Trump and Biden try to woo early US voters on Sunday

The US presidential rivals; Donald Trump and Joe Biden; will court early voters on Sunday as their campaigns step up events ahead of their final debate this week.

Trump will on Sunday head to Nevada, a battleground state where more than 100,000 voters have already cast ballots, according to state data. Trump will campaign every day leading up to Thursday’s debate in Florida, including stops in Arizona and North Carolina, campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.

Biden on Sunday heads to North Carolina, where 1.2 million voters have cast their ballots, according to state data. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, will return to the campaign trail on Monday with a visit to Florida to mark that state’s first day of early, in-person voting.

Thus far, 25.83 million people have already cast a ballot in the 3 Nov. presidential election, according to the US Elections Project, shattering records. Much early voting is due to safety concerns about the pandemic that has killed more than 218,000 Americans and infected 8.1 million others.

Democrats hold a significant advantage in early voting, largely driven by mail balloting. Of the 10.6 million mail ballots cast, 5.8 million have been cast by Democrats, according to the US Election Project, run by the University of Florida.

Trump lags in national and battleground opinion polls and the latest figures from his campaign show he also trails in fundraising as the race intensifies.