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CNN Live Event/Special
America's Choice 2020; First Statewide Polls Close At 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time In Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired November 03, 2020 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Georgia's 16 electoral votes could be pivotal, as the once reliably red state is now a competitive battleground.
Jake, we are in uncharted territory with a record-breaking number of voters already having cast their early ballots in person or by mail.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And many more are voting right this minute.
We have been seeing pretty steady streams of people showing up at some of the polling locations that we're monitoring in battlegrounds, including Arizona and Iowa and Michigan, as well as in Georgia, where voting is in its final hour.
Our correspondents are getting new information about the campaign strategies in these closing hours.
Let's go to Jeff Zeleny.
Jeff, what is team Biden doing right now?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, throughout the day, the turnout reports have really been extraordinary.
And the Biden campaign has been watching these with great interest. Of course, the Trump campaign has been as well, because many Republicans have said they intended to vote in person today.
But it is those high turnout numbers that is giving some sense of optimism to the Biden campaign. But it is also doing this. I am told that, at this hour, the Biden campaign is working to get more votes out, more of their supporters to the polls in South Florida, in Jacksonville, in the St. Pete/Tampa area.
They do believe that Florida is a bit of a challenge for them at this point. Now, this started shortly after the workday. And Democrats have historically voted more at the end of the workday, between the 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. hour. Who knows if that holds during this moment of the pandemic with so much early voting and a difference in work schedules. But they are working to get the last vote out in these areas. No question the Biden campaign still feeling optimistic, but they do believe the Southern states of Florida, of Georgia, North Carolina more difficult than that blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
They are more optimistic about the North than the South at this point, but polls still open, and they're still working, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.
Now let's go to Kaitlan Collins. She's at the White House.
Kaitlan, how does the Trump campaign see this night playing out?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends on really who you asked.
Publicly, the press secretary, who is moonlighting as a Trump 2020 campaign adviser, said today they believed it could be a landslide. Yesterday, the president predicted potentially a blowout.
But, internally, they're obviously not that confident. And when you talk to people about what they're seeing in the numbers, what they're looking for, of course, they're not even confident that the president is going to win yet. They are waiting to see what happens in these critical states that Jeff was just pointing out, so certainly not as confident there, some mixed messages on what exactly they're expecting.
But we did just hear from the White House communications director, Jake, who said the president is going to be watching these returns come in, in the East Wing, when senior staffers from his campaign, his family there as well. They said they are expecting delays in those results coming out of Pennsylvania, as they are counting the mail-in ballots and tabulating those.
One thing that does seem certain, Jake, is that we could hear from the president tonight. They said it's not clear what form exactly we're going to hear from him in or, of course, when that could come.
But the White House says they do expect us to see the president at some point tonight.
TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.
Let's go to David Chalian now. He has some more information from these exit polls.
David, what are you seeing?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Jake, I just want to stress, these exit polls are going to change. These are early exit polls, but they are representative of the electorate, no matter how you voted, if you voted early, in person, if you voted by mail in absentee, or if you voted on Election Day today. And as we get more and more surveys in, these numbers will shift. These are early preliminary exit polls, but it does represent everyone voting, no matter how they voted.
Let's look at sort of some key demographics in the electorate, the makeup of the electorate; 53 percent, according to these early exit polls, are female voters, 47 percent male. That is precisely what it was four years ago. So you don't see a big change in the share of the electorate for either gender there.
Take a look at the racial breakdown; 65 percent of the electorate in this preliminary exit poll result is white. Four years ago, it was 71 percent white in the electorate. So, we're seeing a pretty significant drop in the share of the white vote as a part of the overall electorate in these numbers, 13 percent Latino, 12 percent black, 6 percent something else, 3 percent Asian.
Take a look at the age breakdown inside this early exit poll, 16 percent of the electorate 18-to-29-year-olds. That's exactly what it was, 30-44, 23, 38 percent of the electorate 45-64 years old, and 23 percent of the electorate 65 and older. That's a slight tick up in terms of the share that seniors make up in the electorate.
Four years ago, it was 20 percent. We also seem to be a bit more college-educated as an electorate today. Take a look; 45 percent say they are college graduates in the electorate today; 55 percent say no. Four years ago, we saw it was 40 percent who said they were college graduate, so a few more college graduates in the electorate.
And then party I.D., just how we split by party, 38 percent Democrat, 35 percent Republican, and 28 percent of the voters in this 2020 campaign refer to themselves as independent -- Jake, Dana, Abby.
[18:05:09]
TAPPER: All right, David, thanks so much.
OK. So when we talk about reading the tea leaves, again, here, I'm seeing an electorate, based on these early, early exit poll results, not definitive, that suggests an electorate that one could say is more amenable to the Biden message.
It is a more female electorate. It is a more -- it is a less white electorate.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: More college-educated.
TAPPER: It has more older voters, and seniors are in favor of Biden, according to polls, and a more college-educated.
Again, early results, but just looking at what I'm seeing here, that's what I'm taking away.
BASH: Yes, I think that is exactly what to take away on all of this.
I think one of the most interesting things is the fact that it's less white. That's -- this country is less white, but it's not the Republican Party. And this is why, broadly, you -- before Trump came on the scene, you saw the Republican Party nationally trying so hard to expand beyond a white base.
And then came Donald Trump, and everything that came with the Trump campaign and the Trump presidency. And it's been a lot harder for him to reach out beyond and in order to keep the Republican Party from being a really shrinking party.
And the question is whether or not this shows us that the demographics, Abby, are really shifting in a pretty rapid way.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And it'll matter in those Sunbelt states that we were just talking about.
But, interestingly, I was talking to a Republican, and we were talking about the gender gap issues and even issues of race. This Republican said the most important thing is the college/non-college split, that, with women, it's about whether you're college-educated vs. not college-educated that's going to tell us a lot more about whether people are amenable to Donald Trump's message vs. Joe Biden's.
And this number, even a small ticking down of the non-college-educated share of this electorate is something that could matter for President Trump. That is his stronghold. He does have to hold on to it. He has to turn those people out.
And if he's not able to do that in the places that it matters, we will see it tonight in the results that come in, in some of these key states.
