CNN anchor Jake Tapper surprised after Independent voters in Georgia give Donald Trump 20-point swing

CNN anchor Jake Tapper looked stunned after hearing early election results in Georgia are favoring Donald Trump. 

After CNN political director David Chalian told Tapper that Independent voters in Georgia favored Trump by 54 percent to 43 percent, according to exit polls, the anchor was shocked.

Four years ago, the exit poll showed Joe Biden leading Trump by nine points among Independents. 

But preliminary results showed Trump up 11 points with the crucial voter group in the Peach State – a staggering 20-point swing to Trump this time.

‘Wow!’ Tapper exclaimed. 

Jake Tapper was shocked to hear that Donald Trump was surging early among Georgia independent voters

‘That independent swing is wild,’ he said.

‘Some headwinds for Harris in these exit polls.’

Notably, President Biden flipped Georgia to the Democrats for the first time in a presidential election since 1992 when Bill Clinton won. 

Tapper’s co-host Chris Wallace was equally stunned by the Georgia results. 

‘I’m trying to figure out why,’ Wallace said, adding he was at ‘a loss as to how you would explain’ it. 

With 36 per cent of the vote counted, Trump was ahead 57 per cent to 43 per cent. 

A CNN exit poll shows that independents in Georgia have swung towards Trump by 11 points after siding with Biden by nine in 2020

Voters arrive at a polling station to cast their ballots for the presidential and congressional elections in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States on November 5, 2024

Initial totals have shown Trump with an early lead.

However bomb threats throughout the Atlanta area have delayed the closure of polling locations, meaning counting will go late. 

Fulton County and DeKalb County were impacted by bomb threats, according to local authorities.

Earlier in the day, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that Russians were involved in unsubstantiated bomb threats on polling sites that forced them to shutter as the threats were investigated. 

A DeKalb County judge has since ordered polling locations in the area to be opened for additional time following the bomb threats.