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CNN Live Event/Special
Awaiting First Poll Closings As Voting Continues Nationwide; First Statewide Polls Close 7:00 P.M. ET In Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Vermont; CNN Exit Poll Shows 80 Percent Of Voters Decided On Presidential Vote Before September; First Results Coming In From Indiana, Kentucky. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired November 05, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: It is election night in America. These are live pictures from a polling place near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the seven battleground states expected to ultimately decide who becomes the 47th president of these United States.
I'm Jake Tapper in the CNN Election Center. The very first presidential votes of 2024 are about to be posted, the American people deciding whether to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the top job or return former President Donald Trump to the White House. We're getting closer to the first major round of poll closings and our first chance to make projections. That will be about an hour from now. 60, 6, 0, of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency will be on the line at 7:00 P.M. Eastern. That's when all voting ends in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. Some polling places in the Eastern Time zone in Indiana, Kentucky are actually closing right now, and we expect early results from those two states at any moment.
Georgia is the first crucial battleground state on our radar this evening. The state was pivotal in the Democrats' 2020 presidential victory and Georgia's 16 electoral votes could be decisive in this election as well.
Our correspondents are tracking Election Day voting in all the top swing states and will be on the scene as the first vote counts are reported. Our correspondents are working their sources inside the Harris and Trump campaigns.
Let's check in with Abby Phillip who is at the Harris headquarters at Howard University here in Washington, D.C. And, Abby, what are you hearing from the campaign at this hour?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Well, Jake, these are the critical turnout hours for the Harris campaign, and I'm here with my colleague, Jeff Zeleny. He's got some new reporting about how the Harris campaign, Jeff, is trying to, in these final moments, reach the people that they need to reach who maybe haven't voted yet.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's so extraordinary, Abby, even as the vice president is at the Naval Observatory here about a hundred miles away in the campaign's war room in Wilmington. They are checking these turnout numbers and literally going door by door. A senior adviser told me just a short time ago, if you have not voted yet, you will get a knock on your door or someone will give you a phone call. Just a few moments ago, the campaign sent out a blast release saying trying to get volunteers to call people who have not voted. So, that is how micro this is.
But on a broader sense, the Harris campaign, as you've been reporting earlier, she is feeling optimistic, we're told, but cautious. And one question is, yes, did you believe turnout is high in cities like Madison and Milwaukee and Detroit? But the high turnout can obviously go both ways. So, the question of the gender gap is front and center here.
But we're at Howard University, obviously, and her supporters will be coming in here shortly. And I'm told that she has also been working on a speech. We do not know if she will deliver it here tonight, of course. It could be one of two kinds, but we do know that she will be acting very quickly to whatever the Trump campaign does.
So, look, one hour before polls close in critical Georgia, this election is still going on. People are still being contacted if they have not voted.
PHILLIP: And as you know, Jeff, one of the key advantages the Harris campaign thinks that they have is a turnout operation that is within their campaign. They have full control over it and they believe it's been working at full capacity in the last couple of weeks. Back to you, Jake.
TAPPER: Thanks, Abby. Thanks, Jeff.
Let's go to Kaitlan Collins now, who's at Trump headquarters in West Palm Beach Florida. Kaitlan, what are you learning about Mr. Trump's mindset this evening?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Well, Jake, there's obviously a difference in Trump and his campaign itself. Trump himself has been making baseless claims about fraud happening already, even though officials that we're talking to in those cities, like Philadelphia, say they have no idea what he is talking about or what reports he's referencing.
I'm here at the convention center with Kristen Holmes as well. And, obviously, there's what Trump is saying on Truth Social. What are you hearing from the campaign about the numbers that they're tracking behind the scenes and what they're paying the closest attention to?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kaitlan, right now everything is coming down to voter turnout on Election Day. I mean, there's a lot of confusion and a lot of wondering about how that early voting actually translates on Election Day. Are those new voters? Are those new Republican voters? Or are those people who were going to actually show up on Election Day? There's a lot of trying to track that. Now, we know what Donald Trump is. He's actually doing the exact same thing that we hear the Harris campaign is doing, is trying to reach those voters to drive out turnout today.
[18:05:05]
He has done at least five telerallies with various demographic groups. That includes telerallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, as well as telerallies targeting young men, unregistered voters, and seniors. They are trying to get as many people to show up at the polls as they possibly can.
Now, in terms of what they're tracking, they are actually looking at one of their apps that they had set up, the Trump Force 47, which is their way of essentially giving away their ground game to people on the ground, to volunteers. They are looking to see how many of those volunteers are tracking their people that they were supposed to reach out and bring to the polls actually voting. Because if they're not tracking the number, they want to reach out again and make sure that they're actually doing everything they can to get those people to the polls.
This was part of their ground game strategy. It's also why it's so risky because you're depending on volunteers instead of actual professionals. We'll obviously have to see if it pays off.
COLLINS: Yes, it's a big bet that they are making on this Election Day vote. They felt good about the early vote. We'll see how they feel about the numbers that we're seeing coming in now.
And, obviously, Jake, North Carolina, Georgia, those polls set to close. Those are two of the states that the Trump campaign is watching. The close list is maybe a read on how the whole night can go for them.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks, Kaitlan and Kristen.