BASH: It's such an important point, because, four years ago, Donald Trump won Michigan, he won Wisconsin, he won Pennsylvania on the margins. He didn't win by that much.
TAPPER: Seventy-seven thousand votes in three states.
BASH: That's exactly right.
And so, when you're looking at the demographic shift, even if it's just a little bit on some of the issues and in some of the sectors that matter the most to him, that could make a difference.
TAPPER: It's about the turnout of those people. And it's also just about the margins.
As you note, one of the things that's interesting is, like, for instance, Pennsylvania, which I am obsessed with, of course, because I'm from there, 47 percent of the electorate is non-college-educated whites. Trump won them by 32 percentage points in 2016. According to polls, he's only winning them by somewhere between 15 and 20 percentage points.
If that holds in the vote today, that will be good for Biden.
BASH: Yes. TAPPER: But, again, polls are not facts. Polls are not votes -- Wolf.
BLITZER: That's absolutely right, Jake.
John King, let's take a look now at the path to the all-important 270 Electoral College votes you need to be elected president.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And that's why the conversation we're following is so important. What is the electorate? What is the composition of the electorate, in which states? That will take us a long way there.
But Joe Biden is trying to do two things tonight. He's trying to get back what President Trump took away, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, from the Democrats. They had not gone red since 1992. They'd been in Democratic hands since 1992. So Joe Biden is trying to get back the blue wall, right?
He's trying to hold all the Clinton states. That would be Colorado. That would be -- come on, you have to change for me. There you go. That would be Nevada. That would be Minnesota. That would be New Hampshire, right?
So there you go. You get the Clinton states back. That gets you to 278 right there. If you can just get Pennsylvania -- I say just get. That's not easy -- Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, you get those back, you're the next president of the United States. That's the first thing he's trying to do, get the Clinton states back, don't lose any of them.
And then get back those three. That's Joe Biden's goal. Then he's trying to do what Abby and Dana and Jake were talking about. If you get the diversity of electorate -- Democrats have said for some time, Georgia eventually will be our state. We're growing in the suburbs, African-Americans, Latinos. Arizona will eventually be our state. The Democratic dreams of the last decade, Texas will eventually be our state.
Has Trump put that evolution on steroids? If you look at the demographics, you would say, two years from now, four years from now, some of those states, maybe six years from now. But has Trump put the electorate, put that transformation, especially because of the suburbs -- and if you get the increased African-American and Latino turnout, can Joe Biden do things like that in the North Carolina suburbs, African-Americans, plus the suburbs, plus young people.
In Florida, African-Americans, Latinos, the suburbs and the I-4 Corridor, can he do something like that? He's within reach. Can he do something like that? He's within reach. This is what the Democrats dream of tonight. They do have the opportunity. Opportunity is one thing. Execution and finishing is something else.
[18:10:02]
But that is Joe Biden's path. And then -- even then, so you are leaving Georgia... BLITZER: What about Trump?
KING: I left George on the table there.
So let's go back to the president's map for Trump. You come back. If you're the president of the United States, if you're an incumbent, you start with this. And we know President Trump is obsessed with this, to this day gives copies of this map when people visit him, when he talks about the campaign, when he's traveling. This is what he talks about.
If you're Trump, you have seen him the last few days spending a ton of time here, here, and here. He loves this map because it made him president. That's not a criticism. That's a compliment. This is how he won the presidency four years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Yes.
And so his point is, defend it. Here's the question. We know his approval rating is in the mid-40s. We know the coronavirus pandemic is all across the country. He's likely to lose something. The question is, how much can he afford to lose?
If you think about it, late in the campaign, the Biden lead in Michigan was pretty steady and pretty consistent. Doesn't mean that's how it's going to go tonight. Hillary Clinton had a narrow lead in Michigan at the end of last campaign. Joe Biden's was about twice that.
But Donald Trump has to prepare to lose Michigan. He has to be prepared that maybe he loses Wisconsin. Again, they're trying to surge voters out today. It's not outside the realm of possibility. But if you're in the Trump campaign in the final days, you have to be prepared that those to get away.
You also have to be prepared that maybe you're going to lose this. Joe Biden is favored to win in Maine quite handily. Maine allocates its Electoral College votes by congressional district. So, the president has to be prepared to lose that one. He also has to be prepared to lose this one. Doesn't mean he will. But that's the expectation inside the Trump campaign, based on everything they have looked at into the final week.
So, this is what it comes down to here. And so then what happens? Donald Trump would still be a 278 if he can hold this, if he can hold Pennsylvania. Now, 278, if he can hold Pennsylvania. He still has to hold North Carolina. He has to hold Florida, he has to hold Georgia, and he has to hold Arizona.
The president is on defense on this map. The best thing about it is, Wolf, we're just moments away from actually getting to count some votes.
BLITZER: We're going to get results fairly soon in some of these states. We will be watching very, very closely. We're getting closer and closer to our first chance to make
projections in the presidential race at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:15:40]
BLITZER: All right, we got our first key race alert of the night in the state of Indiana, where a lot of the polls closed at the top of the hour.
Take a look at this, very, very early, but Donald Trump is ahead of Joe Biden 68.3 percent to 29.7 percent. He's up by more than 3,000 votes, but it's very, very early in Indiana.
We're going to get results, John, in from Kentucky fairly soon as well. What are you going to be looking for?
KING: Well, it's always fun to get the first votes of the night.
So you see Indiana red on the map. If it ends that way, nobody would be surprised, right, reliably Republican state. Let's pull it out. Let's just look at what we're looking at. It's always fun to get the first votes.
Greene County gets that distinction in the United States of America this year, 68.3 for the president, 29.7, about half of the vote in, according to that. Again, this is one county. So this is not instructive. But one of the things we're going to do throughout the night -- that's 2020 -- is go back.
So we will see, when this vote comes in, Donald Trump got 75 percent if you round it up, four years ago. Sometimes, we look at the math too, 10,000 votes, 10,000-plus votes. So you come to 2020, and you look. We're not done counting yet, right? But if that's half, and he's at five, that's roughly equal.
That's the one thing you're going to watch. Is the incumbent president of the United States matching or is he exceeding or underperforming from 2016? It's one thing we're going to look at. This is very early on. It's one county. Nobody should be doing anything, getting stressed or happy at home.
