I don't know if I care much anymore to be honest (despite constantly refreshing the results every few moments). I'm sort of prepared for either outcome since regardless the fact that it's even close anyways tells you everything you need to know about the American people and their current state of judgement.

Whoever wins is gonna deal with a Democrat House and a Republican Senate and given the fact that stimulus checks haven't been passed pre-election, it doesn't look likely like they will pass post election either meaning more than just a dark winter. For the people who've lost their jobs, their health insurance, and their homes, I don't know what's gonna happen to them.

I'm going to be so incredibly depressed if Biden loses. My nihilism isn't working! — frank

I'm already depressed even though it looks like he's winning. This bodes poorly not just for the US, but for the resilience of liberal democracy in the 21st century.

I'm already depressed even though it looks like he's winning. This bodes poorly not just for the US, but for the resilience of liberal democracy in the 21st century. — Echarmion

Confidence in it is at a low point, I think. If Trump wins, I just feel like we'll ve cruising into a recession, deepening of the pandemic, worsening of race relations, all with a retard at the helm.

My early prediction (from before the pandemic) was that Trump would win reelection with a bigger margin (winning the popular vote as well). The sad thing is that in all likelihood, the main reason he isn't doing so well now is that the pandemic happened at the worst possible time for him. And what is hurting him is not his administration's incompetent and erratic handling of the response, but the fact that when times are hard - and they would have been hard even with the best possible response, for a number of reasons - people tend to allocate some blame to those at the top, regardless of how much or how little they are actually responsible. Any leader would have lost popularity after nine months of misery and at the height of the second (or is it third?) wave of the pandemic.

It's looking like Nevada will decide who wins the election.

Pretty sure all eyes are still on PA at this point, but if Biden wins AZ, GA, or NV then it would end early. WI is called for Biden and MI is looking like he's gonna eek it out as of the time of this post.

Is North Carolina still in play or has that ship sailed?

I think NC is still in play and may be more likely than PA (which is looking good for Biden as well), but apparently some people are writing it off.

Seriously I just want one candidate to reach 270 so I can relax already...

Very close. Looks like Ar-Pharazon the Golden may be on the way out.

And... the protests to stop the vote counting in the rust belt has begun. Trump suing to stop the count in PA and declaring victory early.

Complaining and conspiracy theories are the bread and butter this President was raised and finished on...

We're about to endure weeks and months of Trump et al, whining their butt-holes bloody about how unfair it is that they lost the election...

The right has been accusing the left of being over-sensitive snowflakes who cannot accept reality for the last decade. It's going to become clear that it was projection all along...

Is North Carolina still in play or has that ship sailed? — Benkei

If Trump wins all the states where he's currently leading (which includes NC, PA, GA, and AK), he finishes out with 268, which is 2 shy of the 270 needed, so he'll come in 2nd place, which is pretty good comparatively.

What it looks like is that Trump has to take Nevada too since he can't take MI, although I do like his strategy of trying to get them to stop the counting there, especially if the counting is not putting tick marks next to his name.. There is then the additional problem that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, so we may never be able to access their final tally, but that's limited to Vegas proper, not Nevada generally, but there's not much else there I don't think.

If there is a dispute over the final results, I hope the Court declares a do over. Sometimes that's the fairest thing to do.

I do like his strategy of trying to get them to stop the counting there, especially if the counting is not putting tick marks next to his name. — Hanover

that's the fairest thing to do. — Hanover

So... Like...

Cheat until it's become clear you have lost, and then try to call a mulligan cause fairness?

So... Like...

Cheat until it's become clear you have lost, and then try to call a mulligan cause fairness? — VagabondSpectre

Thank you for the question.

So, in baseball, in the World Series (which is a true "world" series, with teams spanning the globe from as far as Atlanta to Seattle), it's a best out of 7 match. We ought to do that for elections. That's all I'm saying. It's not really a "do over" per se, but more just proof you didn't just happen to have a particularly good or bad day.

best out of 7 match — Hanover

:rofl:

I'm definitely willing to accept that America needs at least a best of 7 to really get firing on all stupid.

So, in baseball, in the World Series (which is a true "world" series, with teams spanning the globe from as far as Atlanta to Seattle), it's a best out of 7 match. We ought to do that for elections. That's all I'm saying. It's not really a "do over" per se, but more just proof you didn't just happen to have a particularly good or bad day. — Hanover

I think there should be playoffs. Just have Trump beat Jill Stein 1 on 1 first.

Trump has sent his thugs to Michigan to try to prevent the final votes being counted in a state Biden has clearly won (and has been called by some outlets). Absolute disgrace.

Trump has sent his thugs to Michigan to try to prevent the final votes being counted in a state Biden has clearly won (and has been called by some outlets). Absolute disgrace. — Baden

Oh come on, not a disgrace. It's all over but the shouting. Let him shout.

OK. But this better work out better than the time you told me to let my pet monkey shave my balls.

I guess one bright spot in all of this is that even if Biden wins the establishment Dems can no longer claim that Trump is some sort of anomaly and that centrist incrementalism is still popular. They nearly lost to a guy who killed 200K lives through sheer incompetence, twice, and underperformed with minorities and the working class this year. That should give them pause and perhaps lead them to considering actually going more populist for once. Of course leadership may blame Bernie again and claim that they need to pivot further right, but hopefully the democratic voters who picked Biden purely based on him being the "electable" candidate are gonna reevaluate next time. Hopefully Biden doesn't run for a second term if he wins (though given his age, I honestly don't think he will).

I'm beginning to think Joe @Baden made the right call on this.

The take-home is that half of eligible voters wanted to put their trust in a liar.

Will Trumpism continue when he's been defrocked?

The take-home is that half of eligible voters wanted to put their trust in a liar. — Banno

You mean of those who actually voted. It's not like Australia where there's mandatory voting and very high turnout. Probably 1/3 of eligible voters or more still didn't turn out this election, even with he higher turnout. The projection I see is 66%.

So the question is did the 34% or so who likely didn't vote not care and were okay with the status quo, did they feel disenfranchised by the electoral college, did they feel the two parties don't represent their views, did they feel it was too difficult to vote, etc?

You mean... — Marchesk

No, I don't. I mean that there are a very large number of folk for whom having a leader who lies is fine.

Far more nuanced than that Banno. Troublesome to say the least. The people believe Trump.

Troublesome to say the least. The people believe Trump. — creativesoul

Yes, I know a few people like that. They don't think Trump is a liar. It's the other side. A key to understanding this is that at least for the religious conservatives, they have an entirely different worldview which encompasses American politics. And then quite a few more also are heavily influenced by Fox News and AM radio, which is heavy on the propaganda. The Democrats are always cooking up some left-wing conspiracy according to those sources. Even though they'll admit Biden is moderate, he's being controlled by the progressive wing, or he's going to step down soon after winning.

Far more nuanced... — creativesoul

I don't think so. Any nuance will just be special pleading. There are a large number of folk for whom basic honesty is unimportant.

What are the estimates for when we will know the last few states?

We're talking about working class mostly rural American citizens, most of whom are products of public education in America over the last seventy years, most of whom identify as Christian. Special pleading is not a problem by their standards... it's a part thereof.