Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Sunday responded to an Axios report that suggested Donald Trump is planning to prematurely declare victory on Election Night if he secures an early lead, The Hill reported.
“My response is the president is not going to steal this election,” Biden told a reporter in Philadelphia when pressed on the issue.
The Axios report claimed that Trump has been telling advisers of his alleged plan behind closed doors. Notably, he would purportedly do so even if the Electoral College numbers are still waiting on significant numbers of uncounted ballots.
Trump denied the claims in the piece shortly after. However, he still expressed concern with the collection of votes after Election Day.
“I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election. I think it’s a terrible thing when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over.”
The campaign’s communications director, Tim Murtaugh, claimed that the report is attempting to fuel doubt over a possible Trump victory. Elsewhere, campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said the head of state would be re-elected handily.
Trump’s alleged plans purportedly hinge on initial leads in several key states, including Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. In addition, Axios reported that Trump’s team is preparing to declare that mail-in votes counted after November 3 are tantamount to election fraud. As the publication noted, these votes are expected to favor Democrats.
Per The Hill , some premature counts in key states are likely to favor the president.
“Pennsylvania’s early count is likely to favor Trump because of state laws against counting mail-in ballots before Election Day. However, that margin is expected to narrow,” the publication said.
Nevertheless, The Hill highlighted that polling suggests Biden is ahead overall.
“Numerous polls show Biden leading the president in Pennsylvania. The RealClearPolitics average shows Biden leading Trump by 4 points in the state.”
As The Inquisitr reported, Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies pointed to the results of the Sunday NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll — which he helped conduct — that found that the majority of respondents who said they’re voting on Election Day supported Trump. Conversely, most respondents who said they had already voted or plan to vote early supported Biden. This finding, he said, suggests that the election is the most competitive ever for a battle that includes a candidate — Trump — who is down 10 points nationally.
