Barack Obama remains the President of the United States. He has won a total of 281 electoral votes, while his opponent, Republican Mitt Romney, has 201.
Confirmation of Obama’s victory in Florida (29) is still awaited. The outcome of the election in Virginia, where Obama is leading, is also uncertain. According to CNN projections, Obama wins Ohio (18) and is victorious. Celebration has begun at the Democratic headquarters in Chicago.
Romney has won in North Carolina (15), Indiana (11), Missouri (10), Kentucky (8), West Virginia (5), and in Republican strongholds Texas (38), South Carolina (9), Georgia (16), Oklahoma (7), Iowa (6), Mississippi (6), Alabama (9), Tennessee (11), Missouri (10), Arkansas (6), Kansas (6), North Dakota (3), South Dakota (3), Nebraska (5), Utah (6), Montana (3), Arizona (11), and Idaho (4).
Obama has won Pennsylvania – he also won this state in 2008, but although it has leaned Democratic in the last two decades, Romney made significant efforts to win over voters there. Romney has ‘stolen’ North Carolina (15) from Obama.
Republican candidate Mitt Romney is winning among white voters, both male and female, while President Barack Obama leads in all other ethnic groups, with Romney trailing by a significant percentage, according to an exit poll by Reuters/Ipsos released after the polls closed in the eastern states of the U.S. White male voters chose Romney with about a 20-point advantage over Obama, while white female voters supported the former governor of Massachusetts with more than a 10-point advantage over Obama.
Presidential candidates are competing for 538 electors. A total of 270 is needed for victory. In addition to the presidential election, elections are being held for one-third of the Senate members, the new composition of the 113th Congress, and in 38 states, 174 referendum questions will be posed.
