General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEarly Voting Bombshell Results
Watching Andrea Mitchell on Friday I was irritated by her rather smug response when a number of analysts predicted that there would be record shattering numbers out over the weekend. One of the symptoms of diabetes 2 folks is that we get irritated. One of the symptoms of watching Andrea Mitchell is that you will get irritated.
She asked, "but isn't it the case as in the past when Democrats get enthused they vote early but all they are doing is voting early and cannibalizing the election day votes"?
One of the analysts responded, "that has been a pattern in the past but we are seeing two things; Democratic early voting is up 600% over 2016, which was a high number but, even more significantly, states that track party affiliation of early voting are showing 15% to 20% of the Democratic votes to date are from people who did not vote in 2016".
Ms. Mitchell looked at the camera in a look that could only be described as "gob smacked".
Here are two articles that are confirming the basic facts:
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/18/924182086/early-voting-analysis-historic-turnout-drives-long-lines-administrative-errors
https://www.axios.com/early-voting-2020-election-biden-trump-23599e0c-c8c9-4e4d-b4fb-e6a221478a13.html
Here are some of the consensus projections.
So far 25 million votes have been cast versus 3 million at the same time in 2016.
They are projecting that 53% of the votes are Democratic, 36% Republican and 11% non affiliated. If we use the 2:1 ratio that poles are showing that independent voters are supporting Biden then the voting would be about 60% Biden 40% Trump.
But here is the most stunning fact: Between 15 and 20 percent of the Democratic vote are voters that did not vote in 2016. Only 7% of the Republican votes are voters that did not vote in 2016, and it should be safe to assume that some of those voters are Lincoln Project Republicans who didn't like Trump then, didn't like Trump now but like Biden more than Clinton. I know a few of those Republicans who passed in 2016 but have already voted for Biden.
Assuming that all of the new Democratic voters are voting for Biden and generously assuming that all of the new Republican voters are voting for Trump, then we can extrapolate the following:
Additional Democratic voters that did not vote in 2016 but have already voted:
2 million new Democratic Votes
Additional Republican voters that did not vote in 2016 but have already voted:
600,000
Assuming that the independents are split 50/50 (and they most likely are not) the current vote appears to be
Biden 15 million
Trump 10 million
This is a fantastic start.
Some other key take aways:
Notably, African American voters make up a larger share of early voters than in 2016. More than six times as many African American voters have voted early this year than had at the same point in the last presidential election, according to TargetSmart.
Polling data have indicated for months that Democrats have intended to vote earlier at much higher rates than Republicans, who were reacting to President Trump's near-constant false claims that voting by mail would lead to widespread fraud.
But lines have been the exception across the country overall, not the rule. And there's also optimism that precincts that have struggled with lines will start to see them ease as early voting continues.
Gwinnett County, Ga., for instance, was reporting lengthy waits this past week at a number of precincts, but by Friday afternoon, the county's online wait tracker showed no wait longer than 90 minutes.
In North Carolina, nearly 1 in 5 ballots cast so far come from those who didnt vote in 2016," said Greg Speed, president of America Votes.
24.9 million ballots have already been cast. In key states like Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Iowa, more than a quarter of the total number of ballots that were cast in 2016 have already been received.
59% of first-time voters who already cast ballots in Pennsylvania are registered Democrats, compared to the just 15% who are registered Republicans. Democratic first-time voters were just barely outvoting Republicans (40% to 38%) at this point in 2016.
In Florida, registered Democrats' lead over registered Republicans among first-time voters has grown by nearly 10 percentage points compared to 2016.
"I can't help but look at this data with the lens of Trump telling Republicans so consistently that vote-by-mail is a scam," Josh Mendelsohn, CEO of Michael Bloomberg's data firm Hawkfish, told Axios. "That distrust it bears out in this data."
Bottom line is that Trump's bluster has motivated Democratic voters like no one else could, Dems that voted and those that sat home in 2016 are jamming the early voting process.
