US election live: Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton in battle for the White House

Donald J. Trump is holding on to razor-thin leads in several crucial battleground states, including Florida and North Carolina, giving the ...

Donald J. Trump is holding on to razor-thin leads in several crucial battleground states, including Florida and North Carolina, giving the Republican nominee a path to victory if he can defeat Hillary Clinton in one of the Democratic strongholds that until recently seemed firmly in her grasp.

The vote margins separating Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton remain razor thin in the states that will determine the outcome of the presidential contest, with voters clearly demonstrating the polarized nature of the American electorate.

Campaign advisers to Mrs. Clinton watched nervously on Tuesday night as healthy leads that had been predicted in polling for much of the past several months appeared to evaporate while the votes were tallied. At 10 p.m., Mr. Trump was clinging to small leads in Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.

In Florida, Mr. Trump was leading among white voters, including those with a college degree, while Mrs. Clinton was buoyed by a rise in nonwhite voters. Roughly four in 10 Florida voters in Tuesday’s election were nonwhite, and they accounted for well over half of Mrs. Clinton’s backers there.

In a boost for Republicans in the state, Senator Marco Rubio, a onetime presidential hopeful, won re-election in a hard-fought contest that could help thwart Democratic hopes to take over the Senate.

In Virginia, where Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton had campaigned intensely, it remained too early to determine a winner as polls closed across the commonwealth. And in Georgia, a Southern state where Democrats had expressed hope for a surprise victory, the race also appeared too close to call shortly after balloting ended.

A race that was dominated by ugly, personal attacks appeared to have taken a toll on voters, and the country’s mood appeared darker and more pessimistic than it was four years ago, with about 60 percent of voters saying the country was seriously on the wrong track. Voters said they were eager for change in Washington, though they expressed dismay that issues had been overlooked in the brutal, long and nasty campaign.

Here are some other developments happening now:
• Ohio may be very close. While pre-election polls had consistently shown Mr. Trump in the lead in the Buckeye State, the results of early exit polls there suggested that late deciders had leaned toward Mrs. Clinton, giving her more of a chance. Among the one in six voters who decided in the past week, Mrs. Clinton held a modest but clear advantage over Mr. Trump, and she performed best among women, younger voters, black voters and the nonreligious. Mr. Trump’s strongest support came from men, older voters, white voters and evangelicals.

• Both candidates earn some expected victories. From the department of the unsurprising, the results from a slew of noncompetitive states: Mrs. Clinton won in Illinois, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Delaware, as well as the District of Columbia. Mr. Trump won in South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

• Evan Bayh loses in Indiana. Another blow to Democratic Senate hopes: Mr. Bayh, a former senator and governor from Indiana, failed in his bid to return to the chamber, losing to Todd Young, a Republican who attacked him as a Washington insider.

• Does anyone trust the presidential hopefuls? Months of personal character attacks by both candidates appeared to leave voters largely dissatisfied with their choices, according to early exit polls: Only about four in 10 voters viewed Mrs. Clinton as honest and trustworthy, while slightly fewer said that Mr. Trump was honest.

• Whose résumé is better? Mrs. Clinton’s experience appeared to pass the test with voters, about half of whom said the former senator and secretary of state was qualified to serve as president. Fewer than four in 10 said the same of Mr. Trump, who has embraced his status as a businessman and a Washington outsider.

• How did the scandals play? More than four in 10 voters said Mrs. Clinton’s email controversies bothered them “a lot,” while a larger proportion — six in 10 — said they were bothered a lot by Mr. Trump’s treatment of women.

• So is this a record-breaking day for voter turnout? It is hard to say just yet. The Times’s Steve Eder reported that voting was robust in the bellwether state of Florida; by 1 p.m., more than 900,000 voters had cast ballots in Miami-Dade County, surpassing the total turnout from four years ago. But in Lucas County, Ohio, data from the first part of the day suggested that voting tallies would be on par with 2008 and 2012, officials with the board of elections said.

• The Hispanic population, a sleeping giant, is now awake. The Hispanic turnout will be far higher than it was in 2012. It has the best shot of deciding the election in Florida, where Hispanic voters represent a well-above-average share of the population.
Trump campaign sues over Nevada voting.
Nevada Judge Denies Trump Campaign’s Suit

A Nevada judge denied a request by Donald J. Trump’s campaign to preserve documents from early voting sites in Las Vegas, after the campaign alleged voting irregularities. “What are you saying?” Judge Gloria Sturman asked Mr. Trump’s lawyer in one exchange.By REUTERS on Publish Date November 8, 2016.

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to have votes in Nevada impounded on the grounds that poll workers illegally extended early-voting hours to accommodate people who were waiting in long lines.

Thousands of Hispanic voters lined up outside polling places to vote on Friday in Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas and has the state’s largest Hispanic population. Record turnout has raised fears among Republicans that they could lose the battleground state, and Trump campaign officials have been complaining that the extension of hours in some locations is evidence that the election is rigged.

The lawsuit alleges that the people were allowed to vote illegally because they cast ballots after the published closing times at polling places.

The campaign also sent a letter to Nevada’s secretary of state asking for an investigation into the allegations of “egregious violations.”
Clinton and Trump vote.

Parents held their children in the air to get a glimpse as Mrs. Clinton voted for herself in Chappaqua, N.Y., on Tuesday morning.

“It’s a humbling feeling,” Mrs. Clinton said.

Mr. Trump appeared to be in good spirits when he arrived at a Manhattan polling place just before 11 a.m. with his wife, Melania, to vote for himself.

He was met with a mix of cheers and boos as he left his motorcade and waved to pedestrians.

Inside Public School 59, Mr. Trump shook hands with other voters and offered high-fives to some children who came along with their parents.

The vice-presidential candidates also voted in the morning.

- Advertisement -

Disclaimer: The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only.

The information is provided by PaHarare Exptreme using online sources and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose.

Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

- Advertisement -