Democrats show strength in battlegrounds’ early voting

Hillary Clinton appears to be displaying strength in the crucial battleground states of North Carolina and Florida among voters casting ballots before Election Day, and may also be building an early vote advantage in Arizona and Colorado.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, appears to be holding ground in Ohio, Iowa and Georgia. Those are important states for Trump, but not sufficient for him to win the presidency if he loses Florida or North Carolina.

“The Trump campaign should be concerned,” said Scott Tranter, co-founder of Optimus, a Republican data analytics firm. His firm’s analysis suggests a “strong final showing for the Clinton campaign” in early voting.

Early voting — by mail or at polling stations — is off to a fast start. More than 4.4 million votes have been cast already, far outpacing the rate for this period in 2012. Balloting is underway in 34 out of 37 early-voting states.

In all, more than 45 million people are expected to vote before Election Day, representing as much as 40 percent of all votes cast.

Some states report the party affiliations of early voters, as well as breakdowns by race and gender that can provide clues to voters’ leanings.

In North Carolina, Republicans held a modest lead based on mail-in ballots returned, but that was at a much narrower margin than in 2012, when Mitt Romney narrowly won the state.

In Florida, a record 3.1 million people have requested ballots, more than one-third of the total voters in 2012, and Democrats have requested almost as many ballots as Republican.

Early voting is surging in Arizona, another state Trump can’t afford to lose. Arizona has long been reliably Republican. More than 1.9 million ballts have been requested and 36,000 returned.

In Colorado, Democrats led 43 percent to 30 percent among the 15,280 ballots returned by late Thursday.