks like Republicans have shown up in force, so let’s see how it turns out."

Reflecting on his campaign, he suggested the 2024 race was his strongest yet. "I think it was maybe the best of the three," he said. "We did great in the first one, we did much better in the second one but something happened," he added, alluding to his consistent and false claims the election was "stolen" when he lost to Joe Biden four years ago.

When asked about potentially declaring victory regardless of the results today, Trump responded, "I don’t know what’s going to happen," adding, "If it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge [the results]."

"It looks like we have many more Republicans voting today than Democrats, so we have a lead. If you have a bigger vote, that means you’re doing very well. But they have to call a winner — and they should call a winner," he said.

Trump acknowledged the possibility of the count dragging on for days in the state of Pennsylvania, for example, if it comes down to the wire and no winner is called today.

"If think it's an absolute outrage if that's the case," he said.

It's been just over fourth months since Joe Biden vowed to fight on after a disastrous first debate performance against Donald Trump. Since then A LOT has happened to bring us to this day.

Scroll through below to see the key inflection points in this presidential race.

According to the Associated Press, voting has largely gone smoothly across the nation but with scattered reports of extreme weather, ballot printing errors and technical problems causing some delays.

In Pennsylvania, voting booth hours in one county were extended by two hours after technical issues with scanning machines, meanwhile officials were seeking extended voting hours after “non credible” bomb threats caused two voting locations to be evacuated for about 30 minutes.

As Americans flock to the polls, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are making their final moves to engage voters.

Kamala Harris is spending the day in Washington DC, with several radio appearances scheduled across battleground states. She’s then set to join supporters at a watch party at Howard University, her alma mater. Like the rest of us, she’ll be watching on from there.

Donald Trump voted earlier in Palm Beach, Florida, where he’ll also host an election night watch party.

Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, was rallying voters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before joining Harris.

JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, voted Tuesday morning in Cincinnati but has no further public events scheduled.

- with David Artavia