Trump claims poll lead has ‘magically disappeared’ and calls Biden late surge ‘very strange’

Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to claim his lead in “many key states” has “magically disappeared”, after it was confirmed today that Joe Biden had overtaken the current president in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Mr Trump was leading in both of the rust belt states when he prematurely declared himself the winner of this year’s presidential election on Tuesday night at a White House press conference.

The president told a room full of his family, supporters and press that counting votes “must stop” and that he would be going to the Supreme Court to demand this happen. He also claimed he had won other key states Georgia and North Carolina, when in fact both regions are yet to announce their results. 

The tweet by Mr Trump, which he shared just after 10am EST on Wednesday, is thought to be yet another ploy by the president to suggest mail-in voting is somehow fraudulent — a claim he has repeated throughout his campaign but has no evidence to verify. 

“Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key states, in almost all instances Democrat run and controlled,” Mr Trump said, before adding: “Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted.”

Mr Trump went on to tell his 87.7 million followers that Mr Biden’s late surge in the polls was “very strange”. 

Twitter labelled the announcement with a warning that “some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process”. 

Ten minutes later, Mr Trump tweeted again to emphasise his well-known skepticism about mail-in voting. “How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?” he said. 

Follow live updates in our election results blog 

As the morning progressed, the president continued to allege an unfounded voting conspiracy in Rust Belt states, tweeting that “they are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear," as well as in Michigan. He also seemed to nod towards the fact that mail-in voting totals being counted around the country, often at a delay compared with in-person votes, were revealing more support for Mr Biden than initial results suggested.

Critics have suggested the move by Mr Trump, to call into question any late votes for Mr Biden, was an inevitable strategy after declaring himself victorious late last night. 

The president is currently trailing Mr Biden in electoral college votes. At least 270 of these votes are required to secure a victory in the presidential election. Mr Biden needs at least 32 more votes, while Mr Trump has 57 votes still to win. 

If Mr Biden wins Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada, which he is currently projected to, he can afford to lose Pennsylvania to Mr Trump and still have a clear road to the White House.

Mr Trump, on the other hand, must win four battleground states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, for example) to win a second term in office.