US Election 2020: Biden, Trump inches closer for a photo-finish in crucial presidential election

Washington, Nov 04: Democratic candidate Joe Biden has taken a lead over Republican Donald Trump in the closely-fought US presidential election, though the incumbent president is fast catching up, according to projections by leading American media outlets.

As per Fox News, Biden has 238 of the 538 electoral college seats, while Trump has 213. On the other hand, CNN has projected 220 electoral college votes to Biden and 213 to Trump. The New York Times reported that Biden has earned 223 electoral college votes and Trump 212.

The winner needs at least 270 electoral college votes. As per the latest report, Trump was leading in the key battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Biden was leading in Arizona and Minneapolis.

The Biden campaign tried to downplay its electoral performance in Florida, which has 29 electoral college votes. "We said Florida was going to be close and... it is! We also said we didn't have to win it, and that remains true," the campaign said in a statement, reiterating that it has multiple paths to victory.

In a surprise, Trump was leading by seven percentage points in Virginia, which was considered to be a Democratic bastion. Biden won New Jersey and New York in a tight race with President Trump also registering early wins in key states.

Biden got 2.2 million votes in New York while Trump got 1.2 million. The former vice president won in Democratic-leaning states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont and Virginia, while President Trump was posting expected victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana and South Carolina, The New York Times said.

People across America were closely watching the 2020 presidential election, which saw a record number of over 100 million early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A far cry from the election night of 2016, when supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties as well as media from around the world had converged in Times Square, the popular New York City destination was uncrowded and several stores were boarded up and shut.