After a record-breaking early voting turnout, Americans head to the polls in the strangest locations to cast their vote in the 2020 presidential election
Continue reading...Category Archives: US elections 2020
‘Losing is never easy,’ Trump says hours before voting ends – video
Donald Trump told reporters losing was ‘never easy’ for him and he had not yet written an acceptance or concession speech hours before the end of voting in the US election.
Trump added there was ‘tremendous unity’ during a stop at the Republican national committee in Arlington, Virginia, where he was thanking staff
Continue reading...Could Donald Trump refuse to accept defeat in US presidential election?
Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power – uncertainty over result will put that to the test
As the US prepared for a Joe Biden or a Donald Trump victory, Americans were forced to consider an extraordinary scenario in which Trump loses, but refuses to concede.
Continue reading...US election day 2020: voters stream to the polls to elect the next president – live updates
- According to the US elections project, 98m Americans have already voted
- Sign up for First Thing - our US morning newsletter
America is waking up to go to the polls today in an election campaign that has in some senses been very volatile, but also, as far as polling numbers are concerned, very stable.
Joe Biden has held a solid lead in the national polls for month. But as we saw in 2016, it isn’t getting the most votes that decides who ends up in the White House – Hillary Clinton polled 2.86m more than Donald Trump. We all know what happened next.
Related: US braces for historic election amid fears democracy is in danger
We don’t want to neglect mention of the celebrities who joined the campaign trail yesterday – that might be illegal?
At Donald Trump’s final rally of the evening, in Michigan, the president called the rapper Lil’ Pump onstage, incorrectly referring to him as “Lil’ Pimp”. We included footage of that moment earlier in the blog, check it out.
Just performed GLORY with my brother @JohnLegend at the Final @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris Rally on Election Eve in Philadelphia. Vote tomorrow. Let’s make history. pic.twitter.com/u3AzzxqZMc
Continue reading...US election 2020: Trump again defends supporters who harassed Biden campaign bus – live
- FBI confirmed yesterday it was investigating the highway incident
- Biden holds lead over Trump in Pennsylvania
- Trump threatens to fire Fauci after US election
- Kamala Harris campaigns in Texas in bid to flip state
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Donald Trump’s speech in North Carolina has focused on gripes about his polling numbers, the press and social media.
The president complained that Twitter’s trending topics are always “boring” and focused on him, instead of exciting things like “scandals” and “affairs.”
Joe Biden is closing his presidential campaign in much the same manner that he started it: by arguing this election represents a “battle for the soul of the nation.”
“The character of America is literally on the ballot,” the Democratic nominee said at his drive-in rally in Cleveland. “It’s time to take back our democracy.”
Continue reading...US election 2020: Trump and the rise of white supremacist extremism
White supremacist extremism is the most lethal terrorism threat to the United States. It’s a hateful ideology that the Guardian’s Lois Beckett says has infected many parts of American society
In May 2017, Demetria Hester was on her way home from work on a train in Portland, Oregon, when Jeremy Christian, an avowed white supremacist, boarded and began shouting racist abuse. She says she told him to shut up. When they had got off the train, he threw a bottle that struck her in the face. The next day he killed two men and grievously injured a third. Demetria describes to Anushka Asthana how she felt the police responded to the incident that night and how she watched her attacker walk away without being questioned.
Which swing states could decide the US election? – video explainer
Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump in the national polls for the presidential election, but that doesn’t guarantee the Democratic candidate victory. Hillary Clinton also had a clear lead over Trump in the polls for almost the entire 2016 campaign and ended up losing in the electoral college.
Because the presidential voting system assigns each state a number of electoral college votes, which go to the state’s victor regardless of the margin of victory (with the exception of Nebraska and Maine), a handful of swing states will probably decide the election and be targeted heavily by campaigners.
The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino examines how the race is developing in the areas that could decide the election
Continue reading...Trump thanks supporters chanting ‘fire Fauci’ at Florida rally – video
Donald Trump has threatened to fire America’s top infectious disease expert during a rally in Florida, just 24 hours before the US presidential election.
Anthony Fauci has served for more than three decades as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and has been critical of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. During the midnight rally in Florida, crowds chanted: ‘Fire Fauci!’, which the president allowed to continue for several seconds before responding: ‘Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election.’
Continue reading...Positively shocking: Trump’s boasts of help from Sean Connery fall apart
President claimed Bond actor helped him get planning permission for Scottish resort
It was less licence to kill and more dramatic licence. Donald Trump’s claim that the late Sean Connery assisted him in getting planning applications passed in Scotland fell apart quickly on Sunday when the chair of the planning committee said the James Bond star was not involved.
In a series of tweets, two days prior to the US election, Trump paid tribute to Connery, saying he was “highly regarded and respected in Scotland and beyond”. It was announced on Saturday the James Bond actor had died aged 90.
Continue reading...North Carolina police pepper spray protesters at get-out-the-vote march
- ‘We are fed up with this kind of treatment in Alamance county’
- Police claim protesters blocked roadway without authorization
North Carolina police pepper sprayed and arrested attendees at a get-out-the vote rally because participants blocked the roadway without authorization, authorities said on Saturday.
The “I Am Change” march to the polls was organized by the Reverend Greg Drumwright and began as a march from a local church to the courthouse. Drumwright said the group was permitted to stand in the square outside the Alamance county courthouse and was escorted through the streets by the police. He also said that the group had “no intention” of having the rally in the street.
