Britain’s interests lie with Joe Biden victory, says Lisa Nandy
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Just as pollsters got it wrong about Hillary Clinton in 2016, they’ve got it wrong again with no signs of the landslide talked-up for Joe Biden.
Many polls gave the Democrat presidential candidate a strong lead in the race for the White House, but it has turned out to be much closer than anticipated.
A seven-day rolling average of polls suggested Mr Biden was leading by 51 per cent compared to incumbent president Donald Trump's 44 per cent on election day, according to data from Real Clear Politics.
The final numbers were not much changed from where they were on 3 June, when there were three months to election day.
The Democrat’s large lead in national polls was the largest of any candidate on the eve of the election since Bill Clinton in 1996, according to polling analysis website FiveThirtyEight.
But it became clear the polls were wide of the mark when Mr Trump won the most-prized battleground of Florida, the largest of the swing states, turning everything on its head.
The Sunshine State had been expecting a three-point lead for Mr Biden, according to Real Clear Politics data, while one pollster even put him ahead by five percentage points.
Mr Trump’s win is thought to have been somewhat due to the fact more than 50 per cent of Florida's Cuban-American vote went to the Republican, according to NBC News exit polls.
US Election 2020: As it happened
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The fate of the United States presidency now hands in the balance, as President Trump and his challenger fight for three familiar battleground states - Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania - that could prove crucial in determining who wins the White House.
Investors on Wednesday rushed to adjust portfolios for a tighter and later US election result than many had expected as pre-poll expectations of a clear Democratic party win in White House and Senate races looked wide of the mark.
Betting market odds tightened but still favoured Mr Trump after flipping dramatically overnight to favour the president over Mr Biden, according to data from three aggregators.
Additional reporting by agencies
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