As the U.S presidential race gets increasingly tight and a new opening of an old controversy haunting her in the last week of campaigning, getting her supporters to vote appears to be a challenge for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the crucial state of Florida.
“If you get out and vote, we win. If you don’t, we lose,” she told a crowd of enthusiastic supporters at this waterfront city by Lake Monroe in central Florida. That was her third stop on Tuesday in the State. President Barack Obama will do two rallies in Florida on Wednesday.
The Democratic Party has its iconic African American Congressman John Lewis, who marched with Martin Luther King in the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s, and Sheila Jackson Lee, African American Congresswoman from Texas campaigning for Ms. Clinton in the State. “I have never seen a campaign like this, and therefore we must vote like we never did to protect what our forefathers fought hard for,” Mr. Lewis said, speaking before Ms. Clinton and specifically addressing the African American voters.
Florida, with its 29 electoral college votes, can dramatically twist the outcome of the elections – in 2000, George W. Bush won Florida by 573 votes, took all the 29 electoral college votes and won the U.S presidency against Democratic opponent Al Gore who had more popular votes nationally. All opinion polls indicate that the race is neck and neck in the State.
The focus on African Americans in Florida — and elsewhere — follows the latest assessment of the early voting trends, which suggest they are not as enthusiastic as they were for Mr. Obama in 2008 or 2012. Overall, early voting trends are reportedly favourable for Ms. Clinton, but African American participation is less than optimal according to latest analysis. “Those who would vote have already voted. I know many others who are not planning to vote. They are not keen,” said Earle Powell, a 50-year old African American at Ms. Clinton’s rally.
Sensing the same danger in Democratic leaning State of Michigan, Ms. Clinton has announced a ‘get out the vote’ campaign there on Friday. Mr. Trump has campaigned in Michigan, this week.
Early voting is open in Florida entire this week, and voting early is essential for low income voters who cannot afford to lose a day’s work by queuing up at polling booths on the election day. More than half of Florida voters vote before the election day, usually. Most attendees at the Clinton rally had already voted. “Now, you should tell your co-workers, church members, and friends and family to get out and vote,” Ms. Clinton told them.
But that is not an easy task, admitted Chris Gebbartt, a 21-year-old, who had a “millennials for Hillary” placard up throughout her speech. Unlike most of his friends who supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, Mr. Gebbart – a white man - has always been a supporter of Ms. Clinton. “I think only she can do what Bernie said should be done about college education in this country. I also think she has extraordinary experience in foreign policy,” he said. But Mr. Gebbart admitted that he is not very lucky in persuading his peers. “Many of them will end up not voting,” he said. “But I am trying.”
Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign is using the latest improvement for Mr. Trump in opinion polls to shake up her supporters into more active participation in the final week. In a mass email, the campaign said: “….the Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll has us down one point…. As of Tuesday, Trump's odds of winning had climbed to above 1-in-4, per Nate Silver's projections,” the mail said.
Mr. Silver had the most accurate projection of 2008 and 2012 outcomes though he predicted this year that Mr. Trump would not win the Republican nomination.
“And he (Mr. Trump) seems to be making up ground in Florida, according to a whole slew of polls. The truth is that Trump has a real, viable path to 270 electoral votes,” the campaign mail said, asking its supporters to contribute money or volunteer for mobilising early voting. 26 million people have already voted, and going by the trend, this year’s early voting will exceed the 2012 figure of 30 percent.