We're just getting started. But Indiana is the first thing to come in. Wolf, we all have our little quirks about election nights. This is Greene County. You come over here, Vigo County. No votes in Vigo County.
Yet can go all the way back to 1956. This county has always gotten it right. It's one of the places we will watch tonight. Vigo County in 2016 voted for Donald Trump. Vigo County in 2012 voted for Barack Obama, even though Indiana was going back to the Republican. So, Vigo County is just one of my quirks on election night. It goes all the way back 1956 they have had it right.
But let's come back to 2020, though, because here we are in the here and now. Just one county here right now, but Indiana reliably red, Mike Pence's home state. Nobody expects Indiana to go blue tonight, but it will teach us some things. Number one, you come up here to Lake County, Gary, Indiana, African-American turnout there.
Are African-Americans in a state they even know Joe Biden is likely to lose, are they turning out, right? You want to watch that. You want to watch that everywhere? Is he turning out his dynamic?
One other thing you want to pull out here -- and I'm going to break the country down by counties and then come in here. You can break the entire country down by county. Then you come up through here. Here we go.
I'm in the wrong place. I will find them right here for you. You come up here, and you find these suburban counties. One of the things we're going to look at tonight, and I will pull out the map to come to the entire country, is you see the gray areas.
These are communities known as suburbs, the suburban communities identified on this map across. One of the things you want to look at, if you go back to 2016, and, look, you see a lot of red. Donald Trump narrowly won the suburbs back in 2016. And you see there a number of places in Indiana, the state we're talking about and getting our first votes, especially around Indianapolis here.
This is one thing we're going to study all across the country tonight. So, even though Indiana is likely to go red in the end, it will tell us, is Donald Trump in the suburbs, places like Hendricks County, 64 percent four years ago -- no votes there yet -- what does he get this time?
This is one of the things we're going to watch throughout the night, not just in Indiana. You mentioned Kentucky. Kentucky comes up soon. I mentioned this earlier, but got the Lexington suburbs in here. This is the Lexington suburbs.
BLITZER: We got some numbers just coming in from Kentucky.
KING: Got some numbers. Well, then here we go.
Let's pop and see them. Let's switch over to 2020. Let's come out of this here and close this up. And you see your first votes right here, south of Lexington, north of Bowling Green, Casey County. It's 0.4 percent of the population of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
But look at that, 85.8 percent. If you go back in time, Donald Trump got 85 percent there then. So, in these very early results, very early results, he's essentially matching what he did both in this county here in Kentucky, that county there in Indiana, the president matching at the moment. Is that significant? We don't know.
Two counties, we got a long way to go. Go back to Indiana for a moment, John, because there's a county, a second county. Oh, there it is...
KING: There it is. BLITZER: ... in the northern part of the state. It's a relatively small county.
KING: Another small county, 35th. Well, it's in the top third, right, the bottom of the top third, 35th of 92 counties, 70 percent, 68 percent. If you look at it there -- again, we're going to do this all night long -- you go back to, 71 percent then, but haven't counted the votes yet.
Again, we're early. People at home will think we're a little nuts for doing this, but that's what we're going to do all night long to try to figure out, is the president -- where is he compared to 2016, overperforming, underperforming, about the same?
And that's how we will know, is the map shifting, even in -- this is one of the things to watch at. When you have a president who lost the popular vote last time, when you have a president whose approval rating is 45 percent, when you have a president who's managing, Democrats would say mismanaging, the pandemic in the country right now, even in places he wins, is he underperforming?
[18:20:11]
Is he getting fewer votes? Are even red -- are red counties and red towns and red cities and red states closer in 2020 than they were in 2016? That will be one of the things we watch tonight. And, again, Indiana and Kentucky will be early examples. We expect Donald Trump to win Indiana and to win Kentucky.
The question is, do we get clues about the rest of the country by tighter margins, by the president underperforming in states that he won in a walk four years ago?
BLITZER: Yes. We will watch those states. We will watch all the states. That's coming up.
We're in the final run-up to the first big round of poll closings at 7:00 p.m. Eastern and our first chance to make projections.
We will be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: All right, we got another key race alert. Votes are actually coming in, in both Indiana and Kentucky.
In Indiana -- both very, very early, but Trump has a very significant lead so far, leading by almost 12,000 votes over Biden in Indiana right now, 66.7 percent to 31.4 percent for Biden, fully expected in Kentucky.
Similarly, he is up by 15,000-plus votes, 65.7 percent to 32.7 percent. Two percent of the vote in Kentucky is. Kentucky and Indiana, the votes are coming in, John King, very, very early, but totally expected in these two red states.
[18:25:03]
KING: They are, Wolf.
Come on over. We get to count votes, which is fun. This is Kentucky. You see some counties coming in. And for the Democrats the first time tonight, you see some blue. Is it significant? We don't know yet. It is early, but we will take a look at it.
This is Anderson County, south of Frankfort, a little suburban area here. It gets more rural as you go south. Joe Biden, again, 20 percent of the vote in, 18 percent there. So don't jump to conclusions.
And this is going to happen all night. We ask for your patience, right? This is an early vote count, which is just coming in. Other states are going to release -- they're going to count the mail-in votes first or the absentee votes first. Other states are going to flip that and do those last.
So we're going to bounce around a little bit throughout the night, and we ask your patience. But you look at this, Anderson County, Kentucky, a state we fully expect will beat Donald Trump red at the end of the night, Joe Biden up. If you go back to 2016, this is a county Donald Trump carried by a huge margin, 50 points essentially there, four years ago.
So, we will just -- it's a place you watch, right? You're looking to see. Again, the results here are early. We have no idea. This could be one Democratic precinct. This could be early votes. We have got a long way to go.
But it's one of the things we will watch when we see aberrations on the map, when you see blue where there has traditionally been red, and you see red there has traditionally been blue, you go and you take a look in your study. You look at it on the map. We talked to our reporters.
So, something to watch, again, because it's one of the suburban counties south of Frankfort. We know the suburbs did turn on Donald Trump in 2018. So, we will watch that, see if it stays blue, see what the margins are in the end, see if it is a clue to what might come in other states as well.
