Georgia Set To Shatter Trump’s Hope On Upturning Biden’s Victory

The US state of Georgia, one of the key battleground states in the 2020 presidential election is expected on Thursday to affirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump.

The affirmation, following a manual recount would deal yet another setback to Trump’s scattershot efforts to hold on to power.

Georgia’s top election official, a Republican, has said a labor-intensive hand recount likely will not erode the initial 14,000 vote margin enough to hand Biden a victory in the state.

That would leave Trump with a dwindling number of options as he tries to overturn the results of an election in which he drew 5.8 million fewer votes than Biden nationwide.

To remain in office, Trump would need to overturn results in at least three large states to flip the results of the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.

Biden has captured 306 electoral-college votes to Trump’s 232.

Trump’s campaign has met with little success so far.

In Wisconsin, election officials say a partial recount underway in the state’s largest Democratic-leaning counties probably will likely add to Biden’s 20,000-vote margin.

Trump’s campaign can request another recount in Georgia after that state certifies its vote tally, expected to be on Friday.

In Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump’s lawyers have met with a string of defeats as they argue those states should declare Trump the winner.

Biden leads Trump in Michigan by 158,000 votes. He also leads him by 83,000 votes in Pennsylvania.

Trump campaign’s legal motions, sprinkled with factual errors, have been dismissed by Biden’s campaign as “theatrics” that are not based on sound law.

Several prominent law firms have pulled out of the operation, leaving Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to spearhead the efforts.

State and federal election officials, as well as outside experts, say Trump’s argument the election was stolen from him by widespread voter fraud has no basis in fact.

However, it does appear to be affecting public confidence in American democracy.

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday found about half of Republicans believe Trump “rightfully won” the election.