Patience. We’re almost there.

Posted 10.50am UK time

A little under forty-eight hours ago, I wrote that Joe Biden is clearly favored to win the presidential election. This still remains the case, with Donald Trump’s remaining hopes of victory slipping by the hour. Here is where the race stands as of Friday morning.

Biden has just taken the lead in Georgia, a crucial piece in the president’s red wall. With a current margin of under one tenth of one per cent (or just over one thousand votes), that race is likely heading for a recount. For now, the Democrat is ahead in enough states to win 286 electoral college votes.

Trump has been making up ground in Arizona, albeit not quite at the rate he needs. Meanwhile, Biden has expanded his lead in Nevada, where the outstanding vote appears likely to break in favor of the Democrat. However, neither Arizona, Georgia or Nevada will even matter if Biden can win in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s lead has now fallen to under twenty thousand votes. About a quarter of a million ballots remain to be counted in that state, the vast majority of which are absentee votes from Democratic areas.

Let’s wait and see what happens, but it looks increasingly clear that Donald Trump needs nothing short of a miracle to stay in office.