Republicans have overtaken the voting lead in Florida, erasing the early and mail-in vote deficit Democrats built up before Election Day.
Just a couple of hours after the polls opened, the Republican wave that the Trump campaign had been hoping for seemingly materialized, with Republicans coming out to vote in big numbers all over the state. With their 191,876-vote lead just hours before the polls close, Republicans have a larger advantage than the 112,911-vote margin Trump won the state by in 2016.
“GOP +1.8% on turnout by party registration so far in Florida,” FiveThirtyEight statistician Nate Silver said on Twitter. “Will probably get up to +2.0% by the end of the night though the pace of GOP gains has really slowed down.”
GOP +1.8% on turnout by party registration so far in Florida. Will probably get up to +2.0% by the end of the night though the pace of GOP gains has really slowed down. https://t.co/QDqCkWSjMc
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 3, 2020
Democrats came into Election Day with a smaller lead in mail-in and early voting than they had prior to the 2016 election despite polls showing that Democrats overwhelmingly planned to vote early and by mail.
The Trump campaign was hoping a wave of Republican voters on Election Day could help them overcome the Democrats’ lead, as polls have shown Republicans were much more likely to opt to vote on Election Day.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said Monday that the campaign expects the president to win by over 500,000 votes on Election Day.