You see right now statewide in Kentucky right now Donald Trump opening -- 2 percent in, but opening a lead. Again, you see 67 percent there. Just for the fun, 62 percent was his margin, his lad back in 2016. We will keep an eye on that.
Remember, Senate race in Kentucky as well, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the ballot, expected to win, but sometimes we get surprised on election night. We will watch him.
You look up at Indiana right now. There's no blue on the map yet here. You're coming up here in the top corner. Again, these are tiny, tiny counties, 0.5 percent of the population. But, again, this is part of the key to Donald Trump's victory in 2016, not so much in Indiana, a reliably red state. The vice president is from there. But this is something you just want to watch throughout the night. Are the margins roughly the same, better or worse than four years ago? Is the president overperforming, underperforming, or breaking about even with 2016?
And another thing to watch -- and, again, we're early here, about half the vote, we think, is, sometimes, this -- numbers matter. We tend to focus on the percentages, right? How big is somebody winning?
In a close election, the math can matter, the simple -- there's just the raw math in the context of, that's 2020. You look at 2016. So you got twice that many votes in this county. So let's see when they finish counting, is turnout about the same, is turnout down, is the Trump vote down?
More importantly, maybe -- maybe -- we will see -- is Joe Biden doing better than that? Is that a clue that Joe Biden is running better in these small rural counties? Is the president breaking even? Those are the dynamics, Wolf, we track throughout the night.
And, again, we're very early on right now. Come back to 2020. So, we're just now essentially looking at the first early votes, taking note, comparing them to 2016 to see if they give us any clues as we go forward. And you, again, just come out a little wider, so you can see it.
Two states right now red at the moment, still counting to do. We expect them to be red at the end, but they still might teach us something.
BLITZER: We're told that, so far at least, about half of the vote in Kentucky is early vote coming in. The other half is today vote.
KING: Right. So...
BLITZER: In Indiana, it's mostly all early. It's almost all early in Indiana.
KING: Right.
So, you see that -- and that will be key, especially as we move on to other states, where we expect -- more battleground states.
BLITZER: Tell us our viewers why that is important.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Well, if you're getting early votes, we know, not in every state, but, in most states, the early votes, the people who voted by mail or showed up and voted early in person in early voting, disproportionately, especially the mail-in early ballots, were Democratic, if you look at the data that was analyzed.
So, you're going to see some places that are blue that aren't normally blue. Sometimes, that's just what it is. They counted those votes first. Once the polls close, they release those numbers. And then as Election Day comes in, the traditional -- it evens itself out and it catches up and it reflects whatever the community is.
So, we're going to go through this in every state. In a place that's holding the mail-in ballots and holding some of the early vote ballots, some -- you get Election Day vote first. And so did the president turn out his votes? We may see places that are traditionally blue that are red for deep into the night tonight, because they haven't counted the mail-in ballots yet.
And we're just going to have -- stay with us. We have a great team of people looking at all this. We will explain it transparently as we go through the night. And it's going to be a little bit different, because this year is very different.
BLITZER: Go back to Indiana for a moment.
KING: Sure.
BLITZER: I want to see if any more votes came in. Not really.
KING: No.
BLITZER: But Trump obviously has a very, very significant lead, with less than 1 percent of the estimated vote in.
KING: One percent. It's Mike Pence's home state, number one. It's been in the national news a lot, because, remember, Amy Coney Barrett, the new justice on the Supreme Court, was of Notre Dame Law School beforehand.
So, Indiana gets a lot of national attention, because it has a vice president at the moment and because, of course, the Supreme Court justice, she's not from there originally, but she spent a great deal of time in Indiana because of her work on -- at the Notre Dame Law School.
And, again, this is a reliably red state. We have no expectation it's going to be anything. But it has some big suburbs around Indianapolis, some suburbs around Bloomington, African-American vote up in Gary. There are things to learn even from states that you know -- you're pretty sure how they're going to end up, how they're going to land at the end of the night.
You still can learn things along the way.
BLITZER: Gary, Indiana, not too far from Chicago.
KING: Right.
[18:30:05]
BLITZER: We'll see what's going on up there. All right, John.
KING: You might remember back in the 2008 primaries, we were having conversations about the Obama/Clinton race, yes. I got a few of these from that.
BLITZER: I remember that well. All right, guys, let's go back to Jake.
TAPPER: All right thanks, Wolf. Now let's go to two more of the battleground states that are so important in this election.
First let's go to the Tar Heel State, North Carolina. Dianne Gallagher is in Raleigh. And, Dianne, state election officials say results are going to be delayed a little.
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. I know everybody was waiting for this swing state, this battleground state to report at 7:30 P.M. But because the state of North Carolina sees to it that each precinct has the exact same amount of time open, that there were some issues opening in certain counties in the state, they extended the time. One of those in Sampson County, they are extending until 8:15 P.M.
And so because North Carolina holds all of its statewide results until the last poll closes, that means we will not be get any of the early vote totals until 8:15 P.M. at the earliest.
I will tell you, they're in another meeting right now. I have been following along while listening to you, guys. It does not appear at this point that it's going to extend past 8:15. But, again, that could all change.
Now, those early vote total are interesting, because I want you to look behind me, this is what we had going on almost all day, this slow and steady pace, but that's because 4.6 million early votes were cast in the state of North Carolina, more than 95 percent of that total 2016 turnout and more than 62 percent of all registered voters.
Now, they had decent turnout among both Democrats and the Republicans in this state and it is tight here. Polling has shown that former Vice President Joe Biden is just a little bit ahead in that polling, but, really, it is been neck and neck. And they're also here in the state focused on a very close Senate race, Jake, something that everybody here is waiting to get at, again, 8:15, those numbers.
TAPPER: All right, Dianne Gallagher in Raleigh North Carolina.
Let's go to Wisconsin, on to Wisconsin, where favorite son, Bill Weir, is in the State Capitol, Madison. Bill, the National Guard is now playing a role in the election in the Badger State?
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, otherwise pretty smooth as butter here in the dairy land. But the one hitch is Outagamie County. It's near Green Bay, it's Appleton Wisconsin, a big Republican stronghold. Due to a printing error, they thought they had about 13,500 ballots that would have to be painstakingly hand transferred on to a clean ballot. Otherwise, it would through off the counting machines. The problem is not as bad as they thought.
