[WASHINGTON] President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States on Tuesday and a long night of waiting for results ahead.

The first results are trickling in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia - all states he won in 2016.

Mr Biden has captured his home state of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia and New Jersey, as well as the three electoral votes given to the US capital Washington (District of Columbia).

So far, that gives Mr Biden 57 electoral votes and Mr Trump 42. The magic number is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.

The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and The New York Times.

TRUMP (42): Indiana (11) Kentucky (8) Oklahoma (7) Tennessee (11) West Virginia (5).

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BIDEN (57): Delaware (3) District of Columbia (3) Maryland (10) Massachusetts (11) New Jersey (14) Vermont (3) Virginia (13).

AFP