Donald Trump predicted greater energy among his supporters than Hillary Clinton’s would propel him to victory, while Clinton and key surrogates focus on securing battleground states including Nevada, where early-voting totals indicate a jump in Democratic enthusiasm.
“Hillary Clinton is the candidate of yesterday. We are the movement of the future,” Trump said at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, the first of four scheduled rallies by the Republican presidential nominee across four states on Saturday.
Trump, 70, repeatedly questioned the Democratic nominee’s stamina, as if psyching himself up for his own final sprint. “You need energy,” he said. “She goes home and she goes to sleep.”
The campaign’s final weekend is seeing a frenetic push from both campaigns to rally their supporters. Yet millions of Americans have already cast ballots. Early voting tallies in several states are exceeding levels of four years ago. In Florida, about 5.7 million ballots have been cast already, up 19 percent from 2012.
Marked by Trump’s repeated allegations of criminal behavior on the part of Clinton, incendiary comments about women and suggestions of a “rigged” outcome driven by the media, the contest threatens to leave a divided nation more split
Trump, who trailed Clinton during most of the general election campaign, has closed the gap in recent polls. He’s edged ahead in must-win states including North Carolina and Ohio, and is becoming more competitive in Rust Belt states including Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In Tampa, Trump said he was doing “phenomenally” well in several states, including Minnesota, which last voted for a Republican in 1972. At the same time, the Trump campaign canceled a rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, that had been planned for Sunday.
Trump for a second day mocked Clinton’s use of celebrity endorsers, including an event Friday with rapper Jay Z and singer Beyonce. “We don’t need Jay Z to fill up arenas. We do it the old-fashioned way, folks,” Trump said in Tampa.
In Nevada, critical to Trump’s chances of putting together an Electoral College majority, figures released by the Secretary of State showed a surge of Democratic support. Democrats casting ballots on Friday jumped in Clark County, the state’s most populous, amid reported high turnout by Latinos. Trump campaigned in Reno, in the state’s north, later on Saturday, and also had stops in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Denver.
The jump in Nevada’s voting came a day after the U.S. National Labor Relations Board found the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas in violation of federal law for refusing to bargain with a union. The hotel has appealed that ruling.
