The United States decides the continuity of Donald Trump in the White House or his replacement by Democrat Joe Biden . The tension is maximum. Biden appeals to “restore decency and honesty in the presidency of this country”, while Trump assures that he will win “with a greater margin than four years ago.”
More than 100 million Americans have already voted, two-thirds by mail, 72.8% of those who did so overall in 2016. Polls point to a 6.7% lead for Biden in voting intention, based on the average of Real Clear Politics polls. Nonetheless, Trump retains a choice in six to win.
New York will have “zero tolerance” for possible riots on election night . This has been warned by the commissioner of the metropolitan police, Dermot Shea, who has announced to citizens that “there is a multitude of police in the streets.” “I cannot be clearer, zero tolerance,” insisted the senior security force.
The NYPD has been deployed to every polling station in the city, most of which opened without incident at 6 a.m. Although complications are not expected, Shea has assured that they are prepared “to protect the right to vote of each and every one.”
Numerous owners of establishments have decided to wall up doors and shop windows in case episodes of violence break out, with the aim of preventing a repeat of the destruction that occurred a few months ago with the raw racial protests.
These days the image of the American streets is a sample of the agitation that exists before the duel at the polls of Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The data recorded so far marks a new record of participation by mail and in person of those who decided to deposit their ballot before the opening of the polling stations today. In total, 100,298,838 votes have been registered , which is more than 72% of the total votes cast four years ago. Early voting figures predict a historic turnout in the election, which could exceed 139 million voters in 2016 .
Remember that the coronavirus crisis has radically changed this election day and many Americans preferred to cast their ballot to avoid crowds. In some parts of the country, such as Miami (Florida), the schools were almost empty this morning.
The bulk of the face-to-face vote on Tuesday is expected to favor the Republican Party, given the smear campaign promoted by Trump toward voting by mail.
According to the data available so far in the US Election Project and only of the States that make public the partisan information of their voters – in the US to be able to vote a political or independent party is required to register – 45% of those registered as Democrats has already voted, compared to 30% of Republicans . Being registered as a voter of one or the other party does not imply that your vote does not vary, it only shows a trend.
There are States that have already exceeded the record for all votes cast in 2016, as is the case of Texas or Montana. And many others that are about to do so, such as Florida (whose share is 93% of what was recorded four years ago), Georgia (94%), New Mexico (96%), Colorado and Nevada (97%), Washington and Oregon (96%) and North Carolina (95%).
