Synod for god and everybody to hear that he had total authority i was done it is against democracy while trump does have a sturdy base the strength of republicans coming out against him cannot be overlooked. All right its coming up to 23 actually actually gone past 2300 hours g. M. T. 6 pm on the east coast and youre watching aljazeera special coverage of the 2020 u. S. Election as you can see from the truck at the top right of your screen were about an hour from the 1st polls closing on the east coast go straight to our White House Correspondent kimberly. Kimberly the big question looming of course is when when when when will we have an election whats the feeling at the white house behind you. I can tell you that the feeling at the White House Well the president projected a lot of optimism you can tell that there is a lot of tension behind the scenes the president has been very optimistic promising that there will be a red wave that he will be able to flip states that were typically democrat leaning to republican as he didnt 2016 and hes promising that hell do that again but at the same time the u. S. President in recent days has been feeling and projecting a bit more of a realize ation that the polls the National Polls that show his challenger joe biden in the lead may be correct and as the u. S. President visited some of his supporters in Arlington Virginia earlier a few hours ago heres what he had to say. You know im not thinking about concession speech or acceptance speeches. Hopefully you will be only doing one of those 2 and you know. Winning is easy losing is never easy now for me its not. Now i can tell you that the u. S. President is in the white house behind me right now were watching very carefully to see what his movements might be we know that in the east room of the white house there is some assembly being set up what this means is really unclear will this be some sort of celebration will this be a president making a speech its really very hard to challenge so we have our eyes and ears on that hes from to see what will happen we also have our eyes and ears i dont know if you can hear those drums that are in the background there but as i look down behind me i can tell you folly that there are very large crowds growing underneath the balcony that im standing on this is block lives matter plaza it used to be the base of 16th street Lafayette Park in front of the white house but the crowds there are anticipating a celebration they are hoping donald trump will become a one term president and of course if it doesnt look like it will go in that direction the fear of course is that there will be civil unrest so thats the other thing were also watching very carefully indeed we are thank you kimberly committee White House Correspondents lets not go live to mike hanna who is in bloomington done away the home state of the democratic candidate joe biden we heard the feeling there from the white house worse a feeling where you are opinion polls have looked pretty good for the biden camp in the lead up to the next what are you looking at mike as an unpredictable aspect. Well clearly just to begin with some broking breaking news in the last fall so the governor of the moment a republican scott has just confirmed that hes. As voted for joe biden now the significance of this is that these the 1st incumbent. Republican to actually cost of vote in favor of joe biden said this in a way very significant found some polls have already closed in indiana and kentucky got the reply to the 3 biden people here keeping their eyes very closely on those polls that close in just under an hour georgia and florida these are key issues for the Biden Campaign doing well in either of those states so both of them at very good indicator about what is going to come for the rest of the night but joe biden and self in the course of the day has made very clear that he is reluctant to make any predictions however he did make very clear as well about any speculation that President Trump may announce a victory before all the results are tallied this is what joe biden had to say. Residents care. Voters a term president this is. No matter where you go to work you. Know this campaign has been largely dominated by the coronavirus pandemic and even on a minute when the results are coming in the difference between the 2 candidates on the issue is absolutely stuck here at the Biden Campaign headquarters there are mitigating measures in place massive social distancing exercise to the media kept away from the Convention Center by huge parking lots the Trump Campaign its holding a party in the trump hotel in washington hundreds of invited guests joining President Trump at the white house joe biden himself at the moment we understand hes sitting at home waiting for the results to come in so even on election day 2 very different ways of marking this important day mike hanna in a wilmington delaware now of all the important battleground states were covering and were watching tonight florida is arguably the most important to win and it has a check and Election Night history aska mosque santamaria explains down. Well we could talk about florida all day really because it is that important and it has so much history you just have to ask al gore that on our 2020 battleground map florida is very much the biggest prize with its 29. 00 Electoral College votes at stake and here is why we would call it the ultimate swing state and i mentioned al gore he ran against george w. Bush in the year 2000 the fate of that entire presidency rested on florida look at the top line the results are so close as to be unclear it took 36. 00 days plus the Supreme Court battle over the recount to eventually declare bush the winner the margin in the end was just 537. 