WASHINGTON: Even though experts warn that the data is difficult to interpret, more than 57 million US voters have already cast ballots for the 2024 election, breaking records in some states and leading both sides to hope it gives them an advantage.
In opinion polls, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are tied, even in the seven battleground states that frequently decide close elections in the United States.
Tim Walz, her running mate, President Joe Biden, and former President Barack Obama have all already registered to vote thanks to Harris’s campaign’s push for early voting.
Prior to his embrace of early voting, Trump had expressed doubts about its fairness without providing any evidence. Now, however, he supports it and encourages his supporters to vote whenever it suits them. As of Thursday, approximately 62 million people had already cast ballots, accounting for nearly 40% of the 2020 total.
According to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, more than 3.5 million people, or 45 percent of registered voters, had cast ballots in Georgia, a record. He added that he anticipates that up to 70% of Georgians will cast their ballots early in this election.
Several other swing states, including North Carolina, face similar circumstances.
On the first day of early voting in Wisconsin, a 73-year-old police officer named Brad Hines waited in line to cast his vote in person.
He stated that it was an “important election” for the state of “democracy,” adding, “I wanted to get in and get my vote done and then let everybody else know that they should do the same thing.”
Gender gap According to Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer, “There is a strong intensity to how voters feel about the candidates, and after 2020, states really strengthened and improved early voting processes.”
The large number of early votes assists crusades with centering their endeavors, said Michael McDonald, a political researcher at the College of Florida who is intently observing early democratic.
He stated on a podcast, “Everyone of these early voters is someone they scratch off their lists, and every voter they scratch off their lists, they don’t have to contact that person anymore.” However, he cautioned that it was difficult to project outcomes at this point.
