The race is leaning toward Trump

Although this US election is not over yet, Donald Trump is in pole position and appears to be on his way to one of the most remarkable comebacks in presidential history.

The electoral map looks more like 2016, when Trump won, than 2020, when he lost to Joe Biden.

Trump was projected to win North Carolina and Georgia, the first two of the seven battleground states to be decided. These victories were the result of strong performance in traditional rural areas.

Across the U.S., the former president is making noticeable progress in counties that have reported their results.

Kamala Harris largely matches Joe Biden's overall results in urban and suburban counties, but so far she has failed to close the gap with the former president.

The Sun Belt door to a Harris presidential victory is slamming shut. North Carolina, the only battleground state Trump won in 2020, remains in his column. And he prevailed over Georgia, a state he lost last time by just over 11,000 votes.

All eyes are once again on the Democratic “Blue Wall” states along the Great Lakes, where Trump has also built narrow cliffs. There are signs that Harris is also failing to meet Democrats' expectations in urban and suburban areas of these states, and that could make the difference between victory and defeat.

The Harris campaign still has a path to victory along these Great Lakes States, but if the tide turns in his favor, the turning point won't come until the major cities submit their tallies. This will take hours, if not days.

In close presidential elections, the key contested states tend to deviate in one direction. So far, the movement has been toward Republicans — both for Donald Trump and for many of the party's top candidates in the Senate.

The mood is festive at Trump's election watch party at Mar-a-Lago. At Howard University, where Harris supporters have gathered, the situation is tense.

If current voting trends continue, former President Trump will be well on his way to becoming President Trump.

A range of election poll data also provides the first clues about how Americans voted, shedding light on the gap between men and women in this election.

Not surprisingly, a majority of women support Kamala Harris while men support Donald Trump.

What is somewhat surprising, at least according to these findings, is that the 54% of women voting for Harris does not match the 57% who supported Joe Biden in 2020.

All the talk about a historic political divide between the two genders may have been premature.

Election poll results often shift over the hours and should be viewed as a general guide rather than a detailed map. However, if the Democrats have lost ground among female voters compared to four years ago, that would be extremely worrying for the Harris camp.

However, one thing is clear at this point. Voter turnout in this election is once again approaching the highest level in modern American history. It could even surpass the 65.9% mark set in 2020.

Both Trump and Harris have repeatedly said that there is a lot at stake in this election. The American public appears to have heeded this call.

This analysis will be updated as further results become available.