NEW DELHI: Democratic candidate Joe Biden moved closer to winning the White House on Friday as he expanded his lead over President Donald Trump in battleground states, yet television networks and news outlets have stayed away from declaring him the victor as officials continued to count votes in a few states where race is exceptionally close.
The Decision Desk HQ has become the first outlet to call the election in favour of Joe Biden, naming him the 46th President of the United States.
“Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273. Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America. Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM EST” said the tweet.
Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273.
Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America.
Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM ESTAll Results: https://t.co/BgcQsEyt3j
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 6, 2020
Decision Desk HQ made the call on Twitter after a batch of ballots came in from Philadelphia that put Biden in the lead by 5,500 votes in Pennsylvania.
With more than 100,000 ballots still left to be counted in the state, and with those ballots tilting very heavily toward Biden, there is no realistic path for Donald Trump to win the state. And yet, all the networks have hesitated to say unequivocally that Joe Biden will be the next president.
However, the Decision Desk HQ has not called either Georgia or Arizona — two other states where Biden leads. Decision Desk HQ was launched by Brandon Finnigan in 2014 and he is reported to have conservative leanings.
Other media outlets like Associated Press and Edison Research are also yet to call out the elections.
Here is how different desks are projecting the numbers:
The New York Times projection
The New York Times is taking into account a number of factors before declaring a winner, including race calls made by The Associated Press and Edison Research.
According to the NYT, Joe Biden stood on the cusp of the presidency on Friday, seizing leads over President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia and building on his lead in Nevada as he drew ever closer to securing the 270 electoral votes needed to lay claim to the White House.
According to the NYT tracker, Biden had a lead of 253 while Trump was at 214.
The NYT said that in Pennsylvania, the remaining mail ballots are expected to favor Democrats while in Georgia, A small number of absentee, provisional and overseas military ballots remain uncounted.
AP projection
According to the projections from AP, Biden has a lead of 264 electoral votes while Trump is at 214.
In Pennsylvania, Biden has a lead of 49.64% votes while Trump is at 49.21%.
