The current US election is unlike any other so far, writes the "New York Times". Former President Donald Trump, who has actually been running for a second term in the White House for 9 years, faces Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been in the race for about 16 weeks. The race began as a rare repeat of the duel between Trump and President Joe Biden, but a televised debate ended the incumbent's bid for reelection and by midsummer, Harris had a path to the top. The situation, however, took a violent turn after two would-be assassins made separate attempts to take Trump's life, the publication recalls, BTA writes in its press review.
The differences between the two candidates could not be greater - they have fundamental disagreements on complex issues, such as the economy, women's rights and the very purpose of governing. Trump and Harris are running an agonizingly close race, and in all seven battleground states, the game is still going on. More than 78 million people have already voted, but it may be several days or even longer before we know who the winner is.
Our best advice for tonight, and perhaps for the coming days, is to remain patient, recommends the "New York Times". Polls show Harris and Trump deadlocked in nearly all seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin. So the first thing we'll learn from Tuesday night's results is not who will win, but how close the battle is and how long it might take to determine the winner, the newspaper said.
The first state to close polls is Georgia at 7:00 p.m. (02:00 Bulgarian time), followed by North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. local time. The majority of voters cast early ballots in both states, and the vast majority of ballots in both states are likely to be counted by midnight, the "New York Times" added. Trump's best chance to win the presidency has long been to gain more support from voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina. On the other hand, to take the White House, Harris needs to win Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to take the White House, the "New York Times" also wrote.
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are part of the states that form the so-called "blue wall", explains USA Today. Until 2012, voters in these states firmly voted for Democratic presidential candidates. In 2016, Trump surprisingly managed to prevail in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, but in 2020, President Joe Biden brought them back into the Democratic Party's orbit. These three states account for 44 electoral votes, which is a significant share of the 93 electoral votes that fall to the seven states in which the battle is being fought. If Harris secures all the Democratic-leaning states and the three blue states, she will reach the 270 votes needed to win the White House, USA Today adds. This year, polls show that the race in each of the three states is extremely tight, making them some of the most unpredictable and hotly contested battlegrounds. If Trump manages to break through the "blue wall" again, he could become the next president of the United States, the newspaper concludes.
Q. "The Washington Post" examines a slightly more abstract question, namely - the importance that conspiracy theories play in presidential elections. After Trump lost the 2020 election, he and many of his supporters denied reality. The so-called "big lie" centered around the rejection of the results of the presidential election, the publication points out.
This year, voters go to the polls facing an avalanche of false and untrue claims that go far beyond the question of the integrity of the vote. Among these claims are that Democrats brought in immigrants to vote illegally for them and illegally "replaced" white Americans, that U.S. intelligence agencies planned to kill Trump allies after this year's election, that Haitians ate livestock in Springfield, Ohio, that elites controlled the movement of hurricanes. Trump sat on a towel during his latest Fox News interview to cover up his incontinence, the Washington Post reported.
Taken individually, the false claims are meaningless, the newspaper notes. The Oxford Dictionary defines post-truth as "referring to circumstances in which facts have less influence than emotions and personal beliefs in shaping public opinion", the "Washington Post" also writes. The false claims start from some basic narratives and fuel the conspiratorial thinking that has already seeped into the electorate. And to the extent that "the demand for conspiracies can exceed the supply", Claire Wardle – an assistant professor at "Cornell" told the "Washington Post".
The 2024 vote is being produced in a divided reality in which Americans must contend with misleading claims about not just politics and elections but nearly every aspect of their lives: health care, education, immigration, even the weather. This divided environment has distanced people from traditional fact-checking and reasoned argument and thrust them into a post-truth world in which debate itself - the foundation of democracy - has begun to feel dangerous, warns the "Washington Post".
Law enforcement officials in California and across the country are bracing for threats against election officials, violence at polling stations and voter intimidation amid Republican skepticism about the integrity of the electoral process, the Washington Post reported. "Los Angeles Times".
Ahead of today's vote, polling stations and sites where ballots are counted have beefed up security. Dogs that can sniff out explosives and firearms have been sent in, metal detectors have been installed, panic buttons have been set up, and even snipers have been deployed on rooftops, the newspaper added. After the 2020 election, voting centers were forced to beef up security in response to harassment of election officials. Much of the trouble stems from former President Trump's rejection of President Biden's loss and his false claims that the election was stolen from him. The FBI has now sent agents to every local office in the country, ready to investigate allegations of voter fraud or other irregularities on Election Day, the publication added.