00 votes the last 2 elections they were really close as well 2012 barack obama beats mitt romney by less than one percent and in 2016 trump is just 1. 2 percent of Hillary Clinton floridas voters they are some of the most diverse in the country 17 percent of registered voters are hispanic but in florida were talking about some Diverse Communities youve got the republican leaning cuban americans over to the democratic leaning Puerto Ricans there is also a significant Elderly Population to think about look at the 3rd line here almost a quarter of the population is over the age of 65 and these are of course the people most vulnerable to coronavirus joe biden has been spending a lot of political ad dollars to win their support here but you know it goes deeper than demographics is what if we look at the map a little closer the counties between tampa and orlando this is the i 4 highway they are traditionally seen as politically important to winning this state it is no coincidence donald trump launched his Reelection Campaign right here in orlando and biden chose the same region for his 1st trip to florida as a nominee bottom line for more than half a century barring once in 992. 00 the Sunshine State has always picked the president ial winner and all of that is why florida matters. Well for more on why florida matters in whats going on there lets bring in Andy Gallagher in miami and he said florida has a diverse population but is generally conservative leaning is there a path to victory for donald trump that doesnt include florida. It will be very difficult for the president to win the white house without florida for joe biden its a different matter so thats why this state not just because it is the biggest battleground state only california and texas has more d votes its just it is that price of the white house and the i 4 corridor that kemal was just talking about that is the road that runs east to west across the middle of the state through orlando and through tampa thats really the area that nominees have to win because youve got every kind of community through there but lots of independent and lots of swing voters places like Pinellas County so all that will be being watched very carefully now the polls are close in about 50 minutes in most of the state remember the Florida Panhandle is in a different time zone so its an hour later and 9000000 people fall have voted here early when you look at the entire count for the 2016 election it was 9 and a half 1000000 voted in their entirety so that shows you the level of and views you as im the level of concern that people have and how much at stake there is in this election but any indication from this state could be taken as an indication for how the entire country goes because of the demographic makeup of this country theres a saying here as florida goes so goes the nation so we should be getting the preliminary results here in maybe 22. 00 and a half hours and that might be the real litmus test for this antiair president ial election being watched very closely of course over the past few weeks joe biden has had the edge in all the polls but it is within the margin of error of about 3 and a quarter percent so all to play for it looks like a neck and neck tie a very very close race indeed but at least in this state things. Seem to be pretty well organized we were at a polling station this morning it was virtually empty in fact one voter came up to us and said scuse me can you tell me where the polling station is because it was so quiet that is how many people have voted early those votes are already being counted the results we hope should come in fairly quickly expected at one g. M. T. Those results say in florida thank you Andy Gallagher in miami now aside from the Coronavirus Fund demick tension over race and demands for Police Reform are hanging heavily over these elections the Police Killing of a black man george floyd in minneapolis unleashed the biggest racial protest since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960 s. Theres been reckoning with how racist portrayed in need entertainment for sent across society and reforms to Law Enforcement though not enough for those who want to defund the police elsewhere in the world people also rose up against symbols of racism and historic slavery in the u. S. Donald trump threatened and in some cases deployed force against demonstrators his message of law and order became a central theme in his Reelection Campaign george floyd was among 897 people who died at the hands of police this year more than a quarter of them were black when i speak to natasha go name who is in minneapolis minnesota a late battleground state in 2020 this is a state of course where there were protests as we said against racism and Police Violence after the killing of george floyd and president went in there with a message of law and order natasha what impact has that had and how will it play out in the way the state votes. Its clear that the black lives matter most movement energized democrats but its also clear that for other voters concerned about the pilots the looting and the rioting in minneapolis may into june voters that we spoke to. Some voters we spoke to were really concerned and for them President Trumps message as you said of law and order really resonated with them but this state has been a traditional stronghold for democratic president ial candidates President Trump has set his sights on minnesota because in 2016 he lost the state by less than 45000 votes and he viewed it as a missed opportunity but trump has 50 almost 50 years of history to undo because minnesota in that time period since 1972 has given its 10 electoral votes to a democratic president ial candidate the strategy of the Republican Party has been to try to minimize losses in