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CORAL GABLES, Florida: Florida voters lined up outside the polls on Monday (October 19) on the first day of early voting in the battlefield state, with a record number of Americans already casting their votes in person or by mail prior to the November 3 presidential election. choice.
Republican President Donald Trump, who is running out of time to change the dynamics of a race that appears to be losing, campaigned in Arizona on Monday amid signs that Democrats were leading the rise in early voting.
In a conference call with campaign staff, Trump displayed characteristic self-confidence in describing the state of the race, despite national opinion polls showing him far behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
“We are going to win,” he said. “I wouldn’t have told you two or three weeks ago.”
Voters Jenny Hart, center, and James Hart, of Clearwater, wait in line to enter the Supervisor of Elections Office at the Pinellas County Courthouse, during early voting on October 19, 2020, in Clearwater , Florida. (Photo: Tampa Bay Times via AP / Douglas R. Clifford /)
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Trump appeared to cut off Biden’s leadership in Pennsylvania, one of the election’s biggest battlegrounds, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll released Monday. The poll found that Biden led 49 percent to 45 percent in that state, a margin three points narrower than last week. The poll also found that Biden leads in Wisconsin between 51% and 43%.
At least 30 million votes, either by mail or in person, had been registered in 44 states and Washington, DC, as of mid-afternoon Monday, according to the University of Florida’s US Elections Project.
Voters cast more than 21 percent of the overall total in 2016, when more than 136.6 million Americans voted. In 2016, there were 5.9 million early votes on October 23, 16 days before Election Day.
The increase this time has been driven by the desire of many voters to avoid the risks of the coronavirus associated with potentially long lines on Election Day on November 3. But it also seemed to reflect the enthusiasm among Democrats in particular.
Florida resident David Redmond and his wife Phyliss wait in line at the Hiawassee Library polling station as early voting begins before the election in Orlando, Florida, USA on October 19, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Octavio Jones)
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DEMOCRATIC BALLOTS IN LEAD
In states that publicly report party voter registration, nearly 54 percent of the ballots come from registered Democrats, compared with 25 percent for Republicans. Opinion polls show that the majority of Trump supporters plan to vote in person on Election Day, following months of unsubstantiated claims by Trump that absentee voting is unreliable.
Biden did not have public events on Monday, but instead recorded a 60-minute interview that CBS will broadcast on Sunday. The former vice president tested negative for the coronavirus again, his campaign said Monday.
He and Trump have a debate scheduled for Thursday, following Trump’s decision to withdraw from the debate planned last week.
The Trump campaign urged debate organizers to reconsider the issues under discussion, saying they stray too far from foreign policy. Biden’s campaign said both sides had agreed months ago to allow organizers to choose the themes.
“The Trump campaign is lying about that now because Donald Trump is afraid of facing more questions about his disastrous response to COVID,” said spokesman TJ Ducklo.
Jerry Freeman, 70, of Dunedin, leaves the Supervisor of Elections Office at the Pinellas County Courthouse after casting his ballot during early voting on October 19, 2020, in Clearwater, Forida. (Photo: Tampa Bay Times via AP / Douglas R. Clifford)
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Biden’s running mate, US Sen. Kamala Harris, urged supporters in Florida to vote early.
“This man had the opportunity to deal with (the virus) but he denied the facts, he denied the science and he lied to the American people,” Harris said of Trump in remarks to supporters at a drive-in rally in Orlando.
Social media posts showed ranks of voters in some of the 52 out of 67 Florida counties that began early voting in person on Monday, suggesting levels of enthusiasm similar to those seen in other early voting states this year.
Hundreds of people, most wearing face masks, stood in torrential rain in the morning in front of the public library in Coral Gables, a mostly Hispanic city near Miami.
Louis Perez, 57, an insurance fraud investigator, said he was voting for Biden because of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“He lied about it from the beginning,” Perez, who is not affiliated with any party, said of Trump.
Registered Republican Antonio Sánchez, an architect who came to the United States from communist Cuba, said he supported Trump because he “defends freedom” and against socialism.
“My two daughters are doctors. I don’t think this has happened anywhere other than the United States,” said Sánchez, 59.
Florida resident Valentine Lugo casts his ballot-by-mail at the Winter Garden Library voting station as early voting begins before the election in Orlando, Florida, on October 19, 2020 (Photo: Reuters / Octavio Jones) .
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Florida is widely viewed as a must-win for Trump, whose path to victory becomes thin if he loses the southern state. The state award of 29 electoral votes is tied with New York for third place, behind only California and Texas, in the race for the 270 Electoral College votes that determine the presidential winner under the American system.
A Reuters / Ipsos poll of the state from Oct. 7-14 showed Biden 49 percent support and Trump 47 percent, within the poll’s credibility range of 4 percentage points.
Trump campaigned Monday in Arizona, another battleground state. He has mocked Biden for holding fewer campaign events and limiting the number of attendees, while Biden and public health experts have attacked Trump for hosting packed rallies with few masks and little social distancing amid a pandemic that has killed nearly 220,000 Americans.
In his earlier call on Monday, Trump told his campaign staff that Americans were fed up with pandemic restrictions, even as the number of cases rises in many states, and called Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert. , a disaster”.
“People say, ‘Whatever. Leave us alone’. They are tired. People are tired of listening to Fauci and all these idiots, “said Trump, who has played down the pandemic for months.
