Election 2020: Dueling realities about COVID-19 at Biden, Trump rallies
The images they present reinforce sharply different views of the danger.
With five days until Election Day, and President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden racing toward Nov. 3, nearly 80 million Americans have already cast their ballots -- an early voting record.
Thursday brought both Trump and Biden to Tampa, Florida, revealing how crucial the swing state is to both campaigns, with the contest overshadowed by coronavirus cases rising there and in every battleground state.
The president's aggressive, defensive strategy comes as polls show him trailing nationally and in battleground states key to his reelection hopes. First lady Melania Trump joined him for the first time. A Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, this evening was postponed due to bad weather. Vice President Mike Pence is in Iowa and Nevada.
At his Tampa rally, Biden was expected to again brand the race as a "battle for the soul of the nation" at a drive-in event, after an earlier event in Broward County. Running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris was holding a virtual voter mobilization event with the "Divine Nine" -- historically Black fraternities and sororities-- then an evening virtual rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Top headlines:
- Biden rally cut short abruptly by pouring rain
- At Iowa rally, Pence acknowledges COVID-19 cases are rising
- Biden points to diversity in Latino community for scattered polling on his support
- Melania Trump joins Trump at a rally for the first time of the 2020 cycle
- Trump campaign postpones North Carolina rally due to Zeta
- At dueling Trump and Biden rallies, dueling realities about COVID-19
DNC running mobile billboards around Trump's rally that focus on COVID-19 cases
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
Nearly 80 million have early voted in the 2020 election
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
Overview: Trump, Biden hold dueling rallies in battleground Florida
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.
Contrasting images match competing themes in final election stretch
This time next week -- give or take a few days, perhaps -- the images of the closing days of this election will be held out as evidence that of course things would turn out the way they did.
Thursday will bring both Trump and Biden to Tampa, Florida, for rallies just five days before Election Day.
Trump will draw an enormous crowd. He will almost certainly mock Biden for not doing the same -- hoping his ability to draw a crowd inspires enthusiasm among his supporters.
Biden will hold a "drive-in rally" where honks will be more prevalent than chants. He will almost certainly attack Trump for holding a massive public gathering in the midst of the pandemic -- hoping his choices match better with how voters are living their lives.
On one level, Trump and Biden have adapted their campaigns to the extraordinary circumstances of the moment. Considered another way, they are using images to say something more about themselves as leaders -- in how they view the severity of the crisis, and how a leader should act.
The numbers -- polling, early vote and even COVID-19 spikes -- point toward a favorable environment for Biden and his view of the race. Trump's political career, though, has been built on a sense that he knows better than any numbers might suggest. If nothing else, as the campaign ends, he will act like he has from the start.
-ABC News’ Political Director Rick Klein
At Iowa rally, Pence acknowledges COVID-19 cases are rising
Pence returned to Iowa this afternoon, his second visit this month, and with coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths trending up in the state, he tried to reassure Iowans that "we’ll get through this together" -- taking a different tone on the pandemic from the president's.
"And even as we're seeing cases rising in parts of the country, people of Iowa can be confident that we're going to continue -- we're going to continue to work around the clock to assure that all of our doctors and nurses have all the support they need to give any Iowa family impacted by the coronavirus the level of care we'd want for a member of our family," Pence said.
The White House coronavirus task force, which Pence leads, has placed Iowa in the "red zone" for new cases, advising Iowans to wear masks, practice social distancing and avoid large gatherings, which was not completely adhered to at Pence’s rally held on the tarmac of Des Moines International Airport. More than half of supporters were wearing masks, but there was no social distancing.
The vice president did continue to wear his mask as he walked from Air Force Two to the stage at the event, only removing it to speak, and giving an elbow bump to Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa -- facing a competitive race of her own -- who introduced him.
He closed his remarks by harkening back to Biden's warning of a "dark winter" at the last debate if the virus continues to spread, telling Iowans instead, "under President Donald Trump, the best is yet to come.”
Pence's rally in Des Moines, ahead of another rally this evening in Reno, Nevada, comes just days after at least five people in his inner circle tested positive for COVID-19. The vice president continues to test negative, according to his office.
-ABC News' Justin Gomez