They actually went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for guidance, and they decided like handle it yourselves, hire more people. They brought in 20 National Guardsmen who are helping transfer things but it doesn't sound like as many of the ballots were affected as they originally feared. But still, Appleton, which is a key return area, they're probably won't be end until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
Meanwhile, here in Madison, which was kind of like a blueberry and bowl of tomato soup four years ago, it will be bright blue tonight. Things are going so smoothly here. The count should be in. And as one veteran, a poll worker here told me, Jake, the reason it's going so well here is that they finally figured out how to use the counting machine. She said it's like a baby boy, if you don't know your way around it, it will pee all over you. Just one more example of why Wisconsin, I think, is really the most charming of all of the states.
TAPPER: All right. I will leave that one where it is. I appreciate it, Bill Weir, thanks so much.
David Chalian is breaking down more of the exit polls. David, what are you learning?
CHALIAN: Well, Jake. We're taking a little look at the profile of Biden voters and Trump voters. But I just want to remind everyone these preliminary exit polls are representative of the electorate no matter how you voted. If you voted early, in-person, if you voted absentee, by mail. If you voted today on election day in-person, all of that is included in the exit poll and these are preliminary numbers that are likely to change as we get in more surveys in throughout the night.
Take a look here, you can see among Trump voters, among those voters that voted for Donald Trump, 82 percent said the candidate's positions on the issues was more important to their presidential vote than the candidate's personal qualities. So only 15 percent of Trump voters said personal qualities were more important.
Biden voters, a similar result but less of a margin here, 66 percent of Biden's voter said the candidate's position on the issues was most important to their vote versus 30 percent of Biden voters who said the candidate's personal qualities.
And we talked about the issues of importance to voters, but now let's look at it by which candidate they support. So, among Trump voters, the economy is the dominant issue. 62 percent of Trump voters say the economy, the most important issue, 17 percent, crime and safety.
[18:35:03]
Obviously, that was a big message in the last several months from Donald Trump. Coronavirus, only 5 percent of Trump voters said coronavirus was the most important issue to their vote.
Look at Biden voters. Among Biden voters racial inequality is the top issue. 36 percent of Biden voters say racial inequality is the most important issue to their vote, followed by coronavirus at 27 percent, you see crime and safety down at 6 percent, the economy 11 percent of Biden voters said that was the most important thing. Jake and Abby?
TAPPER: All right. David, thanks so much.
And this is fascinating, because, obviously, it is a real reflection of not just what the candidate's messages are. Donald Trump has been, you know, hammering home the point that he's best on the economy and that Joe Biden, you know, the streets will run red with blood, but also the electorates that they're appealing to.
I have to say, I am surprised though that coronavirus is not a top issue for either Trump voters or Biden voters in terms of being the top issue.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, I think it's clear that Biden's voters are much more split about what they think is their top issue than Trump voters who are much more heavily skewed in the direction of the economy. It tells me that Biden voters are worried about a lot of different things, and a lot of them are people of color. So they're going to be worried about the issue of racial and equity, which has been front of mind all these year, even through the coronavirus, Jake.
TAPPER: Yes, part of that. Yes.
PHILLIP: I mean, this is a virus that has a disproportionate impact on communities of color. So it doesn't surprise me that between those top two issues, you get a good chunk of the Biden supporters.
BASH: And for the Biden voters, it is not just that racial inequality is a big issue, it is the biggest issue according to -- I mean 36 percent over coronavirus, over a health care policy, which was the driving issue in 2018, the economy, crime and safety. I mean, that is a remarkable number. That is a remarkable number, 36 percent. The top issue Biden voters say that they're going to the polls and focused on is racial inequality.
TAPPER: Well, especially also when you consider the fact that normally health care and the economy are the number one biggest issues in this year.
BASH: Exactly, the bread and butter issues.
TAPPER: And this year, it's a very 2020 reflection of where Biden's voters are, racial inequality, number one, coronavirus, number two. Wolf?
BLITZER: Jake, thank you.
We got a key race alert. Now, take a look at this. This is a bit of a surprise right now, 8 percent of the estimated vote in Kentucky is in and Biden is ahead of Trump by about 21,000 votes. 55.3 percent to 43.1 percent. Biden ahead in Kentucky right now, eight electoral votes, 8 percent of the estimated vote is in. In Indiana right now, Trump is way ahead. Only 2 percent of the estimated vote is in this. He's up by about 25,000 votes, 67.2 percent to 30.9 percent.
Kentucky, John King, a pretty reliable red state. So I wouldn't necessarily say this is the bottom line. But let's take a closer look at Kentucky right now, maybe for a few minutes, Biden will be --
KING: I wouldn't say it is the bottom line. And if you are a Democrat at home, especially Democrat from the commonwealth of Kentucky, if you want to use your phone, you catch a quick screen grab, take a picture, be my guest. Kentucky is blue at the moment, but let's pull it up. Look, we don't expect Kentucky to end blue at the end of the night. It doesn't mean it won't, it doesn't mean it can't but we certainly don't expect that.
This is 77 percent of what you're seeing on your screen right now is early vote. And what do we mean by early vote? We know it's disproportionately Democratic. Joe Biden voters, Democratic voters were much more likely to vote early by mail, to vote -- or vote early in-person but especially the mail-in ballots right here could pass them ahead (ph).
So you're looking in right now, 54 to 55 if you round it up to 44, if you round it up. Remember, in 2016 President Trump won the state by nearly 30 points. So this is not expected to stay where it is. We're just looking at early votes. And this is one of the quirks we got to have go through all nights in states that are competitive, in states that are not so competitive, as we don't expect Kentucky will be at the end. Just we have to walk through transparently with people about walking the --
BLITZER: You mentioned the Cincinnati suburbs in Northern Kentucky, there is one blue county already up.
KING: This again, this is 77 percent early vote. If this holds, if Kenton County, Kentucky, holds blue, this will be a huge deal. If it holds blue by that margin, it is a ginormous deal. I wouldn't expect that to happen.
But why is that important? Because this is a county that President Trump won, you know, essentially 60 to 34, if you do the rounding there. Why are we looking at it? And, again, we expect Kentucky to be red. Covington, if you've ever flown into the Cincinnati Airport, it's in the Covington, Kentucky. Cincinnati, Ohio, is right here. This is a Cincinnati suburban area.
