Trump's Fate to Be Decided Today... Outlines Expected From Afternoon

[Anchor]

Voting is currently underway in the United States for the midterm elections, which serve as an interim assessment of the Trump administration. The state-by-state voting will conclude sequentially starting this morning, Korea time, and the outlines of the results are expected to emerge starting late this afternoon.

Reporting from Washington, this is Jeon Byeong-nam.

[Reporter]

Voting for the midterm elections, which will determine the power landscape of the U.S. Congress, began at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time, which was 7:00 p.m. yesterday, Korea time.

Voting will close first in Indiana and Kentucky at 8:00 a.m. Korea time, and finally conclude around 3:00 p.m. in western Alaska.

With the ruling Republican Party currently holding both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the midterm elections will newly elect all 435 members of the House and 35 of the 100 Senate seats.

This is a critical election that could reshape the congressional power landscape, with high inflation, including high oil prices triggered by the Iran war, and economic conditions cited as key issues.

[Philly / New Jersey: Interest rates are high and inflation is high. The economy is too unstable.]

[Chris / New Jersey: Inflation is the most important thing. As everyone knows, it is really hard to afford the cost of living these days. I don't expect anyone to solve it, but I hope they can at least try to make things better than they are now.]

Amid expectations of an advantage for the Democratic Party, President Trump focused on rallying his core conservative base until the very end, calling the Democratic Party a "house of Satan."

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (yesterday): When you vote, remember this. A party that hates America must not be allowed to govern the people who built our country.]

The outlines of the election results are expected to emerge from around this afternoon, Korea time.

However, due to varying voting systems across states and numerous districts considered tight races, it has been raised that it could take more than a week to determine the majority parties in the House and Senate.

(Video reporting: Oh Jung-sik, Video editing: Jung Yong-hwa)

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[Anchor]

Let us now connect to Washington to check the current voting situation.

Reporter Jeon Byeong-nam, the U.S. can release public opinion poll results right up until the election. What is the current race outlook?

[Reporter]

Synthesizing recent analysis results from U.S. election analysis institutions, a Democratic majority in the House is practically a fait accompli.

The key is, as always, the Senate.

Seven locations, including conservative-leaning areas such as Alaska, Texas, and Iowa, are cited as core battlegrounds.

If the Democrats maintain their current seats and add just 4 more, they will secure a Senate majority.

According to the Harvard election model released today, the probability of a Democratic victory was 96% for the House and 78% for the Senate.

Among the 7 Senate battlegrounds, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, and Alaska were classified as "Democratic-leaning" regions.

An opinion poll by The New York Times the day before yesterday also projected a landslide victory for the Democrats in both the House and Senate, a so-called "blue tsunami."

Specifically, it analyzed that except for Iowa, Democratic candidates were leading across the board.

However, as we have mentioned several times, the rallying of conservative votes centered around "shy Trump" voters remains a last-minute variable.

Some states' unique electoral systems, such as Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, could also act as variables.

The early battlegrounds to gauge the direction of the Senate majority are North Carolina and Ohio, where voting closes at 9:30 a.m. Korea time.

North Carolina is a Republican seat heavily favored to be reclaimed by Democrats, and Ohio is a core battleground where a neck-and-neck race took place until the very end.

[Anchor]

Tension is reportedly lingering even in the voting regions?

[Reporter]

The U.S. Department of Justice has deployed about 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states.

The stated justification is "election fairness," which President Trump has continuously insisted upon.

The Justice Department stated, "Election fairness is our top priority," and that it would conduct "the largest-scale monitoring operations."

Interpretations are already emerging that the intent is for Attorney General Todd Blanche, a close confidant of President Trump, to gather potential problem cases in the voting process in the event of an election rout.

In response, governors—particularly those belonging to the Democratic Party—have deployed the National Guard to counter this.

With both sides effectively engaging in counter-monitoring, the possibility of clashes between monitoring personnel in battlegrounds has been raised.

Amidst this, foreign media reports have also emerged that the MAGA movement, Trump's core supporters, are considering ways to block the inauguration of successful Democratic candidates, particularly hardline progressive "Democratic Socialists."

(On-site reporting: Oh Jung-sik, Video editing: So Ji-hye, Design: Kim Na-mi)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.