Sky News correspondents reveal insights from US voters – and how one state could indicate who wins election
Voters face a stark choice between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and the race has been extremely tight, with opinion polls suggesting the contest is too close to call. Here is what our correspondents have learnt from Americans in different states.
Sky News correspondents have been reporting from across the US as millions of Americans cast their votes in the presidential election.
Voters face a stark choice between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and the race has been extremely tight, with opinion polls suggesting the contest is too close to call.
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‘Party at the polls’ in battleground state
In the battleground state of Georgia, our correspondent Cordelia Lynch covered a “party at the polls” in Fulton County, Atlanta, where black and brown residents were urged to cast their votes as they passed by.
One of the organisers said there had been a “lot of enthusiasm”.
“We will throw a whole block party for those who need to vote [if needed],” she said, describing their set-up near the Metropolitan Library as a “party at the polls”.
Another organiser, Horace Cooper, said he had been knocking on doors around Atlanta to get black and brown communities out to vote.
He insisted he wasn’t hearing that black men are not voting for Ms Harris – despite reports of low support for the vice president in the community, which prompted Barack Obama to intervene.
Mr Cooper said households in his community were run by women and he didn’t think the fact that Ms Harris is a woman will put off the black vote.
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Pennsylvania ‘one of tightest races in this election’
Our international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn is in Bucks County, Pennsylvania – a battleground state he said was “so important” because of its 19 electoral college votes.
“It’s very hard to see anybody getting into the White House without Pennsylvania being on their path to victory, unless there’s a major upset somewhere else,” he said.
“It is also one of the closest and the tightest races in this election if you look at the opinion polls.”
Outside a polling centre, a Republican voter told him that although he and Democrat voters had “different opinions”, they were being “respectful” towards each other.
But a Democratic voter said she was scared there might be another bout of violence like that seen in the January 6 US Capitol Riots in 2021.
Inside bellwether state with cross-section of US society
Absentee vote counting was under way in downtown Detroit, Michigan – another key battleground state.
In 2020, chaos unfolded at the Huntington Place convention centre as people pounded on the doors and windows during the count.
This year, the level of security is intense, correspondent Yousra Elbagir said, with police officers positioned in the surrounding streets, inside the building and even on the roof.
Elbagir said Michigan is a bellwether state and would be able to give a clue as to how Americans have voted, noting the state has voted for the winner over the last two elections.
This is because “there’s such a cross-section of American society” in Michigan, Elbagir said, listing working-class families reliant on the car industry and other industries, as well as students, Arab Americans, a large immigrant community and a large black population.
“As the count comes in we’ll be watching Michigan closely to get a hint of who might be the next president of the United States,” she adds.
Differing visions for the future of America
Mr Trump and Ms Harris offer completely different visions for America, correspondent Shingi Mararike said.
In the battleground state of Arizona, Republican voter Dane Jensen told him Mr Trump continued campaigning after being targeted in an assassination attempt in July as a show of strength was admirable.
He said the former president and his supporter Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, represent the ideals he is striving for.
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But others like Renee Rojas said Mr Trump’s smash-mouth approach to politics was a turn-off.
She said the way Mr Trump talks about women was part of the reason she had decided to turn her back on the Republicans for the first time in her life.
Mararike said the duelling election campaigns had laid bare that perception as much as policy proposals can prove decisive in how people vote.
