Fox News is projecting that President Obama has won the important swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, each highly sought after by both candidates in this tight presidential election.
Several other key swing states -- Virginia, Ohio, and Florida – remained too close to call. A small percentage of undecided voters in these swing states are viewed as the keys to turning the tight presidential election in favor of one candidate or the other.
Polls have shown the race has been neck and neck for weeks and exit polls on Tuesday have given no clear indication of voters’ preference. The winner needs 270 electoral votes to claim victory.
At 9:30 p.m. Republican challenger Mitt Romney had 154 electoral votes to Obama’s 153.
In states where decisive election results are available, Fox News projects that Romney has won the presidential race in Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, while President Obama has won Vermont, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
In addition to the others where results are too tight, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina are also too close to call.
One thing is clear: the economy is the key issue on voters’ minds as they headed by the millions to the polls on Tuesday. And turnout appears to be strong across the country.
Obama and Romney have made their sharply differing governing philosophies abundantly clear following months of campaign barnstorming, in acceptance speeches at their respective conventions and during three recent televised debates.
By almost every measure throughout the campaign analysts have viewed the two candidates as practically polar opposites with respect to their views on business.
If there is one broad criticism of Obama held by the business community it’s that the president failed to recognize the uncertainty that would arise from his biggest regulation proposals, whether those proposals affected Wall Street or the nation’s vast health care system.
“Businesses know they’re going to be regulated. What they can’t deal with is uncertainty,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis.
Stock markets rallied Tuesday on optimism that the election might produce a clear victory for one candidate or the other, ending months of uncertainty that have weighed on financial markets and hindered economic growth as businesses have put expansion plans on hold until after the election. However, U.S. stock-index futures pointed sharply lower in thin trading on Tuesday night. Indeed, S&P 500 futures stumbled roughly 1%.
Another theory making the rounds on Election Day was that a win by Obama would mean four more years of loose fiscal policy, a boon for stock markets. Romney has said he would not appoint Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to another term. Bernanke is the architect of the loose monetary policies that have dominated the U.S. economy since the 2008 fiscal crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 133.24 points, or 1.02%, at 13,245.68. The S&P 500 Index closed up 11.13 points, or 0.79%, at 1,428.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 12.27 points, or 0.41%, at 3,011.93.
In other significant races, Fox News has projected that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will defeat Democratic
challenger Wayne Powell to serve a 7th term in Virginia's 7th District, and Democrat Chris Murphy defeated Linda McMahon for a Connecticut Senate seat.
from foxbusiness.com
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