We're getting another important read on the electorate from the exit polls. David Chalian is back. David, what are we learning about when voters made up their minds about who they were going to vote for, whom I should say, for president?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Jake, we've talked so much about how each candidate was closing at the end and the very small slice of voters left undecided. Most voters decided long ago. Look at this. When did you make up your mind and decide on your presidential vote? Only 3 percent of voters nationwide in these preliminary exit poll results say in the last few days, 3 percent say in the last week, 6 percent say in October, 7 percent in September, 80 percent of voters say before September, they were already locked into their choice.
And it looks pretty similar if you look among Harris supporters versus Trump supporters. Among Harris supporters, only 3 percent in the last few days and 3 percent in the last week, again, 80 percent before September were locked in. And on the Trump side, we look at his supporters in the last few days, 3 percent, in the last week, 4 percent, 81 percent of his supporters were locked in before September. So, it was a small slice of folks here that were deciding at the very end, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, David, telling fascinating stuff.
Dana Bash, I mean, that's a -- most people made up their minds long ago, but still in an election with margins this thin, 3 percent making up their mind in the last few days, 3 percent making up their mind in the last week, that's not insignificant.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is not insignificant. And this matches exactly what we've been told from both campaigns about how -- yes, relative to the whole electorate, it's very small, but how targeted they have tried to be towards those what we call late breakers. And this is just proof that they were right about how narrow it is, again, broadly, but how and why it was so important for each of those campaigns to be targeting the people that they thought were most likely to come their way.
And we saw it in the messaging, particularly if you think about Harris, even in the last 24 hours, reaching out to people if they weren't sure, promising that if they're a Republican or an independent, that they are not going to have to worry about her governing anything other than across the aisle. Whether they bought it, that's a different question.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN HOST AND CORRESPONDENT: Chris and I were chuckling earlier at a voter from Grand Rapids, Michigan. His name was Josh. He said that he was coming out to vote for Donald Trump. But what was interesting is he was voting on the economy, and he said he had not voted since Obama. That is the Trump fantasy, the low propensity male voter who comes out and votes on the economy.
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST: You know, I can take your point. I did 3 percent in the last few days, 3 percent, even I can do that math, 6 percent in the last week, is not nothing and could be the difference between victory and defeat. On the other hand, when you think of how unknown Kamala Harris was to the general electorate, the idea that 80 percent of the people had decided they were going to vote for her, without really -- without knowing almost anything about her, only 7 percent in, in September, which was the big debate that was generally seen as a big victory for her and not Trump.
Yes, you know, if the billions make the difference between victory and defeat, it was worth it. But, man, 87 percent before we even got to October 1st, that's pretty amazing.
BASH: Because that's America right now. It's shirts and skins. The 80 percent, I mean, not to say that they didn't love her, but they're likely like either hardcore Democrats or hardcore never ever am I going to vote for Donald Trump.
CORNISH: Yes. But to go to Chris' point, she had to slingshot her way into the public consciousness and very quickly against somebody who had been running essentially for a decade. So, I think it's actually pretty remarkable what we're seeing. [18:10:01]
TAPPER: All right. We're counting down to our first chance to make projections in the presidential race. That's at the top of the next hour. We're inside key polling places in these final hours and minutes before they close. This election night will be heading into overdrive very soon. Brew a cup of coffee for yourself. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: We have a key race alert on the very first presidential votes of 2024. Let's take a look in Kentucky. Donald Trump is in the lead with 64.8 percent of the vote, Kamala Harris bringing up the rear with 34 percent of the vote. Donald Trump is 13,231 votes ahead of Harris. That's with 2 percent of the estimated vote in from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
In the state of Indiana, Donald Trump in the lead there as well, 71.8 percent, to Kamala Harris's 26.8 percent with -- he's 1,604 votes in the lead. That's just a few votes there out of Indiana and Kentucky.
Over to John King. Now, John, what are you watching for as these first actual votes come in from Indiana and Kentucky?
[18:15:01]
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the most part, Jake, it's just great to get started, right? We've been talking about this race for over a year now, and now we get to actually count actual votes. And you do though sometimes look, even in reliably red states, like Indiana, did vote for Barack Obama in 2008, Kentucky, sometimes you can pick up. The one thing I would look for in red states -- and we don't have enough data yet. You see here, it's one, two, three counties right here, right, is, are Republican voters turning out for Donald Trump, especially rural Republican voters. You can compare Trump 2016, Trump 2020, and then we will have more data on Trump '24 as we go through the night to just see. In 2020, he had more votes in 2016, still lost the election, but he had more.
So, what are you looking for out here? Number, one down here, you're in Laurel County, very rural territory, Donald Trump's going to get 80 percent all the time or more. The question is, okay, you know, that's 33 percent of the vote there. This is what he needs in every state.
And Kentucky's a reliably red state, so we're not expecting a contest in Kentucky. But you take small counties like this, and they exist in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan and Georgia and North Carolina and beyond, and you're just seeing, are people turning out.
And so you can go back, this is early, this 33 percent of the vote, but you can just go back and check it against prior elections. Too early to make that comparison now but I just want to show you one way we can ask the question, is Donald Trump overperforming or underperforming Donald Trump since he's the constant in this election. He's been on the ballot three elections in a row. So, then you come back there. Let's come out of there and come back to 2024 and pop out. This one's a little bit more interesting when you come up here, Kenton County. Why? Because this is Cincinnati suburbs. You see Cincinnati right there. The Cincinnati airport is actually here in Covington, Kentucky, across the bridge right there. Sorry, I just touched that by accident. Let's come back to it here. And so you bring out the county here and you see Donald Trump running, again, 40 percent of the vote, 43 percent of the vote there, Donald Trump getting 59 percent.
