As early US presidential voting ends, Democrats are seen to turn out more
Early voters number over 80 million by Monday, the day before Election Day, with women said to be the majority of those casting ballots
Roughly a third of the American electorate has cast its ballots ahead of the country’s much-anticipated Election Day on Tuesday, a method that both major presidential campaigns are embracing.
Polls suggest that the Democratic nominee, US Vice-President Kamala Harris, is narrowly leading in early voting since registered Democratic voters have a higher turnout than the Republicans, but analysts cautioned against drawing conclusions.
For one thing, there’s a drop in mail-in votes since the 2020 presidential election, but that surge was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic then. There’s also an apparent gender gap that may be skewing the results.
Finally, it is unclear whether early voters indicate a surge in turnout or are merely cannibalising the numbers who would otherwise show up at the polls on Election Day. Voting is optional and recent US presidential elections have rarely drawn more than 60 per cent of the eligible voting population, though two-thirds of the electorate voted in 2020.
Even so, as of Monday, with early voting coming to a close in most battleground states. more than 80 million of the 244 million eligible US voters had already finalised their choice, according to the University of Florida Election Lab – Harris, her Republican opponent Donald Trump or one of several third-party candidates.
