Paulding Co. Presidential Election Results: Still Trump Country

DALLAS-HIRAM, GA — As the nation continues to wait on several key states to determine which presidential candidate will take control of the White House, President Donald Trump again had the support of Paulding County on Tuesday just as he did in 2016 when he defeated Hillary Clinton by nearly 28 percentage points.

Like other key states on Wednesday, Georgia remains undecided officially as does Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. But while it remains undetermined whether Trump performed well enough in the Peach State to keep its run of supporting Republican candidates intact, Paulding voters stuck true to form much like they did four years ago.

According to local election data, Trump gained more votes than he did four years ago when he collected 44,646 votes, for roughly 69 percent. On Tuesday, Trump garnered 54,460 votes or 63.87 percent of the vote as compared to 29,658 votes for challenger Joe Biden, who gainly only nearly 35 percent of the county vote. According to Paulding County elections officials, 85,600 ballots were cast.

Tuesday's vote climaxed a heated battle for control of the White House, unfolding during a pandemic that killed nearly a quarter of a million Americans before Election Day. Despite Trump claiming victory in Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said just before noon on Wednesday that the state still has 200,000 absentee ballots and 43,000 early votes to count, according to WSB-TV.

In a 2:20 a.m. speech in the White House, Trump claimed victory in Georgia and said the election is a fraud that requires U.S. Supreme Court action. Biden, meanwhile, has said he expects to win the race, and none of the national news organizations have called Georgia for either candidate.

Trump had struggled to overcome polling deficits in key states in the campaign’s final days. He ran strong as expected in rural areas, but lost support among other critical voting groups, including suburban women in several battleground states.

CNN reported in October that polling put Biden up by 25 points among women voters. According to the final 2016 pre-election polls, Clinton won women voters by 13 points among likely voters and 14 points among registered voters.