Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Sunday that an election day “surge” of Republicans voting in person is going to ensure President Donald Trump’s reelection.
“COVID has changed things, so it has pulled a lot of Democrat Election Day voters into that absentee and early-vote category,” McDaniel told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan. “And Republicans are wanting to vote on election day, in person, and cast their ballot that way.”
“So we feel very strong that we have a surge coming on election day,” McDaniel continued, saying the Republicans have built an election day force of “2.5 million volunteers and 3,000 staff on the ground” who are “contacting these voters right now, all weekend, through the next few days, to make sure they turn out to vote.” (RELATED: Pollster: Trump On Track For Reelection With ‘Hidden’ Voter Support)
“The margins are going to be based on that election day turnout, and Republicans will have a surge that day. We’re going to have that and that’s why we’re going to win.”
The chairwoman insisted Republican voters have been waiting to vote “because they really want to vote in person” and because they are distrustful of mail-in voting.
“It’s been interesting … this year as we’ve surveyed our voters. A vast majority of them want to vote in person. They want to make sure that their vote counts. They’re not completely trusting of the mail ballot system, and so they’ve made that very clear.”
When asked by Brennan what the Republicans view as their path to a presidential victory, McDaniel responded that Trump will have to start off by capturing Florida where she says the GOP has taken “the lead in early voting” and “erase the deficit we had with absentee ballots. As early voting becomes available to our voters, they’re doing it.”
McDaniel suggested a positive outcome for Republicans in Florida could predict success in other battleground states and early in-person voting has already made up for absentee ballots cast by Democrats. (RELATED: Conservative Watchdog: Media Coverage Overwhelmingly Negative For Trump, Positive For Biden)
Supporters watch as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, U.S., Oct. 30, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
She said Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s energy policies will hurt him in swing states like Pennsylvania. “When Joe Biden says ‘I’m going to eliminate oil and gas,’ people in the midwest are cold. We don’t want to pay more for gas and for heating costs.”
Although Biden claimed during the last presidential debate that he has never opposed fracking, he did so during the Democratic presidential candidate debates.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week, more than 40% of both Trump and Biden supporters are not prepared to accept the defeat of their candidate in next week’s presidential election.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls has Biden leading the race by 7.2%.