NEW YORK (REUTERS) – Nearly 80 per cent of Americans, including more than half of Republicans, recognise President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the Nov 3 election after most media organisations called the race for the Democrat based on his leads in critical battleground states, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

While the race with Republican incumbent Donald Trump still remained undecided in three states by late Tuesday (Nov 10) afternoon, Mr Biden – who needed 270 Electoral College votes to win – had 279 of those votes to 214 for Mr Trump, according to Edison Research.

In the popular vote, Mr Biden got 76.3 million, or 50.7 per cent of the total, to 71.6 million, or 47.6 per cent, for Mr Trump.

The Reuters/Ipsos national opinion survey, which ran from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday, found that 79 per cent of US adults believe Mr Biden won the White House.

Another 13 per cent said the election has not yet been decided, 3 per cent said Mr Trump won and 5 per cent said they do not know.

The results were somewhat split along party lines: about six in 10 Republicans and almost every Democrat said Mr Biden won.

Edison Research, which conducts exit polling for Reuters and major media outlets, called the race for Mr Biden on Saturday after he expanded his lead over Mr Trump in Pennsylvania and appeared well on his way to amassing 270 electoral votes.

Mr Trump has yet to recognise the result of the race. He prematurely declared victory well before the votes had been counted and has repeatedly complained without evidence that he is the victim of widespread voter fraud.

His claims have been echoed by members of Mr Trump’s Cabinet.

US Attorney General William Barr has authorised federal investigations of “substantial” allegations of voting irregularities, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said he foresees “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration”.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was part of a broader survey that was conducted Friday to Tuesday and included responses before the presidential race was called.

It showed that 70 per cent of Americans, including 83 per cent of Democrats and 59 per cent of Republicans, trust their local election officials to “do their job honestly”.

The poll also found that 72 per cent think the loser of the election must concede defeat, and 60 per cent think there will be a peaceful transition of power when Mr Trump’s term ends in January.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,363 US adults in all, including 469 respondents who took the poll between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 5 percentage points.

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