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US presidential election: Clinton leading in early voting, says report
Almost 21 million Americans have already taken advantage of early voting in the 2016 elections, and according to reports Hillary Clinton could be leading in several swing states, insulating her somewhat from the fresh email controversy.
Almost 21 million Americans have already taken advantage of early voting in the 2016 elections, and according to reports Hillary Clinton could be leading in several swing states, insulating her somewhat from the fresh email controversy.
FBI director Jame Comey’s letter informing Congress of the discovery of fresh evidence “pertinent” to the case against Clinton’s emails blindsided the Democratic nominee’s campaign, threatening to dominate the race in its final stretch.
Her lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump had shrunk to 2.5 points in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls on Monday; and her chances of winning were pegged at 78.8% by FiveThirtyEight, down from the early 90s just a few days ago.
While the impact of Comey’s bombshell letter to congressional leaders has not yet been fully measured by a poll, a week-long tracking of voters by Washington Post and ABC ending last Saturday found no significant change in her numbers.
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But the Clinton campaign is clearly rattled as the email controversy, which has dogged her since the start of the race, has come back when Americans have already started voting and may be swayed by the rhetoric.
Trump accused Clinton of “deliberate and willful criminal conduct” at a rally on Sunday. “In the diamond business, in the coal business…they go, ‘This could be the mother lode’.” He added these could be the missing emails, 33,000 that were deleted.
The FBI did not know till Sunday the content of the emails found on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin. He is under investigation for sending explicit texts to a 15-year-old girl.
The agency acquired a warrant to look at the mails — said to be in the thousands — late on Sunday, but it is unlikely to disclose the contents or the findings of its investigation before November 8, the election day.
There is speculation that these could be duplicates of emails already handed over in connection with the probe of Clinton’s use of a private server as secretary of state from 2009 to 2012, minus 33,000 that were deemed personal and deleted.
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The New York Times reported Clinton may have weathered the blowback for now, using the campaign’s organisation network to get a slim edge over Trump in early voting, the results of which will not be known till election day.
The Times said registered Democrats were “outperforming” Republicans in Florida, Nevada and Colorado, swing states where a quarter of the electorate has already voted, and even in North Carolina, another battleground state.
Clinton has a better ground-game and her campaign has focussed on getting out the vote in the recent days with its leading surrogates. Former President Bill Clinton, for instance, is in Iowa on Tuesday to urge early voting.
Trump, on the other hand, hasn’t built much of a ground-game - as in the primaries - and is relying on local networks of the Republican Nation Committee to get out the vote for him, and to rally supporters to cast their votes early.