So, you just want to go back in time in an area that is more rural as you get down here, but quite suburban up here. Let's just take a look, 59 percent now, 59 percent last time. So, Donald Trump, at the moment, we're not done with the count there, but at the moment, Donald Trump is tracking Donald Trump 2020. Let's take a look at 2016 and you come look at 2016, Donald Trump gets 60. If you would round that up there in 2016 and at the moment, he's getting 59. So, within, he's essentially tracking where he was in a state that he won comfortably.
Again, might be a useless exercise as you get through the night, but sometimes you're just looking, how is Donald Trump doing compared to Donald Trump in past elections in the red states. And, again, so far, when you look here in Indiana, it's the same question. We're not in any of the giant voting areas yet. You just take a peek here, 2024, Donald Trump getting 62 percent. You just go back to check, Donald Trump getting 73 percent there. So, again, I want to see what percentage of the vote we have here. Yes, we're at 39 percent. So, just something to keep an eye on, right.
And is it going to matter in Indiana? Probably not. But if Donald Trump's turnout or margins are down a little bit in these other places, Jake, sometimes you can take one state and then find a community county like it in a battleground state and start to do, you know, a little bit more analysis. Right now, it's early. We're just kind of looking for curiosity purposes.
TAPPER: All rightm fascinating stuff with the first actual votes coming in.
Erin Burnett is helming our battleground state command center. Erin?
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: I like how you call it the command center. And as, of course, we're getting some of those early results, and as John is going through, Jake is going through, we are also watching the vote come in and people still at polling stations.
Macomb Township, Michigan, outside of Detroit, is where Jim Sciutto has been. I saw you a moment ago as we were getting ready to come to you speaking to a young voter there, Jim. What are you seeing as people are still voting there?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. Well, I'll tell you, Erin, Macomb County went for Trump in the last cycle. Big question this cycle is, does Trump maintain the support he saw last time? But, interestingly, we just met a voter. I'm going to introduce you to him now, Jimmy Phan, who voted for Biden last cycle in 2020, but he told us just a short time ago, he's voting for Trump this cycle. Jimmy Phan, he's a small business owner, father of three, and soon to be four next week, as I found out.
But, Jimmy, tell me, what was your deciding factor in this election?
JIMMY PHAN, MICHIGAN VOTER: I was thinking that Trump would be a better choice in this election. He would be -- he would run for when he run the office, I think he would get a lot of stuff done, like when he was a president, you know, the economy and stuff, that's what we were aiming for this election, more than just, you know, like -- more than just, you know, like, just vote somebody. So, that's what me and my wife would do, like just vote on it.
SCIUTTO: You said the economy was stronger for you as a business owner when Trump was president than during the last four years of Biden.
PHAN: That is correct, yes. I feel like though, I feel like, you know, even though with a lot of stimulus, a lot of that coming through, but I feel like business would run a lot better when it was the president. But, you know, if he wins this time, I think we would get to that ladder.
SCIUTTO: A question to some voters you hear, they wonder whether their vote will count, do you have faith? In the voting system here in Michigan that your vote will count and the votes will be counted fairly?
PHAN: I mean in this Macomb system, I think this is legit, yes.
[18:20:00]
But I feel last time was like robbed a little bit.
SCIUTTO: You have a question about the 2020 election?
PHAN: Yes. Because I looked at like the poll. It was, you know, like he was dominant one day, and then the other day it just flipped upside down. So --
SCIUTTO: Well, as we know, there was no evidence found of flipping then. But in this election, you're confident your vote will count.
Jimmy Phan and his family, congratulations on the baby to be. Thanks so much, much for joining.
Of course, the big question, looking forward. Will there be more voters like him and what that will mean for the state of Michigan?
BURNETT: All right. And, of course, what he just said to you, Jim, so important when he said, all right, he didn't really have faith last time, but this time, in his specific voting area, he has confidence in the system and in his vote. And that's when it's important. That's what we want to hear. Let's go to Sara Sidner. She's in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, just outside Milwaukee. Sara, now it looks like I don't know if this is the after work crowd that you're seeing, but it does look like it is quite busy right now.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It is, and it's been getting busier. And as you mentioned, 5:00 hit and we started seeing another run of people. It's been sort of trickling all day with lots of people in the morning, and now we're starting to get a lot more people in the evening.
I do want to bring in quickly the fellows lease (ph) family. What we have been seeing that is so lovely here in Cedarburg is that entire families are showing up voting separately, but together.
Please tell me, what was your big issue, were there one or two, that you showed up for?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think honesty and integrity would be two really important factors in the candidates.
SIDNER: And as for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I would go with that. I think honesty, integrity, and plans for the future, a forward-looking candidate is what I was looking for.
SIDNER: Would you mind sharing with me who you voted for and why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I voted for Kamala Harris, and I'm super proud. The idea of the first ever woman being in the seat of the presidency is remarkable, and it's so exciting. And I think it's really important having daughters. We have another daughter that's home tonight, but these two, to see this process, and just know that there's no limits to what they can do in their lives.
SIDNER: And as for you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so excited for these girls to see this election with a female on the ballot and to have that opportunity for leadership from a female perspective, I think it's awesome.
SIDNER: I noticed that you did this lovely thing where they were showing you the ballots and sort of how it was working. I heard you guys talking back and forth. And it was just wonderful to see families teaching and also learning about this really important process that we all should be taking part in. And Cedarburg, as we understand it, may have up to 95 percent of the voters come in to vote, which is an incredibly high number.
