Vern Evans
With election day on the horizon, early voting participation and the latest polling show the presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris as a toss-up.
As of the end of October, 76 million Americans had already cast their vote in the 2024 general election. According to a report at NBC News, about 41% of early votes so far were cast by Republicans, 39% by Democrats and 20% by others.
That’s a great contrast to the early vote in the 2020 election when Democrats cast about 45% of the votes compared to Republicans’ 31%. Such a surge of early voting by Republicans might seem to give the former president and Republicans in tight U.S. House and Senate elections a small lead at this time.
However, the latest round of polling by major polling organizations shows a somewhat different story, according to a report at theepochtimes.com. The latest poll from NBC News shows a dead heat in head-to-head polling, with Trump and Harris both getting 49%, while an ABC News-Ipsos poll shows Harris with a 49% to 46% lead.
Of course, key battleground states will be what pushes one candidate or the other over the top on Election Day. While a poll from Atlas Intel showed Trump winning across the board in all seven swing states, with the margins ranging from 1 point in Wisconsin to as many as 6.5 points in Nevada, a New York Times/Sienna poll showed Harris ahead by 3 points in Nevada, 2 points in North Carolina, 2 points in Wisconsin and 1 point in Georgia. That poll also showed Trump leading Harris by 3 points in Arizona, and the two tied in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
What does this all mean for America’s lawful gun owners? In a nutshell, it means none of us can sit out this election and simply hope for the best.
Back in early October, the National Shooting Sports Foundation pointed out that more than 10 million hunters and Second Amendment supporters still had not registered to vote. That leaves those of us who are registered and haven’t yet cast our ballot to help pull the weight of those who didn’t get registered on time.
As we’ve reported here several times in the past, the two candidates for president have vastly different views concerning private gun ownership and the Second Amendment. Harris has never met a gun-control schemer she doesn’t like, while Trump was a solid gun rights supporter during his first four years in the White House. There is no question that if Second Amendment rights is a top concern of yours as a voter, Trump is the choice.
Nobody knows more about Harris’ records on guns and gun control than the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) since the Golden State is where Harris began her political career. From supporting a complete ban on handguns as San Francisco district attorney to pushing for confiscation of so-called “assault weapons” during the 2020 presidential race, Harris is a clear and present danger to gun owners. To see CRPA’s press guide on Harris’ gun control history, click here.
Trump, on the other hand, appointed dozens of pro-2A federal judges during his first term and could do so again, bolstering courts throughout the land with pro-rights judges. And he has promised to again support gun rights if elected.
“The NRA has stood with me from the very beginning, and with your vote I will stand strong for your rights and liberties,” he said at an NRA gathering in May. “In four more years in the White House, we’re going to do things like nobody can believe to turn our country around. We’re going to, quite simply, make America great again! We’re going to win this election at levels that nobody’s ever seen before.”
Even left-leaning publications, in trying to discredit Trump on the gun issue, have managed to tout his 2A credentials.
In the end, it’s likely that gun owners will be key to who holds the presidency for the next four years. Don’t miss your chance to practice another one of your critical rights—voting.
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