What we know about the election results — and what we don't

The 2020 presidential contest will go on a little longer

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

Four years ago, I filed a late-night, shell-shocked column about Donald Trump's stunning triumph over Hillary Clinton. Its theme was the need for humility and contrition on the part of the country's pollsters and pundits. Election night 2020 didn't quite equal the jolt of 2016. But it is yet again an occasion to take stock of how little any of us knows and can master uncertainty.

It was always possible, even somewhat likely, that the counting would go on for days. But it was also possible that Joe Biden would win by a big enough margin that it wouldn't be necessary. He'd start the night by taking Florida. Then Georgia and North Carolina. And then his margins in key districts around the country would show sufficient strength to justify some bold predictions about the likelihood of him carrying the states that he'd need to lift him over the top. We'd know the winner by late Tuesday evening, even if the process of methodically counting every early vote and mailed-in ballot took us into Wednesday.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.