So, thank you so much for doing your civic duty and coming in today as the whole family. I love it. It's wonderful. I appreciate it.
That's the scene here in Cedarburg, a picturesque town with a very big family feel. BURNETT: Yes, absolutely. Interesting what they were telling you, Sara, honesty and integrity. Just that taught -- that feeling from that family, and then we just heard from Jim with the voter he was speaking to in Michigan, where that voter was going for Trump, and that was based on economic issues, which we've heard from other voters who have spoken to some of our reporters and battleground states across the country who have chosen to go for Trump.
So, we'll see what it all means. Thanks very much to you, Sara.
And, Anderson, that's the most fascinating part of this is hearing from these individual voters and their different reasons for making the choice they did.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and the potential turnout in that county, incredibly high.
David Chalian has been looking at exit poll data for the last hour or so, and he's got some new numbers. David, you have some new numbers on voters' views of the candidates.
CHALIAN: Yes, it's sort of a basic popularity measure that we look at, Anderson. Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the candidates?
So, do you have a favorable opinion of the candidates, is this one here. 46 percent of voters across the country in this election say only a favorable opinion of Harris. 42 percent say they have a favorable opinion only of Donald Trump. 2 percent say both Harris and Trump they have a favorable opinion on. And interestingly, 8 percent say they don't have a favorable opinion of neither. That's a bit higher when we asked this four years ago, it was only 3 percent who said neither to Biden and Trump four years ago, though it's not as high of the folks who said neither eight years ago when it was Clinton-Trump in 2016.
Who is too extreme, 36 percent of Americans nationwide voting in this election tell us only Harris is too extreme. 47 percent, nearly half, say only Trump is too extreme. 8 percent say both, 5 percent say neither.
What is your feeling if Donald Trump is elected president? So, 22 percent excited, 26 percent optimistic, 48 percent, nearly half, say excited or optimistic, 14 percent concerned, and the plurality, 36 percent say they are scared if Trump is elected president.
[18:25:14]
You see there the bottom two add up to 50 percent.
We asked the same thing about Harris. What are your feelings if Harris is elected president, you see 49 percent are excited or optimistic, 20 percent are concerned, and she has a lower number, 28 percent, who say they'd be scared, but, again, splitting roughly in half between excited and optimistic, and concerned or scared if Harris is elected president. Anderson? COOPER: All right. We'll keep looking at these exit polls is sometimes frustrating or Rorschach test like they are.
We're tracking the first presidential votes of the night from Kentucky and Indiana, and we're closing in on the first major round of poll closings, including the high stakes battleground of Georgia. Stay right here for real time results. That's all ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
TAPPER: And we're back. We have another key race alert for you, more votes coming in from the states of Indiana and Kentucky. In Indiana, Donald Trump is in the lead 62.5 percent of the vote. Kamala Harris has 36.4 percent of the vote. Donald Trump with a 43,417 vote lead, that's with an estimated 5 percent of the vote in.
In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Donald Trump in the lead there as well with 65.9 percent of the vote, Kamala Harris has 32.9 percent of the vote. Donald Trump with a 17,717 vote lead, that's with an estimated 3 percent of the vote.
Over to John King. John, what stands out to you as these first votes come in?
KING: One thing that stands out is that both states are getting about their business in the sense that we're wondering, will the battlegrounds count slowly or quickly. We're starting to see results trickle in. Kentucky is only at 3 percent right now, but you see more counties have at least reported some votes than the last time we were here.
So, what am I looking at? One thing, it's way too early. I just want to show you, we expect Donald Trump, of course, to win the state of Kentucky. It has been a red state for quite some time. But there are blue pockets. And so you try to see in an urban area that has key suburbs around it, this is Lexington, Fayette County. How is the vice president performing compared to Joe Biden four years ago or Hillary Clinton four years before that? It's way too early. You see 373 votes to 199 votes. So, I'm not even going to do the comparison. But this is one of the things you look at and you say, okay, and so where is there a community like this in a battleground state, right, because we tend to have nationalized elections, too soon for that.
In 2016, if you were with us back in 2016, one of the very first clues of the Trump phenomenon came here, came right here. In the early results out of Kentucky, we saw in these small rural counties, not only was Donald Trump running it up, but running it up in excess of Mitt Romney, running it up in excess of George W. Bush, getting new people to come out and vote Republican. That's what made Donald Trump the force he was in 2016.
And so we're going to look along these lines just to see, again, we expect him to win Kentucky. So, some people might say, why do we care, why don't we want to look at that. Well, as you see, that's Ohio, right? And then there's Wisconsin and Michigan. There are communities like that in some of the other battleground states as well. So, you're trying to see what's happening.
So just take -- we'll just take a peek here to see. There are 25 percent here in Greenup County, Donald Trump at 72 percent, right? So, you just go back and look. Is the rural Trump base coming out like they did in 2016 out of the woodwork? So, there's 2024, he's at 72 percent. In 2020, he's at 72 percent. So, he's about matching 2020. You just go back to 2016 and look, there he was at 71 percent. So, essentially, consistent turnout for Donald Trump in the small rural counties that are critical to him.
Now, we're not done here, obviously. That was only about 25 percent, I think, when we did it. But you want to look at that throughout the night. That first glimpse, first glance says, okay, the people we expect to come out for Trump are coming out there.