progressive cities such as st paul and minneapolis and its suburbs and drive engagement and voter turnout in more conservative areas in the south and northern parts of minnesota and President Trump has been very aggressively campaigning in the state his advertisements have wallpapered the airwaves but bite into has also been here several times theyve both for most recently here on friday joe biden. Is viewed as having a lot in common with the states very favorably rated moderate governor democratic governor dip tim walz there viewed as having many similarities and they campaigned together and it was believed that tim walz might actually give biden a boost now both as they were here on friday the pandemic loomed large right now minnesota is considered a red zone because of the surge in coded by 900 cases so when trump was speaking to a crowd on friday he was lashing out at restrictions in the state that barred at the end restricted the number of. Supporters he could have it is rally he called radical democrats the reason that quote 25000 people couldnt have been at his last rally he said if biden were elected the next president there would be a National Lockdown that would be. Very bad news for Young Americans and that suicides would be on the rise meanwhile biden said that he would handle the pandemic better and he criticized tropp for making claims that doctors and nurses are profiting from covert dight teen. Natasha good name in minneapolis well lets talk more about the issue of race and its aim packed on this election back again genoud king a Republican Party analyst and cofounder of georgia speaks joining us from Sandy Springs in georgia and derek from a democratic strategist and a political analyst live from washington d. C. Im very excited to talk to you both about the specific issue of race and criminal justice which now let me start with you once again donald trump says hes done more for blacks in the u. S. And any other president besides lincoln what has he done for africanamericans in the last 4 years. Well the list can go on and on and on but well just start with the record low unemployment will start where you know the 1st step add for the thousands of individuals primarily africanamerican males from prison im due to the crazy 1904 crime bill we can talk about a. P. C. You finding we can that now so there are a species president s dont have to be for money every 2 years but now they have to answer to new year lease on that as well as he provided them additional funds i guess and would go on and on of and most importantly he provided the black community the policies right and not just rhetoric. But hes made some some rather controversial comments about africanamericans and blacks and just a few weeks ago jad kushner his advisor and son in law said you know a rather racist stereotypes about africanamericans saying that if African Americans want to be successful they have to want to be successful isnt that a problematic way to look at africanamericans well thats not what he said so thats what the media reported but what he said was that the president is an author who can do even a president that the president can want to who are you so you have to want opportunity there as well and thats what he said and thats absolutely correct right if you talk to these you know still help books and read you know some helpful or anytime you have a person who is encouraging you to do better for yourself and the 1st step to having anything is wanting it 4 years ago when you actually actually policy and think that its going to work for you derek i saw you rolling your eyes there when journalists how do you respond. Yes so a couple interesting things one the list actually isnt that very long trunk actually has not done very much for after. One when you look at unemployment it was already turning down so when he took off this unemployment for the after marriage black community was at 7. 5 percent and went down to 5. 4 percent under is administration it has gone back up to 12. 6 percent since the end demit least where we are right now so what that means is that it was already turning down with donald trump like city credit for things that he just did not do criminal justice for barack obama and was already moving that through so when trent signed the 1st step act there were already policies in place that are already moving in that direction and more importantly she was the driving force behind it there were democrats and republicans in congress that were doing that the doug collins of the world in georgia so i would i would think that you know would actually give some credit to the republicans and democrats who actually did the work on this i would also say that its a fallacy right to think that donald trump has you know this idea that. You know down trump has been a champion for issues that we care about this is not true you talked about you know the unrest the summer and when you have peaceful africanamericans black people in the streets saying that we want to insist immigration system we have a president who doesnt think civic racism is real right we have clearly makes a point now i mean donald trump doesnt think systemic racism exists in america that that is a problem in itself isnt it. Well the problem is a systemic racism exists within the Democratic Party this is a systemic racism is exactly what about the notion that the Republican Party is a racist party is that wrong. And the key word is notion so im actually in the Republican Party and im a black woman believe me the only times i experience racism is when i deal with white liberals who seem to want to educate me on the black experience so that when i do with racism or from black democrats who tell me that im not black or joe biden who calls our call our black men p