voter and harris voter? >> trump has under performed in public polling versus the outcome we saw in 2016 and 2020. but the question is going to be tonight, is about whether or not democrats are -- the under polling of the abortion voter. since the dobbs decision democrats have been -- expectations in other elections will that out pace the hidden trump vote. >> thank you very much. it's been a pleasure working with all of you all day. appreciate it very much. again, we're just about an hour away from the first exit poll data and two hours from the first poll closings. cnn's election night in america gets under way right now. it's election night in america. voters are having their say. your say, and the

countdown is on to the very first exit polls and results. >> all across the usa, from arizona to pennsylvania, michigan to georgia, and battlegrounds in between, the final hours of voting are underway , and the most consequential presidential race ever. >> the american people are exhausted with his gas lighting. enough! >> come allah! you have done a horrible job as vice president, you are fired. >> reporter: after stunning twist and turns, the time to choose is here. >> we will win, win, win. >> we will win! >> reporter: tonight, an historic and unpredictable election. vice president kamala harris aiming to be the first woman and first woman of color to serve in the oval office after replacing pres. biden as their party's choice late in

the campaign. >> it is my pledge to you that i will always fight for all the american people. >> reporter: former pres. donald trump hoping to become only the second ex-commander in chief to return to the white house even after his unprecedented criminal indictments and convictions. >> we will never give up. we will never back down. and we will never, ever, ever surrender. >> team tickets with dramatically different visions for the country. >> why don't we have a border? because, harris refuses to do her damn job. >> donald trump does not have a plan for you! the only plan is what is good for donald trump! >> in suspense, waiting for the final verdict of the voters. >> november 5 will be the most important day in our country. >> who will win, and when?

>> are you ready to make your voices heard? >> this is cnn's coverage of election night in america, the race for the white house, the campaign for congress, and the challenges facing the nation. >> do we believe in the promise of america? >> we will make america rate again. >> this will be an election unlike any other. anything is possible until the last vote. ♪ >> democracy in action as we see voters casting ballots in arizona as well as in wisconsin, and of course, all across the nation with the power of the presidency and control of congress on the line. welcome to cnn's live

coverage of election night in america. i am jake tapper. right now, americans are making a monumental decision, choosing vice president kamala harris or former pres. donald trump to lead the country through the next four years. we will soon get some early clues about what voters are thinking when we roll out our first exit poll results. that is coming now. that will set the stage for the battle ahead. the all-important race to 270, the number of electoral votes needed to win the white house. all states play a role in getting one candidate or the other to hit that magic number. but this election is expected to come down to seven crucial competitive battlegrounds that we will be watching very closely in the hours and days ahead. georgia is the first key race of the night. when voting ends they are at 10:00 pm eastern. ice pres. harris in a tough fight for the state, democrats flipped from red to blue four years ago. after that, north carolina is in the

spotlight. former pres. trump is on defense in the swing state. he narrowly won in 2020 and 2016. then, all eyes are on the commonwealth of pennsylvania, one of the blue wall battlegrounds. it is critical for democrats to win the presidency. then at 9 o'clock eastern and wisconsin are up for grabs. two more of those blue wall states where the harris trump contest gets close and bitterly contested. then, the swing state is on the line at 9:00 pm eastern. that is arizona making that a very important hour. there is one more important battleground to watch, nevada. voting ends there at 10:00 pm eastern as we get into the night. and the fight for electoral votes. erin burnett and our battleground correspondence are going to give us updates on turnout and vote counting in those crucial swing states along with pamela brann at the voting desk. john king is at his post at the magic wall where he will be mapping out the votes and tracking the trends all night long. david stallion is

crunching our exit poll numbers and will bring us the very first results imminently. laura sanchez is following the balance of power in congress with 34 senate seats in all 435 house seats up for grabs. a political team is going to break it all down. iv cornish, and chris wallace are here. 's and cooper is with david axelrod, alyssa ferrer griffin, and david irvine. plus, of course, we have correspondence covering the candidates. let's go right now to abby phillip at harris campaign headquarters at the vice presidents alma mater how are university here in washington dc. abby, what is it right now from the harris campaign is results start to come in in some places? >> reporter: jake, i have been talking to harris advisors all day. people inside and outside of the campaign. the word i'm getting from them is cautious optimism. a lot of these people have been in the battleground states throughout the weekend and the last couple days . they

are seeing a momentum shift on the ground. they believe something has changed in their favor. so, a lot of the people i am speaking with feel good coming into tonight. one person though who does not really want to talk about winning is the candidate herself, vice president kamala harris is almost superstitious about not wanting to have that kind of conversation. she has been headdown all day today, on the phones doing phone interviews with radio stations. she does went to the dnc here in washington a few minutes ago to call voters and ask them to get out and vote. she has been working on getting out the vote. once person who spoke with her recently said she doesn't want to get close to measuring the drapes. she wants to make sure every single vote is counted before her mind goes to that place. right now, the harris team is in work mode.

they believe they have a lot of work to do to keep their voters coming out to the polls as we get into these evening hours, jake. >> with the harris campaign at howard university in washington dc, let's go now to caitlin collins who is several hundred miles south of campaign headquarters in west palm beach florida. -- near mar-a-lago. what is happening in trump world in these closing hours of voting? >> reporter: jake, they are watching everything very closely. this is a team that has been poring over the numbers all day much like the harris campaign has as well. for donald trump himself, he did not arrive back here in palm beach, florida until 5:30 this morning. that came after a late-night rally in grand rapids, michigan where he closes out his presidential campaigns. he hasn't gotten much sleep taste on what i heard from sources who say he has been covering his aides, asking for updates on the race and how the polling stands right now, and how polling has been looking today. i'm told

one thing they have zeroed in on is the number of early voting where republicans have done very well, obviously, a change from a few years ago when donald trump was incredibly critical of early voting. those numbers have given them a newfound confidence in the last 24 hours or so, jake. that is the number that trump campaign aides are giving to try to boost them and excite them going into this. whether or not that confidence is warranted remains to be seen. i should know, i am at the trump campaign center where they are going to be having a party here tonight. trump himself will be watching the returns come in from his mar-a-lago club a few minutes away. there are several hundred guests invited they are, and those who are expected to be around him are names like elon musk, robert f. kennedy jr., dana white, newfound allies of his that have obviously been on the campaign trail with him as well, jake. >> all right, caitlin collins, we will check back with you in a minute. now where john king is mapping out the candidates potential paths to 270 electoral votes. john, how do

they get there? >> we begin with each candidate having a pass at 270. we also know from history that several states loom larger, if you will, in that path. let me start here with the three right here. those are the states in the blue wall, pennsylvania, chicken, wisconsin, they voted together since 1992. they voted blue in every election exit 2016. that was donald trump's big surprise. he flipped the blue wall red and won the white house. if you are vice president of the united states, they are the easiest. there are no easy paths to to 70, but this is what we have right now. 226 votes solid or likely democratic, 219 solid or republican. if he can hold michigan, joe biden won it, that alone, as long as she wins nebraska's district would get hurt to to 70. she would be the next president of the united states. that's the blue wall strategy. can she win without the blue wall? she can. she can

win with the sun belt strategy, north carolina, georgia, then you come west and do arizona and nevada. these would be tough. donald trump has been consistently ahead or competitive, more competitive than other states in the polls. the vice president can do it with the sun belt strategy. let's get this from donald trump's perspective. can he do it with just the sun belt strategy? the answer is, no. but if donald trump wins north carolina, wins georgia, wins arizona and turns nevada red for the first time since 2004, i believe, that would only get him to 268. so, donald trump needs at least one of the blue wall states. that's what makes this fascinating, jake. they have voted together since 1992. the question, we have broken a lot of rules in our politics and last eight or 10 years. the question is, do we break one tonight? if one candidate puts this together, if it's the vice president, she is automatically pres. if donald trump wins these three, he would only need one more going

through. >> as the votes come in, what are you looking for? >> let's switch maps. you went through the poll closings. i think we should prepare the american people to think , i don't know, saturday, like 20/20 did. we should be prepared for an election where we are not certain of the winner tonight. however, because several aides promised account faster, we will get significant clues. this is the 2020 format. both will fill in pretty soon. let's go back to this map to answer your question. as you know, we will get georgia results first of the battleground states. right? so, what are we going to look for right away? how faster the returns? how is the vice president of the united states doing in the bedrock of any democratic victory? that's fulton county, and that's in the suburbs of atlanta, absolutely key. it was key to joe biden, he had 73% in atlanta and is running suburb. it will be keep advice for president. then, can donald trump perform in the suburbs at his 2016 levels? watch. he is losing in cobb county with 47% in 2016. in 2020 he bumps to 42%. it was donald trump's

suburban struggles that cost him the election in 2020. so, we will get early clues in georgia today as we come back to 2020, then 2024 right here. about half the vote in the state of georgia is going to come right in here in the metropolitan atlantic area. yes, donald trump will run it up in the rural red areas. we will see if turnout is as high as 2016, and higher in 2020. it's the trump base is turning up and the harris base is turning up, this is a race that will be settled once again in the american suburbs. donald trump won the suburbs in 2016. he collapsed in the suburbs in 2020. >> very interesting. thank you very much. i'm here at the table with my panel. this is the rundown starting with you. what are you looking for? obviously, there is so much. to me one. >> i would say 2020 was an historic turnout, the highest since the 1900s. so, if it doesn't match that, who stayed home, and why? them of our

questions will come to that. which group stayed home, and why? donald trump has been running for two years. kamala harris has been running for 107 days. so, one of my big questions is particularly with her candidacy is whether that was just enough time to introduce herself to the country and to candidates who were dead set on voting for a democrat, wasn't so sure about him -- or whether she could have used a little bit more time. >> this has been, i think, the most explicit gender gap, gender appealing election in my memory. so, i'm going to be looking at the gender gap. as they say on wall street, past performance is no guarantee of future results. but it is an indication. i look back at 2020. the electorate in 2020 was a 52% women, 48% men. among

women, biden was up by 15 points. among men, trump was up by eight points. i will be looking to see one whether the margins change one way or the other from trump , from biden, and also the overall electorate. 52-48 four years ago. this is going to be a different mix of men and women. >> also, it is a different mix in terms of overall numbers. -- are the women who are voting -- voting differently, registered republicans, independents, voting differently because this is the first presidential election post roe v. wade. that is why so many -- the phrases of the week is not justly optimistic. you probably all heard that from both sides of the aisle. but from the democrats, they are still banking on women in particular, and some men -- >> and they coast on that. what's fascinating is, kamala harris did not run as an

identity candidate. right? we are not looking at someone who took the barack obama approach in talking about her resume, trying to appeal to people's better natures when it comes to race. she is not doing what hillary clinton did. >> she is running on freedom. when she says freedom, the number one thing in that freedom bucket is reproductive rights. >> on the other hand there was a hot microphone moment where she was sitting down with gretchen witmer, the governor of michigan and said, we really have to work on the map. they definitely feel with this roe strategy and getting the endorsement just today from joe rogan that donald trump has succeeded in appealing especially to young men, and even young men who are latino or black. they got a little caught into that. they are also doing really, really well among women including republican women.

>> we are closing in on the first exit poll results. early insights in the mind of people who turned out to vote and the issues driving their choices for president. straight ahead, we will take you inside polling places in crucial battleground states where ballots are being cast right now. stay with us as we track every vote until we know who wins and loses whenever that may be. this is election night in america on cnn. ♪

spotlight right now on wisconsin and the six other make or break battlegrounds in the voting ongoing across the country as this unprecedented election is moving towards uncertain conclusions. erin has our battleground center. erin? >> correspondence are talking to voters and election officials in pennsylvania and arizona right now. those battlegrounds are in place , such a crucial role again and again, and it might have anxiety factors tonight. kate, you are in pennsylvania. we just heard about lines and lines across the state. what are you seeing and hearing right now? >> reporter: first and foremost we are in bucks county as you said. this is the swinging is to county in the swing state.

we heard from officials here in philly and other counties like montgomery. the turnout today is high. what that means and who that benefits, tbd. we've been talking to voters all day, stories are fascinating. whitney is one of those voters. heidi, thank you so much. you said you were born and raised here. this is your high school. what is driving your vote? what is motivating your vote this time? >> women's rights. i have a daughter. and i want her to have the same exact rights that i had. >> you are about to walk in. will you share who you are voting for? >> kamala harris. >> reporter: how have you voted in the past, 2020 and 2016? >> democrat, yes. >> reporter: what do you think about the messaging you are hearing from donald trump? is it a vote for kamala harris or is this a vote against donald trump for you? >> for me, it's for kamala harris. it's definitely against donald trump. i'm not proud. -- that's what's representing our country. we can do better. >> what do you think of the nature of this election? how toxic it has gotten, the messaging, the two different realities, really? -- that we are seen presented by the

candidates? >> well, on his end, it's extremely toxic. i love the way she is ending, not toxic, not saying bad things, really making a difference in what she's going to do for us. i am excited. >> pennsylvania always a swing state, you live in one of the most competitive counties in the state. thank you, heidi. i appreciate your time. we have been talking to voters all day, their stories are all fascinating and their voices are now being heard, erin, because they are going to vote. they are going to vote, and they will wait and wait. and it could all come down to that. we hear about possibly record turnout where you are in mesa. what are you seeing for voters? it looks like there is a line behind you. >> there is a very long line here. and before i start showing you this line, i want to point out that the average wait time is two minutes. but that's not the case here in mesa community college. this at

the end of the line. i want you to walk with me. there are families here. it's a diverse line. it's not just college kids who are lighting up to vote here. you know? this is really just a slice of the entire electorate here in arizona. we are seeing latinos. we are seeing a lot of women. we are seeing students. we are seeing older voters. we are hearing from the maricopa county reporter who just tweeted saying, please, go somewhere else to vote because this is not typical for what you are seeing in the county. what they are seeing is very short wait lines. this is haley . hi, haley. you are talking with my producer. who are you voting today? >>, harris. >> you are voting for kamala harris. what's interesting about this district is it's an independent district. you also have friends were leaning the other way. >> yes, i do. >> reporter: and that's pretty typical? so, what we are seeing

is a lot of independent voters as well as we walked down the line further. this -- and i want to point out it's a 75 foot rule before you hit where people are voting. and we are not there yet. that's how long this line is. there are signs up to encourage voters to go elsewhere because lines are so long here. but the only thing is, you look at this line, you can see everyone is being really polite. there is this child in a cart over here. everyone is being very patient. this is really democracy at its finest. but if it comes down to arizona and the county, erin, the one thing to point out is it will come down to the independence of urban voters in arizona just like this one. erin? >> really incredible looking at that line that it has, also the sign that says go somewhere else, yet, people are standing there waiting, waiting to cast their vote so every vote can be counted. it's a sign of turnout but also, you want

people to be able to vote, you don't want them to turn away. let's go to pamela brown. we are getting real-time updates on the turnout . -- what we are seeing, tracking voting trends and what you can ascertain from the data. i understand you have new information on georgia . what are you paying attention to? >> i am talking to my sources on the ground in georgia who are affiliated with the election. and here's what we are learning at this hour. fulton county will likely seek from a court an extension of polling hours. this is what is going on. affected by those non-credible on brats we have been reporting throughout the day until 7:30 p.m. that's when he georgia official with knowledge of the request told me moments ago the same official telling me there are two different polling places in cobb county that will stay open until 7:20 pm and one place that will request an extension

until 8:00 pm and is in court this hour. the official told me the majority of precincts will still report the book of the results by 8:00 pm. we keep hearing from officials including the secretary of state that the first drop around 8:00 pm will likely be around 70% of the total vote in georgia, erin. >> they are saying they will be efficient. we hope that is the case. so, we hear everybody talking about the gender gap. you just heard chris wallace talking about that. what can you tell us about this gender gap? we have been hearing about it at the ballots prior to today as we are starting to get a fuller picture of who is showing up to vote. >> is a really good question. let's zoom out a little bit here and looking at the overall early vote. 84 million americans have artie cast ballots before things got started today. that is less than 2020 when we were still in the middle of the pandemic but this number accounts for roughly 53% of everyone who voted in the 2020 election. there is a clear gender gap. although i should note it is narrower than it was. look at

this on your screen, 1.4 million more women than men have passed pre-election ballots this year. that is actually a slight drop from the 1.8 million more women than men passing votes early in 2020. that's partially because fewer people had voted early than four years ago. but even with that drop, female voters are voting at a higher rate than men. all seven battleground states are watching. look at this, the orange bars are female voters. the green bars are male voters. you can see in arizona, michigan, nevada, north carolina, pennsylvania, wisconsin, female voters are outpacing across the board. former pres. trump has been reaching out to male voters in this final push. we have to wait to find out the neighbors we are seeing now, how they compare to the votes that come in tonight. >> pam, thank you very much. jake of course is saying, young man, come out and vote. we will see if they do. as people out of work we will see who shows up now. >> we are standing by from the first results from our exit poll to voters. that is coming

up just minutes from now. our correspondence are on the ground now. we have turnout and more. that is next.

