United States election 2024: Trump takes early electoral lead as race with Harris takes shape

The US presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is shaping up to be the narrowly fought battle that polls forecast, and one that could take days to settle. 

With polls closed in more than two-thirds of states, Trump had taken preliminary leads in Georgia and North Carolina, two key swing states, while vote counting in others was in its early stages.  

Other initial results went as-expected, with both candidates projected to win safe states and West Virginia’s open Senate seat flipping to the Republicans. Trump easily won his home state of Florida, including some key heavily Hispanic counties. Harris took Democratic strongholds including New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Polls have closed in the battlegrounds of Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin, though voting hours have been extended in small pockets where irregularities were reported. The seventh remaining battleground state is Nevada.

Trump led in Georgia, with about two-thirds of votes reported, and North Carolina, while Harris had early leads in Michigan and Pennsylvania. None of those swing states has been called. 

Voters said democracy and the economy mattered the most when deciding their presidential vote in exit polls released Tuesday afternoon by a consortium of networks that included NBC News, Fox News, and CNN.

Around 35 percent of voters — including a plurality of both men and women — said democracy was their top issue and 31 percent said the economy, while 14 percent picked abortion. Immigration was the top issue for 11 percent of voters. Abortion was the top issue for 19 percent of women versus just eight percent of men. Only four percent of voters said foreign policy was their biggest concern.

On the economy, almost half of all surveyed voters — 48 percent — said they are very concerned about the cost of petrol and 51 percent said they’re concerned about housing costs. Only 26 percent of voters said they were enthusiastic or satisfied with the way things are going, while 72 percent were dissatisfied or angry. President Joe Biden’s approval rating sits at 41 percent.