Trump wins Arizona, completing sweep of swing states as reasons for divide emerge
The scale of Donald Trump’s comeback sent shockwaves around the world and revealed more than a nation divided. Here are the deciding divisions.
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The Sun Belt state of Arizona swung red in the final result of the US presidential election, bringing president-elect Donald Trump to 312 electoral votes, well past the 270 needed for victory, while Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris lagged behind at 226.
The result has sealed Mr Trump’s sweep of all seven swing states, obtaining Arizona’s 11 electoral votes in another flip of a state that voted for Joe Biden in 2020.
US media declared Mr Trump the winner in more than half of the 50 states, including key battlegrounds Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which voted Democratic in the last election.
The Democratic coalition that delivered victory to Joe Biden just four years ago disintegrated, the Blue Wall crumbled and the Sun Belt waned.
American statitician and author Nate Silver, who correctly predicted the election outcome in October, said fewer people turned out to vote this year than in 2020, and it’s suspected that a number of Democrats sat on their hands.
The Republicans have already regained control of the Senate and look set to retain a majority in the House of Representatives thanks to support from white working class voters and a large share of Hispanics.
Black voters, especially male, did not flock to elect Harris-Walz while Donald Trump won more Black voters than any Republican candidate in nearly fifty years, according to CNN’s analyst Harry Enten.
While Mr Trump’s voter base has seemed to be white and working-class people, the rise in the number of other groups, including Black, Hispanic and first-time voters paved his way to the White House.
“The breadth of the improvement Donald Trump had... holy Toledo!” Mr Enten said on CNN.
As the dust settles on the 2024 election results, a portrait emerges of a nation not only divided, but one that kept its true voting intentions secret until the deciding moment at the ballot box.
Mr Trump’s top performing state was Wyoming, which delivered him 72 per cent of the vote (he also routed Mr Biden in that state in 2020). Ms Harris’s biggest backer was Washington D.C. with a stunning 92.5 per cent of the vote, reflecting the loyalties of the incumbent party. In D.C. Mr Trump only landed 6.7 per cent of votes, which will no doubt fuel renewed calls to “drain the swamp”.
Ms Harris’s next best was Vermont, which gave her 62 per cent (Mr Biden won that state with 66 per cent in 2020).
Mr Trump’s next best was West Virginia, a Republican stronghold since the mid-1990s where he won 68 per cent of the vote in 2020, improving this year to 70 per cent.
Both Wyoming and Vermont are rural, but they are chalk and cheese. Wyoming, the second least populous state in the US, is considered frontier, whereas Vermont, the Green Mountain State, is part of Blue-leaning New England and Bernie Sanders’ stronghold.
Regardless of geography, exit polls showed that voters’ top concerns across the nation remained the economy and inflation that spiked under Mr Biden in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
The New York Times reported that voters across party lines shifted to the right on the issue of immigration, blaming the Biden-Harris administration for failing to control the chaotic southern border.
Mr Trump - who never conceded his 2020 election loss to Mr Biden - sealed a comeback of startling strength in the November 5 vote, winning wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office, and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a fascist.
The 78-year-old ex-reality TV star and real estate magnate’s win likely means that the next decade of US politics will be shaped by his hard line right-wing stance.
To say America is a nation divided is an understatement. It’s a nation that has chosen its path for the next four years at least.
The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC and CBS, as well as a list of states they won by the widest margin.
TRUMP (312 ELECTORAL VOTES)
Arizona (11) Alabama (9) Alaska (3) Arkansas (6) Florida (30) Georgia (16) Idaho (4) Indiana (11) Iowa (6) Kansas (6) Kentucky (8) Louisiana (8) Maine (1 - split) Michigan (15) Mississippi (6) Missouri (10) Montana (4) Nebraska (4 - split) Nevada (6) North Carolina (16) North Dakota (3) Ohio (17) Oklahoma (7) Pennsylvania (19) South Carolina (9) South Dakota (3) Tennessee (11) Texas (40) Utah (6) West Virginia (4) Wisconsin (10) Wyoming (3)
Here are the states Donald Trump won easily:
Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
West Virginia (strong with 70 per cent of the vote)
Wyoming (strongest with 72 per cent of the vote)
States Trump flipped:
Arizona
Central Florida
Georgia
Michigan
Nevada
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
HARRIS (226 ELECTORAL VOTES)
California (54) Colorado (10) Connecticut (7) Delaware (3) District of Columbia (3) Hawaii (4) Illinois (19) Maine (3 - split) Maryland (10) Massachusetts (11) Minnesota (10) Nebraska (1 - split) New Hampshire (4) New Jersey (14) New Mexico (5) New York (28) Oregon (8) Rhode Island (4) Vermont (3) Virginia (13) Washington (12)
Here are the states Kamala Harris won easily:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont (strong with 64 per cent of the vote)
Washington
District of Columbia (strongest with 92.5 per cent of the vote)
Harris did not flip any states.
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