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we are back with cnn's live electrician coverage. we get a look at lawrence, georgia, lawrenceville, georgia where the polls are open. we are also standing by for our first exit poll results as we are now in the final hours of voting here on the east coast. right now, let's check on the voting in north carolina and pennsylvania. we are over to breanna keillor in north carolina. what has your polling place been like in the last few hours? >> reporter: oh, it has been picking up. no lines yet, but officials are inside. they are seeing higher traffic than usual. i am here with julia, someone who just voted. things

are moving quickly inside, it took you a while. tell me about that. >> it took me about two hours. i had to change the registered address i was at. i sat at the help desk for two hours . >> reporter: most people came in and out, but not you. you are a 24-year-old voter. and you are registered with who? >> i am unaffiliated. >> reporter: so you are one of the unaffiliated voters that both of the parties are looking for. tell me, you have a little disagreement not just in your family about politics but also with your boyfriend? >> yes. that's true. we just don't really see eye to eye on that part. it's also nothing crazy for us. >> reporter: so, what are you focused on this election? >> i am focused on picking the right person. i think that was the most important part to me. >> reporter: you don't want to say who you are voting for? >> correct, correct. >> reporter: why is that? >> i just -- you know? i don't want to be ripped apart, honestly. that's the key for me. >> reporter: this is a pretty divisive election. what do you think about that? >> i think it's really polarizing, and it's kind of just a little sad to see such

separation in our country. so, i am really hoping in the next few elections or in the next few years we can come back together at some point, hopefully. >> julia, really amazing you took your two hours to vote. thank you for talking with us. >> have a great day. >> reporter: anderson, this is a county a lot of people are going to be looking at, mecklenburg county. immigrants do outnumber republicans here. for the first time, the unaffiliated voters, people like julia actually outnumber democrats according to the latest board of election numbers. so, we will keep an eye on what happens with them tonight. >> let's go to brian todd at a polling place in pennsylvania near pittsburgh. how strong is turnout there? >> reporter: very, very strong, anderson. we are expecting a rush hour surge minutes from now, people coming in and out of here all day long, cars pulling in and out of this lot at a steady pace, lines intermittently, but some of

them have really stretched down the block at various points in the day. we expect much more to come because you have a little over three hours left, a lot of lexically built into the scheduling, people have until 8:00 pm to vote. i am here with nick sherman, the commissioner of washington county. you told me earlier about an extraordinary turnout. tell me about what you expect by the end of the day. >> washington county looking at north of 80%. my wife voted here this morning. she was out 40 minutes for it. this is washington county, it's a big community. we had a big rush in the morning. the line stretched out the door, down the block. right now, this is the calm before the storm. we are expecting huge numbers here pretty soon and all over washington county. i was in cecil township, pittsburgh, there is 1.5 or two hours in the line today. we are seeing a pretty big turn on washington

county. we are happy about that. >> good luck with the rest of the evening. it will be an electrifying night here. bank you very much. it has been great here in washington county, guys, really just exhilarating year from voters, they are so excited that the state could decide the next president. back to you. >> we will check in with the team in new york. axelrod -- >> here we are. we have taken a long journey together in this incredible saga that nobody has written. we are here on election night, 1.5 hours before the polls close. i asked someone who is deeply in the bubble of this campaign where he thought the race was, and he said, we can say with a tremendous amount of authority that we don't know. because turnout is very high. it's high in rural areas, cities and suburbs. we honestly have to look. i think chris wallace made the important point. you know? how -- the margins they have among genders is going to

be really important. if men vote for trump in larger numbers, and women vote for harris, that bodes well for him. if she votes -- if women vote for her in large numbers, she's going to win the race because women will vote. there will be a larger proportion of the electorate. >> i think this was a metaphor for the entire race. >> it was split voting. >> yeah. breaking news, 3-3. listen, donald trump has the advantage in this because he has been running for two years. he has only been running for nine years. kamala harris only came in the .5 months ago. if she pulls that off this is a

monumental, schmidt of politics that i don't think any of us could have predicted would happen. it would come down to the gender gap. we will keep our eyes on where some of these urban numbers are tonight in philadelphia. turnout is going to be huge. look at the suburbs, its appeal off of women outside of philadelphia who may be voted for trump for but can't tolerate him this time. that bodes well. never sleep on donald trump. this is someone coming back from things no other political figure possibly could. and i think this could genuinely go any direction. >> anderson, we sat here through all these things. we sat here through trials, convictions, ronco rides, the assassination attempts, you know?& point, trump is like a phoenix rising from the ashes. no one wanted to talk to the guy, no one wanted to go to mar-a-lago. >> rfk junior? >> here we are, people in the bubble, people don't know, i've talked to to heads of state of pennsylvania who say, we don't know. everyone doesn't know. the fact whoever wins this race, whether it's donald trump or, harris, whoever wins, it will be historic just for that reason.

both sides have done incredibly well. >> that's why i am just proud. i am proud of kamala harris. i am proud of somebody. she had to pick up a baton that had been dropped. she had 107 days to do something extraordinary. and she has. i'm proud of the grassroots people who are out there, once they die knocking on doors -- we know something. we don't know something else. we know for sure there is an authoritarian movement in the country. we know it has pulled in amazing people, good people, union workers, veterans, some people with us, but it is led by somebody who is authoritarian who does not believe in our constitution. that movement is strong. we know that. it has pulled in the richest man in the world, that's a strong movement. elon musk. it pulled in one of the most famous political families,

rfk junior. there is a strong authoritarian movement. the question is, is very movement for freedom that can stop it? is there a movement for freedom and decency and dignity? will it stop that movement? >> we will get an early read on battleground states. some think we are nearing our first exit polls. plus, we will get an update on michigan and battleground states that are so important right now. a lot ahead, after a quick break. ♪

it is america's choice right now. we are watching as voters are casting ballots in mesa, arizona. you see they are on your screen in the battlegrounds. they are determining whether, harris or donald trump becomes the 47th president of these united states. let's get to the magic wall. john is looking at the so-called blue wall. what are you watching? >> one of the questions people have, is why these seven? nevada is different from pennsylvania. wisconsin is different than arizona. why are these the seven battleground states? there are generally tossup's all the time. it is the greatest dividing line in american politics. that is education. if you look at this

line across the top, that is the national average for a percentage of the population nationally that have a college degree. two of the blue states have college degrees. they vote blue reliably. west virginia and arkansas are among the states below the national average for voters with a college degree. they vote red. what makes the battlegrounds unique? look at them. with the exception of nevada which is a little bit below, they hug the average. that is why they are battlegrounds. you have an equal percentage of people with college degrees without college degrees. that is what unites them. even though they are far apart , if you look at them this way, this can also play out within the states. come here and i will show you what i'm talking about. take a living as an example. as you

know, the whole commonwealth, one of the most collocated states on the map. what happens down here? look at montgomery county. used to be when i started doing this a republican suburb. now it is a strongly democratic suburb. 63%, take a look. the education in montgomery county, look at the percentage, nearly 60% well above the national average in montgomery county have a college degree. that's why it's the clearest dividing line. that's going to vote democratic. that's not going county. they will pull up in pick randomly. donald trump is out of these rural counties. you pick up here, 75% of the vote there, right? let's take about into the comparison. bring this back out. pop that up. and look, well below. almost half, right? in montgomery it was 60%, here is 31% with a college degree. education is the greatest dividing line in american politics right now. it is the one common factor that makes the battleground so effective. >> back to aaron with battleground correspondence. >> we are talking about education and what makes a battleground a battleground. we are getting information from nevada and wisconsin to crucial battleground states. jim acosta's has a polling place. earlier, the secretary of nevada was talking about where you are and the surge of youth turnout as they try to figure out how long it would take to count. what are using where you are in las vegas?

>> well, they are pulling out all the stops as they do in vegas to get people out to vote. we are outside allegiant stadium where the raiders play. i am with one of the las vegas raiders right now, charles snowden who came to vote. he is a defense of and with the raiders. charles, why are you out here at this particular side to vote? i guess it was a requirement from your employer? what can you tell us? it was on your mind more seriously when you went to vote? >> yeah, it was a requirement. how often can you say you play in the nfl and get to vote at your home stadium? i wanted to come out, do my civic responsibility and get out and vote. >> reporter: what issues were on your mind? you didn't want to say who you are voting for, but what was on your mind going into the battle box? >> you know, housing, women's reproductive rights, you know, trying to be on the right side of history. >> very good. and erin, this

county we are in right now, clark county, this is going to be the big vote total on election night. we are expecting those to come in later on this evening. the polls close at 7 o'clock. that's when we are getting tabulations coming in. charles with all the other nevadans who have cast their votes, we will get the numbers later tonight. >> the harris campaign has expressed confidence about nevada, optimism, but we don't know. trump campaign is seeing optimism as well. let's go to wisconsin. you are in cedarburg which is a suburb of milwaukee. obviously a state in the blue wall, what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: you know, cedarburg used to be a reliably red city. since 1926, by the way. but, things changed in 2020 when joe biden won i just 19 votes. and we are seeing an incredibly large turnout according to officials. i want to give you some sense of what is happening, something nobody knew might happen. but you are seeing the non-registered voters over there. they are here to register to vote. so far, the number is at more than

300 people who have come in and newly registered voters here in cedar brook. they could make the difference when you think that only 19 people made the difference in 2020. i want to give you an example of what happened. they register here. they come to this desk behind me. they have to show their id, checking on the voting rolls, then they take a little piece of paper you are seeing right there, and they go to their district, and they pick up their ballot, which, all of these folks here working at the polls have. then turn to your left, they vote right here. it goes into the tabulation machine which is down here. there are only two of them. this is the only place to vote in the whole city. so, you see a lot of folks coming through. we are also seeing a high number of absentee votes, 5500 of the about 9500 folks who are registered to vote. now, we just happen to see this young lady coming up. you came here today. what did you come to do? i noticed you were not a

registered voter when you walked through the door. what happened? >> i am not a registered voter. i got my id and i gave the lady my id. i registered to vote with my mom. then i went to the nice ladies at district for, then i got a ballot and did that. it took less than 10 minutes. >> reporter: have you ever voted before? is it your first time? >> i just turned 18. >> reporter: why is it so important? >> i want to be part of the difference along with all my friends voting right now. and they have been a hot topic. so, i want to join the group , too. >> reporter: it's not a hot topic. how are you? how old are you? 18 years old? you graduated from high school are you are about to graduate? >> i'm about to graduate, class of 2025. >> reporter: and all your friends are voting? it's popular with young folks. perhaps it is popular with young folks who come out and vote. now, the last question, who did you vote for, and why? >> i voted for kamala harris.

>> reporter: why? >> she is democratic, and i do approve of her women's rights and being different for the minority group. >> thank you so much for talking to us. >> reporter: and thank you for registering to vote. congrats on your first time voting. that's amazing. appreciate it. that's what's happening here in cedarburg. things are starting to get more busy. we have watched people all day long. they are expecting that potentially this may be a record for the percentage of voters. we are expecting 95% of registered voters to show up and vote here in the city. >> that is amazing. 95%. just to think about it, and i know it is too early to tell, but we've heard from sec.'s estate in michigan and georgia we could have record numbers there. it is incredible and something to celebrate. i hope everybody can no matter what the outcome is. >> we heard from a gentleman in washington county and pennsylvania more than an 80% turnout. we are on the brink of

a big reveal on this election night in america, the first exit poll information from the 2024 presidential race is straight ahead. stay with us.

welcome back. you are looking at voters in lawrenceville, georgia who are like so many others across the united states, taking important decisions right now. the nation at a crossroads learning if vice president kamala harris or former pres. donald trump will be the next president. we are back with our election coverage. john king, should we all be bracing for the kind of protracted vote count that we had in 2020 which really lasted until saturday? should we be preparing for that or not? >> we are told by state officials, officials we trust to be somewhere in the middle. they don't think it will be as long as 2020. they think it could take a while in some of the battleground states. one thing we do have to be prepared for is early on in the night, perhaps not looking like the map will end as we get a day or two down the road and get final results. remember 2020. some states count votes one way,

states count votes another way. some count election day ballots first. they tend to favor republicans. some count mail-in ballots and early ballots first. they favor democrats. the difference is lopsided in 2020 when the mail-in ballots, the early ballots disproportionately favor democrats. were member 2020. this is how it ends up. that's what matters most, how it ends, not how it begins. it ended with joe biden's big victory. let's go back in time to remind you. this is 9 o'clock at night on tuesday night in 2020. look right here, right? so, michigan is red. texas is lou. mississippi is blue. missouri is blue. right? pennsylvania in this is an area is blue. ohio is blue. that's an unusual map. that's become some states are counting mail ballots first, disproportionate ly democrat. some are counting election day ballots first, now, let's go through what happens throughout the night. this is midnight. you see? texas went be at back to being texas. it's a red state. right? ohio goes back there. then 12 o'clock noon on

thursday, what happened? michigan has gone blue. these have gone back to themselves. pennsylvania is read here. it's only noon on wednesday. we continue to count the votes. by noon on friday, pennsylvania and michigan is blue. i want to take this up at this point. the map is filled in pretty much where it ended. this is noon on friday. of course, saturday morning just before noon, results came in in philadelphia, we were able to project biden is a winner. is it going to be is confusing is that? some people call that a mirage. it's not a mirage. both are real. joe biden was leading in texas. joe biden was leading in missouri. it just wasn't the full pie. it was a piece of the pie. some states count in different ways because the states decide how to administer the election. let's be cautious. what you see in the beginning might not be what you get at the end. it's important to remind people that they need reminding four years ago we were in the middle of a deadly pandemic. that was one of the reasons so many people were voting early, more people

voted early four years ago than this time. >> we know that number is down. the republican number is up. what we don't know ave., republicans. most of the data suggests there are not new republicans. there republican took advantage, i don't have to wait in line. that's how some of that happened. this is what we watch as this plays out. this is the 2020 map again. as we come to the 2024 election, that's what you want to see. we will get early clues. we know in michigan they say they will count faster. in pennsylvania they say they count faster. while i want to prepare everybody that this could take a few days before we know the ultimate winner, i do believe if those states are keeping their word and they get that done quickly we may actually get some clues tonight. we also may get lose that of states like virginia, one of the earliest to report. two different races, key and suburban. we will get clues earlier in the night and we will be patient as we continue

take a look at these images. a live picture of the beautiful experiment in democracy of these united states. these images from mesa, arizona. voters there and across the united states continuing to cast ballots in this presidential election with high stakes and stark choices. if you are just joining us, i'm jake tapper. this is cnn's live coverage on election night in america. and we're about to get an early read of who is voting and why in this historic face- off between vice president kamala harris and former president donald trump. stand by for our very first exit poll information. that's coming up just minutes from now. also ahead, the very first votes of the 2024 presidential race will be reported after 6:00 p.m. eastern in areas with the earliest poll closings. the race to 270 electoral votes is underway with a total of 60 electoral votes on the line in

six states, where all voting ends at 7:00 p.m. eastern. those states are georgia, indiana, kentucky, south carolina, vermont, and the commonwealth of virginia. georgia is the first major presidential battleground up for grabs this evening. democrats are hoping to hold on to the state that they narrowly flipped to blue four years ago. republicans fighting to take it back. cnn teams are keeping tabs on the final hours of voting in all of the crucial swing states that will decide who ultimately wins the white house. and our campaign correspondents are at the candidates' headquarters. let's go now to abby phillip, who's at harris hq here in washington, d.c. and abby, what's the harris camp's take on the battleground states right now? >> reporter: jake, they are looking very carefully as turnout is happening, particularly in the parts within the battleground states, where they immediate to turn out their people. one source familiar with the

ongoing voting situation in philadelphia, in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, says that they are happy with the turnout that they have been seeing so far, particularly in the northwest wards of that city, that heavily democratic city. this source says that some of the polls even requested additional ballot paper to meet the demand of voters. so if you are the harris campaign today, that is a very good sign. you need that plus in order to win the state -- the commonwealth, excuse me, of pennsylvania. and they are looking very carefully to make sure that in philadelphia, especially where there's a strong, black vote. where they need to really drive up those margins, that they can get there before the end of voting today, jake. >> all right, abby phillip, thank you so much. let's go south now to kaitlan collins in the palm beach area. and kaitlan, do we have any idea when we're going to hear from donald trump this evening? because, obviously, four years ago, he came out and

prematurely, falsely declared victory. do we have any idea what his plans are this evening? >> reporter: right now, what we're hearing from sources is that her planning to hear donald trump speak tonight. of course, what he says remains to be seen. what i'm hearing is that he will make an appearance write am at the convention center. this is where we're expecting several thousands of trump supporters and donors to come and gather here behind us for one of two parties that is happening here in southern florida tonight. the other being at donald trump's mar-a- lago club, where he's going to be surrounded by friends, family, major donors and surrogates like elon musk and what not. but i am hearing that donald trump is expected to show up here tonight to speak to his supporters. he said earlier that he hasn't written a speech yet and it's not completely clear that he will be here. but i have heard from sources who say that he is planning to come and they can quickly whip up what his remarks will be. one thing that

