in exactly one week's time voters in
america will be deciding who the next
president of the united states will be
this election has already proved
remarkable for the record number of
postal votes and
early voting going on in many states
while the democratic candidate joe biden
is currently leading president trump in
the national polls that doesn't
guarantee victory
the race is very much still on as our
north america editor john sopel explains
from one of the states being watched
very closely georgia
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one week to go and joe biden has georgia
of all places
on his mind no democrat has won here in
decades
yet polls suggest this once rock solid
republican state
is there for the taking
though famous southern hospitality was
markedly absent from the hundreds of
trump supporters
who lined the roads leading to where he
was speaking
and look at the difference between this
and a trump rally
social distancing strictly maintained
don't move out of your white circle
masks not an option i run to unite this
nation
and to heal this nation i've said that
from the beginning
is badly necessary so where are we with
the 2020 race between donald trump and
joe biden
in terms of national polls joe biden's
been enjoying a significant lead
across the country latest averages
suggest that he's as much as
10 points up over donald trump but in
u.s elections
national polls are slightly meaningless
remember in 2016
hillary clinton won the popular vote by
3 million
and still lost the presidency to donald
trump
the key to this election is what happens
in the swing states
joe biden has a steady lead in wisconsin
michigan and pennsylvania the three
northern industrial states
that propelled donald trump to victory
in 2016
but he's also level or ahead in iowa
georgia north carolina and arizona
and it's the same picture in florida and
texas
and were joe biden to win one of those
last two states
it's hard to see how donald trump can
win the remarkable phenomenon about this
election
is early voting in 2016 135 million
americans
cast the ballot in the presidential
election with a week to go
so far more than 60 million americans
have already voted
and that means if turnout remains the
same well nearly half of americans
have already voted what's also
astonishing is the number of young
people who voted early
in 2016 in michigan 7 000 people aged
between 18
and 29 went to the polls before polling
day
this time round it's over 140 000
so far in other words a 20-fold
increase and it's a similar story in
florida
and north carolina and in georgia
that number is 31 000 in 2016.
it's already 170 000 this year
these are numbers thought to favor the
democrats massively
but donald trump says he's confident
that next tuesday there'll be a red wave
of his supporters coming to vote
that will propel him to victory he's
doing multiple rallies per day
today he's on route to michigan
wisconsin and nebraska
now i've got to say i'm working my ass
off here
and there's a sophisticated data mining
operation that takes place at these
events
ensuring that everyone who attends is
also registered to vote
this was his successful 2016 playbook
i just want to update you on the early
voting here in georgia two-thirds of the
total turnout from 2016
have voted in texas it's 82 percent
that is giving democrats cause for
optimism
but this time four years ago with a week
before polling
democrats were similarly optimistic and
we know what happened
a week later rita john thank you john
sopel there and for our clear and simple
guide to the u.s election
explaining how it works and allowing you
to enter certain words and phrases to
find out more
please go to the bbc news website that's
at bbc dot co dot uk forward slash news
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