I mentioned earlier, let me get rid of the green, here's one of the places we will look at because it is more interesting in the sense of more competitive. You have Cincinnati right here, Covington, Kentucky, right here. For those of you familiar with the area, if you land in Cincinnati Airport, that's actually here in Kentucky, you drive across the bridge into Ohio. You know, there's some suburban areas here, some hotels, some restaurant development, some young people live here. So, it tends to be a little bit more competitive. It's still Republican. We're up to 43 percent, 59 percent for Trump 2024, 59 percent for Trump 2020, 59 percent, 60 percent, if you round up for 2016.
So, again, in the two counties we looked at, and it's pretty early, Donald Trump is running. That's like Donald Trump. And so he's winning the red states by about those numbers, winning those small communities by about those numbers.
So, now we look up into Indiana. All red at the moment, let's just go back to 2020 and look, there will be some blue pockets, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Gary, Indiana, South Bend, Indiana. We don't have votes there yet, again, a place to look. Are African Americans turning out in Gary in South Bend, for example, and down in Indianapolis as well. How's the vice president doing in the suburbs? We will get that a little bit later.
What are we getting right now about Donald Trump? Let's just look here. Allen County is Fort Wayne, Indiana. So, 52 percent in 2024 right now, about 44 percent. So, it's a fair comparison. We'll see if it changes, 54 percent, 55 if you round that up at 58 percent there if -- 57 percent there, if you don't round it up.
So, down a little bit in the early results so far from 2016. Is there anything to make of that Jake? I'd be very careful about that with only 44 percent. But it's one of the things you look at in the counties, especially as the suburbs start to expand in places like this. Is Donald Trump close to where he was in 2020, closer to 2016, ir is he bringing out new voters in 2024? Anderson, early in the night, you're just looking for clues.
COOPER: Yes. John, we'll continue to check in with you.
Back with the team here in New York. Scott, obviously you're from Kentucky. Where will you be looking over the next hour or two in terms of kind of a litmus test?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Eastern Time zone, so the state's bifurcated right down the middle. And so all the county results we have now are in the east. The two big counties, Jefferson and Fayette, are the two Democratic counties. So, obviously, we'll be looking to see overall Democratic enthusiasm there.
But if you're looking to see where Trump, if he's having any trouble in the white college educated suburbs, it would be in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell, which are the three counties in greater Cincinnati.
[18:35:01]
You would detect it there.
Now, in the early returns John just showed us, we're not picking up any of that right now. It doesn't look like we're seeing any flight from Trump. Still more votes to count. One other issue, all of Eastern Kentucky, that's Appalachia, if rural turnout goes gangbusters out there and people are, you know, beating down the doors to vote out in East Kentucky, that might also tell me something about what rural areas in Pennsylvania and other swing states may do.
COOPER: And just talking about Pennsylvania, it seems like -- I mean the -- I think Trump has been already kind of laying the groundwork about alleging voter fraud, which there's no evidence of in the commonwealth.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, I think he's been doing that for several weeks. He's been --
COOPER: He's been tweeting about it tonight.
AXELROD: Yes. No, I know he's tweeting about it tonight. And, look, I think that is -- they have a strategy post-election for this. You know, we'll see how it turns out. It may be the election, it could go his way. It may be, it'll swing her way in a bigger way. That will be more decisive. But this is -- you know, I've said many times, my concern about Donald Trump has less to do with issues, though I disagree with him deeply, but his political project requires him to tear down faith and institutions and rules and laws, and even the most fundamental thing, which is is elections.
COOPER: The fact that he's doing that tonight, Alyssa, does that tell you that he's worried about what they're seeing?
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's a mixed bag. Because in 2016, even when he won, he claimed that there was massive fraud. He stood up this election integrity commission within the White House that then he folded because it found no widespread fraud. So, this is something baked into his DNA. But the clip at which he's doing it, the way he's doing it, targeting Pennsylvania, I think that they're nervous. I think that they're -- his behavior in the final stretch of it, I think they recognize their closing message was nowhere where it needed to be. And some of the early projections we're seeing show a momentum that I think a lot of Americans are feeling that this Trump era may be coming to an end.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I mean, he should be scared in Pennsylvania because, you know, there is an energy. There is a surge. Look, you talked to me a week ago, two weeks ago, I'm chewing my fingernails down my elbows. I'm just worried. The Puerto Rican vote by itself has been lit on fire.
Now, people will tell you different things about it, but what I'm hearing, I talked to a young woman named Camille Rivera. She's with La Brega y Fuerza. It's the only Puerto Rican PAC. They were begging for money. Nobody cared about them. But they had built the only voter file for Puerto Ricans. When this insult comment attacked Puerto Rico, she said it was like wildfire. She said people remember -- you know, Puerto Ricans culturally, they vote a lot. They vote a lot on the island. And so there is a big tidal wave of Puerto Rican vote coming in Pennsylvania.
AXELROD: It could turn out to be the most expensive joke in history.
JENNINGS: On the issue of Pennsylvania, I talked to the Trump campaign just a couple of minutes ago, they actually have Trump sitting in a room right now calling into radio stations in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, encouraging last minute turnout. I asked my source there, how you feeling? And he said, would rather be us than them, but it's tight.
COOPER: All right. We are nearing the first major round of results in the presidential race after 7:00 P.M. Eastern. It is a jam packed hour ahead as voting ends in the battleground state of Georgia. We're also awaiting votes from all the swing states that will decide the presidential election.
