The better-than-expected turnout in early voting by registered Democrats puts a new level of pressure on Republicans to turn out their base voters on the final day of voting, January 5.
“We’ve always known we need a big Election Day,” said one of the operatives. “It is the same as the General (Election).”
Meanwhile, Democrats agree that their early turnout pace is encouraging. They point to long lines at early voting locations in places like Cobb County, a Democratic stronghold that delivered a 15-point win for Joe Biden as well as impressive turnout among diverse voter groups.
“We are pleased with the level of energy and excitement, especially given how often pundits were discounting the likelihood of Democrats performing in a runoff,” said former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who has played an active role in the Democratic campaigns.
“According to the current analysis we are running even or ahead of where we were in 2020 November election, but we know that this is just the beginning we still have to get to Election Day and I don’t count anything until it’s done,” Abrams said. “But we are incredibly enthusiastic not only about African American turnout, but we have seen increases among Latino and API voters.”
While Republicans understand that they will have some ground to make up on the final day of voting, they still believe it’s an achievable goal — the Republican National Committee has invested millions of dollars into a ground game, mimicking the one used during the general election. They are also hopeful Trump’s last-minute visit to the state Monday will help encourage his diehard supporters to take the time to vote on January 5.
“(Election Day) is hugely important,” said another Republican operative. “Democrats have banked a lot more of their high propensity voters early. We need our base to turn out on Election Day in a big way. The President’s visit on Monday will hopefully go a long way to getting our base out.”