onald trump has been privately expressing frustration about that a winner may not be declared tonight. and his own aides say that is expected. that doesn't mean anything is wrong. it takes time to count the votes. but trump has been frustrated with that, because he says he wants an outcome tonight. of course, jake, the question is whether or not there are influences around him, encouraging him to declare victory, like he did last time in 2020, falsely. >> all right, kaitlan collins, thanks so much. we can now share the very first exit poll information, with potential clues for how this night might play out. david mlian has that. how are voters feeling about the state of the country as they cast their ballots? >> before we dig into the numbers, i want to say two things so everyone understands what we're looking at here. these are early preliminary exit poll findings. these numbers will shift as the night goes on and more and more interviews come in. the second thing everyone should be aware of, this exit poll encompasses every kind of voter. whether you voted pre- election day, on election day, by mail, early in- person before election

day. we have incorporated polls of all kinds of voters that is incorporated into this exit poll. with that being said, let's look at the numbers on the mood of the country. it's a pretty dower mood in terms of the way people feel things are going in the united states. nationally, only 7% of voters say they're enthusiastic 19% say they're satisfied. 43%, dissatisfied. is. 72% of the electorate nationally say they're dissatisfied or angry. what about america's best days, we ask. are they in the future or the past? 61% of voters say america's best days are ahead of the country. six in ten say so. 34% say the best days are in the past. and finally, president joe biden's approval rating is at 41% in these early preliminary exit poll findings. 58% of voters in this election across the country

nationally disapprove of the way that the incumbent democratic president is doing his job, jake. >> all right, interesting stuff, david chalian, thanks so much. let's talk about it with the panel and dana bash. this is early exit poll data. but still, looking at this, which doesn't deviate so much from polling in general we've seen. joe biden not popular. most americans, dissatisfied. >> one of the questions that i have been asking and looking at since i started covering campaigns is this. are you satisfied, are you not satisfied? right track, wrong track? it is extremely high, the dissatisfied or angry, as david said. if you add those two up, 72%. what we don't know, because this is such a different election is whether the dissatisfaction or anger will be taken out on kamala harris or donald trump, because they are both, effectively, you know, harris is part of the current administration, but donald trump and the trump era is very much

upon us. we don't know how that -- >> i've got to say, i think that's putting the best spin on it. >> for whom? >> i think when you see current voters say, by a three-to- one margin, that they are dissatisfied with the country -- >> or angry. dissatisfied or angry. >> i've got to say, i think that that's with the present conditions in the country. i mean, in conventional terms, it would be a miracle that kamala harris could win with that kind of headwind. and also with the president. remember, she was part of the administration, the biden/harris administration, where 41% approve, 58% disapprove. this isn't even close to the 50% -- >> but i'm not sure. >> let me just finish my point, which is just that if she is able to overcome those numbers and still win this election, then she has done a remarkable job of somehow separating herself, that she's part of the solution, and not part of the problem. >> it's early in the night, i think, for me to put it behind a name. but i am actually really

cheerful that seeing 61% of people saying that america's best days are in the future. that means they're showing up today thinking they can do something about it. as someone who walks the streets and people come up to me and say, i don't understand what's going on, the partisanship supply chaining, it's good to see that. because it means people don't feel like they are helpless in this scenario. >> one of the things about that, it's like the idea. it's like polling on the issue of democracy. you can see that people are concerned about democracy, and yet, that doesn't necessarily mean they're on the side of the democrats, who opposed the january 6th insurrection. it's really, people can have -- we all can -- >> but the other thing i would say is, look, one of the big issues in this election has been immigration. it's been the economy. we know people are unhappy with the flood of people across the border. and i think that's reflected in these numbers. >> john king, what are you looking for in the two battlegrounds where voting ends earliest today, georgia

and north carolina? >> jake, as you know, i'm a demographic and a data geek. these are two of the greatest tug-of-wars in american politics. georgia and north carolina, because of the even balance in the states. so votes are going to come in early. and because they're battlegrounds, they'll help us understand quite a bit. this is the 2020 map. this is the 2020 map. but look at this state. "a," look at all of that red. what do they have, number one? they have a lot of small rural counties in places where donald trump runs it up. give you an example, pick it up and run it up big. pick any random one, sometimes he's above 70% or more. what else do they have? they have urban centers that have a large african- american population and growing suburbs of college- educated voters. you have that in mecklenburg county, that's rlottesville. a lot of young voters. so both parties have their base. the question is, who can win the middle? just one thing to look at in these states, right? let's look at the african- american population. the darker the shading, the higher the african- american population.

this is north carolina. and then i'll bring you out and come down and look at the state of georgia. the democrats have a built- in base here, if kamala harris can get high turnout and keep the loyalty of african- american voters. african- american turnout, critical in these two states. here's a different way to look at it. you can look at it this way and bring this out here. let me do this here for you. race and ethnicity. this is the state of georgia. 51% white. 31% of the state population is plaque, african-american voters, the foundation of the democratic party. that's in north carolina. pop out to the united states, to get the look. it's 12% nationally. that's what it is in georgia. and come over here to north carolina and look again. 21% there. two states that have a significant african- american population, if kamala harris cannot only win that with a high percentage, but come up with a really high nurl.mber. it's not just the percentage, she needs the math in the urban areas, as well. what else do you have in these states? let's come back out and turn this. in both states, donald trump has a rural base, democrats have an urban base. this will be decided. that's virginia, excuse me.

this will be decided in the suburbs, and again, joe biden, this was the closest, this was donald trump's closest win, if you will, with 74,000 votes here of his battleground wins. this was the closest one in north carolina. and of course, we all remember, all the controversy about georgia after the last one. georgia and arizona are two of the big surprises. how did it happen? it happened here. the atlanta suburbs. the changing, especially the farther out suburbs. high african- american turnout in the cities, and then you move out into the suburbs, and again, you just look at this here. let me take this off and look at just what happened, all right? i like to go to the farther out suburbs. the close- in suburbs have become solidly democratic. you move more out. cobb. when i started doing this, this was ruby red. joe biden got 56% of the vote. look at donald trump's number. 42% in cobb county. let's go back to 2016. 47% in cobb county. that's the difference. the margins within the battlegrounds within the battlegrounds. and the suburbs are those battlegrounds. come over here to gwinnett county. again, when i started doing this, this was a ruby red county, all

right? let's focus on trump, not clinton. he gets 45% in 2016. you come to '20, he drops down to 40%. that's the difference in battleground georgia, because he will run it up in all of these rural red areas. the question is, can the democrats get the urban vote out in here and in here and then what happens in the suburbs? increasingly, you start in the close- in suburbs, as we moved out in the last couple of elections, jake, democrats have had more success, even as you drive more and more. when you start to see farmland, the democrats have had more success. that's what they did in 2020. can they do it again tonight? it's her test in north carolina georgia, jake. >> we shall see! we are nearing an early milestone on this election night. we expect the first votes, the first actual vote of the presidential race to be reported in the coming hours. americans are casting ballots across the country. we also have new exit poll results coming in. we'll share those with you. we'll share more insights into who's voting and why on the other side of this break. stay with us.

welcome back to our continuing coverage of election night in america. you're looking at mesa, arizona. we have been watching very long lines there, particularly at this one polling spot. people waiting for a long time to cast their ballots in

arizona and other crucial presidential plat grounds. another batch of exit polling is coming in right now. for that let's go to david chalian. >> these are preliminary numbers. they'll change as we do more interviews. but we're looking broadly, nationally, at the whole electorate, and take a look at this. democracy ranks as the most important issue for 35% of voters. that's the top slot for voters today. the economy is pretty close. it comes in second there, 31% of voters saying that's their most important issue. then, a little bit lower, abortion at only 14%, saying it's the most important issue. and immigration below that at 11%. foreign policy way down in single digits. . i also want to show this by each candidates' supporters. it sort of explains a bit of their coalition. among harris voters in these preliminary exit polls, 56% of harris voters say democracy is the number one issue. so it's the harris coalition that's driving democracy to the top of the pack. 21% say abortion among harris

voters, then the economy, foreign policy and immigration. it's much different if you look at the trump voters. among those supporting president trump, a majority, 51%, slim majority, say the economy is their top issue, followed by 20% of trump supporters, who say immigration is their top issue, then democracy, then abortion, then foreign policy, anderson. >> david, i want to talk over the numbers. we'll come back to you shortly. elissa, what do you think? >> this is fascinating. i think democracy ranking so high speaks to something that may be happening this cycle that i'm not sure that the polls have adequately captured. kamala harris made the decision, the strategic decision to build a coalition. she didn't double down on turning out the base and just turning out the democratic coalition. you have aoc to the cheneys and now the leader of the uncommitted movement back in kamala harris. and i think it speaks to this concern that even if you like the trump era, maybe your taxes were a little lower, you felt good about the economy, concerns about the direction of

the country when it comes to american democracy. this is a motivating issue, i think it plays in the suburbs. i think we've undercounted how much it may actually impact this election. that stands out to me. and i want to agree with something that dana bash said. this answer of "america's best days are in the future," i don't see that has a referendum on kamala harris. there's one candidate who in her closing message has talked about the future and a brighter future. it's her. donald trump has largely looked backward, relitigated past issues and grievances. >> yeah, i think this whole -- i think what we've seen so far is a microcosm of the entire campaign. the idea that 72% of the people were dissatisfied or anger in the last set and that biden has 41% approval rating. chris wallace was right. no one -- no incumbent party in history has won an election with those kind of numbers. but i do think that she has been pretty skillful at sort of charting her own course,

hitting issues like democracy, abortion, and enough on the economy that she's building a hopeful coalition. and what these don't reflect is people's view of donald trump as a, as a person, and the character of his leadership, which is where the hopeful nature of her candidacy is playing against his. >> it's a good spin. listen, 72% of americans think we're on the wrong track? that's devastating, devastating for this campaign. devastating. trump's approval rate going into this election is the highest it's been, retrospectively, americans think more favorly of him today than -- >> then why is the race tied, dave? >> i don't -- >> explain why the race is tied. >> i can't explain it. but these numbers and the economy -- >> the race is tied -- >> you're talking about the economy. it's nice to worry about the democracy, but if you can't pay for your food -- >> i totally agree. >> completely. >> wrong track. >> that's why she's spent so much time talking about it. >> she closed talking about the

economy, not even saying his name. he was talking about van jones and others -- >> i'm wrapping myself in this poll. this is great news. >> while you're wrapping yourself with it -- >> all right, van, let's hear from you. >> hi. >> that's all that we have -- >> many hours -- >> that's what happens when they give us caffeine in the break. >> you guys are coming in hot! >> listen, i do see it differently than you do. people are angry and people are dissatisfied, in large part because donald trump has created an environment that is so toxic for people. you have people who are literally afraid of whatever happens in this election. there are people who are afraid that if he wins, he'll do bad stuff to them, and if he loses, his supporters might hurt them. people's dissatisfaction with the status quo includes dissatisfaction and anger. >> you said this before. people are dissatisfied. when the check engine comes on in their car,

they get pissed off, because they can't pay for it. that's why they're dissatisfied and angry. >> can i just make a point about this? i think the brilliance of the way harris finished this campaign is, she attached trump's character issues. the fact that he's absorbed with himself, focused on vengeance, and she really asked the question, who's going to wake up every day trying to address the problems you care about? that guy or me? and i think she's made some progress doing it. >> let's go back to david chalian, who's got another readout from the exit polls. what candidate's quality has resonated most with voters right now? >> anderson, one of the things we've been tracking throughout this campaign is sort of that voters are voting for their choice, or more coming out to vote against their opponent. so among harris voters in these preliminary exit poll results, and this again is nationwide, 67% of harris voters say they're coming out to vote in this election for harris. only 29% of harris voters say that they're out there casting their ballot to oppose

trump. now, those numbers are even bigger in this direction for donald trump supporters. among his supporters, 80% of them say they're out there casting their ballot for donald trump. 17% say they're showing up to cast a ballot against harris. we also asked about certain qualities that each coalition was looking for, so among harris voters, 35% of them say that they were looking for a candidate that has good judgment. that was the quality that mattered most to them. 28% of harris supporters say that they were looking for somebody who cares about people like me. 21% say, has ability to lead. and only 13% of harris supporters say they were looking for someone to bring about needed change. it's a complete reversal when you look at the trump coalition here. 41% of trump supporters said the most important quality was looking for somebody who had the ability to lead, right up there, almost tied, 39%, looking for a candidate who can bring needed change. and then, everything else was

in single digits. only 9% of trump supporters said they were looking for people who cares about someone like me. and on 7% of trump supporters were looking for a presidential candidate who has good judgment, anderson. >> fascinating. van, that's fascinating. >> listen, that explains a lot. like, literally. if you don't care, if somebody cares about you or has good judgment, donald trump is your candidate. they know he doesn't care about them. they know -- >> they want someone who's going to civil right for them. >> someone who only cares about himself. i do this is helpful. this is literally an upside down world. and i think it's important to point out that kamala harris has crossed the bridge of convincing people that she cares about people like them, that she has good judgment. that is an important value that i think is going to show up in a big way today. >> i'm also surprised immigration has gone down in its significance of top issues, which is one in two for most of this race. and i have to wonder nast because donald trump led on it for so long, but i think kamala harris was able to negate some of that steam, by

saying that she would have signed the border bill that he passed. that may have resonated with voters, that there are two candidates that care about this issue, they simply have different approaches. >> i'm not sure if i were any candidate that i would feel good about the fact that my own voters were motivated by good judgment and that i got 7% of people who said, you have good judgment. if this goes back -- this battery goes back to the thing that i was talking about. i think people donald trump is strong. his supporters say he has the ability to lead. but the question is, who is he leading for? is he leading for me? his supporters may believe that, but this issue of ing about people like you, this issue of, has good judgment. these are character issues about the character of your leadership. and i think people are making a judgment as to whether -- where are my interests best served? with the strong guy who knows how to lead, or with a person who i think hears me, is going to be thinking about me. and that's really -- >> these exit polls are a little bit like a rorschach

test. you can see in them whatever you want. >> i'll go back to van's appoint. point. i love this point. all that's great, but if your check engine light comes on, you don't care about any of it. >> it is a rorschach test. i would have been with you. i think donald trump was way ahead on the economy, but he melted down in this final stretch in the closing message. and kamala harris is talking about home health care for people who have senior parents, she's talking about the opportunity economy. she's tried to turn that message as somebody who she didn't own -- he parents didn't own a home until she was in high school. she related on the issues of understanding the economic struggle, and he was talking about the things that i'm not even going to repeat that they you'd as a closing message. that's where it may have shifted. >> i think she's been able to walk him down on the economy, by talking about stuff like, if you have a kid, you'll get $6,000 bucks. walked him down, and closed that gap. >> we'll break down more exit poll information straight ahead. also, we're getting closer to the first results of the night in the presidential race. first votes that have been counted. there's a lot coming up on election night in america. stay

tuned.

there is a lot riding on voters who are turning out

of polling places across the country right now. we're getting an early read on what's driving their choices in this historic race for the white house. david chalian is back with new exit poll data and information. david, how is the issue of the economy playing with voters in this election? >> yeah, jake, we're doing a deep dive into the economy. it's the second- ranked issue, as you saw earlier. 31% of voters nationwide in these preliminary exit poll results say that the economy was the most important issue driving their vote, second only to democracy. so what is the condition of the nation's economy, we asked people? well, only 5% of voters say it's excellent and 28% say it's good. the vast majority say it's not so good. 35% or poor. 32%, so that's 67%, two-thirds of voters in this election nationwide say not so good or poor. and what about inflation? has it caused your family severe hardship, moderate hardship?

look at this, 53%, a majority of americans voting in this election say that inflation in the last year has caused their family moderate hardship. another 21% say severe hardship. so some kind of hardship for 74%, three quarters of the electorate. only a quarter, 24%, say inflation didn't cause them any hardship at all. and what about your family's financial situation? for the or worse than it was four years ago? we hear donald trump ask that question all the time at his rallies. well, the plurality here, 45% of americans nationwide voting in this election say their family's financial situation is worse than four years ago. 30% say it's about the same. only a quarter, 24%, say it's better than four years ago, jake. >> all right, david chalian, thanks so much. and erin burnett is now getting an update from the western battlegrounds. >> jake, looking at these exit polls, you can make an argument either way. in hindsight, we'll look back and be able to parse this all together and see what it's really saying here. let's go to some of these battlegrounds, wisconsin,

michigan, georgia. let's start with you, sara sidner in wisconsin, cedarberg, outside of milwaukee. you hear all of these exit polls coming in, but yo speaking to voters there at the polls. does this fit with what you're seeing and what are you seeing right now? >> we've been seeing a steady stream of people coming through here. and they're expecting this to potentially be one of the highest percentages of voters turnout that they have seen ever with 95% potentially percent of registered voters showing up here at this poll. i want to give you some new information that we have just gotten in. in the city of milwaukee, which is about 20 miles from where we are, we are in the suburbs here, they are now saying, according to election officials there, that they're going to have to re- run about 30,000 absentee ballots through tabulating machines for an abundance of caution, because what they learned is that the doors of one of its tabulating machines were open, it hadn't been closed properly. and they were going to make absolutely sure that the

machine counted everything properly. so they are re- running 30,000 ballots. why that is important is that it will mean that they will take a longer time to count those absentee ballots. and if you will remember, back in 2020, it was the absentee ballots, and waiting for those to be counted, which we heard donald trump and the republicans jump on, saying that there's some sort of malfeasance. officials are saying this is not the case. there was an issue with one of the machines not beingbeing properly, and they want to make out of an abundance of caution sure that each and every vote is properly counted. so we may have to find out a bit to find out what the tally of those votes were in milwaukee, the most populous city in wisconsin. >> and those wanting quick results, sometimes it takes a little bit longer than you want. but 30,000, they'll re- run every single one of those counts when it comes to getting this final number. let's go to michigan,

macomb township outside of detroit. jim sciutto is there. and we've heard about record turnout in michigan, as well. secretary of state talking about that. what are you seeing at the polling site where you are? >> yeah, they say they're on track for record turnout, the whole state of michigan. certainly where we are in macomb township and macomb county just outside of detroit. they're seeing this. we're right in the middle of the lines here. they've been wrapping around the building here, coming down, casting their votes. and then up here, they enter them into the machines. keep in mind, this is day ten of voting here. there were nine days of early voting. that's new. voted in via constitutional amendment in 2022. this is the first presidential cycle with that early voting. and i talked to the township clerk here. she said she sees lines as long as 60, 90 minutes, every one of those nine early voting days, maximum enthusiasm. she says, voters are telling her that they really want their vote to count this year. they see their vote as counting. she's seen a big number

of first-time voters, as well. and that is not just happening here in macomb township and macomb county. happening across the state. even before today, more than -- well, close to 3. 5 million people had already voted. close to half the active registered voters in the state. and just one measure of that, you know, what's really hot today, it's these "i voted" stickers, and they were part of a contest around the state. kids in the state, high school students, adults, one of the favorites is, oof, i voted. . a little bit of a midwestern saying there. >> incredible enthusiasm everywhere. and we'll see how it turns out. let's go to grand rapids, michigan. kylie atwood has been there. kylie, earlier when i was speaking to you, you know, we were showing us how it works, where you are. it looks a little quiet behind you. do you think you've seen it, or are more people coming in here at the end?

