The US presidential election is in full swing, according to the latest data from the Associated Press, Trump has already won 248 electoral votes, just 22 short of the 270 votes needed to win.
While Kamala Harris was previously significantly behind, after the Democratic stronghold of California reported its results, she has secured all 54 of its electoral votes, giving her 214 electoral votes currently. However, she still trails Trump by 34 votes. The current vote percentages are 51.2% for Trump and 47.4% for Harris.
Trump: He will declare victory if he wins Pennsylvania
At the time of writing, the only remaining undecided states (in bold) are:
- Pennsylvania (19 votes): Trump 51% vs Harris 48% (93% reported)
- Michigan (15 votes): Trump 52.4% vs Harris 45.9% (64% reported)
- Arizona (11 votes): Trump 50% vs Harris 49.1% (51% reported)
- Wisconsin (10 votes): Trump 51.5% vs Harris 47.1% (88% reported)
- Nevada (6 votes): Trump 51% vs Trump 47.4% (75% reported)
- Minnesota (10 votes): Harris 50.6% vs Trump 47.3% (75% reported)
- Maine (4 votes): Harris 53.4% vs Trump 43.8% (60% reported)
- Alaska (3 votes) Trump 56.8% vs Harris 38.6% (26% reported)
In the seven key swing states, Trump has already won North Carolina (16 votes) and Georgia (16 votes), and he is leading in the remaining five swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Nevada. Particularly in Pennsylvania and Michigan, Trump is virtually assured of victory, and if he wins these two states with a total of 34 electoral votes, he will surpass the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win the presidency and return to the White House. Trump stated in an interview yesterday that if he wins Pennsylvania, he will win the entire election.
What is the "Electoral College" in the US? How are the electors chosen?
According to The Washington Post, voters may not know the results of the national popular vote until as early as the evening of November 6th or the daytime of November 7th, local time.
However, even if the vote counting results are released later, the winner is not yet considered the true winner, because unlike Taiwan's direct presidential election, the federalist US employs a different electoral system, the "Electoral College" indirect election system.
In simple terms, US citizens first elect electors in each state, and then the electors cast their votes for the president, the main consideration for the Electoral College system is to protect the autonomy of the federal states. However, this system has also sparked controversy, as it is possible for a presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election due to a lower number of electoral votes, as happened in 2016 when Hillary Clinton lost to Trump.
Each state is a unit of the Electoral College, and the number of electors in each state is equal to the total number of its members of Congress. Currently, the US has a total of 538 electoral votes, which is the sum of the number of members of Congress plus three votes for Washington, D.C. This means that to win the US presidency, a candidate must win more than 270 electoral votes. If the vote results in a 269-269 tie, the newly elected members of the House and Senate will vote to elect the president and vice president.
So how are the state elector colleges chosen? The American Institute in Taiwan explains that the process of selecting the elector colleges varies from state to state, but usually the party representatives in each state's party convention nominate the electors, or they are elected by the state central committee of each party. These people may be those who have contributed to the party, or they may be elected officials, party leaders, or those with personal connections to the presidential candidate, but members of Congress, federal and state government officials, and those with criminal records are not eligible to be electors.
The results of the US presidential election will be officially announced in December
The schedule for this US presidential election is as follows:
- Early voting begins in mid-October
- November 5th nationwide general election: The vote count will determine the winners in each state, and the slate of electors put forward by the party of the winner in each state will become that state's electoral college.
- December 17th electoral college vote: The electors in each state will convene in their state capitals to cast their votes for president and vice president. The electoral college generally follows the "winner-take-all" system, where all of a state's electoral votes go to the presidential candidate who won the popular vote in that state, but only Nebraska and Maine have a slightly different system, allocating some electors proportionally by congressional district.
- January 6th, 2025 - Congress announces the election results
- January 20th, 2025 - Inauguration of the president-elect and vice president-elect
In other words, the final result of the US presidential election will not be officially determined until the electoral college vote on December 17th.
Trump's Impending Victory Fuels Cryptocurrency Market Surge
As Trump edges closer to declaring victory, the cryptocurrency market is seeing a major boost in sentiment, with Bitcoin surging as high as 9.5% today to a new all-time high of $75,242, currently trading at $73,950, up over 8% in the past 24 hours; Ethereum also briefly spiked to $2,636, currently at $2,589, up over 6.6% in the last 24 hours.
CoinMarketCap data shows that the overall cryptocurrency market capitalization has surpassed $2.45 trillion, soaring nearly 10% in the past 24 hours.
