Georgia's nearly 4 million early votes bode well for Trump, top state Republican says

"It's been record turnout, something unbelievable - voting from all across the state," Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones told Fox News Digital. "I think the enthusiasm, the momentum, is with President Trump."

The former commander in chief lost Georgia by less than 1% in 2020, and Republicans have poured enormous time and resources into winning it back Nov. 5.

A significant part of that strategy has been convincing people to cast ballots early, traditionally a voting method more favored by Democrats.

And both parties' emphasis on early voting has had a seismic effect. During the early voting period between Oct. 15 and Nov. 1, nearly 4 million Georgians cast in-person or absentee ballots, more than half the state's active voters.

Both of those factors, Jones argued, were favorable indicators for the ex-president.

"You start breaking down where they live, where they were historically as far as the Republican cards they pulled in the past, and, like I said, the on-the-ground enthusiasm for [Trump] right now is pretty off the charts."

Asked why he believes some of Trump's base did not turn out in 2020 but is voting now, Jones said, "I'll be honest with you. I think that there are a lot of people that just felt like, you know, the president had the win in the bag in 2020.

"Sometimes I wonder if that false sense of security might have hurt us back in 2020."

Nonetheless, it will likely be tough to get a full picture of how well Republicans' early voting strategy has paid off until after Election Day.

According to Georgia Votes, Hispanic voters make up the largest share of those who voted early in 2024 but did not vote at all in 2020, making up 37.6% of that number.

That's followed by Asian voters at 33.7%, Black voters at 19.1% and White voters at 17.7%.

Roughly 72% of people who voted early in 2024 also did so in 2020 - about 2.6 million people.

About 8.3%, just over 305,000 people, voted early in 2024 after voting on Election Day in 2020.