>> erin, it has been a little bit quiet, but there's been a consistent flow of folks coming in to vote here on the western side of michigan, in grand rapids. we have one voter with us this evening, who actually voted for trump. can you tell us a little bit about why you cast your ballot for trump? >> i guess it has to do more with a blue collar worker and i know one of the things he said he was going to do was cut taxes for overtime, and that's how i make a lot of my money. that was probably the main driving force. >> so for you, it's really a financial decision, more than anything else? >> right, yeah, i would probably say that. especially with the way the economy has been. so --. >> reporter: did you vote for trump in the past in 2016 and 2020. >> i didn't. >> reporter: did you vote at all in 2016 and 2020? >> no, i didn't, actually. >> reporter: oh, interesting. this is the first presidential election that you've cast a plat for in a few cycles now? >> yeah, i think obama was the last person i voted for, i

won't lie. >> reporter: all right. back to you guys. this is the type of voters that the trump campaign will need to see out here in oakland if they want to win this county. >> absolutely, kylie. there you go. they've been talking about, are there those shadow trump voters or shadow harris voters. there you go, a trump voter who didn't vote in the election in 2020 or 2016. john king, he was saying barack obama was the last person he voted for. there you go. that's what they're trying to find. >> you're trying to find voters who are open and available. there are 25 counties. we'll watch them later tonight, 25 counties in america that voted twice for barack obama, then for donald trump, then for joe biden. those are voters who swing with the moment. we'll track those counties later. but let's go back to here we just heard those voters. this is the 2024 map. it's going to fill in in just a minute. let's just use the 2020 map as an example and look at the state of michigan. so you just heard a voter out in the grand rapids area. that's kent county. this used to be republican territory and it's

become more democratic. however, the margins here matter. you see that, 52 to 46, if you round the former president up there. so a six- point race in grand rapids in 2020, when joe biden carried michigan. all right, go back to 2016 and look at the margins here, and it's a trump on top of hillary clinton in this area right here. so the margins within some of these battlegrounds matter. if trump can turn kent county red, trump is well- poised to win the state of michigan. that's michigan 2016. let's come back to 2020 and bring up where jim sciutto was. detroit is blue right here, but look next to detroit. that's oakland county. you'd to be a republican suburb. more educated, more affluent. this is macomb county. used to be a democratic suburb. blue collar, auto workers, people in the mechanized industries here. this is trump country, but the margins matter. joe biden gets 45% in 2020 when joe biden carries michigan, go back to 2016, hillary clinton is getting only 42% of the vote. so sometimes, you're looking at a county that's red or blue, that's not enough. we need to look at the margins. this is all about turnout.

and for kamala harris in macomb county, let's come back to 2020 as an example, it's also about whether her union allies succeed or fail in getting some of their workers to set aside guns issues or cultural issues or social issues or affinity for donald trump. you just heard a worker saying, no tax on overtime pay. can labor unions convince their workers actually organizing. i know labor issues are more important. look for the margins in a place like this. and if vice president harris is losing votes there, she wants to track biden, but let's assume she's a little below biden in macomb county. then you're doing the math. she has to make it up in more affluent oakland county. this is her coalition is very complicated. if she's going to lose a little bit, because of the dynamics, the question is, where can she make it up? michigan is one of the fantastic opportunities to do that, as we start to come into votes. and remember, the three blue wall states have voted together since 1992. we'll see if that pattern continues or if it's broken. we're just moments away from the very first votes of the 2024 election coming through, in areas with the earliest poll closings and we're

getting closer to the end of voting in battleground georgia. the first pivotal battleground state on our radar tonight, after months of anticipation, the results are finally coming. soon in this historic presidential race. we'll be right back.

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you're looking at right now live images from mesa, arizona. americans taking advantage of their right to vote with the white house and the balance of the power of congress on the line. the first results of the presidential race, the first actual votes are coming up very soon. right now to erin burnett with yet another battleground report. >> it's all about the battlegrounds as we await these results. we still see people in state after state waiting to vote and waiting for their voice to be heard. let's go to georgia, victor blackwell, where you are right now. what are you seeing as we're getting into these final hours of people being able to vote in a state where you are that could have record turnout. >> erin, let me start with some breaking news. i am in lawrenceville, in gwinnett county, which is one of the atlanta metro area counties, that's increasingly becoming more democratic or a

pickup for the democrats. what we've learned in just the last few moments is that after one of those bomb threat that was made against a polling location here in gwinnett county, around 12:45 today, a superior court judge has now extended voting at two precincts, precinct 112, and precinct 52. they were both in the same facility, that's the mountain park activity center in stone mountain. it was evacuated for about an hour to everything stopped down there for about 58 minutes. so polling, voting will continue until 7:58 p.m. tonight. that just coming in, a ruling from a superior court judge here. let me show you, this is the grace new hope church. we are just before another rush here that's expected. i spoke with gie, who's the poll manager here and said as we to 7:00 p.m. , this polling location will close at 7:00 and she's expecting another rush. this morning, she said, she's never seen anything like it.

women showed up, people, women of color, asian americans as well. she's had a lot of excitement from young people. erin, back to you. >> a lot of excitement from young people. we're hearing that in atlanta, out west, we heard it from the secretary of state in nevada. we'll see what it means. let's go to kate balduan at a polling place outside of philadelphia. i know there was a response there as you were talking to officials to some social media posts from trump. >> reporter: absolutely. look, disinformation, misinformation, it's been running rampant and it's been something that officials in pennsylvania have been trying to fight against ahead of election day, to reassure people that this election here will be safe and secure, just as it was in 2020. they're now having to combat that from the very top. donald trump sending out about 4:30 a truth social post saying that he's heard a lot of talk about massive cheating in philadelphia, saying law enforcement was on the way. we just got a statement from the philadelphia city commissioner, the people in charge of running the election in philadelphia and overseeing it, saying this. seth bluestein

saying this. there is absolutely no truth to this allegation. it is yet another example of disinformation. voting in philadelphia has been safe and secure. he goes on to say, we have been in regular contact with the rnc. we have been responsive to every report of irregularities at the polls to ensure philadelphians can vote safely and securely. taking it a step further, my colleague spoke with the philadelphia police department. they also said, erin, they are not aware of what donald trump is referring to, but that is the reality in philadelphia, of what they are -- they continue the counting. they're keeping their heads down and continuing to keep the work done, but they're now having to combat this on election day from donald trump. >> all right, kate. thank you very much. and our voting desk is keeping tabs on all of the presidential battlegrounds, anywhere that there's been a delay or someone has called for any kind of a concern on anything, we now have some new reporting out of philadelphia. pam brown, you're at the voting desk where there's been some

new details on what's happening there. >> yeah, that's right. i've been speaking to officials across the country. but in pennsylvania, the crowned jewel battleground commonwealth, i should say, i just got off the phone with an official there in philadelphia, and this is what the official told me, overall, they have 182,000 early ballots in philly counted so far, and 75 to 100,000 of those will be released at 8:01 p.m. tonight, after the polls close. we should note, that overall number could rise in philly, because voters have until 8:00 p.m. to drop off their early ballots. let's kick it over here to arizona. arizona, actually, i just got off the phone with a source in maricopa, the largest county there. that source tells me it is taking longer than expected to process those early ballots. here's why, erin. this year, they had double the amount of paper, front and back, 79 measures and contests that they had to process, with the two pieces of paper. and they have to check the signatures on the envelope. so this first release of 1. 1 to 1. 2 million ballots at

about 10:00 p.m. eastern tonight, that will come through. those will only account for early votes through last tuesday, october 29th. that's less than the initial estimate that the first drop would be comprised of ballots through at least friday. that's what they had hoped for. now, the first drop is expected to be about 55% of the total vote turnout for maricopa. the next results reported overnight will include today's election day votes. in addition to that, officials will need to process the ballots dropped off across the county today. and then nevada is another state that we're keeping a close eye on. they have to wait for every voter in line, by the time polls close at 10:00 p.m. eastern to vote, and for every poll location in the state to close before results are released, erin. >> so it's going to take longer than maybe many people had hoped. okay. so there's that, when you look at arizona. where might we get results more quickly tonight, pam? >> well, georgia is showing promising signs. i've been speaking to an election official there on the ground. most polls will close at 7:00 p.m. ian with the

exception of two polling places in cobb county and two others requesting an extension. by law, the state must report all the mail- in ballots received by monday by an hour after polls closed. but officials i've been speaking to say they expect over 75% of georgia's overall vote to be released at around 8:00. and an official i've been speaking to says the majority of precincts will still report their first brach of results after polls close. now, in michigan, the secretary of state, i just spoke to the secretary of state, just got off the phone with her, and she tells me they're on track to match and possibly surpass their turnout record from 2020. the secretary of state also tells me at 9:0 eastern, all the early in- person votes and the vast majority of today's election day votes should be in and then they'll be made publicly throughout the night. she also notes, and this could be important, erin, depending on how close this race is, that 7,000 overseas ballots have not been returned yet. so another factor in all of this. back to you. >> secretary of state, earlier, secretary benson saying, if

it comes down to a margin of 7,000, we could be waiting. if it's not that tight, we might find out much more quickly. let's go to sara murray in atlanta with more information on the voting there. what have you just learned, sara? >> reporter: well, erin, we learned that there are five locations here in fulton county that will be staying open later because they had to be briefly evacuated today because of these non- credible bomb threats. obviously, this is an issue that folks in georgia and others have been grappling with today. the polls will be open from 10 to 45 minutes past this 7:00 p.m. deadline when they were expected to close. this is designed to give voters an opportunity to vote, to make up for the time they were closed today. georgia does have a rule that says after your polls close, you need to report earlyearly absentee, advanced voting. and in speaking to

officials, they still believe we are going to see very timely results in georgia, even though we have these five locations in fulton county that are going to be staying open later, as well as a handful of other locations across the state. still a lot of optimism from officials here that we are going to seem speedy results tonight. >> yeah, absolutely. and republican secretary of state there has been so confident in that. we hope that's the case. all right, murray, thanks very much for the latest reporting from atlanta. let's go over to john king. >> number one, let's start out west. i'm going to walk over this way for a minute. if this race comes down to arizona and nevada, which is distinctly possible, given how close it was, you get the impression from what we just heard, the counts could take a little longer. fit comes down 1 and 6 in terms of the electoral votes, out west, but it's also quite possible when we get these, which some will be late tonight, some could be tomorrow or beyond, we'll get more. let's wander over here and go through what we just heard. i'll have pennsylvania up. we just heard from kate

balduan. let's start with kate balduan here in bucks county. this is one of the key counties around philadelphia. democrats need to run it up big in philadelphia and do well in the suburbs around it. bucks county, blue collar, cops, firefighters, close to philadelphia, which is just here to the south. this has been the most competitive of the collar counties, the more affluent and educated have become overwhelmingly democratic. look how close bucks county was in 2020. 52-47, go back to 2016, it's even closer. 48- 48 or 49 if you round up secretary clinton to 48 there. so that's a very important point, when kate is saying, you know, there could be count keeping precinct oppose a little bit longer to deal with that, that's what happens on election night, number one. number two, if you're still voting and see things on social media, check with state officials or county officials. be careful about what you believe on social media, especially if it's coming from somebody who has a stake in the outcome of the election. victor plaquewell makes an important point. sara murray

in fulton county, some bomb threats, they'll keep stations open. but victor in gwinnett county, this was republican territory 8, 10, 12 years ago. it is increasingly democratic territory now. you can see right there. keeping the polling places open for a little bit longer could be incredibly important. and again, bomb threats? that's unusual. keeping polling places open a little bit later because something happens, that's part of the process. jake, happens all the time and we need to be patient. >> we're getting a new read on the issues that matter to voters. david chalian back with more exit poll information. how concerned are people with this issue of protecting democracy? >> it's the number one issue according to the exit poll of voters across the country in this election. 35% of voters in this election, jake, say it is the most important issue. we went a little deeper. is democracy in the u.s. secure or threatened? 73% of voters nationally in

this election, according to these preliminary exit poll results, say u.s. democracy is threatened. only 25% think it's secure. are you competent that elections are being conducted fairly and states? well, two- thirds of voters in this election, 68%, say that they are confident. 31% of voters say that they're not confident that elections are being conducted fairly and accurately today. we also wanted to look at that by coalition of support here. so among harris voters in this election nationally, jake, 88%, nearly nine out of ten harris voters are confident that elections are being conducted fairly and accurately. only 11% are not confident. as i'm sure you can imagine, after the last four years, donald trump supporters, it's a totally different story. it's a split decision. only 47% of trump voters in this election say they're confident that the election is conducted fairly and accurately.

52%, a slim majority of trump voter, are not confident, jake. we also asked, are you concerned about violence as a result of the election? and overall, 71% of voters across the country, according to these early exit polls, say, yes, they are concerned about violence. 27% say, no, they're not. >> jake, thanks very much. just looking at the new exit polls. anything surprise you on this? >> listen, i'm actually surprised by the number of republicans in this exit poll that actually do trust the election. it's nearly half. >> given all the rhetoric from the former president. >> and as we speak, donald trump is espousing on his truth social that there's fraud in philadelphia, it's been knocked down by local election officials -- >> by the way, the top election official in pennsylvania is a republican. >> i think it's not helpful to donald trump if democracy is as high on voters' mind. i think some on the right will say, a threat to democracy is the other side. but by and large, that tends

to capture the voters that were concerned about january 6th, stop the steal, and efforts to overturn the election. >> i think his, this challenging, this assertion of fraud in philly and some of the other things he's said lately is one of the reasons why people are concerned about violence and about what's going to happen after the election, because this has become more and more a mantra, as the days have come toward the election. >> look, i think governor shapiro and the team in pennsylvania have done a laudable job in doing things. they're transparent. we don't have paper up on the windows like we had in the last election. people are being shown things. you know, there's like cameras there. so i am confident that this will be a fair election, a free election, and that it's going to come out, you know, the way it's supposed to come out. people are voting in record numbers. and i'm hopeful that our team wins. >> well, to me, it is interesting that democracy, which should be a shared value, has now become almost a partisan issue, when you looked

at, you know, concern for democracy, it was not very high for a party, the republican party that's supposed to be the party of liberty, the party of patriotism. something's really happened. the democratic party, with i think, has picked up the banner of a deeper kind of patriotism and a different kind of commitment to democracy and that shows in these numbers. >> it's interesting, the people that were critical early on of kamala harris for running on the defense for democracy idea, it seems from these exit polls, that it's -- >> but i don't think she ran on those -- >> early on. >> it would have been a mistake to do so. >> i think the people that cared deeply about that were going to be with her. and so that is in the mix. our coverage continues right now.

