A divided America is sending Donald Trump back to the White House. Many watched in stunned disbelief as Vice-President Kamala Harris underperformed in the 2024 Presidential election.
As of Wednesday morning, Trump had been declared the winner with 276 electoral votes to Harris’ 223. The first candidate to reach 270 electoral votes is automatically the winner.
As the first polls began to close last night, tens of millions of Americans added their ballots to the 84 million cast early as they chose between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the country.
Voters said the economy and immigration are the top issues facing the country, but the future of democracy was also a leading motivator for many Americans casting a ballot in Tuesday’s presidential election. AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide, found a country mired in negativity and desperate for change.
Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues, and ballot printing errors.
Harris underperformed Joe Biden’s 2020 race among every single demographic with the exception of college-educated women (and even her showing with them has been underwhelming).
How they voted
While many thought Black men would be the undoing of this race, Exit Polls show Trump failed to make any gains among Black voters, including Black men from 2020.
2024 Black voters
- Harris 86-12%
2020 Black voters
- Biden 87%-12%
2024 Black men
- Harris 78-20%
2020 Black men
- Biden 79-19%
“We gotta stop solely blaming white people when Asians and Latinos went up for that man,” said voter Figaro Newton. “Eighty percent of Black men and 93% of Black women voted blue. We gotta call it out. The country is deeply anti-Black.”
“For white Americans, there is nothing Kamala could have done. Nothing. Trump validates their white supremacy. It has zero to do with policy,” said voter Sean Mac.
If Harris had been elected, she would have been the first woman President and promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from President Joe Biden’s course. Trump has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and foes alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
Harris and Trump entered Election Day focused on seven swing states, five of which Trump carried in 2016 before they flipped to Biden in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans carried in the last two elections, were also closely contested.
Trump, 78, is the oldest president ever elected. He is also the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a felony to take over the Oval Office.
A Trump victory affirms that enough voters ignored warnings from many of Trump’s former aides or prioritized concerns about Biden and Harris’ stewardship of the economy or the U.S.-Mexico border.
It also ensures he avoids going to prison after being found guilty of his role in hiding hush-money payments to an adult film actress during his first run for president in 2016. His sentencing in that case could occur later this month. Upon taking office, Trump could end the federal investigation into his effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
Congress
Republicans are also projected to retake control of the Senate for the first time in four years, according to the AP and Edison research. The party flipped several seats. It’s still up in the air which party will control the House of Representatives.
If the Republicans win the House, it will make it much easier for Trump’s legislation to become law with his party controlling the Senate and House of Representatives.
