The Donald dreams of incredible victory after he takes Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin and takes shock lead in Michigan on a night that confounded all the experts

The Trump train is cruising toward victory, and shattering a certain glass ceiling may have to wait for another era.

Donald Trump cruised to presidential victories on Tuesday night in Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, as he toppled a line of dominoes that snakes through the eastern U.S. and could end at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The take-no-prisoners Republican also led former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Michigan, and New Hampshire, as he looked to nearly run the table in 'swing' states that will determine who succeeds President Barack Obama.

As vote-counters put Ohio in Trump's win column, and took it away from Democrat Hillary Clinton – President Obama won it twice – the New York Times' live presidential forecast gave the billionaire builder an 95 per cent chance of winning the White House.

That grew to '>95%', its highest possible number.

Aides to Clinton, who hoped to become America's first female president, told Fox News that she was 'expecting a long night'. 

When North Carolina's result was set in stone, the Manhattan ballroom where Trump supporters gathered Tuesday night erupted in screams of 'USA! USA!'

As a Florida victory looked imminent, young Trump fans chanted at giant TVs: 'Call it! Call it! Call it!'

They exploded in a mass of cheers when the Sunshine State contest was declared over. A few threw their red 'Make America Great Again' hats in the air.

If Trump can hold on in other swing states, a race that was widely considered Clinton's to lose could slip out of her grasp.  

His Florida margin was less than 2 per cent. In North Carolina it was 4. Ohio became a surprising cakewalk, ending in an 11-point runaway.

Earlier, before the good news began to trickle in, a senior Trump campaign official admitted to CNN as the results poured in: 'It will take a miracle for us to win.'

When the network called the Illinois race in Clinton's favor, the crowd let out loud boos. One woman yelled. 'Lock her up!'

Other important states whose winners couldn't be projected immediately included Arizona, Michigan and Minnesota.

Millions of Americans cast votes Tuesday for the two polarizing candidates who have split much of America into warring camps.

Clinton, a former secretary of state, earned victories in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Virginia looked like a squeaker early: With 81 per cent counted, Clinton led Trump by less than 2,000 votes out of 3 million cast.

But many of the late-reporting precincts in the Old Dominion were in four counties where Democrats typically win sizable majorities.

Trump, the real estate tycoon, claimed wins in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Early projections making the rounds online and republished by the Drudge Report news website suggested that 140 million voters are participating, a new record, far exceeding the 131.4 million total in 2008.

First-time voters, in particular, are fueling the massive increase. That group is swinging toward Clinton by a 55-37 margin, according to Fox News Channel exit polls. Trump's campaign built its momentum in part on the promise of bringing a 'silent majority' out of the woodwork.  

Fully 22 per cent of Hispanic voters told pollsters that it was their first time at the polls, suggesting Trump's tortured relationship with Latinos has come back to bite him.

American presidential elections typically turn on vote totals in just 12 of the 50 states.

Trump had boasted that he can flip Michigan and Minnesota, two traditionally left-leaning enclaves, into the Republican column on the strength of an appeal to working-class voters whose jobs have disappeared since President Barack Obama took office.

America's Electoral College system provides one vote for each member of Congress, including both the Senate and the House of Representatives, plus three to represent the District of Columbia – 538 in all.

A candidate needs to claim 270 votes, the smallest possible majority, in order to win the White House.

As of 11.30pm EST, Trump's total stood at 244, compared with Clinton's 215.

Trump, a billionaire first-time candidate whose political debut was initially seen as an ego-stroking circus act, bested 16 other Republicans for the right to face Clinton, who has lived and breathed campaigns and elections for more than 40 years and had only one serious intra-party rival.

As the Clinton family waited for the results at a suite in The Peninsula hotel in Manhattan they 'noshed a little bit' from a buffet spread in the hallway that included salmon, roasted carrots, vegan pizza and fries.

Aides worked with Hillary on a speech, while her husband was not planning to speak. Also present were her daughter Chelsea, son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky and grandchildren Charlotte and Aiden.

And Huma Abedin, her right-hand woman who was out of the campaign inner circle briefly because of her pervert ex-husband Anthony Weiner sparking fresh FBI investigation into the Clinton email scandal was also present. 

At the Clinton watch party, an upbeat atmosphere soured rapidly as the scale of the Trump advance in Florida became apparent.

Source: Dailymail.uk