The US presidential race tightened dramatically as Republican candidate Donald Trump captured the key battleground states of Ohio and North Carolina and became the apparent winner in Florida, American media reported.
Trump is prevailing in crucial swing states decided so far and holds thin advantages in several others, bringing his tally to 244 electoral votes. Hillary Clinton, who scooped up large electoral vote counts in Democratic strongholds on both coasts, has earned 209 electoral votes.
Razor-thin margins remain in several essential swing states. All eyes are now fixed on Michigan, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania — crucial swing states where Trump and Clinton are running neck-and-neck.
Markets across Asia tumbled and Dow Jones futures plunged more than 800 points amid the uncertainty, potentially reflecting unease about what a Trump administration would mean for the economy.
Here’s the current tally, according to US media projections:
Clinton wins: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
Trump wins: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida (apparent winner), Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska (four of five electoral votes), North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Too close to call: Arizona, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Too early to call: Nevada
Democrats and Republicans are also battling for control of the Senate. Democrats must net four seats to earn the majority. Republicans will keep control of the House of Representatives, NBC News projects.
As millions of Americans cast their ballots Tuesday, early exit polls showed that large majorities of voters had an unfavorable view of both Trump and Clinton.
About six in 10 voters — 61 percent — said they had an unfavorable view of the real estate mogul, while only 37 percent viewed him favorably. A majority of voters — 54 percent — said they had an unfavorable view of the former secretary of state, and another 44 percent viewed her favorably.
The numbers appeared to underscore one of the driving themes of an unusually divisive campaign: Both candidates are astoundingly unpopular.
Heading into Election Day, Clinton held a narrow advantage, leading Trump by 4 points in the last NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken before Tuesday. If elected, Clinton would become the first woman Commander in Chief.
Trump, the brash political outsider, entered Tuesday with a far more narrow path to 270 electoral votes.