And so if the president is going to do well in Ohio, if he's going to do well anywhere with the suburbs matter, which is all the big swing states, North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, we will see if the suburban revolt against the president continues.
This is 2016. Here is where we are right now. Again, Democrats see this, and you have every right to celebrate but just remember this is just proportionately early vote. We have a long way to go in the vote count in Kentucky.
BLITZER: In that county, 28 percent of the estimated vote is in.
[18:40:02]
That's a significant number.
KING: It is. But if it is all early vote -- mostly early vote, and that other vote comes in behind, the traditional vote, we'll see that. We will see. Now, Frankfurt, you see here, the Fayette County, this one we expect to stay blue, right, Fayette County, Lexington, Kentucky here. This is a Democratic county. But you see that margin there, 73 percent right now. You go back in time, 51 percent.
It was a ten-point race, just shy of ten points, nine points, four years ago. So, again, this is one of the things we're going to look at tonight. And we need to be careful early when we go through these state. This is disproportionately early vote, which means we believe at is lopsided in favor of the Democrats. So we just need to be calm and not think it's the final total.
But, again, as we go through the night, remember where we started, see how much it changes. It is Joe Biden, even in places he's losing, is he running ahead of Hilary Clinton in urban and suburban areas. Because if it's happening in Kentucky, then this is, you know -- a lot of these areas, or a lot like you can find towns like this in North Carolina, you can find towns like this in Georgia. Other places were going to be looking at tonight for key votes.
So let's just pull back out to the rest of it. And, again, another thing we're going to look lat and it's early on. So we don't know if this is apples and apples or not until we get it through it later. But right now, 78 percent of the estimated vote in tiny Casey County, the president get 86 percent when you round up, 86 percent now, 85 percent four years ago. So, pretty consistent, right? That's one of the tests we're going to have throughout the night.
And, again it's early. We'll see if it changes. So are you watching? Is Donald Trump, where is he, where is he compared to 2016, about the same right here and right now. Let's just move over here and just take a look at it. Lincoln County, 2020, 76, if you round up, 77. So he's running about the same in these places.
Again, it's early, so we don't know if it that's going to hold. And we'll check back throughout the night because we expect the state to be red in the end. But there are places like this in Ohio, in Pennsylvania, in North Carolina, in Georgia, towns just like them that could be very important in other swing states. So we will learn lessons here.
I just want to look again over here, Anderson County here, 58 to 39. This is 2020 right now. Go back to 2016, the president wins this county with 72 percent of the vote. Again, Democrats seeing these early, early counts would be optimistic. I just want to be caution you, this is disproportionately early vote.
But, again, it's something we're going to watch throughout the night and we're going to be careful. We will be transparent with you about what we know about this vote and how contextual, if you will. This is not contextual yet, but these are places where we'll watch. You mentioned that for a reason. You picked that up for a reason. This would be very significant if it holds because the suburbs are the key. If Joe Biden is going to win North Carolina, it's going to be because African-Americans turn out and because of the suburbs. And so, again, we talked about this earlier and we'll continue to talk about it. We expect this to be red in the end. Let's just watch out. It's blue right now. We expect that to be red in the end. It is red right now, but we'll learn lessons from these early states. We always do.
BLITZER: We certainly do. All right, we will stay on top of Kentucky.
At Indiana, in the meantime, let's go back to, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And, Wolf and John, thanks very much. David Axelrod, I mean, how much of what we know about early voting, about disproportionately favoring Democrats is because of President Trump going after early voting, going after the election, in general, just saying that it's rigged?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, no, I think that had a lot to do with it. And there were Republicans, I'm sure Rick can speak to this, there were Republican who are very uncomfortable about it because Republicans traditionally have used absentee voting, particularly older Republicans. And so there was a concern that he was discouraging people from voting the way they normally vote.
But, you know, the question, it did create a disproportionate participation by Republicans on Election Day, because so many Democrats voted early. And the question in all these states is, do the Republicans -- does the Republican surge in these states overcome the advantage that Democrats had in early voting. And that's what we have to see.
But, Anderson, I just want to say one thing about what John just talked about is just so important. Because Donald Trump, one last time, by putting overwhelming support in these rural areas together with a slight win in suburban areas, which are the largest segment of the country, that's where half of America lives. We've seen in 2018, we've seen in polling a big drift toward Democrats in these suburban areas and particularly among women.
The question is, if that continues tonight, where does Donald Trump make up those votes. And now, we seen the exit poll college-educated voters are slightly more participating, non-college white, who are his based, less participating. These are the numbers that would concern me if I were sitting in Trump's headquarters right now.
COOPER: Which is heading more than they were in --
AXELROD: In 2016, yes. It is -- you know, it is now drifting towards more participation by college-educated voters who favor Biden.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: And that was so interesting to watch during the Biden campaign, which is that Biden would venture into previously red areas in a state like Ohio and try and chip away at what he saw as the advantage of Donald Trump.
[18:45:00] He did it over and over and over again. And so did the campaign, because they understood that if you could just chip away at the edges --
AXELROD: Yes.
BORGER: -- that it would be really important.
But one thing I also want to say about looking at the Trump and Biden voters. There is nothing in common.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.
BORGER: I mean, on the coronavirus, and I know our colleagues were talking about this a little bit before, it cannot be said enough that Trump voters rated it only 5 percent, said it was the most important issue to their vote. Racial inequality was the only thing that was less, and that was 3 percent. However, Biden voters, racial inequality, issue number one, 36 percent and COVID, 28 percent.
And then came health care. The only thing voters have in common is that they care about health wear and that is an issue that as we know the Biden campaign talked about over and over again, during the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett and what the Supreme Court would do.
These are two -- you know, it's a divided country and a divided electorate. I guess that goes without saying, but it's stunning.
COOPER: Also, the age of voters, I think, for younger voters, the existence of racial inequality rated much higher as a priority.
JONES: Because you are dealing with the most diverse American generation ever. So, even if you're white, you got, you know, a best friend who's not. You got an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend who's not. You're in school with somebody who's not.
You look at kindergarten right now, I mean, kindergarten looks like the United Nations in this country. So, the younger you get, the more all this rug burn over race is a personal issue for you as a young voter.