We'll be right back.
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[18:40:00]
TAPPER: And we're standing by for the first big round of poll closing coming up at the top of the hour. But right now, more early votes are coming in. We have a key race alert. Let's take a look at the actual votes here from Indiana. Donald Trump in the lead, 58.1 percent of the vote, Kamala Harris in second place, 40.6 percent of the vote. Donald Trump with a 53,428 vote lead. That's with 10 percent of the estimated vote in from the state of Indiana.
On to Commonwealth Kentucky, Donald Trump in the lead there at 66.4 percent of the vote, Kamala Harris in second there with 32.4 percent of the vote. Donald Trump up there, his lead is 31,523 votes. That's with 4 percent of the estimated vote in.
We're about to get our first chance to make projections in this historic race for the White House. We're counting down to the top of the hour when voting ends in six states and a total of 60 electoral votes are up for grabs. Remember, it takes 270 electoral votes to win the election. All polling places are scheduled to close just minutes from now in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
We're closely watching Georgia. That is the first of seven high stakes presidential battlegrounds on the line tonight. Kamala Harris trying hard to make Georgia stay blue after President Biden flipped it four years ago. Donald Trump, of course, eager to win Georgia back. That's, of course, a state where he has been criminally charged with trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state.
Let's check in with our campaign correspondents now. First, to Abby Phillip at Harris campaign headquarters here in Washington, D.C. Abby, as we stand by waiting for the vote to close in Georgia, what's the latest you're hearing from the campaign?
PHILLIP: Well, Jake, they are watching very closely what has been happening throughout the day, and it's seemingly increasingly, as we get toward that poll closing deadline at the top of the hour, which is that there have been bomb threats being called in to polling places throughout the state of Georgia, Fulton County, DeKalb County, Cobb County and others.
These threats are non-credible. They are not believed to be credible, but they are being investigated. And as a result, some of these polling places may be temporarily were closed, voters turned away. I was speaking to a senior Democrat down there in Georgia watching this very carefully saying they are hoping that voters will come back. Anyone who might have been scared away in those periods of time will come back and will cast their ballots.
Some of those polling places also, Jake, are being kept open a little bit after the top of the hour. So, this is an ongoing situation that they are watching very closely because of where this is happening. This is happening in the parts of the state where the Harris campaign and Democrats need to drive up turnout among Democratic-leaning voters. So, when you have polling places that are closed temporarily, that's a problem for them.
[18:45:02]
And they want to make sure that those voters end up coming back, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Abby Phillip with the Harris campaign.
Let's go now to Kaitlan Collins in West Palm Beach with the Trump campaign.
What are Trump campaign aides, the top aides going to be looking for when these polls close in at the top of the hour, especially what are Trump campaign aides, the top what are Trump campaign aides, the top aides going to be looking for when these polls close in at the top of the hour, especially in the battleground state of Georgia. COLLINS: Well, Jake, that's what they're going to be keeping their eyes on the closest, Georgia and North Carolina. That is really going to serve as basically a gut check for the Trump campaign as to maybe what kind of night they are going to have going into this.
Obviously, Georgia, you know, a lot of Republicans think should be a given for Donald Trump, but he is someone who has feuded with their popular Republican governor there, Brian Kemp, who held a series of get out the vote events recently and said he will be supporting Donald Trump. But never was really explicitly endorsing him and out on the campaign trail campaigning with him they appeared together once at a -- at a storm briefing, but that was really it. Jake especially after Donald Trump trashed his wife.
So that is going to be something Trump allies are watching to see if it has any kind of an impact, because he's a popular Republican governor. He is a very sophisticated political machine in Georgia, very impressive fundraising there. And that is all something the Trump campaign was hoping to have on their side going into tonight.
So they will be watching the vote share there very closely, as well as North Carolina because obviously --
TAPPER: OK. We lost Kaitlan Collins.
Let's go to David Chalian now, who has some new exit poll information from Georgia to share.
David, what issues are driving Georgia voters?
CHALIAN: Yeah, this is our first state exit poll that we're looking at of the evening, Jake, in anticipation that the polls are about to close in Georgia, and the number one issue there doesn't match where it is nationally. It's the economy. Far and away, 40 percent of Georgia voters in this election say that the economy is the most important issue.
That's got to be welcome news to the Trump campaign there, 28 percent say democracy, 14 percent say abortion, immigration at 11 percent, 3 percent say foreign policy.
We asked about hurricane aid, and if it's getting to the people who need it. Look how evenly divided Georgia voters are on this question. Forty-seven percent say yes, hurricane aid -- federal hurricane aid is getting to the people who need it, 50 percent say no, it's not.
Who do you trust to handle a crisis? Georgia voters a slim majority, 51 percent say Trump, 47 percent say Harris.
And then Biden's job approval in Georgia stands at 41 percent approve of the way President Biden is doing his job. Disapprove 58 percent. That matches exactly what our national exit poll says of Joe Biden's approval rating as well, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Fascinating stuff, David Chalian.
Let's go. Big picture for a second, Chris. How important is Georgia for the Harris campaign, for the Trump campaign?
WALLACE: I think it's more important for the Trump campaign than it is for the Harris campaign, just because there are other ways that -- there are other ways for both of them to get to 270. But you know, Georgia is a state. It was kind of a shock when Joe Biden won it in 2020. I think it was the first time since Jimmy Carter back in 1980 that a Democrat had taken the state of Georgia.
CORNISH: So a shock to Donald Trump, too.