♪ it is election night in america. these live pictures from a polling place. one of the seven battleground states expected to ultimately decide who becomes the 47th president of these united states. i'm jake tapper in the seam and election center. the very first presidential vote of 2024 are about to show the american people deciding whether to elevate vice president kamala harris, the top job or return former president donald trump to the white house. were getting closer to the first major round of poll closings in a first chance to make projections. that will be about an hour of now. of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency will be on the line at 7:00 p.m. eastern. it is when all voting ends in georgia, indiana, kentucky, south carolina, vermont, and virginia. polling places in the eastern

time zone in indiana and kentucky are actually closing right now and we expect early results at any moment. georgia is the first crucial battleground state on our radar this evening. the state was pivotal in the democrats' 20202028 victory and the 16 electoral votes could be decisive in this election as well. our correspondents are talking voting in all the states and will be on the scene is the first vote counts are reported. our correspondents are working their sources inside the harris and trump campaigns. let's check in with abby phillip who is at harris' headquarters here in washington, dc and what are you hearing from the campaign at this hour? >> reporter: these are the critical turnout hours for the harris campaign and i'm here with my colleague, jav facility. he has some new reporting about how the harris campaign is trying to in these final moments which the people that they need to reach who maybe have not voted yet. >> it is so extraordinary, abbey. about 100 miles away in the

campaign -- in wilmington, they are checking these turnout numbers and clearly going door to door. a senior adviser to be just a short time ago if you have not voted yet, you will get a knock on your door for someone will give you a phone call. just a few moments ago, the campaigns send out a blast release sink trying to get vultures to call people who have not voted. so that is how micro-this is. but on a broader sense, the harris campaign as you have been reported earlier, she is feeling optimistic we are told but cultures. and one question is, is cryptid you believe the turnout was high in cities like madison and willow -- milwaukee in detroit but the hoai tran that can obviously go both ways. so the question of the gender gap is front and center there. more howard university and her supporters will be coming here shortly and i'm told she has also been working on a speech. we do not know if she would deliver it here. it could be one of two kinds. but we do know that she will be acting very quickly to whatever

the trunk campaign does. so one hour before polls closing in critical georgia. this election is still going on. people are still being contacted if they have not voted. >> reporter: and as you know, jeff got one of the key advantages, things that they have is a net operation that is within their campaign. they have full concern -- control over it and they believe it has been working at full capacity in the last couple weeks. back to you, jake. >> thanks. let's go to kaitlan collins now in west palm beach, florida. what are you learning about mr. trump's mindset this evening? >> reporter: obviously a difference between truck. trump has been making baseless claims about fraud happening. officials in those cities like philadelphia say they have no idea what he is talking about. out reports he is ready to -- referencing. and here with christian holmes and there's one trump is sitting on truth social, what are you

hearing from the campaign about the numbers that they are tracking behind the scenes and what they are paying close attention to? >> it is coming down to voter turnout. there's a lot of confusion and a lot of wondering of how the early voting translates on election day. are those new voters? are those new republican voters or were they going to show up on election day? there's a lot of trying to track that. we know with donald trump that he is doing the exact same thing that we hear at the harris campaign. trying to reach those trying to reach those voters to drive out letter noted today. he has done at least five total r-values with various demographic groups that includes tele-rallies in pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, as well as tell rallies targeting young man on -- and registered voters and seniors. they are to get as many people to show up at the polls as they possibly can. in terms of what they are talking, they are actually looking at one of their they had set up. the tran04's 47 which is their way of essentially giving away their ground game to people on the ground volunteers, they are looking to see how many of those

volunteers are tracking their people that they were supposed to reach out and bring to the polls actually voting because if they are not tracking the number they want to reach out again and make sure that they are doing everything they can to get those people to the polls. was part of their strategy. it is why it is so risky because you are depending on the vultures instead of actual professionals who have to see if it pays off. >> reporter: it is a big mess that they are making. and we will see how they feel about the numbers that we are saying coming in now and jake kite north carolina and georgia, those polls set to go's but those are two of the states in the term campaign. you're watching them the closest. it may be a read on how the night may go for them. >> thanks. we are getting another important feed on the electorate from the exit polls. david, what are we learning about when voters made up their minds about who they were going to vote for, whom, i should say for president? >> we talked so much about how each candidate was closing at the end of the very small slice of voters left undecided.

moss voters decided long ago, look at his. when did you make up your mind and decided your presidential vote? only 3% of voters nationwide in these preliminary exit poll results say in the last few days. 3% stake in the last week. 6% say in october. 7%, -- 80% of voters say before september, they were already locking in their choice. and it looks pretty similar if you look among harris supporter verses from supporters. emma harris supporters, only 3% in the last few days. and 3% in the last week. again, 80% before september were locked in and on the trump side. we look at his supporters. in the last few days. 4%. 81% of his supporters were locked in before september. so it was a small slice of folks deciding at the very end. >> fascinating stuff. dana bash, that's just most people made up their mind long ago but still in an election

with margin this sin, 3% making up their mind. that is not insignificant. >> it is not insignificant and this matches exactly what we've been told from both campaigns about how, yes, relative to the whole electric, it is very small but how targeted they have tried to be towards those that what we call, late breakers. and this is just proved that they were right about how narrow it is, again, broadly. but how and why it was so important for each of those, page to be targeting the people that they thought were most likely to come their way and we saw it in the messaging, particularly if you think about harris. even last 24 hours reaching out to people if they were not sure, promising that if they are a republican or an independent, that they are not going to have to worry about her governing anything other than across the

aisle, whether they par it, that is a different question. >> chris and i were talking earlier at a voter from grand rapids, michigan. his name was josh but he said he was going to vote for donald trump. but was interesting was he was voting on the economy and he said he had not voted since obama. that is the trump fantasy, the (who voter who comes out and vote on the economy. >> you know to i take the your point. 3% in the last in the last few days. 3% even i can do that mass. six percent to last week. it is not nothing. it will be the difference between [indistinct]. on the other hand, when you think of how unknown kamala harris was for the general electorate, the idea that 80% of the people had decided they were going to vote for her but not really without knowing almost anything about her, only 7% in september which was the big debate. generally seen as a big victory for her and not trump. yes, erin, if they make the difference between victory and defeat, it was worth it.

at 87% before you even got to october 1st, that is pretty amazing. >> that is in america right now. initiates and skins. it is not to say that he did not her but either hard-core democrats or hard-core never ever am i going to vote for donald trump. >> and shot her way into the consciousness and against somebody who had been running for a decade. so i think it is actually pretty remarkable. >> we're counting down to our first chance to make projections. that is at the top of the next hour. we are inside keep polling places and minutes before they close this election night we will be heading into overdrive operation. brew a cup of coffee. stick with us. ♪

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while out and about?” jen, we've engineered xfinity mobile with wifi speeds up to a gig, so you can download and do much more all at once. it's an idea that's quite attractive. or... another word... fashionable? i was gonna say- “popular! you're gonna be pop-uuuu-larrr!” can you do defying gravity?! yeah, get my harness. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile. and see wicked, only in theaters november 22nd. we have a key grace naylor on the very first presidential votes of 2024. let's take a look in kentucky. donald trump is in the lead with 64.8% of the vote. kamala harris in the rear with 34% of the four. donald trump is 13,231 votes ahead of harris. that is 2% of the estimated vote

in from the commonwealth of kentucky and the state of indiana, donald trump in the lead in donald trump inderlied there is work 71.8% to kamala harris's 26.8%. with 1,604 votes in the lead. that is just a few votes there out of indiana. and kentucky. over to john king now. what are you watching for as he's first actual votes come in from indiana and kentucky? >> it is just great to get started. we have been talking to us for a year now. you do know sometimes, look, even in reliably red states like indiana, kentucky, sometimes you can pick up certain things, the one thing i would look for in red states, we don't have it updated here. a republican -- or republican voters turning up for donald trump? you can prepare trump? that we will have more data on -- as we go through the night. but you just seem. in 2020, he had more votes in

2016. he had more. what are you looking for? down here a very rural territory going to get 80%. and that is 33%. and kentucky is reliably red state. you and you take a smaller counties this. and north carolina and beyond and you are just seeing, or people turning out? you can go back. 33% of the well. you can go back and check it. too early to make that comparison now. i just want to show you what we can ask the question is donald trump over performing or underperforming donald trump? since he is the constant in this election. aand to come back there. that come out of there. you pop out. this is more interesting when you come here. why? this is the cincinnati suburbs. easy cincinnati right there. the cincinnati airport is actually here across the bridge right there, sorry, i just touched that by accident.

and so you bring out the county here and you see donald trump running, again, 40% of the five. 43% of the fourth year. donald trump getting 15%. you want to go back in time. an area that is more rural as you get down here. let's just take a look. 59% now. 59% last time. so donald trump at the moment, we're not done with the county where. pro-trump is tracking donald trump 2020. let's take a look at 2016. you can look at 2016. donald trump gets 60. if you brought that up there. in 2016 and at the moment, he is getting 59. so he is essentially tracking where he was in the state that he won comfortably. again, might be a useless exercise. but sometimes you're just looking to how is donald trump doing compared to donald trump in past elections in the red states? so far, when you look here, in indiana, it is the same question. we are not and any other giant voting areas here. you look at 2024, donald trump getting 62%. to go back and check.

donald trump getting 73% there. so again, so again, i want to see what percentage of the vote we have here. just something to keep an eye on's are going to matter? probably not. if lara trump turn up or margins are down a little bit in these other places, sometimes it can take wednesday and find a community counting like it in a parken stadium and start to do or else more analysis right now it is early. we're just looking for curiosity. >> fascinating stuff with the first actual votes coming in. erin burnett is helping our battleground state command center. aaron cox. >> look how you call at the command center. and as of course we're getting some of the early results. john is going through. check is going through. we are also watching the world come in and people still at polling stations, michigan outside of detroit is where jim judo has been. i saw you ago as you were speaking to a young voter in there. were using as people are still voting there? >> i tell you, aaron, they went for trump in the last cycle.

to question this cycle is donald trump maintain the support he saw? interestingly, which is not a voter. i'm going to introduce you to him now but he voted for biden last cycle in 2020. he told us to a short time ago, he is voting for trump this cycle, jeremy frank that he is a small business owner, father of three and soon to be four next week. as i found out. but tell me, what was your deciding factor in this election. >> [indistinct] better choice on this election. it would run for [indistinct] run for office, i think he would get a lot of stuff down like when he was our president. the economy and stuff. and this election is. more into focus on -- [indistinct]. >> reporter: you said the economy was stronger for you as a business owner when trump was president and during the last four years of fighting. >> even though with a lot of segment -- a lot of stuff coming through.

but i feel like business would run a lot better with trump as well as the president. if he wins this time, i think we would get [indistinct] >> reporter: some voters you hear today you hear today wonder whether their vote will count. do you have faith in the voting system here in michigan that your vote will count? >> i mean, in this -- i think it is legit. yeah. but i feel last time was rob, a little bit. >> reporter: you have got questions about the 2020 election? >> yes, i look at the poll the inner, the -- and then another day it just looks -- >> reporter: as we know, there was no evidence found the bank that. but in this election, greg compton your vote will count? congratulations on the baby to be. thanks so much for joining. the big question looking forward, will there be more voters like him and what will that will mean for the state of michigan. >> and but he just said to you, jim, he didn't really have faith

but this time the his specific area, he has confidence in the system and his first. let's go to sarah outside milwaukee. sarah, it looks like, i don't know if this is the -- but it looks like it is quite busy right now. >> reporter: it is and it has been getting busier and as you mentioned, at 5:00, at 5:00 hit and we start to seeing another run of people. it has been sort of checking all day with lots of people in the morning and now we are starting to get a lot more people in the evening. i do want to bring in quickly the fellow's and lee's family. what we have been seeing that is so lovely here in cedarburg is that entire families are showing up. voting separately but together. please tell me, what is your. issue? was there one or two that you showed up for? >> i think honesty and integrity would be really important

factors in the candidates. >> as for you? >> i would go with that. i think honesty, integrity, and plans for the future, of forward-looking candidate is what i was looking for. >> reporter: would you mind sharing who you voted for and why? >> i voted for kamala harris and i'm super proud to the idea of the first ever woman being in the seat of the presidency is remarkable and it is so exciting and i think it is really important having doctors, we have another daughter -- but these two to see this process and just know that there's no limits to what they can do in their lives. >> reporter: as for you? >> i'm so excited for these girls to see this election with a female on the ballot and to have that opportunity for leadership from a female perspective, i think it is awesome. >> reporter: and notice you did this lovely thing where they were showing you the ballots. it was sort of how it was working.

it was -- i was -- was wonderful to see family teaching and learning about this really important process that we all should be taking part of. as we understand it, it may have up to 95% of the voters come into that which is an incredibly high number. so thank you so much for doing your civic duty and coming in today. the whole family, i love it. it is for. >> thanks for having us. >> reporter: in cedarburg, a paste -- picturesque town. >> yes, absolutely. honesty and integrity. just that feeling for that family and then we just heard from jim with the floater he was speaking to in michigan where the voter was going for trump and that was based on economic issues which we heard from other voters who have spoken to some of our reporters across the country who have chosen to vote for from. we will see what it all means. thanks to you, sara and anderson, that is the most fascinating part of this, hearing from these individual voters and their different reasons for making the choice

they did. >> and potential turnout is high. and exit poll data. he has got some new data. you have some new numbers on a voter's views on the candidates? >> reporter: yeah, sort of a basic popularity measure that we look at, anderson. you have a favorable or unfavorable opinions of the candidates. do you have a favorable opinion of the candidates as this one here? 46% of voters across the country in this election say only a favorable opinion of harris. 42% say they have a favorable opinion of only donald trump. 2% say about harris and trump. they have a favorable opinion and interestingly, 80% say they don't have a favorable opinion of neither. that is a bit high. only 3% who said neither to the biden and trip. it is not as high of the folks who said neither eight years ago when it was clinton's last trip

in 2016. two is too extreme? 36% of americans nationwide voting in this election tell us only harris is too extreme. 47%, nearly half say only trump is too extreme. 8% say both. % say neither. what is your feeling if donald trump is elected president? so 22% excited. 26% optimistic. 48% nearly half saying excited or optimistic. 14% concern. and the plurality, 36% say they are scared if trump is elected president. you see there at the bottom two add up to 50%. we at the same thing about here is. what are your feelings if harris is elected president? see 49% are excited or optimistic. 20% or concern. and she has a lower number, 28% who say they would be scared. but again, splitting roughly in

half between excited and optimistic and concerned or scared if harris is elected president. >> all about, we will keep looking at these exit polls. sometimes it is frustrating or like a rorschach test. we are tracking the votes of tonight from kentucky and we are closing in on the first major round of polls closing including the high-stakes development of georgia. stay right here for a real-time results. results. that is all had. ♪ >> announcer: election coverage continues. and we have got you covered light only cnn can. follow every results. follow every -- follow the attacks. follow cnn.

♪ and we are back. we have another key race alert for you. more votes coming in from the state of indiana and kentucky. and indiana, donald trump is in the lead, 62.5% of there. kamala harris has 36.4% of the vote. donald trump with a 43,417 "lead. that is with an estimated 5% of the vote in and the commonwealth of kentucky, to drop with the lead there as well. 65.9% of the vote, kamala harris has 32.9% of the vote. donald trump was 17,717 "lead.

that is with an estimated 3% of the vote. over to john king. john, john, what stands out to you as these first votes come in? >> reporter: we are wondering about the battlegrounds. we are starting to see results trickle in. kentucky has had 3%. you see more counties have at least recorded some votes in the last time we were here. one thing it is way too early. i want to assure you we expect donald trump to win the state of kentucky. it has been a wright state for quite some time. you tried to see urban area, he suburbs about it. and fayette county, the vice president performing compared to joe biden four years ago. it is way too early. so i'm not even going to do the comparison. that is one of the things you will get and you say, okay, so where is the community like this in a battleground state, right. we have nationalized elections. in 2016, if you're with us in 2016, one of the very first cruise of the trump phenomenon hit here. right here. in the early results of kentucky

we saw in the small rural counties, not only with donald trump running it up but running it up in excess of mitt romney. getting new people to come out and vote republican. that is what made donald trump the force he was in 2016. and so we're going to look along these lines just to see, i fully expect him to win the kentucky. some people might say, why do we care? what we want to look at that? because you see, that is ohio. and in wisconsin and michigan. there are communities like that in some of in some of the at the american states as well. you are trying to see what happens. let's just take a peek here to see. 25%. donald trump had 72%. just go back and look. is the world trump base coming out like he did in 2016 out of the wood. and he is at 72%. in 2020, he is at 72%. you just go back to 2016 and look. consistent turnout for donald trump in the small rural counties that are critical to him. now, we are not an obviously. i think when we did that. you want to look at that throughout the night. of us claims, first glance,

says, okay, if the people we expect to come out for trouble coming up there. let me get rid of the green. here's one of the places we will look at. it is more interesting in the sense of more competitive. you have cincinnati right here coming to kentucky right here. if you landed cincinnati airport, that is here in kentucky. you drive across the bridge into ohio, you know, there's some suburban areas, some hotels, some restaurant develops post-development's. it tends to be a little bit more competitive. still republican. were up to 43%. 59% for trump in 20242024. 15% for par 59%, 60% if you round up for 2016. in the two counties we looked at, and it is pretty early, donald trump is running, to select donald trump that he is winning the wright state by about those numbers. winning those small communities by about the numbers. now we look up into indiana. already met at the moment.