If you just take all of this stuff altogether, the initial issue said that we were talking about making me very nervous. I was having rumblings in my tummy. I was like, I don't like these issues, but it looks like, you know, maybe, it's more favorable to Trump.
But if you look at the actual demographics, much more favorable to Biden.
COOPER: What do you point to?
JONES: The fact that you have such a big drop in the number of white voters compared to last time. The fact that you do have, you know, a lot more -- it seems like there's more younger people up take it with the older voters but those older voters are breaking towards by more than usual. So, in other words, we're in a little bit of a rollercoaster here, a
little bit of seesaw, you might get seasick tonight looking at these exit things. The issues cut one way, the demographic -- there's something happening out there that we don't know yet, we're going to wait to see.
RICK SANTORUM, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm going to agree with Van that I was feeling much more confident with these early exits --
AXELROD: Now your stomach is rumbling.
SANTORUM: My stomach is now rumbling.
COOPER: You guys going to be basket cases by the end.
AXELROD: I didn't realize it was two guys on the other side.
SANTORUM: You're going to hear lots of rumbling from both sides.
No, the college educated -- first up these early exits, and I've always, you know, I've witnessed this at my own elections and blue- collar workers, non-college educated, vote after work. They don't work during the day like seniors do. So, the uptick in seniors, you'd expect that because they vote early, they don't vote late at night, where workers don't.
So, I think that number is going to change but the fact that there is more college educated, that's not good for Donald Trump. The fact that it's down from 71 percent white to 65 percent white, that's not good for Donald Trump.
So, both of those things certainly give me pause as to whether, you know, this electorate is actually lining up. And then the final thing is just, look at the votes. I mean, Covington County, the suburban Cincinnati on the Kentucky side, I understand it's early, I understand it's mail-in, I don't want to read into it too much, but those are not good numbers for Donald Trump. I don't think anybody expected him to do this well in Covington than before, but those are still not good.
COOPER: We should point out, these early exit polls are not just people who just showed up today to vote, some of them are also people who voted early.
CNN's coverage of election night in America continues right now.
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BLITZER: We're standing by for the first big round of the poll closings. But right now, more early votes are coming in right now. We have a key race alert.
Let's take a look at Kentucky right now, 11 percent of the estimated vote is now in. It's very close, 1,400 vote lead for Biden over Trump in Kentucky, 49.5 percent to 48.9 percent, 11 electoral votes in Kentucky. Very early. In Indiana, 5 percent of the estimated vote is, Trump has a significant lead already, 41,700 vote lead over Biden, 62.9 percent to 35.1 percent.
We are about to get our first chance to make projections in this historic race for the White House. We're coming up to the top of the hour, 7:00 pm here on the East Coast. That's when the last polls are scheduled to close in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.
[18:50:02]
A total of 60 electoral votes are up for grabs in those states.
Remember, it takes 270 electoral votes to win this election. Georgia is the key battleground in the hour ahead, it could give us an early sense about the night of how it's going if Joe Biden appears on track to turn Georgia blue or if President Trump holds on to that traditional red state that he won 4 years ago.
Jake, Georgia is competitive for the first time in decades.
TAPPER: That's right, Wolf, and we're watching the voting in Georgia and a other battleground state. We're seeing voters come out -- in Norcross, Georgia, and suburban Atlanta. But we're told voting is being extended in some locations, at least two Georgia counties.
Right now, let's check in with our reporters covering the campaign.
Jeff Zeleny, it is crunch time for the Biden campaign.
ZELENY: Jake, there is no question about that, and Joe Biden right now at this hour is at his home here in Wilmington, surrounded by his family, getting ready to watch these returns and early projections.
I am told by a friend that he is taking in the weight of all of this.
Jake, we should point out, now before the returns come in that he would be the oldest president ever elected, if he should win tonight. And it wraps a career starting as a presidential campaign run -- this is his third run, when he ran the first time in 1988 campaign, he was the youngest candidate.
So, throughout the day, he has been steeped in nostalgia, starting it with a visit to his son Beau's grave here just outside of Wilmington, as well as the grave of his late wife and baby daughter.
That has become a central part of his narrative as he has campaigned for president. He moved on to his boyhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
And, Jake, he assigned one of the walls of the home, it says this: From this house to the White House, with the grace of God. Joe Biden, November 3rd, 2020.
So, it is with his nostalgia as Joe Biden is settling in to watch his fate in this presidential campaign tonight, Jake.
TAPPER: That's right, Jeff, and I think he wrote this similar message in 2008 when he was running for vice president. Except, instead of living room, he did it in the bedroom of that Scranton house.
ZELENY: Indeed.
TAPPER: Let's go to Kaitlan Collins now, covering up President Trump.
Kaitlan, what are you hearing from the Trump team tonight?
COLLINS: Well, we haven't heard that President Trump has written anything on the walls of the White House, but we did just hear from the campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who held a call with reporters and, Jake, before these polls have been even closed across the U.S., they're expressing optimism and what they are seeing, of course, this is just from the Trump campaign, this is their view of things.
But so far, they say there feel good about it and, of course, the question is whether they seeing actually. They did say one thing, they believe in Florida, these early votes are counted, it will be in Biden's favor, but it will later shift to their favor. And one thing their senior adviser Jason Miller said is they -- the campaign, including the president feel better at this point than they did in 2016.
Of course, Jake, if you read that on election party for Donald Trump four years ago, at this point, they don't even have think they had a chance of winning the election, so that's not really seeing much. But one thing that Bill Stepien did say is not what we heard from the press secretary earlier. She said they believe it would be a landslide, he conceded it is going to be a tight race, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much.
Let's go to David Chalian now. He has some new exit polls.
CHALIAN: Jake, looking at these key states coming up, Georgia and Virginia, it's fascinating how much they look like the nation overall.
In Georgia, the most important issue to voters, the economy, 36 percent, racial inequality 22 percent, coronavirus 14 percent. And which is more important to do now, containing the coronavirus or rebuilding the economy in Georgia? A slim majority says containing the coronavirus. Forty-two percent say rebuilding the economy.
