‘A Nation Divided’ How the world’s media is reacting to Donald Trump vs Joe Biden

The New York Times led with the ongoing uncertainty about who has won the election, calling the US "a nation in tumult". It also highlighted the high level of turnout. 

The right-leaning New York Post, which had endorsed President Trump earlier in the week, had this to say:

Meanwhile, The Boston Globe highlighted the three key swing states that are likely to decide who the final victor is in what has turned out to be an extremely tight race.

Swing states were also a focus for The Wall Street Journal, which also looked at how race, the economy and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic had split voters. It added that whoever prevails, the US "remains divided".

USA Today described a "tense" nation that was waiting to see what would happen next. 

And finally, the Los Angeles Times — ‘Boarded up and stressed out in LA’: 

The UK

November 4’s edition of The Daily Telegraph reflects on the a massive turnout that was seen as America went to the polls, with many states quickly surpassing their 2016 voting numbers.

The Independent branded the past four years of Trump’s presidency as "divisive" and "filled with investigations, accusations, protests… and more than enough tweets".

It reflected on how the result of the election will be decided by whether America "wants four more [years]" of a leadership easily characterised by its thrills and spills.

Meanwhile The Times spoke to the almost existential nature of the poll, opting for the headline "America decides its fate" in a dispatch from Washington taking in comments by both Trump and Biden immediately before they learned of the outcome.

Europe

French national newspaper Le Monde ran with the headline: "Trump-Biden: The US tears itself apart." It’s lead editorial described the country as a "democracy in danger".

Picking up on fears of violence, Belgian daily De Morgen pitched three possible outcomes of the ongoing election: "Biden, Trump, or chaos?"

 Acknowledging that the final result may take several days to become clear, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant declared: "America must have patience".

German national paper Die Welt also focused on the lack of a clear winner so far, with a montage picture cutting together sections of portraits of both candidates.