alleges go back to 2020 and look. there will be some blue pockets. south bend, indiana. we don't have votes there yet. again, a place to look for african-americans turning out in the area in south bend, for example and down in indianapolis as well. how is the vice president during in the suburbs? we will get to the bentley begg what are we getting to know about donald trump? let's look at allen county. 52%. in 2024. right now, about 44%. so it is a fair comparison. see if any changes. 55 if you round that up. 58% year. 57% if you don't run it up. so down a little bit in the early results so far from 2016. is there anything to make of that, jake? i would be careful about that. it is one of the things you will get in the counties, especially as the suburbs start to expand in places like this. is pro-trump close to where he was in 2020, closer to 2016 or he is -- is he bringing out new voters, anderson? early in the night, he is looking for clues. >> we will check in with you. back with the team here in new york. scott, obviously, you are from kentucky. where will you be looking to in terms of kind of the litmus

test? >> eastern time zone's in the state is bifurcated right down the middle and so all the counting results we have now or in the effect of two. counties, jefferson and fade, or to keep democratic counties. so obviously if you're looking to see overall democratic enthusiasm there. but if you looking to see where trump, if he is having any trouble in the wet college educated suburbs, it would be in tune, anika campbell, which are the three counties in greater cincinnati. you would not to get to where. for the early returns, john george shout-outs, we are not picking them up. it doesn't look like we're seeing any flight from toronto. still more voters to conduct another issue, all of eastern kentucky, that is appellation. if rural turnout goes gangbusters out there and people are, inner, beating down the doors in east kentucky, that might also tell me something about what rural areas in pennsylvania and other swing states might do. >> talking about pennsylvania, it seems like trump has been already kind of laying the

groundwork about voter fraud, which there's no evidence of in the commonwealth. >> yeah, man, i think he's been doing that for several weeks. he is telling them -- speculating about it tonight. >> i know he is tweeting about it tonight. i think they have a strategy postelection for this. we will see how it turns out. maybe the election could go his way. maybe it will swing in a bigger waste that will more decisive. this is, you know, i have said many times, my concern about donald trump has less to do with issues. i disagree with him and she. that his political project requires him to tear down the fate and institutions and rules and laws and even the most fundamental thing which is elections. >> the fact that he is doing that, does that tell him -- >> it is a mixed bag because he claimed that there was massive far. he stood in the election integrity committee within the white house.

a-town nope widespread far. is something. into his dna. for the club at which he is doing it, the way he is doing it targeting pennsylvania, i think that they are nervous. i think they hit his behavior in the final stretch of it. i think they recognized their closing message was number where he needed to be. and some of the early projection, we're seeing a show of momentum that i think a lot of americans are feeling that this trump there may be coming to an end. >> look at that he should be serious in pennsylvania because there is an energy. there is a surge of, a look, talking two weeks ago, showing life figure in us down to my elbows. and just right. the puerto rican vote by itself has been made on far. people will tell you the different things about it. i talked to a young woman named camille rivera. she is with the only puerto rican pac. they were begging for money. nobody cared about them. potato the only photo file for puerto ricans. when this insult comic attacked puerto rico, she said it was like wildfire.

she said people remember, and puerto ricans, they brought a lot. they put a lot in the other. there is a big tidal wave of reconvert coming in pennsylvania. >> it could be the most expensive joke in history. >> a talk to the truck campaign a couple minutes go. they have trouble sitting in a room coming in that radio stations in pennsylvania and wisconsin encouraging last-minute turnout. asked my source there and he said, -- it is tied. >> we're nearing the first major round of results in the presidential race. it is a jampacked hour ahead. as voting ends in the battleground state of georgia. were also awaiting votes in all the swing states that will decide the election. will be right back. ♪

♪ and we are standing by for the first big brown of polls closing. right now, more early votes are coming in. we have a key race other. let's look at the actual votes here from indiana. donald trump inderlied. 58.1% of the vote. kamala harris in second place. 40.6% of the vote. donald trump with the lead. that is with 10% of the estimated ." on the commonwealth to come at

los can to get donald trump inderlied in there at 66.4% of the vote. kamala harris and secondly, with 32.4% of the four. donald trump up there. his lead is 31,523 votes. that is 4% of the estimated ." we're about to get a first chance to make projections in this historic race for the white house. we're counting on the top of the hour when voting ends in a total of 16 electoral votes. it takes 270 electoral votes to win the election. polling places are scheduled to close just minutes from now in georgia. indiana, kentucky, south carolina, vermont, and the commonwealth of virginia. we are closely watching georgia. that is the first of the battlegrounds on the line tonight. kamala harris trying hard to make georgia state blue after president biden flipped it four years ago. donald trump, of course, you are going to win. a state where trump was currently charged with trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state.

not showing to check in with our campaign correspondence. abby phillip's -- philip. as we standby waiting for the votes to cause injury, what is the leaders your hearing from the campaign? jake kite they are watching very closely, what has been happening throughout the day and seemly increase the as we get to the closed -- your closing deadline which is that there been bomb threats being called in to polling places throughout the state of georgia. fulton county, dekalb county, cobb county and others. these threats are non-credible. we are not believed to be credible. but they are being investigated and as a result, some of the polling places may be temporarily were closed, voters turned away. speaking to a senior democrat down there in georgia watching this very carefully saying, they are hoping that voters will come back. anyone who might've been scared away in those periods of time will come back and will cast their ballots.

some of those polling places also, jake, are being kept open a little bit after the top of the hour. so this is an ongoing situation that they are watching very closely because of where this is happening. this is happening in the parts of the state where the harris campaign and democrats need to drive up turnout among democratic leaning voters? so when you have polling places that are closed temporarily, that is a problem for them and they want to make sure to supporters end up coming back, jake. >> abby phillip, lets go down to dylan collins with the trump campaign. what are trump campaign eight going to be looking for when these polls close in the dish at the top of the hour, especially in the battleground state of georgia? >> reporter: well, jake tucker that is what they are going to be keeping their eyes on, georgia and north carolina. that is going to serve as basically a gut check for the trump campaign.

what kind of night they are going to have going into this. obviously georgia, in nikolov protection -- republicans think it should be a given for donald trump. he has pleaded with the popular republican governor there a brian kemp, who held a series of "get out the vote" events. it was not explicitly endorsing him and out of the campaign trail campaigning with him. they appeared together once at a storm briefing. but that was really it after donald trump trashed his way. they will be watching to see if it has an impact because he is a popular republican governor. he is a very sophisticated political machine. and that is also the trump campaign hoping to have on their side going into tonight. so they will be watching the vote share their as well as north carolina. because obviously -- >> okay, woodlocke kaitlan collins. let's go to david chalian who has some new exit poll information from georgia to

share. david, what issues are driving georgia voters? >> is our first state exit poll. anticipation that the polls are about to close in georgia. it does not match where it is initially. it is the economy far and away 40% of georgia voters in this election say that the economy is the most important issue. that is got to be global news to the trump campaign there. 20% sa y federal hurricane aid is getting to people who need it. 50% say no, it is not. who do you try to handle the

>> how important is georgia for the tr. there are other ways for both of those. it was kind of a shock when joe biden won it in 2020. >> shocked donald trump, too. >> yeah, and so the idea that georgia was even in play most people do not think, it was a swing state.

that would be a big problem for trump not as big a problem for harris and trump. >> we should note dana bash, if you look at the exit poll information from georgia, it does suggest an electorate in that one state that seems inclined to hear what donald trump has to say. you look at the number of who you would rather trust in the crisis. 47% kamala harris and then more voters in georgia say hurricane aid is not going to the people who needed the most. that was the message that donald trump was putting out there after the hurricanes. that too many migrants were getting paid from fema instead of the people who need it. i mean, fema pushed back and said it was not terrific it was a lie. and still, that was a message. >> it was. the numbers that david shows us on the economy, huge, huge issue for people in georgia as they go to the polls as it has across

the board. and georgia is really interesting to me because first of all, you have -- you which is hearing from our reporters. right now, there are bomb threats that are shutting down polling stations, threats in georgia. that on top of the fact that residents of georgia lived through the fight over 2020 and the misinformation that donald trump put into the sort of information stream. like almost nobody else, it may be other than arizona in this country. and it was republican versus republican on that. and yet, and yeah, you still had a slim majority saying that they trust donald trump more in a crisis and kamala harris which makes me think we're going to see that numbers. it makes me think what you do which is that georgia is looking better for donald trump. >> i know it sounds like a paradox. the home to marjorie taylor

greene. always had this moment that we saw with fighting of is it transitioning? does it represent the "new south "? and it has such a diversifying suburban community that i think this will be a sort of an interesting election to see, or democrats on the path to doing something sustainable there? >> one other thing, yes, economy, the biggest issue by 40%. we tend to think that favors trump over harris. but democracy 28%, abortion 14%. as the second and third issues. so cumulatively, that adds up to 42%. i mean, the issues is not terrible for kamala harris in terms of what people think that most important issue is. >> yeah, part one of the things that the term campaign has been doing in its own way is getting people who are republicans but not a fan of donald trump's behavior can a permission structure to vote for him because of the issues that they support him on and you can find a better example of that and the

governor of georgia who donald trump has insulted. donald trump has even gone after his wife. and yet, it is very clear that governor kemp, brandon kemp, is supporting trump and letting trump use his sophisticated political machine. >> i'm also glad you're bringing up this at this point because both campaigns have tried to look to the front and say, it is okay. your foot is private. you may not feel so confident about this. but is it okay to vote for me. >> let's go to erin burnett, who is giving us updates. >> jake, and here we are. battleground states across the country getting ready for polls to start closing. still lines across the country. voting is about to end, though, in georgia. that is where our, victor blackwell. yorbe talking to officials there. we're getting ready for things to close. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, we are just minutes away from the polls closing here in georgia with the exception of those 10 precincts across the state. where there been extensions to

compensate for the evaluations and that voting stop down because of those non-credible bomb threats that were called in throughout the day. two precincts in cobb county, the latest there closing at 7:20. five in fulton county. believes there is closing at 7:45. two here in gwinnett county. a late is closing at 7:58. now, those are in the atlanta metro area. there's also one precinct in glynn county in southern georgia near the florida line. that will be closing at 7:35. for all other precincts across the state to voters have to be in line by 7:00 p.m. so as long as they are in line, they will be allowed to cast their vote and then once that voting is done, the memory card from the scanners will go in one year, speaking specifically in the county. gwinnett county, to the of voters to elections office and in the ballots we sent in a separate vehicles. you will have hundreds of

course, two from each of the 156 precincts in a caravan off to the office and then they can begin to be tabulated. >> a caravan, a parade of swords. what is so important is how transparent after it -- it is. and victor telling -- you know, every 50-minute period, what they expect to have come out. they want everyone to see the transparency there. all right, as those polls get ready to close, you see victor. let's go to pennsylvania, another battleground state. polls are about to close there. brian todd is at a polling place in pittsburgh. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: heavy voter turnout here. you mentioned the polls closing in about a little over an hour. we are expectant little bit of a late surge here. i have craig zampa here. he is a voter here in washington county. craig, who did you vote for and why? >> donald trump. >> reporter: why? >> it really comes down to just

inflation. cost of living and how things have gone into last four years. >> reporter: the process, do you trust of the voting process? did it go smoothly for you? were there flareups, a lot of hype and information out there? do you trust the voting process? >> i do. vlog -- lived here for a while and everything has been very smooth. >> reporter: thanks for talking to us. thank you very much. back to you as we expect may be a late surge here in washington county. one hour left until polls close. >> in other werder there. talking about the economy as we have heard from another trip voters. brian, thank you. let's go to pamela brown in the front desk. first round of polls closing. georgia is going to be in that must. what are you reporting? >> reporter: polls are closing in minutes. we are going to get the first results. georgia secretary of state is telling us that when it could

exceed 5 million. that is more than 70% of all active voters in the state. high interest from voters. we will find out the total number after the polls close. we also know from georgia election official gabriel sterling, i've been speaking with the tonight's first results account accounts for 75% of the overall vote. and the secretary of state there says that he is optimistic we will know who clinched georgia by the end of the night. now, one onenote on fulton county county for georgia's most populated county in home to atlanta, we saw several non-credible bomb threats earlier today, which is hurt a little bit about that from victor blackwell. polling location were granted a poll extension, as much as 45 minutes past 7:00 p.m. eastern. once polls close, the county will have up to an hour to report early vote results. the expectation is most pleasing school report which is about an hour from now, 8:00 p.m. eastern, will be keeping a close eye on this key battleground state that biden barely slept in

2020. his results start to roll in, or even. expected that is why. it was so close. who is counting? [ laughter ] >> reporter: donald trump. >> take it pretty much and i hear dunking next to me. you chuckled? >> i was checking. it is a big clock there. votes will be coming in soon. three minutes and 30 seconds. we have some. of polls closing. we will look quickly. the polls have not completely close. they finished in indiana. we are looking at the early results to see if there are any clues. we don't want to ignore things that we see. you come right up here and see one dotted blue at the india -- middle of the indian map. it is just north of indianapolis. you can see a lot of farms in this county. now it is much more suburban as you get closer to indianapolis. it is blue. allred, 58% of the vote could flip. of how close it is.

it could well end up red. but it is just, is this a single that kamala harris it in the first election post-dobbs in an issue where we don't donald trump struggled in the suburbs in the 2018 midterms and struggled mightily in 2020, is this a sign? we play it out this way. harris at the moment, 50 picture but it was at 46 in this county. in 2020 and hillary clinton was at 37% in this county in 2016. so the suburbs are critical in key races. indiana is likely going to state red. let's be very clear about that. you come back to 2024. again, as you look at the early results are we are getting some states to try to see, is it possible? we can look at some other places. look at the battleground states. something to keep an eye on as we go. a quick look at kentucky. this is going to close. some more results have come in. again, i -- kentucky is a reliably red state. he will look, scott jennings was talking about his early. fayette county is likely to push

the vice president was a big early lead there. frankfurt, franklin county. frankfurt interceptors. you interceptors. you see there. let's just compare. 54% if you rounded up to 20 to four. 42%. 48% for joe biden. so right now, in indiana and in kentucky, easy to vice president at the moment of her performing joe biden. some suburban area. red states. we don't know whether that is going to matter as we get into these states. we are about to get some news. i want to move the map a little bit. we're going to get results in virginia. regina has been blue for a while. but it was purple not all that long ago. here's the question entertainment tonight. do we get a 10-point race as we head into 2020? do you get a democrat winning by 10? that tells you the vice president is holding the button map in a state that will go blue. or do you get a five-point race? as we head in 2016. that will tell you that donald trump not only is running up a score in these red, rural areas but that he is improving his

standings interceptors a little bit. here, in northern virginia, and the richmond area there. we. we will get some ski clues and also coming up moments ago, one of the biggest baumgratz of the state, 11,779 pounds. that was the margin with joe biden flipping georgia. the last time they got a democrat, bill clinton in 1992 thanks to vostro in part there. but it has been a long time since georgia. so as already noted, is it a state of transition? or is it a tug of war state? jacob harris what we're going to find out. the results in the battleground to come into just about any second now. and again, you look at alanna. look at to separate. >> and you see all that red. it is donald trump's race coming up. >> all right, and we are just moments away from first big round of poll closings. polling is about to end in a six states, six, with a total of 70 electoral votes to keep an eye on the p billable told developmt of state is. voting is eating there and cnn can bring you a projection package cnn projects that

kentucky close to donald trump. donald trump will win the commonwealth of kentucky with its eight electoral votes. cnn can also protect that vermont will go to kamala harris. with its three electoral votes. kamala harris wins the state of vermont. it is too early to protect. in georgia, indiana, south carolina, and virginia. let's take a look at the electoral map now to see where the candidates 10. 270 electoral votes are needed to win. donald trump has eight. kamala harris has three electoral votes. let's bring you a key race allowed. indiana, donald trump with a little to go with 60.3% after four. kamala harris has a 38.1% of there. donald trump has 86,829 "lead. that is with an estimated 13% of the votes in. let's go to john king now at the magic wall. john. >> we wait. we have the states that we have projected. of kentucky and vermont. those are the ones you will

expect. so what are you going to get here? you see some first votes in florida. let's just take it out. let's see eoc yolo county cat just south of orlando. we like to look at ports when they come in. florida, can still be reliably red. you have a test to see if harris can improve her standings or if trauma can improve his standings in the suburbs? first votes in florida, i was interesting to take a look. will post what we are waiting for is the battlegrounds in florida which will be esial in this race. vice president 's easiest path is the blue wall states. but georgia is a competitive state. what are we looking for? number one we're looking for the democratic foundation, which is fulton county. sara noted that. some polling places will stay open. we should get votes pretty quickly. we are looking at fulton county, atlanta is here. see how it stretches. a lot of suburbs around it. what are you looking for? you are trying to see if she cannot only match the president's percentage and get 73% of the four. by the end of the night, sometimes discount, the last and

to my par it is the mass it is the mastec tomas martin. if you look here and you come out here, you are 159 cance. 159 counties in georgia. a lot of them are like this. i'm just picking one randomly. they are small. they are real. trump/vance it up. so we are going to watch that. that's trump pace in rural america coming up in battleground georgia. it is essential to his smap that he it up. in place like that. if that is the case and that is what we expect to be the case if the trumpet case -- base come out. because of the harris base come out? and then what happens here? criticality. predominantly afghan american. strong democratic suburb. it is not just a percentage. what is the rock mass? for them, it's coming out to the votes, democrats need high turnout to offset the truck world numbers? ththat is montez sweat and for ,

