U.S. presidential election (35): the world holds its breath
Tomorrow is polling day in a US presidential election which is widely judged to have been the most bitter and divisive in modern times. In fact, about a third of the ballots likely to be cast have already been made in early voting. That is at least 41 million votes across 48 states.
The latest polls show Clinton leading Trump by 48% to 43% (Washington Post/ABC), 44% to 40% (NBC/Wall Street Journal), and 45% to 42% (Politico/Morning Consult). So Clinton should win the most votes.
But the US President is not chosen by popular vote but by the Electoral College. According to the HuffPost Pollster database, Clinton is pretty certain of 269 electoral votes, while Trump probably has 164 in the bag. That leaves 105 up for grabs. Trump would need to win all of them to draw level with Clinton. So Clinton should win the College much more decisively than the popular vote.
But the world is holding its breath.
I’ll be staying up all night to watch the coverage of the counting and I’ll be joining a whole bunch of American Democratic activists living in London to see the story unfold.
I’ll be holding my breath.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:17 am
Counting will be on here starting about morning-tea time on Wednesday. Howard said seriously, “I don’t think I’ll be able to do any work” and is considering taking the day off. He could join a bunch of American Democrats in a nearby hotel to watch events on a big screen.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:27 am
Good for Howard.