The Trump campaign’s push for constituents to vote early may be paying off, as more Republicans and fewer Democrats are voting early.
It’s a smaller early-vote lead for Democrats and a bigger turnout for Republicans compared to the 2020 election, which is cutting into the Democrats’ usual early-voting advantage.
States in which voters can register by party saw 42 percent of early votes coming from registered Democrats, while 35 percent were from registered Republicans, according to USA Today. 23 percent of early voters were non-party. In the 2020 election, Democrats cast 45 percent of their votes early while only 31 percent of Republican votes were cast early. That year, 24 percent were non-party voters.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Early voting is underway NOW, so when the polls open tomorrow, don’t wait. Go immediately– If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing!" pic.twitter.com/Ceus1pHWNr
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 9, 2024
In three key swing states, more registered Republicans have cast votes early than Democrats: Arizona, Nevada and California, according to Bloomberg.
It’s worth noting, however, that just because a voter is registered Republican or Democrat doesn’t necessarily mean they will vote for their party’s candidate.
As of Saturday, nearly 40 million people have voted early, either in person or by mail-in ballot, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.
In the past, Trump took a hard stance against early voting due to what he described as a strong potential for voter fraud.
But as noted in a Wednesday interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, Trump has changed his views on the subject.
President Trump is voting early, and you can too. I’ll be voting early on Tuesday. It’s safe, and it will help the GOP Win!
— John James (@JohnJamesMI) October 26, 2024
Learn more at https://t.co/37pygBRyGr pic.twitter.com/1mf1OamIUQ
“Well, you know, it’s interesting. I really feel I am very mixed. I have the old standard of the Tuesday vote and all,” Trump said. “The main thing is that you’ve got to vote. You’ve got to vote.
“Voting early, I guess, would be good, but people have different feelings about it, but the main thing is you’ve got to get out and you’ve got to vote, and I’ll be voting early.”
Republicans’ green lighting of early voting has spilled into state elections as well, it seems.
Take Texas for example, where incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz faces Democrat Representative Colin Allred.
Data analyst Derek Ryan shared polling data with Newsweek regarding early voting results in Texas.
Ryan is the founder of Ryan Data & Research, a political consulting company.
“Through day three of early voting, more voters with a Republican primary history have voted so far compared to voters with a Democratic primary voting history, and more than voters who have only participated in general elections,” Ryan said.
