Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump entered the final hours of Tuesday’s presidential election in limbo after a brutal battle that divided Americans along social, racial, economic and cultural lines.
Aside from the White House, control of both houses of Congress hung in the balance as primary elections began to close in some parts of the country.
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As a result, it was unclear Tuesday night which party would have more power to shape or stop policies that affect virtually every aspect of Americans’ lives, from taxes to abortion and immigration to federal aid.
In the first results of the night, NBC News predicted that Trump would win Kentucky and Indianaand Harris won Vermont.
Supporters of the two presidential candidates differed on key issues facing the country on Election Day, with the differences partly reflecting where the candidates focused their attention.
In early NBC exit pollsA majority of Harris voters ranked democracy as a top issue, while a majority of Trump voters said the economy was most important to them. In total, 35% of voters placed democracy at the top of their list, 31% mentioned the economy, and 14% mentioned abortion.
Fifty-six percent of Harris voters put democracy first, 21 percent named abortion their top priority, and 13 percent chose the economy. 51 percent of Trump voters see the economy as the biggest problem, 20 percent say immigration and 12 percent say democracy.
Harris has vowed to restore abortion rights that were curtailed by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Trump has said that decisions on abortion are currently in the hands of the states where they reside, but he favors bans that exclude rape, consanguinity and circumstances that threaten the life of the mother.
In a sign of how abortion policy is changing now that states can impose more restrictions, early exit polls show more Trump voters think abortion should be legal than in 2020. At the time, 26% of Trump voters said abortion should be illegal. On Tuesday, the figure was 38%.
Overall, 51% of voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases in 2020. But now 66% say so. At the same time, the percentage of voters who believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases has fallen from 17% in 2020 to 6% this year.
Harris’ easiest path to winning 270 electoral votes and becoming the first woman president is through the “Blue Wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. Trump, who would become the first defeated president to win back the White House since Grover Cleveland in 1892, would hit the magic number by capturing Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Trump planned to gather family, friends and staff at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in West Palm Beach, Florida, to watch the returns. If he speaks publicly on Tuesday night, his remarks will be delivered at a nearby convention center.
Harris is expected to invite close associates to the vice president’s residence for a dinner at Washington’s Naval Observatory and travel to his alma mater, Howard University, to address supporters at the end of the night.
Both candidates and their campaigns have expressed confidence in recent days that they are on track to win.
“The urgency is on our side,” Harris said at his final rally in Philadelphia on Monday night.
“I think we’re going to win very big today,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon as he voted in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Despite their sense of accomplishment, an NBC News exit poll found 72% of voters were either angry or dissatisfied with the state of the country, while only 26% said they were satisfied or enthusiastic.
Along with the rest of the country, Trump and Harris must now await the verdict of voters in seven swing states — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada — to find out who is right. It is not yet clear how long it will take for those states to count the ballots and determine the results of the election.
Initial exit polls showed signs of demographic changes in the electorate. Trump’s popularity has declined among white voters, and among black and Latino voters. In 2020, 57% of white voters, 38% of Latino voters, and 10% of black voters viewed Trump favorably. This year, only 49% of white voters said they viewed Trump favorably, compared to 42% and 14% among Latino and Black voters, respectively.
In some parts of Kentucky, polls are set to close at 6 p.m., while that state and several other states, including Georgia, one of the seven key presidential battlegrounds, will close at 7 p.m.
In other battleground states, all polling places in North Carolina close at 7:30 p.m.; at Pennsylvania 8 p.m.; Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin at 9 p.m.; and 10 p.m. in Nevada.
Swing state voters have been inundated with billions of dollars in advertising from the campaigns of the two presidential candidates, the Senate and House candidates, and outside groups determined to sway the balance of power in Washington.
Senate Democrats held a two-seat advantage Tuesday, 51 to 49, but Republican Gov. Jim Justice is too favored to defeat his Democratic challenger in the seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Republicans also include Sen. John Tester, D-Mont nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
In the Senate, Democrats are also playing defense in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Maryland.
Republicans held a four-seat advantage in the House of Representatives. The Cook Report favored Democrats picking up four seats — one in Alabama, two in New York and one in Nebraska — from Republicans. According to Cook’s report, one Democratic-held seat in Michigan has swung to the GOP, with 12 Republican and 10 Democratic seats considered a toss-up.