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Election 2020 updates: Biden outlines plan for tackling COVID-19

"We're not learning to live with it, we're learning to die with it," he says.

ByLibby Cathey
Last Updated: October 26, 2020, 5:45 AM EDT

With 11 days to go until Election Day and President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden racing toward Nov. 3, voters have turned out in record numbers to cast their ballots early.

More than 50 million Americans have already voted in the 2020 election, reflecting an extraordinary level of participation and interest despite unprecedented barriers brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The candidates faced off in the final presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle from Belmont University in Nashville Thursday evening -- their last chance to pitch themselves to tens of millions of voters in primetime before Nov. 3.

In the final weeks of campaigning, the president has remained on defense as polls show him trailing nationally and in several battleground states key to his reelection hopes. He has two rallies in Florida today.

Biden, maintaining a lead in national polls -- his largest of the election, according to FiveThirtyEight's average -- stayed off the trail ahead of the debate, a pattern for the former vice president. On Friday, he's scheduled to deliver remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on COVID-19 and the economy.

Polls indicate a huge pre-Election-Day edge for Biden and a sizable Trump advantage among those who plan to vote on Nov. 3. Trump has sowed doubt in the mail-in ballot process -- and imminent election results -- for months.

All 50 states plus Washington, D.C., have some form of early voting underway. Check out FiveThirtyEight’s guide to voting during the COVID-19 pandemic here.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing today. All times Eastern.
Oct 23, 2020, 2:00 PM EDT

Trump takes swipe at Biden in announcing peace deal, predicts a 'great red wave'

While announcing a peace deal this afternoon between Israel and Sudan -- the third Arab country to move toward normalizing relations with the Jewish state in an election-season push by the Trump administration -- the president took a swipe at his political rival in the historic joint phone call from the Oval Office.

"Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal, Bibi?" Trump asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a speakerphone, referring to Biden.

"Well, Mr. President," Netanyahu replied, starting slowly, "one thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America, and we appreciate what you've done enormously." 

President Donald Trump speaks while on a phone call with leaders of Sudan and Israel in the Oval Office of the White House, Oct. 23, 2020, in Washington.
Alex Brandon/AP

Trump took questions from reporters following the call, and in speaking to the massive amount of early voting across the country, he predicted a “great red wave” is imminent -- "like you've never seen before."

But polls show Trump trailing Biden nationwide, and some Republicans in tight races have sought to distance themselves from the president in the homestretch to Election Day.

When asked about his debate performance last night compared to his first debate, Trump said while he thinks his approach to the second debate was “obviously a more popular way of doing it,” the first debate was more effective.

“I think the other is more effective in terms of business and life,” Trump said. “The first one. I thought I did great. There are certain groups of very aggressive people that loved the first debate. But I think this was better. This was obviously a more popular way of doing it."

-ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas

Oct 23, 2020, 1:43 PM EDT

Early voting by the numbers

With early voting having kicked off in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., at least 52 million votes have already been cast in the 2020 general election -- breaking records across the country.

In 2016, a total of 47 million early votes were cast, meaning the country has already surpassed its 2016 early voting data by roughly 5 million votes.

As of Friday at 1 p.m. an unprecedented 52,480,306 voters had already voted and at least 85,546,463 ballots had been requested in early voting states, according to the United States Elections Project, spearheaded by University of Florida's political expert Michael McDonald.

People queue to enter a polling site at the Milwaukee Public Library's Washington Park location in Milwaukee, on the first day of early voting in Wisconsin, Oct. 20, 2020.
Bing Guan/Reuters

TargetSmart, a Democratic firm that collects political data including early voting statistics, reports that 10 million voters who have already voted in the 2020 election did not participate in the 2016 election. Many of these early votes are coming from young people as well as first-time voters. Individuals under 30 years old have cast 9.1% of early votes. 

During a press conference Thursday, TargetSmart predicted there will still be an additional 40 million early votes cast as well as between 60-70 million votes cast on Election Day. The prediction is for at least 150 million ballots cast in total. In comparison, in the 2016 election, there were 138 million total votes. 

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh

Oct 23, 2020, 12:51 PM EDT

Harris defends Biden’s fossil fuel comment made during debate

Upon landing in Atlanta, Sen. Kamala Harris was asked to give her response to workers in the energy sector who might be worried about Biden's remark at the debate that his administration would transition out of the oil industry over time and end federal subsidies for fossil fuels. 

"Let’s be really clear about this. Joe Biden is not going to ban fracking," Harris said. "He is going to deal with oil subsidies but that’s -- you know the president likes to put everything out of context, but let’s be clear what Joe was talking about was banning subsidies but he will not ban fracking in America."

Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks to the press as she arrives in Atlanta, Oct. 23, 2020.
Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

Harris' defense of her running mate comes as Trump and his campaign have seized on the comment, claiming Biden has said in the past he would ban all fracking. The former vice president insists he said he would ban fracking on federal lands, not altogether.

It also comes as Trump and Biden court the battleground state of Pennsylvania, key to a pathway to the White House.

The comments are significant as Pennsylvania is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. More natural gas was fracked from Pennsylvania wells in 2019 than in any prior year, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

-ABC News' Averi Harper

Oct 23, 2020, 12:20 PM EDT

Dem candidates on the trail

Here’s where the candidates on the Democratic ticket are campaigning today:

Former Vice President Joe Biden:

Biden is slated to deliver a speech on COVID-19 and the economy at 2:30 p.m. from Wilmington, Delaware, where he's been hunkered down for the majority of the week to prepare for the debate.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.:

The California senator has landed in Atlanta and is expected to make multiple stops to encourage Georgians to vote early. In the evening, at 5:10 p.m., Harris is scheduled to participate in drive-in rally.