WALLACE: Yeah. And so the idea that that Georgia was even in play, most people didn't think including me, that it was a swing state. So I think were Harris to repeat Biden's victory, that would be a big problem for Trump, not as big a problem for Harris if Trump takes it.
TAPPER: Although -- although we should note, Dana Bash, I mean, if you look at this exit poll information from Georgia, it does suggest an electorate in that one state that seems inclined to hear what Donald Trump has to say. You look at that number about who would you rather trust in a crisis? Fifty-one percent Trump, 47 percent Kamala Harris.
And then more voters in Georgia say that hurricane aid is not going to the people who need it the most. That was a message that Donald Trump was putting out there after the hurricane, that too many migrants were getting that aid from FEMA instead of the people who need it.
I mean, FEMA pushed back, said that was not true. It was a lie. And still, that was a Trump message.
BASH: It was -- just add to that, the numbers that David showed us on the economy huge, huge issue for people in Georgia as they go to the polls, as it has been across the board and Georgia is really interesting to me because first of all, you have -- you were just hearing from -- from our reporters. I mean, right now there are bomb threats that are shutting down polling stations, threats in -- in Georgia, that on top of the fact that residents of Georgia lived through the fight over 2020 and the misinformation that Donald Trump put into the -- to the sort of information stream like almost nobody else, maybe other than Arizona in this country.
[18:50:08]
And it was Republican versus Republican on that. And yet and yet you still have a slim majority saying that they trust Donald Trump more in a crisis than Kamala Harris, which makes me think -- we're going to see the numbers but it makes me think what you do, which is that Georgia is looking better for Donald Trump.
CORNISH: I mean, I know it sounds like a paradox, but Georgia's the state -- that's the home to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Raphael Warnock. It's always had this moment. And we saw with Biden of like, is it transitioning? Does it represent the, quote/unquote, new south? And it has such a diversifying suburban community that I think this will be sort of an interesting election to see. Are Democrats on the path to doing something sustainable there? WALLACE: You know, one other thing. Yes, economy, the biggest issue by
40 percent. We tend to think that favors Trump over Harris but democracy, 28 percent, abortion 14 percent, as the second and third issues. So cumulatively, that adds up to 42 percent. I mean, the issue said is not terrible for Kamala Harris in terms of what people think the most important issue is out there.
TAPPER: Yeah, but also one of the things that the Trump campaign has been doing in its own way is giving people who are Republicans, but not a fan of Donald Trump's behavior, kind of a permission structure to vote for him because of the issues that they support him on. And you really can't find a better example of that than the governor of Georgia, who Donald Trump has insulted. Donald Trump has even gone after his wife. And yet it's very clear that Governor Kemp, Brian Kemp is supporting Trump and letting Trump use his sophisticated political machine.
CORNISH: I'm also glad you're bringing up this point, because both campaigns have tried to look to the voter and say, its okay, your vote is private. You may not feel so confident about this, but its okay to vote for me.
TAPPER: Let's go to Erin Burnett now, who's giving us updates from the battleground states throughout the night -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Jake.
And here we are, as you can see battleground states across the country getting ready for polls to start closing, still lines across the country. Voting is about to end, though, in Georgia.
Victor Blackwell, that's where you are. And I know you've been talking to officials there. We're getting ready for things to close. Just watching some of the action behind you. What are you seeing?
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we are just closing here in Georgia, with the exception of those ten precincts across the state where there have been extensions granted to compensate for the evacuations and the voting stop down because of those non-credible bomb threats that were called in throughout the day.
Two precincts in Cobb County, the latest, they're closing at 7:20. Five in Fulton County, the latest there closing at 7:45. Two here in Gwinnett County, the latest closing at 7:58.
Now, those are all in the Atlanta metro area. There's also one precinct in Glynn County in Southern Georgia, near the Florida line. That will be closing at 7:35.
For all other precincts across the state, voters have to be in line by 7:00 p.m., so as long as they are in line, they will be allowed to cast their vote and then once the voting is done, the memory cards from the scanners will go in one vehicle, speaking specifically here in Glynn County -- Gwinnett County, to the voters elections office, and then the ballots were sent in a separate vehicle. So you'll have hundreds of cars, two from each of the 156 precincts in a caravan off to the office. And then they can begin to be tabulated.
BURNETT: The caravan, a parade of sorts. And what's so important is how transparent it is. The secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, Victor, just the other day telling, you know by every 15 minute period what they expect to have come out. They just want everyone to see the transparency there.
All right. As those polls get ready to close, you see victor there in Georgia.
Let's go to Pennsylvania, another battleground state. Polls getting ready to close there in just about -- just over an hour. Brian Todd is at a polling place near Pittsburgh, crucial part of the state.
Brian, what are you seeing there?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erin, heavy voter turnout here in Washington county, just south of Pittsburgh.
And you mentioned the polls closing in about a little over an hour. We're expecting a little bit of a late surge here at these precincts.
I have Craig Zemba (ph) here. He's a -- he's a voter here in Washington County, just voted.
Craig, the operative question we asked so many people, who did you vote for and why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump.
TODD: Okay. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And really comes down to just inflation, cost of living and how things have gone in the last four years.
TODD: The process do you trust the voting process? Did it go smoothly for you?
You know, there are flare ups that a lot of, you know, hype and misinformation is out there. Do you trust the voting process here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do. I've lived here for a while and everything has always been very smooth.
TODD: Okay.
