Early voting numbers ‘scary’ for Harris – former Obama campaign manager

Republicans “do have an advantage,” Jim Messina has acknowledged

The early voting numbers in the US presidential election look “scary” for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, former US President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina has said.

Messina made the warning on Sunday, during an interview with MSNBC host and former White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

“Early vote numbers are a little scary,” he said.

According to the former Obama campaign manager, supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump have been much more active this time compared to the previous election.

“Republicans did not do what they did last time. Last time, Trump said: ‘Do not early vote,’ and so they did not. Republicans do have an advantage in early vote numbers. When the early vote comes in, it is going to look a little bit different than 2020,” he said.

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The early voting figures have “led lots of your friends and my friends to call me panicking,” Messina told Psaki.

However, he stressed that Harris’ campaign also has grounds to be “very, very happy.” It is because two voting blocks that are believed to be crucial for the Democratic candidate are “coming big,” the former campaign manager explained.

Women make up more than a half of the early voters and “in the past ten days, young voters in these battleground states are coming out in what looks to be... historic numbers,” Messina explained.

According to NBC’s figures, 76.2 million mail-in and early in-person votes have already been cast across the US.

Among those who voted early, 41% are Democrats and 39% are Republicans, with the party affiliation of the remaining 20% unknown.

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However, more Republicans cast their ballots in four out of the seven battleground states, with the margin being the largest in Arizona: 42% to 33%.

NBC’s figures suggest that among the early voters, 53% were females and 20% those aged between 18 and 39 years. Election day in the US is Tuesday, November 5.