The Magistrate
(96,043 posts)Useful information.
kiri
(967 posts)plweazse note that 'poles' do not vote. Mostly they hold things up. Polls do not vote either. Poles are citizens of Poland. Sadly Poland has become an authoritarian theocracy.
It is a weird thing: To polish, vs Polish. The accent is strategic.
Laffy Kat
(16,948 posts)She should have retired years ago. She is annoying to watch.
kimbutgar
(27,227 posts)ailsagirl
(24,287 posts)OrlandoDem2
(3,234 posts)DownriverDem
(7,010 posts)will show up on election day? I would think they would rather vote absentee.
central scrutinizer
(12,652 posts)Forgotten but not gone
tavernier
(14,432 posts)I happen to know this because its also my birthday. Same day same year as Mrs Greenspan. Ugh. But we are complete opposites in every way.
ailsagirl
(24,287 posts)Budi
(15,325 posts)COVID is a big motivator among many of Trump's threats to Ametican society.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)Those are likely Democratic votes, as mentioned in the OP. Therefore it's important to get that return rate and turnout as high as possible. It's going to be a net gain.
I have seen very little discussion about the non-affiliated numbers. The one that pleases me so far is that non-affiliated return rate in Pennsylvania so far is higher than the Republican return rate.
Not many states track the percentage of new voters. North Carolina does. It is 22.3% so far, but not broken down by party.
There are some who are pretending that everything has to be glowing cheerleader mode. Sorry, that's not the real world and it does a disservice. The two aspects that need to improve are Hispanic participation and young voter participation. Michael McDonald writes weekly summary analysis of the early vote on this site. So far the October 18 update is not there:
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html
dalton99a
(94,051 posts)mopinko
(73,672 posts)recent dx, and boy howdy have i been cranky. been giving ppl hard times like its fu halloween. but that lady has been on my nerves for the last 5 yrs.
buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males. buttery males.
boy would i love to smack her w my shalalie.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)of first time voters that were too young to vote in 2016, and that's good news.
BannonsLiver
(20,544 posts)Ignore the pseudo expert doomers!
bucolic_frolic
(55,018 posts)well, you know, they can rely on cheating.
Indykatie
(3,868 posts)It has each state's Early Vote data with analyses based on party registration (if available), whether they are 1st time or frequent voters, age , gender, an estimate for Dem vs GOP votes etc etc. You can even drill down to the County level. I have already spent too many hours on the site. The site also has comparisons for the 2016 and 2018 elections which I really like. One State surprised me though, Texas. The GOP is outpacing Dems at this stage with over 3 Million votes cast through Saturday. I expected Dems to be in the lead there. Does that seem weird to anyone else?
https://targetearly.targetsmart.com
kansasobama
(1,750 posts)COVID did take a toll in Texas. Some senior hard-core GOP will vote for Trump even from a COVID ventilator. You have to see them. That may be why. However, what we are hoping for a 2% shift to Biden- a few seniors who are scared of COVID.
Tommymac
(7,334 posts)Example: 1 Location for voting in Houston area. That has to be slowing the Dem vote #'s down.
Texas was always going to be a hard one to take this cycle. 2 or 3 in the future Texas will go Blue for sure.
But We are close and a Tsunami year wierd t hings can happen, so I'm glad Joe is taking advantage of the opportunity in Texas.
Trueblue Texan
(4,426 posts)...only one mail-in ballot drop off box per county, including Harris county, where Houston is located.
LisaL
(47,418 posts)TX allows multiple early voting location per county, if one votes in person.
BComplex
(9,895 posts)more determined.
Count on it.
Chasing Dreams
(525 posts)Targetearly is modeling Texas, just like any poll. It is an estimate, and probably a bad one. Here's their language
⚠️Partisanship predictions are not intended to predict specific votes cast or election outcomes.
The states that actually report early vote by party are: CA, CO, FL, IA, KS, KY, MD, ME, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, OK, PA, SD
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html
So the Texas numbers merely reflect old expectations...go Dems!