Virginia looks similar and I have to remind you, these early exit polls are representative of the whole electorate. No matter how you voted, if you voted early, by mail absentee or in-person today on Election Day, that's all included in these preliminary exit polls.
The economy again, the top issue for Virginia voters, Jake, 35 percent. Racial inequality, 23 percent say that was the most important issue. And coronavirus places third here again in Virginia, 17 percent. Again, we asked, which is more important, containing the coronavirus
or rebuilding the economy? This is what we see nationally. It's what we saw in Georgia. A slim majority, 53 percent of Virginia voters in this election say containing the coronavirus is higher priority than the 42 percent who say rebuilding the economy.
TAPPER: All right. David Chalian, fascinating. Thanks so much.
And we are waiting for at the top of the hour some key Florida counties are going to start reporting actual votes. Florida, obviously, hotly contested as the former senator and -- current senator, former Governor Rick Scott said to me on Sunday. It's a 50/50 state and it's just a matter of who gets their voters to the polls.
BASH: And sources in both campaigns are telling me it is so incredibly tight. Democrats I'm talking to say that they feel better about the post-work Democratic vote, that more Democrats have been coming out in their key counties.
[18:55:03]
But it is -- it looks like it could be like Florida usually is. We'll see, though. It's -- look, this is exciting. This is the first time we're going to see results from the swingiest of swing states.
PHILLIP: Yeah. I mean, this is the fun part of the night. Florida will tell us a little bit, but especially they will have an earlier count. They know how to do mail-in votes. They know how to do early votes. And it will tell us a little bit more about whether we'll have a long night or a shorter night tonight which will be good.
You know, coming back to what Rick Scott told you, turnout, obviously, in Florida is so key. What is so hard for Democrats is that their voters are some of the hardest to turn out in that state which is why Democrats I speak to are optimistic but they know it is tough. It's hard what they have to do especially with the coronavirus.
TAPPER: Yeah, Democrats, people on the Biden campaign are far more optimistic about, obviously, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania but also Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida is actually rather far down on their list.
Wolf?
BLITZER: All right. Jake, thanks very much.
Let's get a sense of how soon we expect to get votes from two crucial states that are coming up.
Pamela Brown is over at the voting desk watching this closely.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, as we're just hearing, this is an exciting part of the night because we're about to find out results in those two important states in the South, Florida and Georgia. We turn to Florida and look at the process there. We expect it to be
fast. We expect the first results to be a big chunk of early votes with some Election Day votes mixed in because Georgia had a two-week head start prepping ballots.
Georgia has been using high-speed scanners. All they have to do when polls close at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time and most of state is press a button. They'll get the results. Polls are open later and one county there in Georgia. But we're going to be finding out the bulk soon.
And then you look at Florida. It's a well-oiled machine when it comes to counting early votes. They've had a five-week head start prepping ballots there. Also in Florida, they've already counted most early in- person and most absentee votes. What hasn't been counted are election day votes and the rest of the pre-election day votes. So, election officials in both states are saying right now it's been smooth and steady today.
Bottom line, wolf, as far as Georgia and Florida of concerned, election nigh should be off to a quick start.
BLITZER: That's good to hear.
John King, we see Indiana and Kentucky, now both red, at least right now.
KING: At least right now, smooth and steady. Let's hope we keep seeing those throughout the night as we count the votes. Right now, Indiana and Kentucky, very early results, we'll keep counting them. But that's where we expect them to be. Kentucky was blue early on. It's moved to red.
Here's something we don't expect to be the case at the end of the night, Donald Trump leading in the popular vote, 73,000 votes ahead. We know he lost it in 2016, the expectation is he will in.
But where we're going to? As Pam just noted, we're going to two of the most interesting laboratories of the night. Two states that will tell us a ton about who is going to win the presidency and who came out to vote.
Let's start in Florida. We will get the first wave of votes here. This is one state the Democrats had a slight edge but not as big an edge as in early voting. So, let's watch when those results come in.
We know the history here, but let's go back to the 2016 map to do it. Florida is always close, a point or two either way, 49 to 48, if you round up four years ago, absolutely critical for the Democrats down here. Palm Beach County, Broward County, Miami-Dade, Democrats have to run it up, up there.
President Trump has to repeat what he did four years ago. We've been talking about this a little bit in the earlier counties. But just look, this is Georgia and Alabama. Northern Florida votes like the South. And so, you look here in these counties, 57 percent here. You move over here as you come across 63 percent here, small counties.
Not a lot of people but this is the key to the president. Run up it up in the small counties and get the math. And when Florida is close, it comes down the I-4 corridor.
What we're going to watch for tonight is this, number one, Democrats in the suburbs. You think of Orlando as a recreational place. Yes, it is. But you have Latinos, you have growing suburbs, Orange County, Hillary Clinton carried 60 percent four years ago. What does the president do here tonight? What does Joe Biden do there tonight?
You move over here. Wolf, remember, election night 2016, in the middle of our count early in the night, I had a call from a Democrat working the ground in Pinellas County who said we are bleeped. I won't say the word on television. Pinellas went red. Not by a lot, not by a lot, but you see it going right there. That will be a key thing.
If you go back to Barack Obama's wins, right here. So do the Democrats get the suburbs back? Do they get retirees on this side of the coast back? That is a critical test tonight.
We'll stay on the 2016 map for a minute. Again, Florida, 29 electoral votes. The president cannot win re re-election without it. So, we'll watch the Florida, and then we move just up to the north, a state that we had not talked about in presidential politics for sometime in election night because it's been so red.
Not since Bill Clinton have Democrats carried this state. The big test here, do African-Americans turn out in Atlanta and how do they Democrats do in the suburbs around Atlanta, around Columbus, in Augusta?
You see all of this red down here. Absolutely critical to the president in Florida and in Georgia and in North Carolina. Run it up in the small rural counties because he knows Democrats are coming out to vote in the cities and Republicans are suffering under his leadership in the suburbs, Wolf.
BLITZER: We're just moments away, John, from the first, the first big round of poll closings. Voting is about to end in six states with 60, 60 electoral votes at stake. We're watching all of these states, especially the battleground state of Georgia for early clues about where the race may be heading tonight.
All right. We have our first projection of the night. CNN now projects President Donald Trump will win Indiana. Trump beats Biden in Indiana.
