August 28, 2020: Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination from the White House. Joe Biden aired a two-minute ad during the final night of the Republican National Convention.
“According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 30 percent of registered voters said they planned to vote by mail, and 43 percent said they planned to vote in person on Election Day. But among Trump supporters, only 11 percent said they planned to vote by mail, and 66 percent said they planned to vote in person on Election Day. Among Joe Biden backers, 47 percent said they planned to vote by mail, while only 26 percent said they planned to vote in person on Election Day. (The share who said they would vote early in person was consistently 20-21 percent among all three groups: Trump supporters, Biden supporters and voters overall.)
If this holds, it would mean votes cast on Election Day would skew heavily toward Trump, and votes cast by mail would skew heavily toward Biden. This has serious implications for … well, democracy. First, Trump could argue the mail ballots (which, remember, could account for most of Biden’s votes) were fraudulent and thus should not be counted. Although it’s unlikely they’d actually be thrown out, this would damage the credibility of the election in the eyes of many Trump supporters. Second, it could mean the first votes counted on election night will be disproportionately good for Trump, who might claim victory based on incomplete returns. It might not be until days later, after a good chunk of the Democratic-leaning mail vote is counted, that Biden pulls ahead.”
– Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight
Election Updates
Joe Biden aired a two-minute ad during the final night of the Republican National Convention on major broadcast channels and Fox News. The ad, which discusses Biden’s vision for the country and does not mention Trump, will continue to run in battleground states over the weekend.
43 Alumni for Bidenshared a list of nearly 300 former Bush administration and campaign officials who have endorsed Biden. More than 100 former John McCain congressional and campaign staffers also endorsed Biden on Thursday.
Biden said on Thursday that he will resume campaign travel after Labor Day with stops planned in Arizona, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination from the White House grounds on Thursday night. He highlighted his first-term accomplishments and discussed the economy, coronavirus pandemic, protests, and public safety. Trump also called Biden “a Trojan horse for socialism.”
Trump will hold a campaign event at an airport hangar near Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Friday.
Trump will participate in a town hall with undecided voters on September 15—seven weeks before Election Day—on ABC News. George Stephanopoulos will moderate the event.
Jake Tapper interviewed Mike Pence about immigration on CNN’s State of the Union.
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