The Republican victory came as a staggering surprise for many, including some progressive media pundits, because the polls had predicted a very tight race, and there were even concerns of a slow, painful and acrimonious vote count if Mr. Trump didn't win the race, but, in fact, CNN and other media networks soon declared a sweeping victory for the Republican party, starting in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, on election night. But unlike in Ronald Reagan's landslide victory over Jimmy Carter in 1980, the Democrats have remained united under the leadership of Kamala Harris and have won 226 electoral votes in their traditional strongholds of New York, New England, Illinois, the West Coast etc. To understand how the American people have voted, and how Mr. Trump has won the popular vote with small but crucial gains in various social groups across the nation, you can read the BBC News article "How Small Gains Delivered Trump a Big Win" (Nov. 8th). This article analyses data with many charts, so its difficulty is not so much linguistic as contextual (learners lack the necessary background information) and it requires basic chart literacy skills, so, it can be recommended for B2+/C1 students and above, who will find interesting words like: to deliver [a gain], to land [a presidency, a job etc], to tip the balance, a swing [towards Trump], pervasive, to outline, to tally [votes], to do the trick, the battleground, to survey, to flip, a stark [difference], to cut through, to cast [a ballot].
If you want to read further, you can check out CNN's article "8 Takeaways From the 2024 Election" (Nov. 6th), which is more demanding in terms of syntax, vocabulary choice, density of information and cultural knowledge (Amercian politics) so, it is recommended for C2 students and Experts, who will encounter interesting vocabulary like: a takeaway, dire [warnings], the blue wall, to romp, to near-mirror, [to be] poised [to return to office], to ease [his path], to tally [results], to slip [into], musings, an edge [to hold], a glass ceiling [to shatter], a [significant gender] split, to back [Harris], to propel, the GOP, a tie-breaking [vote], to fall short, a long shot, to buck a trend, neck-and-neck, to step down, an incumbent, hamstrung, bipartisan, [to be] on the chopping block, to be off the table, to uproot, to dole out, a [governing] trifecta, a bleak [night], to mine [votes], a stronghold, to chew on, soul searching, finger-pointing, a razor thin [race], to drag on, to court [men], to pay off, to be deep underwater, gerrymandering.