Donald Trump has emerged as the winner of the US presidential polls in 2024, and will assume the post for the second time.
The Associated Press has called the election, according to which Trump won 295 electoral college votes, crossing the required 270-mark. With this, he defeated his opponent Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, who won 226 electoral college votes.
While a close contest was expected between Harris and Trump, a different picture emerged after counting for electoral college votes began this morning.
The former US President was hovering over 295 votes for a long time, but cleared the 226 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency with the win in Wisconsin, one of the seven battleground states. Apart from Wisconsin, the other swing states that he won are North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
As Trump closed in on a second term, he expressed gratitude for the support he received nationwide. He claimed victory in the presidential polls and described it as a “never-seen-before political victory” with wife Melania and youngest son Baron on stage with him.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he told the cheering crowd at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre, calling it a “magnificent victory for Americans.”
“We made history tonight… This is a magnificent victory for the American people, that will allow us to make America great again,” he said, using his signature slogan. Trump pledged to address immigration and border issues and vowed to “help our country heal”.
WHAT THE WIN MEANS FOR TRUMP
Trump is the first president to win non-consecutive terms in more than a century. He is the first former president to return to power since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election. He is the first person convicted of a felony to be elected president and, at 78, is the oldest person elected to the office.
Apart from all the firsts, the victory also holds significance for Trump as it comes after two assassination attempts targeting him. Just months before the presidential elections, the Democrats changed their nominee from President Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, after questions were raised regarding Biden’s health.
DID POLLSTERS FAIL?
Most poll projections hinted at a close contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the 2024 elections, as despite Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal from the polls, there was a rise in Harris’s popularity. She got several strong celebrity endorsements too, like from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Eminem.
Had Harris won the polls, she would have become the first woman, Black woman and South Asian American to win the presidency.