Continue reading...US election 2020: Trump campaigning in five states as Biden heads to Philadelphia – live updates
- President visits Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida
- Biden targets Pennsylvania, Harris will be in Georgia and North Carolina
- Obama lends hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz
- Joe Biden: campaign that came close to folding now on verge of victory
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Jim VandeHei brings us his zen-like plans for having a calm and relaxing election night on Axios. His key points include:
One notable feature of the campaign has been several publications breaking with tradition to either back a Democratic nominee when you usually expect them to lean to the Republican ticket – or to indeed make presidential endorsements when they usually don’t. But the Trump campaign are making a lot of noise this morning about the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opting for a Republican for the first time since 1972.
This newspaper has not supported a Republican for president since 1972. But we believe President Trump, for all his faults, is the better choice this year.
Via @pgopinions https://t.co/dZYEQp3pGY
We share the embarrassment of millions of Americans who are disturbed by the president’s unpresidential manners and character — his rudeness and put-downs and bragging and bending of the truth.
None of this can be justified. The president’s behavior often has diminished his presidency, and the presidency. Most Americans want a president who makes them proud.
The Biden-Harris ticket offers us higher taxes and a nanny state that will bow to the bullies and the woke who would tear down history rather than learning from history and building up the country.
It offers an end to fracking and other Cuckoo California dreams that will cost the economy and the people who most need work right now. “Good-paying green jobs” are probably not jobs for Pittsburgh, or Cleveland, or Toledo, or Youngstown.
Continue reading...FBI confirms it is investigating Biden bus incident – live updates
- President visits Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida
- Biden targets Pennsylvania, Harris will be in Georgia and North Carolina
- FBI confirms it is investigating Biden bus incident
- Trump says he is preparing for legal challenges to vote counts as final sprint begins
- Obama lends hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz
- Joe Biden: campaign that came close to folding now on verge of victory
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Trump again defending his supporters who surrounded the moving Biden campaign bus: "They escorted the bus. And the radical left said 'oh what a horrible thing that is, to escort the bus.'" He says they're just people with an American flag and a Trump flag.
As trump criticised the US top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci, the crowd began to chant, “Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci!”.
Trump responded: “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait ‘til a little bit after the election, please. I appreciate the advice.”
Continue reading...‘A whole lot of hurt’: Fauci angers Trump White House with dark Covid outlook
- Top expert says Biden taking pandemic ‘seriously’
- Spokesman for president accuses doctor of political bias
- Swing-state health workers organize in bid to beat Trump
The US is “in for a whole lot of hurt” under the coronavirus pandemic, senior public health expert Anthony Fauci said, predicting a winter of 100,000 or more cases a day and a rising death toll.
Related: Wisconsin battles rapid rise in Covid cases amid partisan disputes over safety
Continue reading...Trump finds unlikely backers in prominent pro-democracy Asian figures
Hong Kong tycoon and dissidents praise US president’s hardline approach towards China but others dispute its authenticity
Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media tycoon and one of the most prominent pro-democracy figures in the city, waded into the US election in its final days, with an enthusiastic endorsement of the incumbent in his Apple Daily newspaper.
“I find a stronger sense of security in [Donald] Trump,” he wrote in an editorial that praised the US president for his “hardline” approach to Beijing.
Continue reading...‘The numbers floored me’: hunger in Pennsylvania hits highest level since pandemic’s start
Demand for food aid surges in state and across country, with 54m potentially facing hunger by year’s end
Charles Bennicoff hasn’t worked since last winter. He’s an experienced landscape gardener but the mom-and-pop business he worked for in Allentown, Pennsylvania, cut its staff after losing most of their contracts during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Joe Biden: from a campaign that almost collapsed to fighting Trump for the presidency
The former vice-president lost the first three primaries but victory in South Carolina set him up as the alternative – and antithesis – to Trump
Just days before one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in US history, the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, finds himself flush with cash, polling ahead of Donald Trump in state and national polls, and on a bold last-minute campaign offensive in parts of the country his Republican opponent won in 2016, and would usually be able to depend on for support.
Continue reading...Biden campaign says Trump supporters tried to force bus off highway
- President appears to praise threats from his own supporters
- Biden campaign says bus was nearly forced off road
Trucks with Trump signs and flags surrounded a Biden campaign bus on a Texas highway on Friday and attempted to slow the vehicle down and run it off the road, the Biden campaign said on Saturday.
Several video clips posted on social media by both Biden and Trump supporters showed the trucks surrounding the bus. The trucks then tried to slow the bus down and run it off the road before staff called 911, according to the Biden campaign.
Continue reading...US sets world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours
- Daily caseload of 100,233 surpasses tally set in India last month
- Study links Trump rallies to 30,000 cases and 700 deaths
The US has set a world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours, according to one count with just over 100,000 new infections recorded.
Continue reading...Obama lends a hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz
- Obama says Biden presidency ‘won’t be so exhausting’
- Trump on frenzied schedule of 14 rallies in three days
America was on edge on Saturday as Donald Trump and Joe Biden launched a final campaign blitz amid a surging pandemic, record early voting and gnawing uncertainty over when the outcome of the presidential election will be known.
Continue reading...‘I hope it makes a difference’: voters on remote Maine island cast their ballot
There are 70 active voters on Matinicus Island, 20 miles off the Maine coast. How are they feeling about the big day?
Located over 20 miles off the coast of Maine, Matinicus Island is often among the first communities in the state to report their official vote counts. It doesn’t take long, explains clerk and registrar of voters Eva Murray, because they have so few registered voters. “Out of the 70 active voters, I’ve already handed out 26 ballots,” she says.
In addition to running the election, Murray also runs the solid waste program, operates a bakery out of her house, works as a freelance writer and is a certified pilot and EMT. She knows most everyone on Matinicus, and most everyone knows her. There seems to be little confusion about how, logistically, to submit a ballot on the island. She predicts a “good turnout” this year.
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