Indykatie
(3,868 posts)vercetti2021
(10,481 posts)I thought Texas didn't count totals under election day. 3 mil more? Sounds like horseshit
Indykatie
(3,868 posts)This data point seems to put much of that concern to bed. PA, WI and MI are the States I'm tracking closely. That's the ball game if Joe wins those 3 states/
"59% of first-time voters who already cast ballots in Pennsylvania are registered Democrats, compared to the just 15% who are registered Republicans. Democratic first-time voters were just barely outvoting Republicans (40% to 38%) at this point in 2016".
Dopers_Greed
(2,647 posts)The last time it was comparable was Obama in 2008.
kansasobama
(1,750 posts)I am looking at requested ballots. Am I missing something? It looks bad actually. Only 31% in Detroit area?
catbyte
(39,112 posts)https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/05/michigan-voters-request-absentee-ballots/3622759001/
https://www.clickondetroit.com/decision-2020/2020/10/13/benson-nearly-1-million-have-returned-absentee-ballots-in-michigan/
catbyte
(39,112 posts)uponit7771
(93,532 posts)... shit like that looking at the ballots so I'm going to the poll 2 hours early.
I know I'm not going to be the only one
uponit7771
(93,532 posts)Rizen
(1,075 posts)For Dems of course.
Upthevibe
(10,171 posts)She's treated Hillary horribly over the years.
Rice4VP
(1,235 posts)on these long lines for some other reason. How is she surprised by this? Virginia started this trend with the long lines last month.
I keep a running tally of swing states from data on that Early voting website. Democrats are 2:1 (in person + mail) in North Carolina.
https://electproject.github.io/Early-Vote-2020G/index.html
panader0
(25,816 posts)NoRoadUntravelled
(2,626 posts)I wonder if tRump will be arrested before he has a chance to leave the country.
SleeplessinSoCal
(10,411 posts)... appointing a religious extremist to the SCOTUS to replace RBG is sickening. I didn't realize that Merrick Garland is a Jew. But Republicans dig up yet another Catholic.
Meanwhile they are the minority in this fight to save democracy.
Gallup. As of May 2020, Gallup polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, 25% identified as Republican, and 40% as Independent.
hellno45
(67 posts)if only they would have voted 4 yrs ago.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)Retrograde
(11,416 posts)I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean: votes are votes and there's nothing special about what day they were cast. Is this another example of the MSM trying to create a horse race?
LisaL
(47,418 posts)I know what they mean by it, if early voters would have voted on election day anyways, it's hard to claim that more democrats during early voting actually means democrats have an advantage.
not_the_one
(2,227 posts)The votes reported that night will NOT include a LOT of mail-in votes. It may take another week to count them all. But the turd wants to declare victory by 10 pm election night, so any votes after the vote he reports will be part of the "rigging" of the election. It is part of his set up to take it to the supreme court.
So a lot of republicans will be waiting to vote until election day, to bump up his numbers that will be reported the night of the election.
So early voting is "cannibalizing" the votes he wants to use to declare his victory. Or that is how Ms. Greenspan sees it...
LisaL
(47,418 posts)She meant that democrats might be voting in large numbers early, but they would have voted during an election anyway.
So all early voting did is moved up when democrats voted, and doesn't mean more democrats will end up voting during the whole election period.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)show an increase in the overall vote.
If you have the same number of votes but only getting them in earlier you are not increasing your vote
This year is different
lindysalsagal
(22,902 posts)We may be ok.
padah513
(2,710 posts)Fingers crossed though.
PatrickforO
(15,420 posts)People all across this nation are galvanized.
We've got to get this man OUT of office. His entire party - Moscow Mitch and the rest of the Tea Party know-nothings who have aided and abetted Trump in perpetrating his crimes against this republic.
Cha
(318,799 posts)needs to be gob smacked to hell.
she needs serious karma.
warmfeet
(3,321 posts)Keep it going, we want a blowout of epic proportions.
GOTV.
Oh, and not just Joe and Kamala - we have voted for Democrats up and down the ticket.
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