you get out and you get for the out here. let's go out where victor blackwell is in gwinnett county. look at that. joe biden got 58% of the vote, right? if you don't have to go out too far in history. john mccain won this. this is the change in the american suburbs. cnn was a red state and there. look at mommy's numbers. the republican share in 2012 in this suburban area was 50. -- 54%. how does donald trump pour in the suburbs? it goes down to 45% for donald trump. and then you come to 2020. trump sure drops to 40%. but you cannot win in a competitive state. can trump get that number back up to 42, 43, 44? if he can, he is in play. if he can't, this is the tug of war. there is a flipside responsibility for her. in georgia and north carolina, demographically, they are just evenly split. they are tug-of-war. it is cliché. it does come out to turn out. >> take me to florida. >> sure. you want to see results? >> i think we have a million

votes in florida. no, what do we have? >> reporter: 194,000. you or over a million. >> over a million votes. so this is obviously a state that we do expect ultimately is inclined to go red. the polls are still open there. is there anything we can divide from where the vote has come in because it is more than a million votes and donald trump with a 224,000 plus lead right now. >> reporter: we have another example this time in a very large and complicated state that people have learned the lessons. and that they are carrying early-morning folks. that is a good thing's. these all -- >> reporter: i assume they are. it could be a modest number. when you see a big batch of votes come in, it is early votes. what can you glean from this? this is one of the swing counties. you would say who is willing the ball county. who is running in bush versus

gore. you voted in the volcanic. you could argue if you want to donald trump is a little bit more competitive. we will see how that plays out. it is early to look it up. the other thing you look at is we don't have it yet. the i-4 quarter. over to the beach and you see it and then the democrats again, i don't have no expectation. again, you will see our democrats turning out? there's some -- there's a lot of reporting about this. harris was tony. of the jewish ." you will see a little bit of that. and some of that. you might get some cruise out of

florida. >> in one of the other things that is interesting based on florida, which -- as i recall, governor desantis, a very conservative republican governor, i think he went to miami dade when he ran for reelection. is that not right. you have the -- home side. >> that is alright. there we we go. that is the rubio race. >> yes. >> reporter: he won robert. >> he won? he won miami dade. and it was assumed that he also maybe did better than traditionally republicans have done with the hispanic vote which is obviously a significant and that is one of the areas that people wonder about the vulnerabilities that harris might have. >> reporter: absolutely. in florida, you have the most complicated works in any state in america. it is much more diverse than in

other places. it has become -- you are absolutely write that it has become more republican. in other states, it was. obama won two-thirds of the hispanic ." but here, this is, this is why one of the reasons florida has become reliably red. it is because of the republican success. i would argue because of the democratic candidates. we will say that conversation for another day because this is what we are worried about an unexpected indeed. david chalian has more exit polling. georgia georgia, the battleground but how how is for votes splitting among key groups of georgia voters? >> reporter: now that the polls have closed, you see a looked at the key demographics. but let's look at the african-american vote. it is putting up 30% of the electorate according to these earliest exit polls. here is obviously wearing it big. 86% to 12% but i want to note here, not 86% -- that 86% number to button had 88%. a ticked higher of the support

of the african-american vote and trump 12%, he is a tick higher than he was four years ago when that was 11%. but it is roughly the same with the black "what we saw here. another age of 30, harris is going them. they make up 80% of the electorate. she is doing better with younger voters in georgia than joe biden was "wing" against trump four years ago pro-trump got 43% of the youth vote in georgia and he is down to 39% now. i will be something to watch and then noncollege white vote. this is obviously trump-based. 32%. a third of the georgia electric car white non-college-educated voters. trump is a winning 81% of them. that is a bit better than he was doing four years ago. though four years ago, it was 35% of the electric. it is a sure of the overall electric coming down. harris is winning 18% of them.

it to apartment was four years ago. this will be the story of these exit polls in georgia. independent voters. they make up 31% of the electric. that is a slightly larger share than what it made up four years ago. trump is spreading them by 11 points in these early exit poll result. 54% to 30%. jayco four years ago, joe biden won independent voters in georgia when he won that state by nine points. so we have seen in a swing of 20 points towards trump in terms of the margin from nine-point advantage four years ago with independence for putting to now an 11-point advantage. >> while. and that is really significant. we see some incremental changes here. when it comes to a young voters, she is doing slowly better. noncollege whites, he is doing slightly better. but that independent swing. it is while's. it is a huge swing and i just want to underscore what david said.

it is a bigger percentage of the vote share last time around, 28% independence. 28% of the georgia vote and now it is 31 -- excuse me, 30%. and excuse me, yeah, it is right there 21%. and it is a total [indistinct]. it is a complete flip. donald trump is doing so much better with independence than kamala harris and joe biden kind of ran away with independence four years ago and of course he won the state. >> yeah, i'm trying to figure out why. you know, what the reason is that he does it would be this dramatic flip of double digits in independence and i am just something you don't often hear on of the election coverage, it is something of a loss, how you explain that independence would have gone so much more for trip this time than they did for part in the last time? >> hang on. we going to go to check for a projection. >> and we can bring you another

cnn projection. cnn projects that indiana will go to donald trump. indiana with its 11 electoral votes will go to donald trump. let's look at the electoral map to see where the candidates stacked up. member donald trump has a 19 electoral independents go for trump this time? >> we protect indiana will go to donald trump, 11 electoral votes, we will go to donald trump. let's look at the electoral map to see where candidates stack up, remover 270 needed to win, donald trump has 19 electoral votes., harris has three electoral votes. they both still have a lot of electoral votes to go, 270. let's wiki race alert for you now. in florida, donald trump is in the lead with 51.3% of the vote., harris has 47.7% of the vote. why not? 224,914 vote lead, the votes are coming in as i do this. that's with more than a third, 35% of the estimated vote in with its fat

packet of 30 electoral votes. the commonwealth of virginia, slightly more competitive, donald trump in the lead right now with 58.7% of the vote. kamala harris has 46.7% of the vote. that's only with a handful of votes in right now. about 1500 votes as we stand by for results from the crucial state of georgia. we are counting down to the end of voting in the battleground state of north carolina. this historic election night is just getting started. stay with us. election night in america and the magic wall is brought to you by aura. keep your finger on the pulse, literally. track sleep activity, stress and heart health with aura reading for dig.

welcome back. we are standing by for the end of the voting and yet another crucial at around state. let's check the fight for the electoral votes of so far. trump has 19 electoral votes, , harris has three digit. 270 electoral votes are needed to win. now we have a key race alert. in the state of georgia donald trump is in the lead with 51% of the vote., harris has 48.5% of the vote. donald trump with a 4556 vote lead, that is only an estimated 3% of the vote. the polls just closed at 7:00 in the state of florida. 53.2% of the vote, , harris has 48.9% of the vote, donald trump has a

lead with half of the vote in, 50% estimated vote. in the commonwealth of virginia, donald trump in the lead they are with 58.5% of the vote,, harris has 45.9% of the vote, donald trump with 2871 vote lead, still a lot of votes to come in from the commonwealth of virginia. we are coming up on another critical round of poll closings in the presidential race at 7:30 p.m. eastern, that is minutes from now. 37 of the votes are at stake. when voting ends in north carolina and ohio and west virginia, west virginia is one of the crucial battlegrounds tonight as it is changing demographics meaning it's more competitive for democrats than past elections., harris is in a heated battle in north carolina after he won that state in both of his previous presidential campaigns, narrowly last time. abby phillip has information from the headquarters at howard university. tell us more. >> reporter: yeah, jake , as

you noted, donald trump won north carolina last time around but by the slimmest margin of the states he did win. the harris campaign is looking at that state is very much in play. what i heard from the campaign tonight is they are seeing in some rural counties lower-than-expected votes. those counties are expected to vote for donald trump. they see that as a positive sign. then on the other hand when they look at where there voters might be, it's in places like the raleigh/durum area where you will have a larger proportion of the voters educated, a lot of people moving into the state and communities. you will have more diversity in those communities. i am told the durum turnout today gave them some hope as they go into the poll closing deadline in a couple of minutes. the campaign has been

talking about all the battleground states having a possible path to victory. they see north carolina very much in play, jake. let's go to caitlin now in west palm beach, florida. the trump headquarters, caitlin, what is the trump campaign looking at right now? >> reporter: jake, one thing they are looking at, remember, this is a state they thought donald trump was well on his way to winning when pres. biden was still in the race. of course, once he dropped out it seemed like it was in play. one thing they are keeping an eye on tonight is whether or not the governor's race has an effect on what the numbers will look like in the presidential race. obviously, the lieutenant governor is the good editorial candidate, he has faced a scandal after seeing reports on his past comments, that is something they will watch closely tonight as the democrat is expected to do well. we will see what the ultimate race looks like there. jake, as they are keeping a close eye on the

early gut checks, hopefully, they believe in georgia and north carolina. donald trump is making calls to get voters out in pennsylvania tonight. i was told he was just on the phone calling into radio stations inside pennsylvania urging people to get out and make sure they get to the polls and vote. jake, his top surrogates are also posting online urging people to get out and vote. stephen miller urging men to get out and vote, jake? >> kayla in west palm beach, we have some exit polls coming in from north carolina now. david, what issues seem to be driving voters in the tar heel state? >> first, we are going to look at how people feel about the way things are going in the us in north carolina. voters say 6% enthusiastic, 21% satisfied, 43% of north carolina voters tell us they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the us. 20% angry, i want to say the bottom two, 7% of voters who are dissatisfied or angry, in the trump campaign --

the harris campaign sees opportunity , too. they want to get dissatisfied and angry voters who are dissatisfied and angry with trump's politics. that is something to watch later in the evening. we are also looking at the most important issue, economy actually ranks top much like it is nationally. as we saw in georgia, 36% say the economy is the most important issue in north carolina. democracy is right up there at 32%. then abortion and immigration in the teens. we also asked about is federal hurricane aid getting to the people who need it? it is slick here, but 49% say yes.

hurricane aid is getting to where it needs to go. 46% say no. then joe biden's approval rating is one point higher in north carolina than it is in georgia or nationally. 42% approved, 56% disapprove. again, the harris campaign, we would like to make sure they get the biden disapprove verse into their fold. but that kind of approval on biden is what is giving the trump campaign hope in north carolina. >> interesting, thanks so much. let's talk about this again. some headwinds for kamala harris in exit polls. first of all, 70%, 70% of north carolinians of tar heels are either dissatisfied or angry with the state of things. the economy is the number one issue. that is where trump traditionally polls better. and then, bad job approval rating for biden, her boss. >> it is true about the 70 or 71% of people who are dissatisfied and angry. unlike what chris said before, it means it's a very good sign for donald trump. i think maybe what you are not calculating, what david and anderson are not calculating is there are a lot of women and men who are dissatisfied with the fact

women don't have the ability to control reproductive rights in america. >> look , it's baked in. the right trap wrong trap we have known for some period of time. we've known despite the fact people are very unhappy for whatever reason with the way the country is going, it's supposedly as tight as can be., harris will clearly be able to overcome that. incidentally, in the last segment, i don't know why the independents are so heavily for trump in georgia. fortunately, we have a smart republican pollster listening who wrote to me and said, it's the same problem that democracies incumbents and democracies around the world are facing right now. inflation, they don't like the way things are going. they want somebody to fix it. and that is donald trump's basic pitch at the end. it's broken, i'm going to fix it. >> i don't want to drop a ball on what you said about what

people mean when they are dissatisfied. it's the same thing , democracy or being independent. it's not entirely clear until we are closer to the final tallies. >> but the battleground states are out tonight, aaron? >> they are. we are moments away from polls closing in a lot of these states in the final crucial minutes in north carolina, crucial minutes, breanna, where you are in charlotte. people still have to vote. we are starting to see the exit polls, discerns -- concerns about the economy, what people have said, what are the voters telling you? >> reporter: they have been telling us, aaron, that everything matters. we are in mecklenburg county which is going to be closely watched. it voted 66% for joe biden in 2020. and this is going to be very important to see the result here, to see how harris performs compared to joe biden

in 2020. i am joined by brian florez. you just voted. >> i did. >> reporter: who did you vote for? >> for harris. >> reporter: tell me how you came to this decision. >> so, i wasn't going to vote at all until my girlfriend was blowing up my phone, telling me to go vote. and if i didn't, she was going to break up with me. so, now i am here. >> reporter: was she seriously going to break up with you? >> i made that up. she didn't say that. it's funny to say that. >> reporter: so, she asked you to vote for harris? >> she did. >> reporter: you voted for biden in 2020. what were you going to do this time? >> i wasn't going to vote at all. i was going to stay at home, eat some chips or something. >> reporter: you came before the polls closed. most people say it has taken them five or 10 minutes. how long did it take you? >> i got off work at 4:30, drove here about 30 minutes. i think i walked in at 5:05, and

i was waiting for about two hours. i just walked out. >> reporter: two hours to fix her address, right? >> two hours. >> reporter: brian florez, thank you so much. back to you. >> that's devotion, that is devotion. two hours to fix your address? i mean -- you know, tom, those are the stories the harris campaign wants, stories like that. >> that's about today that was not going to be there yesterday or the day before, which, in a competitive race, it starts with one. that's how you go. what do we have as far as looking at the map? we are just peeking in there. it is early. that's the big headline. as we go from east to west we have a lot to count tonight. we have interesting things happening. let's start with battleground georgia, the one battleground state where we do have results right now, and you have a very narrow lead for donald trump. the lead for donald trump, 54,000 votes. i say narrow and it grows. you see that right there. but this is very early in the race. we have 7% estimated reporting. you are looking at the map, you see the

red filling and in small, rural counties, that's the bedrock of the donald trump movement. up here, we have nothing from fulton county, subject earlier in gwinnett county, earlier on, we have a long way to go. just for comparison purposes, joe biden gets 58. the vice president, keep it there at 59 as we move through the night. that's an incredible rationale. that's what you are looking at. that is the coalition of the last guy to win the state, that will be joe biden. if you're losing in some areas, make it up in something else. that's georgia right now. we have a competitive race. virginia used to be a battleground state. it is reliably blue now. if you look through right here, only 2%, only 45,000 to 43,000, this is a state that will be around 4 million votes, might be higher for the rest of the

night. this is early on, 2% of the vote. look at the map, are there any surprises here? this would be a surprise, prince william county, dc is right here. very blue suburbs, fairfax county, go back 20 years, republican leaning. now you come to prince william county, it's only 5% of the vote, trump up by six points. take a peek. this is blue and decidedly blue. it's very early. the total could be one precinct, one republican area, just the thing we keep an eye on. early on, that's what biden did as well. at the moment of trump, that's his path back to the white house. it's early on, but that's what you look at. this is chesterfield county, virginia is the capital. suburbs beneath the south, suburbs around, only 6% of the vote, harris getting 6% again, the test is matching

up to biden. she wants to stay were his number is. it's one point or so, it can matter. maybe not virginia, she can win the state. but if she is underperforming biden in the suburbs, that is a warning sign. it is way too early to say that is the case. we will go through this as we go through the night. when it comes to virginia, here is my test. again, this is 2%. those numbers, forget about them. we have a long way to go. here is the number you want to look at. this was a 10 point race four years ago. but it was not a 10 point race in 2016. it was still blue in both races. back to obama, 2016. around-the-cloc k, here we go. it was a six point race there. that matters, that matters. virginia might still stay blue. the question is, is donald trump tighter in the blue states? that means he will be better in the battleground states. you come in, take a look and try to learn from lessons. >> we are coming up on a round of poll closings. that's when voting ends in the battleground state of north carolina as well as ohio and west virginia. a total of 37 electoral votes are

up for grabs right now. and cnn could make a projection that donald trump will win the state of west virginia. west virginia and 48 electoral votes going to donald trump. too early to call, too early to make a projection in north carolina with 16 electoral votes or in ohio with the 17 electoral votes. let's take a look at the vote now that we call the state for donald trump. donald trump has 23 electoral votes. in the lead of kamala harris who has three dig electoral votes, 270 votes are needed. let's bring you the battleground state of georgia, donald trump in the lead with 88.1% of the vote,, harris has 41.1% of the vote. donald trump has 69,586 votes ahead. with only an estimated 8% of the vote in in the state of georgia , the commonwealth of virginia, donald trump is in the lead with 49.6% of the vote., harris

has 48.8% of the vote. donald trump with a 948 vote lead , only 2% of the vote has come in from the commonwealth of virginia. we have two more states to show you now. florida, donald trump in the lead with 53.5% of the vote., harris with 45.5% of the vote. donald trump with 586,779 vote lead. that is most of the vote in, 64% of the vote in in the state of florida with electoral votes. in new hampshire,, harris in the lead with 58.7% of the vote, donald trump has 48% of the vote. kamala harris has a 5500 vote lead. that is with an estimated 4% of the vote. john king at the magic wall, what are you looking at? >> when both coming in the battleground states, this is georgia right now. almost a 70,000 vote lead for donald trump. it's a very important that. 8% reporting, 8% reporting, a long way to go in

