Presidential election results 2020

The exit polls will offer us some key clues about whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden are winning over the voters they need to clinch the White House. Here are things to watch for:

The key groups to watch for Trump: 

The key groups to watch for Biden: 

Voters in the 2020 election are confident that votes will be counted accurately, with slightly less than 9 in 10 who say so. Another 9 in 10 voters report that voting in their state is easy, with those who report it is difficult in the single digits.  

More than 9 in 10 voters report they decided on their vote for president before last week, while very few voters decided in the last week. 

And more than 1 in 10 were first time voters in 2020, which is relatively stable compared to the makeup of voters in the 2016 election.

CNN's David Chalian reports:

The most important issue to voters in the 2020 election is the economy, with around one-third who chose it, followed by around 1 in 5 for racial inequality and the same who chose coronavirus.

Around 1 in 10 voters say the most important issue to their vote is crime and safety and another 1 in 10 for health care policy. 

Over half of voters say that it's more important to contain the coronavirus than rebuild the economy. 

The electorate splits on how well efforts to contain the coronavirus are going, around half of voters who think containing the virus is going well, and the other half who say it's going badly. 

Around two-third of voters in the 2020 election say wearing a face mask in public is more of a public health responsibility than around 3 in 10 who think it’s a personal choice.

Arizona's Maricopa County, which is home to Phoenix, is eyeing its highest voter turnout in 40 years.

The county has already seen 115,000 votes today, and is expecting to reach 200,000 in-person votes by the time the polls close, according to Maricopa County Elections Department spokespeople Diana Solorio and Megan Gilbertson.

If Maricopa County hits 200,000 votes, that means they’ll have 80% turnout, when you combine all the early votes, mail votes and Election Day votes. That hasn’t happened in Maricopa County since 1980. (The highest turnout the county has ever reached was 87% in the 1960s, according to Gilbertson.)

So far, Solorio says in-person voting has been very smooth and the call center has seen only “typical complaints,” nothing major.

Maricopa County is the fastest growing county of any county in the US, according to the US Census, and Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the country.

While GOP strongholds in the county have continued to see a high number of in-person voters, a Democratic source who is in the Democrats’ Arizona “boiler room” says Democrats came into Election Day with strong early turnout in Maricopa County. 

“Obviously there will be a big (Republican) turnout today, but I think we will be able to withstand it,” the source said.

In traditionally blue Pima County, which includes Tucson, early vote totals by party registration gave Democrats about a 75,000 vote edge coming into Tuesday, with 195,756 votes to 120,595 for the GOP, according to data provided by the Pima County Recorder’s office.

“The GOP usually has a better turnout by percent,” said Alison Jones, chair of the Pima County Democrats. “Our turnout been much better than normal in early voting.” She said that while she expects Republicans to make up ground at the polls today, “Even if every GOP voter votes for Trump — and we know that’s not the case … we have a clear path with the independent votes to take this state.”

Statewide, in Arizona, Republicans account for 35.2% of registered voters, Democrats for 32.2% and independent and other voters for 31.7%.

Joe Biden is heading home to his family to watch the returns after stopping at the aquatic center in Wilmington. The question is whether he speaks tonight here outside the Chase Center where he accepted the Democratic nomination for president.

Campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon told reporters earlier today that Biden would address the nation tonight — regardless of outcome. Biden said a few moments ago that it was still to be determined whether he spoke.

The Biden campaign believes it will have a sense of the direction things are going — but are pessimistic on Florida.

“It is a tough lift for us, but people are still voting there,” a campaign official said.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wouldn't commit to a plan if election results aren't made clear by the end of Tuesday night, telling reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, that he'll say something when he's ready.

"There’s just so much in play right now … We’ll see. If there’s something to talk about tonight, I’ll talk about it. If not, I’ll wait ‘til the votes are counted the next day," Biden said.

Asked if he plans to respond if President Trump declares a victory before the results are clear, Biden said he doesn't feel a responsibility to respond, adding, "It depends on what he says and how he says it."

"Presidents can’t determine what votes counted or not counted and, you know, voters determine who is president," Biden said. "No matter what he does or what he says, the votes are going to be counted."

The former vice president also said that he was "superstitious" about predicting an outcome of the election, but said he remained "hopeful," expressing confidence in "overwhelming" voter turnout among key demographics and key states.

Asked if he was confident that he was on the path to winning, Biden said, "Well, I don’t know."

"For example ... Florida came in and I won, it’s over. Done. If Florida doesn’t come in and, you know, what happens is the early votes occur, and some other states are going to do well, and we’re going to reestablish that blue wall," Biden said. "I feel good about that."

Despite his uncertainty, Biden seemed baffled that traditionally red states, like Texas, may be up for grabs tonight.

"It’s just so uncertain," Biden admitted. "Look, you can’t think of an election in the recent past where so many states are up for grabs. The idea I’m in play in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Florida — I mean, come on. Texas?"

In Michigan, 12,530 new voters registered as of 2:30 p.m. today, taking advantage of same-day voter registration, according to Secretary of State spokesman Jake Rollow.

In a call with reporters, Rollow said there were lines of people waiting to get registered or to update their registration specifically in two college towns: Ann Arbor, which is home to the University of Michigan, and Grand Rapids, which is near Grand Valley State University. Overall, things are running smoothly across the state, Rollow said. 

The state has seen more than 359,000 new voter registrations since August 5, the day after the August primary, which was for state elections.

This is the first presidential election in Michigan to allow same-day voter registration, after voters passed a ballot initiative in 2018 establishing the practice. Already, the number of Michiganders who registered today is larger than President Donald Trump’s margin-of-victory in 2016, which was 10,704 votes. 

Heavy turnout in competitive suburban Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is creating very long waits at polling places.

Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo told CNN he’s heard from voters who spent three to four hours in line. At Bensalem High School, CNN talked to voters who reported spending about 90 minutes waiting to vote. Officials at this voting location say turnout appeared to be double that of typical election years.

Bucks County Public Information Director Larry King said heavy Election Day turnout may be due to fewer than half of the 488,000 registered voters applying for mail-in ballots. 

 “We did have one polling place where there was a problem with the scanners being able to read ballots. There were some markings on the edge of the ballot that were trimmed a little close, so I think might have held that particularly polling place up a little bit but that to my knowledge has been rectified,” said King. 

King said that he himself waited about an hour and a half to vote this morning and that he expects others might be waiting the same amount of time. 

Both candidates have visited this crucial county in the northern Philadelphia suburbs. Hillary Clinton barely won this county in 2016.

CNN's Kate Bolduan reports:

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s Voting System Implementation Manager, says that the average wait time across the state remains at two minutes.   

“Everything has been steady as she goes across the state of Georgia. We are seeing pretty even turnout throughout the day,” Sterling said, updating the press Tuesday afternoon. 

Spalding County, located in west central Georgia south of Atlanta, and Morgan County, located in north central Georgia east of Atlanta are both now fully back online after “data set issues” slowed down voting in some locations earlier.    

Sterling said that the main technical issue Georgia has seen today is having to clean some of the scanners sometimes. 

“When the ballots go through them after a while they just want to clean it to make sure it is registering everything properly. But outside of that it has been steady as she goes pretty much across the state.”   

Sterling told CNN on camera that DeKalb County extending hours at two precincts won’t impact the Secretary of State releasing any statewide results when some of the polls close at 7 p.m. ET.