Medved: Fear of low voter turnout may be misplaced as Georgia breaks record

Georgia, a pivotal battleground state, broke early voting records on Tuesday with more than 250,000 ballots cast, state election officials reported.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, confirmed that more than 300,000 votes had been recorded by the end of the day.

“Spectacular turnout,” Sterling posted on social media. “We are running out of adjectives for this.”

Tuesday’s turnout was 123% higher than the previous record, according to Sterling.

On “The Gee and Ursula Show,” political commentator Michael Medved suggested that initial fears of low turnout might be misplaced.

“It may be an indication that some of the fears about the election having a low turnout and people not going ahead and voting, that those fears are not justified,” he said.

He pointed out that when Joe Biden was the Democratic standard-bearer, there was a lack of enthusiasm, leading to predictions of low turnout.

“Now the question is, if they do have a high turnout, as they did last time, does that end up helping Harris or Trump or neither of them, because the polls are so close,” Medved added.

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Medved also referenced a piece by Ezra Klein in The New York Times, which advises against over-reliance on polls.

“Do yourself a favor,” he quoted Klein. “Don’t pay too much attention to the polls.”

Medved emphasized that actual votes are more substantial than poll predictions.

“Yes, exactly paying attention to is different from the polls, and it’s more substantial, yes, these are actual votes,” he said.

Discussing the challenges pollsters face, Medved acknowledged their efforts but noted that polls are merely snapshots that can change, especially in the final weeks.

“People change,” he said. “Sometimes. In the last two weeks, they change.”

Medved highlighted complications in polling this year, noting that adjustments are being made to avoid undercounting Trump supporters, as happened in 2016 and 2020.

“They have fiddled with the polls in terms of trying to make sure that they don’t have what happened,” he explained. “Happened in 2016 and 2020 in both those years, they undercounted the support for Trump.”

This could mean the polls are more accurate or potentially biased towards Trump.

“It could indicate that they are deliberately tilting the polls in a Trumpy direction,” Medved suggested.

Looking ahead, Medved believes Republicans must reconcile with the MAGA movement to recover and thrive.

“Republicans are going to have to try to come to terms with MAGA,” he said.

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He argued the party needs to embrace traditional conservative values and policies, such as the Constitution, Reagan conservatism and a foreign policy of peace through strength.

“Unless they embrace all of those things that have been traditional and really essential as part of the conservative identity and the Republican identity, the party won’t recover,” Medved asserted.

Medved also commented on the influence of the MAGA hierarchy, describing it as opportunistic.

“The hierarchy of the MAGA World is opportunistic, and I think that nothing will cure that influence of that group, as much as a resounding and unequivocal victory for the other side,” he said.

Despite his criticisms, Medved expressed respect for the sincerity and decency of voters, even those he believes are wrong about Trump.

“Voters are sincere and they’re honest and they’re decent, despite the fact that I think they might be wrong about Trump,” he concluded.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.