US election: Trumped: America stuns the world

US president-elect Donald Trump has pulled off one of the most extraordinary election upsets in political history.

US president-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reclaim the American dream, after pulling off one of the most extraordinary election upsets in political history.

The victory, which came after a series of sweeping triumphs in swing states across the country, stunned his rival Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, and ­recast politics in Washington.

The shock of a likely Trump victory rattled world markets earlier in the day, wiping $30 billion off Australian shares in one of the most volatile trading days of the past decade.

His victory dealt a historic blow not only to Mrs Clinton’s now shattered presidential aspirations but also to the Democratic Party, which failed to retake either the US Senate or the House, giving the next Republican president almost unfettered power to implement his agenda.

It is the first time that an American has been elected president without first being a politician or a military commander. At 70, Mr Trump is also the oldest first-term president elected.

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After an initial 1 per cent gain yesterday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dived as much as 4 per cent as it became clear that Mr Trump was securing key states that could deliver him victory.

The market later regained some ground to close down 101.2 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 5156.6 — its lowest closing level since June 29. Around the world, Japan’s Nikkei stock index was trading down 5.3 per cent, while the Mexican peso dived, and gold, a save haven, jumped 5 per cent.

In a gracious victory speech last night, the billionaire businessman thanked his vanquished opponent, Mrs Clinton, saying Americans “owed a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country”.

“It’s time to heal the wounds of division, it’s time for us to come ­together as a united people. I pledge that I will be president for all Americans,” he said.

Mr Trump pledged to fulfil his promises to his supporters, who he described as a movement of millions of hard-working, honest Americans. “Ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement,” he said.

“The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”

Vice president-elect Mike Pence told the crowd: “This is a historic night. The American ­people have spoken and the American people have elected their new champion.”

Mr Trump has pledged to act quickly to repeal Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law, revoke America’s nuclear agreement with Iran and rewrite important trade deals with other countries, particularly Mexico and Canada.

The Clinton campaign initially refused to concede last night, but shortly after 2am New York time (7pm AEDT), Mrs Clinton rang Mr Trump to concede and congratulate him on his victory.

As counting continued late last night Mr Trump was in front in Arizona and Michigan, and holding 279 electoral college votes, a convincing margin on the 270 votes required for victory.

The victory was a major upset, with polls across the country failing to predict a Trump win. The best known poll, the Real Clear Politics average of polls, gave Mrs Clinton a 3.5 point lead when voting began yesterday morning.

Mr Trump had claimed during the campaign that there was a ­silent majority of voters who supported him.

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His victory came after he scored convincing victories in the most crucial swing states of Flor­ida, Ohio and North Carolina in addition to several upsets in traditional Democrat states such as Wisconsin and Michigan.

The size of the swing to Mr Trump became clear in early results when he took Ohio and then the most important battleground state, Florida, with its 29 electoral votes, which Mrs Clinton was expecting to win with a strong Latino backlash against Mr Trump.

The real surprise was his victory in the Great Lakes democratic strongholds of Wisconsin and Michigan. Although both candidates campaigned in Michigan in recent days, the Clinton campaign misread the mood in Wisconsin, choosing not to campaign there once since the Democratic convention in July.

Exit polls yesterday indicated that women nationwide supported Mrs Clinton by a double-digit margin, while men were significantly more likely to back Mr Trump. More than half of white voters backed the Republican, while nearly nine in 10 blacks and two-thirds of Hispanics voted for the Democrat.

Mr Trump’s victory will pose a challenge for the Turnbull government given his comments about a potential trade war with China and his strong opposition to free trade, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canberra will also be seeking assurances about Mr Trump’s continued commitment to the ANZUS alliance.

Mr Trump’s victory came after he closed the gap in the polls in the last 11 days after FBI director James Comey reopened the FBI investigation into Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server to transmit sensitive government information. Mr Trump used the issue to step up his attacks on “crooked Hillary” and argue that she was corrupt and unfit for ­office. The issue helped him to draw within 1.3 points of Mrs Clinton a week ago but the polls stabilised for her last weekend and in the final few days, she increased her poll lead over Mr Trump. Her standing in the final days was helped by Mr Comey’s announcement on Sunday to clear Mrs Clinton of criminal behaviour in its second probe of new emails.

Even so, Mr Trump called on his supporters to “ deliver justice at the ballot box”.

Mr Trump’s victory ends one of the most bitter and divisive campaigns in US history, with both candidates engaging in savage personal attacks over the character of their rival and their fitness to become commander in chief.

Mr Trump’s most damaging moment of the campaign was in early October when an Access Hollywood tape revealed him making lewd comments about women.

His poll ratings tumbled for several weeks as many women and senior Republicans such as House leader Paul Ryan and John McCain abandoned him.

But in the end it wasn’t enough to stop what he called “the movement” and now Mr Trump is the president-elect.