Election 2020: Dueling realities about COVID-19 at Biden, Trump rallies

For the first time in the 2020 race both presidential candidates will actively campaign in the same state on the same day to court the all-important senior and Latino votes in the swing state of Florida. Latinos, in particular, are expected to make up the largest minority group in the 2020 electorate.

While Florida isn’t a must-win state for Biden, Trump generating strong numbers among Latino voters in Florida strengthens his path to the state’s 29 electoral votes, which he won in 2016 by just 1 percentage point.

And a new NBC News/Marist poll in Florida out today shows Biden trailing Trump by six-points in support from the Latino community, though he still maintains a slight edge nationally.

Because of GOP ground efforts, Republicans have out-registered Democrats in the state -- and the Trump campaign is hoping his firm anti-lockdown stance might appeal to some working class Latinos and turn out more support for the president. Stumping to Latino voters in Arizona Wednesday, Trump talked about the "American Dream Plan," a new plan targeted toward Latino and Hispanic communities nationwide that he’s expected to tout again today. 

But the Biden campaign is pushing back on that notion that Trump is ahead with Latinos in Florida, arguing in a call with reporters this morning that internal numbers show Biden on par with the support former President Barack Obama had in 2012 and claiming that samples of Latinos in external polling aren’t representative of the actual Latino community.

When asked by ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega what specifics it is taking issue with in the Marist/NBC poll, the campaign argued the polling only sampled a small portion of the community and weighted the results.

“I think pollsters often times... see our community as a monolith. And I think campaigns, up until ours have done the same," said Julie Chavez-Rodriguez, Biden’s Deputy campaign manager. 

While the NBC poll shows Trump ahead with Latinos and Biden up with seniors, an ABC News poll of Florida voters just one month ago found the exact opposite -- with Biden up 13 points with Latinos and Trump up eight points with senior voters.

With both Trump and Biden hitting the trail in Tampa this afternoon, Democrats -- hoping to divert attention from Trump's rival rally -- are circling the president's venue with counterprogramming highlighting what they view as his failed response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In new billboards that are set to be unveiled at the Raymond James Stadium, the Democratic National Committee blames the president for his handling of the virus, which it contends has led to more than 16,500 deaths in Florida alone and more than a million lost jobs in the state.

"COVID cases are spiking. This administration failed us," a mobile billboard deployed by the Democratic National Committee reads. The DNC also set up a digital billboard two miles south of the stadium to target a wider swath of potential Democratic voters.

"We’re delivering a message to voters in Tampa they won’t be able to miss: Trump’s failed, incompetent coronavirus response has cost too many Floridians their lives and livelihoods," said DNC Chair Tom Perez. "Floridians of every political persuasion will hold him accountable for this record of failure and his years of broken promises by following through on their plan to vote and making him a one-term president."

It's not just Trump the DNC is trolling, billboards are also set for Reno to greet Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday.

-ABC News' Kendall Karson

With early voting having kicked off in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., nearly 80 million votes have already been cast in the 2020 general election as early voting data continues to break records across the country. Another 90,938,299 ballots have been requested in early voting states, according to the United States Elections Project, spearheaded by University of Florida's political expert Michael McDonald.

Nationwide, voters have cast 57% of the total votes counted in the 2016 election and significantly surpassed its 2016 early voting data with five days until Nov. 3.

TargetSmart, a Democratic firm that collects political data including early voting statistics, reported that as of Monday, voters who did not participate in the 2016 election have accounted for 25.6% of early ballots cast nationally.

The firm has also predicted at least 150 million ballots will be cast in the 2020 election. In comparison, there were 138 million total votes cast in the 2016 election.

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh

Even as markets plunge and a new surge in coronavirus cases sweeps the country -- with some states imposing new restrictions -- Trump continues to close his reelection campaign by urging largely maskless crowds of supporters to dismiss the evidence -- insisting the nation is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic -- and to take his word that the economy is swiftly recovering.

The president is expected to continue that message today with campaign rallies in Florida and North Carolina -- states he won in 2016 -- seeking to defend his electoral map to a potential win. For the first time in the 2020 cycle, first lady Melania Trump will join her husband on the trail, attempting to bring an appeal to suburban women, a demographic Trump is struggling with.

He's also expected to tout the gross domestic product (GDP) report out this morning showing the economy grew at an annual rate of 33.1% during the third quarter -- the largest ever quarterly growth in data -- but this figure comes on the heels of the biggest drop ever when the economy shrank 31.4% as the country shut down.

Like the president, Biden is also in the Sunshine State vying for Florida’s 29 electoral votes -- hosting drive-in rallies in Broward County and Tampa.

The two will appear just hours apart in Tampa, near the western end of the I-4 corridor -- the interstate that cuts through the middle of Florida from Dayton Beach through Orlando and down to St. Petersburg -- that's thought to be a bellwether region in the swing state. It's the first time both candidates have actively campaigned in the same state on the same day in the presidential race.

Biden's has framed his closing argument to voters on responsible pandemic management, acknowledging to voters Wednesday that even if he’s elected, the path to normal won’t be like "flipping a switch." He has also hammered his plan for a national strategy to beat the virus and tried to set an example by wearing a mask and holding drive-in rallies to maintain social distancing. 

The former vice president heads later this week to three more states Trump won in 2016 -- Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan -- where he’ll hold a drive-in rally Saturday with former President Barack Obama, their first joint appearance of 2020.

Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris will participate in a virtual voter mobilization event with the Divine Nine -- known formally as the National Pan-Hellenic Council and consisting of nine historically Black fraternities and sororities, including Alpha Kappa Alpha which Harris joined at Howard University. In the evening, she has a virtual rally with another former Democratic primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. as the ticket makes its final pitch to more progressive voters. 

Pence speaks at campaign rallies in Des Moines, Iowa, and Reno, Nevada -- a state which Hillary Clinton won by only 2.5 points in 2016 as Republicans seek to maintain their map and potentially pick up the Copper State.