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

Voters head into a polling location on the last day of early voting for the 2024 election in Atlanta, Georgia. © Getty Images / Megan Varner

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

Jim 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 admitted.

According to Messina, supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump have been much more active 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.

 

Read more

 I shouldn’t have left the White House – Trump

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.” Two voting blocks, 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.

READ MORE: More rich Americans seeking foreign citizenships – CNBC

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 on Tuesday of this week.