georgia. just take a look, i'll trump in the lead right now, joe biden at 2.47 million when he won the state four years ago. we have a long way to go in georgia. you are looking for clues and hints to see, every race will be different. you compare trump 220 24, 2016, can harris match biden? will black turnout rival obama? then you actually get results. it will be the harris coalition against the trump coalition. we watched it play out. one of the things you look at, if that is the case at midnight at 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., that would be a big deal. 277, 186, so you have fewer than 500 votes as you can see , a long way to go in cobb county. sometimes, you get an early precinct or batch of votes and it draws your eye. if it stays that way that would be

a big deal. if you go to 2020 and look, this is the key to democratic victory in georgia, right here, atlanta and the suburbs. come off and go to 2024, see where we are, not much of that in yet. let's take a look. you are more to the south they are, 60% for harris, 30% of the vote in, they are getting votes in quick , a ways to go. 60%, let's see how pres. biden did there when he had a narrow victory. president biden lost that county, 46%. if it stays that way that the net plus for harris. anytime you flip counties you are helping your mouth. let's go back to 2024. again, let's watch and see if that holds. let's come back in and go over here , come down here. the rockdale county, here is atlanta. you are moving out, suburbs, urban areas out here, 76%, they are counting fast they are. they say 74%. sometimes the changes a little bit but that's what the estimate of reporting is, 76% if you round up. you come back, joe biden was 76%. you are in the harris headquarters,

that's what you are matching up. are we meeting targets, are we succeeding the biden coalition? that is an encouraging number when you compare it to 2020. let's come back and take another look. you come here, victor is here keeping an eye on gwinnett for us. it's a large populace suburb to the northeast of atlanta. again, 15 or 20 years ago it was republican. mitt romney carried this in 2012. the vice president at 57 right now. it's almost more important to look at his numbers. can donald trump improve his standings in the suburbs? he doesn't have to win. he just has to improve his standings in the suburbs. make that 46 that makes you more competitive. 43 right now in gwinnett county, 2024. look again. 812 votes, harris is in the lead. by the time we are done you will be in the 200,000. right? we have a very

long way to go. trump is 40% four years ago . trump running 43% right now. again, got to look at the early count. we don't have a percentage there because of the small number. that's what you're doing early on. you are looking at places and markers to do the comparison as you go back and forth. jake, i want to pull out quickly and look at the map. everything else is filling in as accepted. the question is, look at lessons in north carolina. we have some first votes in. it is blue at the moment, 1800 vote, 1820 vote lead. there you go, moved again, 800,732 vote lead for the vice president. again, 17,782 votes might change as i

speak. this is to show you how early we are in the count. it takes 2.7 or more to win north carolina in a high turnout election. so, we are very early in the count. but north carolina and georgia, critical battlegrounds. if donald trump wins north carolina and georgia the vice president cannot win this race if she loses pennsylvania. if he takes those two off the board, north carolina and georgia she must win pennsylvania. as accounts come in in battleground states, we are starting to get to a point where we can do electoral college chest. more carolina and georgia are critical. if harris loses, the pack becomes incredible he narrow. if she can win, she has more options. now the first projection of the night in the fight for the pull of the u.s. senate. >> reporter: jake, a major projection, republicans have their first expected pickup. it comes from west virginia. a former two-term governor, the republican in this race is projected to defeat the mayor of west virginia, glenn elliott. justice, a former democrat now expected to take control of the seat held by sen. joe manchin as he now retires. it gives you a key of where they are headed. it's no surprise. but it is significant for the math. justice, a maga acolyte with his bulldog coming with him everywhere,

republicans needed control of two different democratic seats to take the upper chamber. now the number is down to one. they are currently leading in one race where democrats hold a seat. let's get you what is happening at exactly where that is on the map. we start with ohio, still very early there. but bernie marino is leading democratic incumbent only by 16,000 votes, still very early, 3% of the vote in the state of ohio. if you are a democrat looking at the map you are looking at opportunities to pick up a republican seat, one of the best opportunities in the sunshine state of florida. rick scott got elected by winning only a 10,000 vote margin back in 2018. right now, 715,000 votes ahead of former democratic congresswoman ,

still a lot of votes to count. this is 60% of the vote in the state of florida. stepping back, looking at the numbers, what does this mean for the balance of power in the u.s. senate? democrats hold 28 seats, republicans and 40 with the pickup in west virginia, 32 seats remain up for grabs. you need 51 for control of the chamber. >> boris, thank you so much. let's bring in our key race alert right now. in north carolina, kamala harris is in the lead with 60% of the vote. donald trump has 30.8% of the vote., harris as of this hour has a 41,599 vote lead. that is with only an estimated 2% of the vote in from the big battleground of north carolina with 16 electoral votes. in georgia, donald trump in the lead with 60.6% of the vote., harris has artie .9% of the vote. donald trump as of this hour with a 109,841 vote lead him a that is with an estimated 9% of the voting from the key battleground state of georgia and 16 electoral votes. in the commonwealth of virginia, ,

harris has 59.7% of the vote, donald trump 38.8% of the vote., harris has a 105,000 vote of the lead with an estimated 11% of the vote in from the commonwealth of virginia with its 13 electoral votes. we expect more votes to come in from key battlegrounds at any time. we will get the first results from the third presidential battleground, the great commonwealth of pennsylvania . voting ends in the commonwealth a few minutes from now. we will talk to you on the other side of the break. stay with us. election night in america is brought to you by luxury mattresses made affordable.

it is 7:40 3 pm on the east coast. we are heading into one of the busiest hours of this election night. here is the race to 270 electoral votes ending, right now. , harris has three electoral votes, far from the 270 needed to win. we have new results. here is a key race alert. in battleground georgia, donald trump in the lead with 62.7% of the vote., harris has 36.8% of the vote, donald trump with a healthy lead, that is with 13% of the estimated vote and still a lot of votes to be counted in georgia. in battleground north carolina , harris has 60.5% of the vote, donald trump has 20.4% of the vote., harris has 929 votes ahead of donald trump . but it is still very early. 2% of the estimated vote is in, still a

lot of votes to county north carolina. in the commonwealth of virginia,, harris has 58.2% of the vote. donald trump has 40.3% of the vote, molly harris has a lead. it is still very early, only 15% of the estimated vote in from the commonwealth of virginia. in florida, donald trump in the lead, 54.3% of the vote ., harris has 40.7. donald trump has a 822,987 vote lead. that is with an estimated 71% of the estimated vote in from florida. in ohio donald trump with 56.7% of the vote ,, harris with 42.5% of the vote. donald trump has a lead. it is still very early in ohio, only 4% of the estimated vote in. in new hampshire, harris is in the lead, 58.7% of the vote. donald

trump has 40.8% of the vote. molly harris received a 10,000 vote lead, still early in new hampshire only 7% of the estimated vote in in the granite state. we are only minutes away from the biggest wave of poll closings in this entire presidential race. we are counting down to the top of the hour, 8:00 p.m. eastern when a total of 171 electoral votes are on the line. it's a huge chunk of the numbers needed to win. voting is coming in from alabama, connecticut, delaware, the district of columbia, florida, illinois, maine, maryland, massachusetts, mississippi, missouri, new hampshire, new jersey, oklahoma, the commonwealth of pennsylvania, rhode island, and tennessee. all eyes are on the commonwealth of pennsylvania in this hour ahead. it is one of the make or break battlegrounds up for grabs tonight. and the polling has been 48 -48 or

50-50., harris is hoping to pull off a win as pres. biden did four years ago. donald trump aiming for a repeat of his victory there. let's check in with her , abby, what is the latest from harris campaign headquarters when it comes to watching the returns come in from georgia and north carolina? ♪ >> reporter: jake , right now, my colleague has new reporting about what is happening in the state of pennsylvania. >> abby, there is no doubt the harris campaign is watching pennsylvania closer than any other state. they are looking to philadelphia in particular. they believe it's higher turnout than the 2020 levels for joe biden. they are looking at a couple key precincts in philadelphia. if that were to be the case, if the vice

president is to have a strong performance in pennsylvania, she must do well in philadelphia. as you well know, she closed out her campaign last night in philadelphia with the big rally on the rocky steps. that is where the marathon ends. it is called the finish line. the big question for her campaign if she reaches the finish line in the presidential race, can she have big enough margins in philadelphia and in pittsburgh to carry the state? the harris campaign is a little worried about north carolina and georgia. they always said the most straightforward path is the blue wall. but all eyes are on philadelphia right now. as we speak they are trying to get the rest of the voters out to the polls. >> yeah, just a couple minutes left, back to you, jake. let's go to trump headquarters in west palm beach. >> reporter: yeah, thanks, jake. we are at the convention center where donald trump is hosting his election night

party. i am with kristen holmes. philadelphia and pennsylvania overall has been a key focus for him. but after donald trump and the puerto rican remark fallout from his rally at madison square garden, they were particularly worried because there are puerto rican strongholds. >> there's more than 4000 puerto rican voters. he actually went to allentown. there was a huge protest but they were very concerned. a lot of the concern focuses around internal drama which is essentially after the comedian took the stage and made that joke there was a lot of finger-pointing as to who was to blame, who brought him onstage? who did not vet him? internally, i'm told they were circulating polls about puerto rican voters, even showing them to the president who was asked multiple times, it does hurt my campaign? will this hurt me? he was worried about it. he was

worried. he was watching the news as he often does and seeing the reports that puerto ricans were saying they were offended by it, that they wouldn't vote for him. of course, this is particularly important in pennsylvania given that there are so many puerto rican voters. and one thing, it is not just pennsylvania. across all the swing states there are large swaths of puerto rican voters. there or not it is self preservation because the people want to show they didn't impact the puerto rican boat or because they actually think it could impact him in the long-term they are watching the numbers very carefully. >> yeah, and when the margins matter, people can't sit at home. this is something the trump campaign is watching from south florida behind-the-scenes . >> thanks so much. let's get some new exit polling. david, what are you learning about voters in the commonwealth of pennsylvania? >> in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, democracy is the number one issue for voters. take a look, 33% of peddling a voters say democracy is the most important issue. the economy is right after with 30%, then abortion at 15, immigration at 12. speaking of abortion, we asked, do you think it should be mostly legal or illegal? 64% of pennsylvania voters, nearly 2/3 say it should be legal. 30% say illegal. we also asked about

fracking in pennsylvania, we want to know why, harris changed her opinion on this. 55% favor fracking according to the exit polls in pennsylvania, 36% oppose it. and biden's handling of his job is a tick higher than we saw, 43% of peddling a voters in this election tell us they approve of biden's job performance, 56% disapprove. >> thanks so much. and chris, based on this exit poll, slightly better terrain in pennsylvania for, harris with democracy as the number one issue, 33% as opposed to economy, 30% a strong majority supporting legal abortion, and joe biden bad but not as bad. >> is compared to georgia and north carolina, 48% of people in pennsylvania said either abortion or democracy was the most important issue. it seems

like a very different climate then north carolina and georgia. and that's the point. she doesn't have to win all the states joe biden won. she needs to get enough to get into the 70, the blue wall, the blue dot, nebraska is enough. >> yeah. if you look at pennsylvania, the numbers would ostensibly be pretty good for, harris if democracy is the top issue. but the economy is right underneath that. as we know, there has been a big headwind for, harris. what we don't know yet, and what i'm really interested to see is what kaitlyn and kristin were just reporting on. and that is whether or not the very large latino population but the puerto rican population in places like allentown and reading, whether or not those are going to flip or maybe come out in a more robust way -- >> one of the things about those comments is it draws attention to the campaign in not the way they want., harris tried to take advantage of that. she had fat joe. she had the congresswoman campaigning in puerto rican areas of pennsylvania. it's about being

able to draw attention to it and use that as an opportunity to wake up voters. >> pennsylvania with the third-biggest part of we can population in the mainland behind florida and new york. back to erin burnett following action in the battleground states. >> chief among them you are talking about it, pennsylvania. it's go to kate bolduan where you have been throughout the day, kate. we are seeing the exit polls. polls are going to close. this will come as 70 thought it would the must win state for, harris. >> reporter: they are posting hundred 10,000 ballots. this is

the longest awaited first batch of mail ballots to be posted. it represents more than 50% of all mail-in ballots they have received. also, for context, this puts philadelphia well ahead of the pace from 2020 which we have become so familiar with. this is a big moment we are learning first on cnn. they are posting over 110,000 ballots. we will see the results of that when it posts online. >> crucial, as you say, faster than we have seen last time and the context kate gave him a number, that would be more than 50% of the mail-in ballots from philadelphia. it's a start, but it's a better start than we have seen before. pamela

brown is at the voting desk with the spotlight on peddling you right now. you know, what are you looking for in the context of those numbers that kate just shared with us? >> you have the early votes about to be reported after 8:00. then you have the overall turnout. sources i am speaking with there in pennsylvania and on the ground in philly say the turnout in philadelphia and other places across the commonwealth have exceeded expectations. so, let's talk about the democratic stronghold of philadelphia and what i am being told. an official tells me the line was around the block today. i'm told they had to bring in extra machines to tabulate the votes, six total compared to two of them. the official tells me while they don't have an exact number for voter turnout today, they don't have that number right now, that turnout certainly exceeded expectations, two sources at the state and local level say ballots had to be replenished today in several polling places in the democratic stronghold. overall, one source speaking to election officials said the turnout was quote mac quite high, and it seems through the roof. look at the swing county here in north hampton. the state official tells me at lehigh university lines were up to four hours long. i'm told this is not

because of any glitches in the system or issues, just that the turnout there was stronger than they had anticipated at this university where there are a lot more younger voters. i am told right now as it stands across the commonwealth there are 600,000 fewer mail-in ballots compared to 2020 but officials are done counting the total number. they tell me it is more mail-in ballots than they were expecting. we are about to get our first big look at the mail-in ballot numbers right there in the commonwealth of pennsylvania at 8:00 p.m. a lot coming our way, aaron. >> more than 100,000 of them could be more than 50% of the outstanding for philadelphia. john king, amazing, you hear about four hours of lines. we have heard that from pennsylvania to nevada that young people have turned out. >> hopefully, everyone is turning out. i heard about that spot in philadelphia. you want to trigger -- >> yeah, real ptsd. >> i remember that spot far too well from 2020. this is the biggest of the

battleground prizes, 19 electoral votes. whoever wins this state has more options to get to 270. it is 19. the next biggest one is 16. what are we looking for? kate was right here. philadelphia, it's the biggest basket of votes if you are a democrat. you need to run it up in philadelphia. so, let's go back in 2020 as a reminder. joe biden wins philadelphia with 81% of the vote in over 600,000. the first will give us a clue, but it's a building block. we have to wait to see what is coming after that especially if those early ballots. we will see. the only ballots as disproportionat ely democratic as they were in 2020, that's one of the things we will see. this is the building block for a democratic victory in pennsylvania. it has to be not only a high percentage, but you want high turnout. you have to do math run at the margin. then we get into the suburbs around

philadelphia. then montgomery, delaware, and you start moving out to see how it's going. pam just noted to places that i will keep an eye on. i said this at the beginning of the program. maybe you weren't with us, 25 counties in america, only 25 counties voted twice for barack obama than for donald trump, then switched back to joe biden. right? those are your counties, two of them in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. one is in the northwest corner, boston came out there. look how close it was in 2020. the winner was out to win the white house, right? then you come over here, pam mentioned north hampton county which is right along the jersey border right here , been there a few times in the campaign all over the map, projected a great group of voters, look how great it was in north hampden county. she mentioned long voting lines. i spoke to one of the voters by text to said she was confident that harris could pull it out but that's the bellwether there. that is

pennsylvania. malik collected 2024 and see what we have on the map. at the moment we told you this early on the vice president is leading in battleground ohio, not much of a battleground anymore. this is the red state. just take this, 20% estimate of reporting, you'd rather be ahead and behind that we told you some states you're going to see a lot of early voting first then you get election day voting. so, always good to be ahead but it's only 20%. the expectation by the end of the night is ohio turns back to read but we want to look at the votes. to be fair to the former president i talked about hamilton county, indiana, suburban county just north of indianapolis the vice president was leading when we were in the 50%. we are 62% now, still very competitive, still could be assigned she is competitive in her republican leaning suburbs but donald trump is taking the lead in hamilton county, indiana which, of course, is a red state already in the electoral map call. let's check in on the common will to virginia and we will move south. joe biden had a 10 point win here. if you want to re-create the 2020 map you want the states to come out roughly like they did then only 22%. right now she is in the ballpark for a 10 point win. we will keep an eye on that. if

you get the 10 point when can you carry it over? this is democrats frustration, how do we get virginia but we can't get north carolina? demographically they are very similar. you can even say there are some more advantages from democrats in the research triangle, younger voters, more black voters. right now the vice president has a lead that we are very early on in the state of north carolina, 59%, just want to go back for comparison 126,000 votes she has the lead. we know we are going to be at this a while. it's going to take 2.7 or 2.8 million to win the state so we have a long way to go here. let's just take one more look at battleground order before we get to the top of the hour and we are going to start seeing both come in. it's time to do some serious mad at the top of the hour. donald trump leading at the moment 182,000 votes ahead normally about a third of the vote counted and not much in yet from the atlanta suburban area. jake, in the hour ahead, a lot of votes. >> indeed. voting is about to end in 16 states and the district of columbia, the biggest round of poll closings all night, a whopping 171 electoral votes at stake including 19 in pennsylvania, the battleground that could decide the presidential election . let's bring in cnn