[18:55:00]
Thanks for talking to us, Greg. Good luck. Thank you very much.
Okay, guys, back to you. As we expect maybe a late surge here in Washington County. One hour left until poll closes.
BURNETT: We'll see if there's a surge. And again, another voter there. You see that Trump voter you're talking to talking about the economy as we have heard from other Trump voters. Brian, thank you.
And let's go over to Pamela Brown at the voting desk now.
So, Pamela, first round of statewide poll closings coming. Georgia is going to be in that list here in just a few moments what are you looking for?
PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is huge polls are closing there in just minutes most of the polls. And then an hour after that, we're going to get those first results from this key battleground state. The Georgia secretary of state is telling us that turnout could exceed 5 million. That's more than 70 percent of all active voters in the state.
So, clearly high interest there from voters. We're going to find out that total number sometime after the polls close. So we also know from Georgia election official, Gabriel Sterling, who have just been speaking with that tonight's first results account -- accounts for 75 percent of the overall votes and the secretary of state there says that he's optimistic well know who clinched Georgia by the end of tonight.
Now, one note on Fulton County, Georgia's most populated county and home to Atlanta, we saw several non-credible bomb threats earlier today. We just heard a little bit about that from Victor Blackwell. Five polling locations were granted a voting extension as much as 45- minutes past 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Once polls close, the county will have up to an hour to report early vote results, though the expectation is that most precincts will report by just about an hour from now, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
We'll be keeping a close eye on this key battleground state that Biden narrowly flipped in 2020 as results start to roll in, Erin.
BURNETT: That's right, looked one way, then it looked the other way. It was so close.
BROWN: Eleven thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine.
BURNETT: But who was counting?
BROWN: Donald Trump was when he called Brad Raffensperger.
BURNETT: All right. Pam, thank you very much.
And I hear John King right next to me --
KING: That's right.
BURNETT: You chuckled --
KING: I was chuckling because Georgia, a little PTSD.
BURNETT: Yeah.
KING: Over Georgia and all that.
But as you see the big clock there, as Pam just said, votes will be coming in soon. Three minutes, 30 seconds, we got some big polls closing. We'll get to those in a second.
I want to look quickly at one thing we have already. The polls have not completely closed. They finished in Indiana. I just want to show you. And again, we're looking at the early results just to see if there are any clues, right? We don't want to overplay things. We also don't want to ignore things that we see, right?
So you come right up here. You see one dot of blue in the middle of the Indiana map, right? That's Hamilton County. It's just north of Indianapolis.
This if you went back 20, 30 years ago, you'd see a lot of farms in this county. Now, it's much more suburban, especially as you get closer to Indianapolis. Why do I raise that question? It's blue, right? Fifty-eight percent of the vote could flip. Look how close it is. It's 50 to 49.
So it could well end up red as it did in 2020 and 2016. But it just is this a signal that Kamala Harris in the first election? Post-Dobbs in an issue where we know Donald Trump struggled in the suburbs in the 2018 midterms, struggled mightily in the suburbs in losing in 2020. Is this a sign?
I pointed out this way? Harris at the moment at 50, Joe Biden was at 46, in this county in 2020, and Hillary Clinton was at 37 percent in this county in 2016. So the suburbs are critical in key races. Indiana is most likely to stay red. Let's be very clear about that.
But as you come back to 2024, again, as you look at these early results that we're getting in, in some states, you try to seek, is it possible we could look at some other places, look in some of the battleground states in the close in suburbs. So something to keep an eye on as we go.
A quick look at Kentucky. This one's about to close. Some more results have come in. Let's just see if it's any mass to it. Again, Kentucky is a reliably red state. We expect it to stay that way.
But you will look, Scott Jennings was talking about this earlier. Fayette County is Lexington in the suburbs. The vice president was a big early lead there.
Frankfort is Franklin County. It's Frankfort in the suburbs. You see it there. So let's just compare. So 54 percent, if you round that up, 2024 at about 42 percent, 48 percent for Joe Biden.
So, right now in Indiana and in Kentucky, you see the vice president at the moment overperforming Joe Biden, in some suburban areas. Now they're in red states. So we don't know whether that's going to matter as we get into these states.
But we are about to get some clues. I want to move the map a little bit. We're about to get results in Virginia. Virginia has been blue for a while, but it was purple not all that long ago.
So here's the question in Virginia tonight which is going to report results to us very quickly. Do we get a ten point race as we had in 2020? Do you get Democrats winning by ten? That tells you the vice president is holding the Biden map in a state that will go blue. Or do you get a five point race, as we had in 2016, that would tell you that Donald Trump not only is running up the score in these red rural areas, but that he's improved his standing in the suburbs a little bit.
You see here its northern Virginia and down around the Richmond area there. So we'll get some key clues and then also coming up moments ago, of course, one of the biggest battlegrounds of all is Pamela Brown was just noting 11,779 votes. That was the margin when Joe Biden flipped Georgia.
The last time it had gone Democrat, Bill Clinton eked it out in 1992, thanks to Ross Perot in part there. But it's been a long time since Georgia. So as Audie noted, is it a state in transition or is it a tug of war state?
Jake, that's what we're going to find out. Again, 11,000 votes four years ago, the results in battleground Georgia to come in just about any second now.
And again, you look at Atlanta, you look at the suburbs and you see -- see all that red is Donald Trump's base coming out to vote.
TAPPER: All right. And we are just moments away from the first big round of poll closings.
