Eleventh hour hustings help US president Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s frenzied last-minute political rallies in key states appear to have paid off.

Customers at a local bar in Beijing, China watch a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump on a television. Picture: Getty Images

Donald Trump’s frenzied last-minute political rallies in key states appear to have paid off as the President mowed down early leads opened up by rival Joe Biden in pre-poll ballots before election day.

Condemned as a potential COVID-19 superspreader by political rivals, Mr Trump’s rallies ­instead conjured a red wave of ­political momentum that had him on the cusp of another four years in the White House as ­midnight struck in America. Mr Trump travelled between key swing states ­including Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Georgia in the final days of the campaign as he sought to whip up momentum ahead of voting day and get his supporters to turn out and vote. The strategy appeared to have worked.

In key states such as Florida, Ohio and Texas, Mr Biden raced to strong leads as early votes were counted only to see them swam­ped by the army of Trump voters who turned out on polling day.

In Florida, which was seen as a key swing state, Mr Trump and Mr Biden swapped leads until the vote was about 80 per cent complete when Mr Trump surged to a 51.2 per cent to 47.8 per cent victory.

In Ohio, Mr Biden opened a lead of more than 20 points with about 25 per cent of the vote counted, but Mr Trump ran it down with about 60 per cent of the vote counted to win easily by 53.3 per cent to 45.2 per cent.

In Pennsylvania, where Mr Trump held a 690,000 vote lead, early votes are likely to prove crucial and the issue will probably end up in court.

Before the vote it was expected, political pundits warned, the final count on polling day would favour the Republicans because of a high pre-poll vote.

Mr Biden’s supporters had submitted 616,014 absentee votes compared with 162,288 for Mr Trump’s supporters. As he ­declared he had probably won the election, Mr Trump said the 690,000 vote lead he held over Mr Biden was too great to be beaten.

But Mr Biden, as he reassured supporters that the election was not lost for the Democrats, ­remained confident pre-poll votes would carry him over the line.

“We are going to win Pennsylvania,’’ Mr Biden said.

“We could know the results as early as tomorrow morning, but it could take a little longer.’’

According to statistics published before voting day, registered Democrats returned about 1.6 million pre-poll ballots compared with 586,000 for the Republicans.

A perceived lead in pre-poll vote will also be crucial if Mr Biden is to have any chance of winning Michigan and Wisconsin where Mr Trump again trounced his Democrat rival on voting day.

Mr Biden’s optimism appeared to be based more on hope than hard numbers. With 92 per cent of expected voted counted in ­Wisconsin, Mr Trump held a lead of 119,000 votes over Mr Biden ­before a late dump of votes swung the lead to Biden late on Wednesday night AEDT.

In Michigan, with 86 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Trump led Mr Biden by fewer than 27,000 votes. Both states will need extraordinary proportions of pre-polls to favour Mr Biden if the Democrat candidate is to win.

In Florida the number of early votes was staggering. The Florida Division of Elections reported that a staggering 8.97 million mail ballots and in-person early votes were cast, just short of the 9.4 million votes cast in the state in the 2016 presidential election.

In Texas which had been ­expected to be close, Mr Trump won by more than 650,000, taking 52.3 per cent of first preferences after again mowing down an early lead from Mr Biden.

In early voting, Mr Biden had opened up a 20-point lead over Mr Trump but he drew even with half the vote counted and drew away as about three-quarters of ballots had been counted.

Despite trailing by more than 100,000 in Georgia, with about 97 per cent of the vote to be counted, some pundits were still predicting that Mr Biden had a chance to take the seat from Mr Trump.

Mr Biden’s supporters had filed about 100,000 more votes than Mr Trump’s in pre-polling. Most of the optimism in Democrats ranks revolved around suggestions that large numbers of votes from polling places in Atlanta, which were expected to favour Mr Biden, had yet to be counted.

Counting in Fulton Country, where Atlanta is located, was ­delayed after a water pipe burst at a room in the State Farm Arena where absentee mail ballots were being held. None of the ballots were damaged.