The Republican National Committee (RNC) and Donald Trump’s campaign touted early voting and absentee ballot numbers during a phone call with reporters on Tuesday, suggesting the Republicans have momentum heading into the general election in just seven days.
“We’re outperforming Mitt Romney,” Trump’s Deputy Campaign Manager David Bossie told reporters, adding that Democrats are underperforming President Obama’s numbers.
He noted that Democrats usually have high early voting numbers, but historically, Republicans make up the difference with turnout on election day.
“The Trump campaign is on the offensive and we’re expanding our map,” Bossie touted, adding that they are also expanding into “blue states like Michigan and New Mexico.”
The campaign said Trump’s path to victory on Nov. 8 includes winning North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, and Iowa.
RNC Political Director Chris Carr also joined the call, telling reporters, “The momentum is definitely with Mr. Trump right now.”
Carr noted that in Arizona, Republicans currently have an edge in total ballots cast by more than 45,000 votes.
Romney won Arizona in 2012, but Hillary Clinton currently leads Trump by less than one percent, according to the Real Clear Politics average.
In Florida, Carr noted, “Republicans are outperforming at this point in 2012, while Democrats are seeing a drop in early voting participation.”
“Republicans are returning ballots at a much better rate,” he added about absentee ballots. “Republicans now have returned 72,000 more ballots than Democrats to date.”
“Of the total ballots cast in Florida today, Republicans continue to hold a slight lead…by a margin of 16,460,” Carr touted.
He described North Carolina as a state where Democrats will fall short. Republicans are turning out more in North Carolina than they did in 2012 for early votes, but Republicans trail Democrats by 234,000 ballots.
In 2012, Republicans trailed Democrats by 307,000 ballots cast to date, but Romney still won.
“Romney was still able to carry the state on election day,” Carr noted about North Carolina. “At this point, it looks like Democrats will fall significantly short of hitting that firewall.”
The numbers detailed per state during the phone call with reporters reflect the number of registered voters per party, not the actual voting results.
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