面对民调显示多达12个不同州的竞争，特朗普的竞选高级顾问杰森·米勒对未来持乐观态度总统竞选周日，预测一群战场州在美国南部，唐纳德·特朗普总统确保连任所需的一切都将保持红色。
“我们感觉很好。杰森·米勒在美国广播公司的“本周”节目中说:“我们认为特朗普总统将拥有他以前赢得的所有阳光地带州。”他主要指的是亚利桑那州、佛罗里达州、佐治亚州和北卡罗来纳州，这些州总共代表71张选票。
由于这种潜在的横扫，米勒告诉首席主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯，民主党提名人乔·拜登必须赢得另外四个有竞争力的州——密歇根州、明尼苏达州、宾夕法尼亚州和威斯康星州——再加上许多被认为安全的州的结果，才能阻止总统达到赢得选举所需的270张选票。
尽管公众投票显示特朗普落后，但仍有评论发表拜登在几个关键的战场州。美国广播公司新闻合作伙伴538投票平均值显示拜登在亚利桑那州、佛罗里达州、佐治亚州、北卡罗来纳州和宾夕法尼亚州占据优势，并在密歇根州和威斯康星州保持近9个百分点的领先优势——特朗普在这两个州击败了民主党总统候选人希拉里·克林顿2016年。
在“本周”节目中，米勒还提到了“红色海市蜃楼”的可能性——由于选举日现场投票计数更快，特朗普在周二晚上似乎领先。由于民主党人更有可能通过邮件投票，拜登的支持者担心总统将抢先宣布胜利。
“超过9200万美国人已经投票。斯特凡诺普洛斯指出:“这远远超过2016年投票人数的一半。"考虑到所有这些，你现在通往270的最清晰的路径是什么?"
“如果你和许多聪明的民主党人交谈，他们相信特朗普总统将在选举之夜领先，可能会获得280张选举人(选票)在这个范围内，然后他们会试图在选举后偷回来，”米勒周日上午说，误导性地暗示早期领先将保证特朗普的选举人选票，所有在选举日之后到达的选票都是无效的。
尽管许多州的法律允许在选举日之前进行投票列表，但有16个州要求计票要等到周二，还有17个州禁止在投票结束前进行投票列表。包括北卡罗来纳州和宾夕法尼亚州在内的一些州规定，周二邮戳的选票要在几天内送达县书记员和选举办公室，宾夕法尼亚州的多个县宣布，他们要到周三才会开始计算缺席结果。
米勒继续说:“我们相信，在选举之夜，我们将获得超过290张选票，因此无论他们试图做什么，无论他们试图进行什么样的hijinks或诉讼或任何类型的胡说八道，我们仍然会有足够的选票让特朗普总统连任。”他再次诋毁一些人试图确认其合法选票的过程。
爱德华多·穆尼奥斯/路透社，档案
离选举日还有两天，法宝保持着繁忙的日程。他定于周日和周一在七个不同的州参加10次集会，并可能在周二报告返回之前增加更多的旅行。
米勒在阐述他的乐观情绪时，指出了几个不同的人口群体，他认为特朗普将在这些群体中超过四年前的数据。
“特朗普总统将获得超过10%的黑人选票。我想他会得到超过20%的非裔美国男人。特朗普总统可能会获得40%的拉丁裔选票，”他说。“这些政党内部的整个人口变化——现在是一个不同的世界，乔治，这就是为什么我们要努力培养我们的支持者。我们对此感觉良好。”
根据国家标准出口民调，特朗普在2016年获得了8%的黑人选民、13%的黑人男性和28%的拉丁裔选民的支持。
米勒进一步指出，内华达州和明尼苏达州是克林顿赢得的两个州，特朗普今年可能会改变这两个州，以弥补阳光地带任何潜在的失望。
在采访中，斯特凡诺普洛斯还就特朗普在最近的竞选活动中未经证实的说法向米勒施压，称医疗保健提供商谎报新冠肺炎死亡人数以获得额外资金。
“你知道，如果有人死于COVID，我们的医生会得到更多的钱。你知道的，对吧?”总统星期五在密歇根州的一次集会上说。“我的意思是，我们的医生是非常聪明的人...所以他们会说‘对不起，但是你知道，每个人都死于COVID’"
“为什么总统一再攻击在前线工作的医生，说他们在夸大COVID号码?”斯特凡诺普洛斯问米勒。
“我认为他根本没有攻击任何人，”米勒说。“我认为已经有很多报道提出了关于计费等方面的问题。”
虽然政府确实向医院提供了额外的资金来治疗冠状病毒患者，包括今年早些时候通过救济立法为医疗保险(Medicare)受益人增加20%，但这笔钱与病例而不是死亡挂钩。此外，没有证据表明死亡人数被夸大了。
至于特朗普一再声称美国正在“扭转”这一流行病的局面——即使像斯特凡诺普洛斯指出的那样，诊断继续激增，随后住院和死亡人数的上升证明了病例的增加不仅仅是更广泛测试的结果——米勒引用疫苗的进展作为理由。
“我们正处在疫苗最终确定并准备分发的风口浪尖上，”他在总统上任近两个月后的周日表示对疫苗的交付表示乐观“也许在11月1日之前。”
米勒补充说:“我们将在今年年底完成并开始分发。”。
Trump adviser predicts Sunbelt sweep, misleads on post-election counting
Facing polls showing a competitive race in as many as a dozen different states, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller offered an optimistic outlook on thepresidential contestSunday, predicting that a group ofbattleground statesin the southern U.S. that President Donald Trump needs to secure re-election would all remain red.
"We feel very good. We think that President Trump is going to hold all the Sunbelt states that he won previously," Jason Miller said on ABC's "This Week," referring, chiefly, to Arizona, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, which represent a total of 71 electoral votes.
As a result of such a potential sweep, Miller told Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos that Democratic nominee Joe Biden would have to win four other competitive states -- Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- combined with the results of the many states considered safe, to prevent the president from reaching the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
The comments came despite public polling that shows Trump trailingBidenin several of those key battleground states. ABC News partner FiveThirtyEight'spolling averagesshow Biden holding advantages in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and maintaining nearly nine-point leads in Michigan and Wisconsin -- two of the states Trump flipped on his way to defeating Democratic presidential nomineeHillary Clintonin 2016.
On "This Week," Miller also referred to the potential for a "red mirage" -- the appearance of a Trump lead on Tuesday evening due to a quicker count of in-person Election Day votes. With Democrats more likely to cast ballots by mail,Biden supporters are concernedthe president will preemptively declare victory.
“More than 92 million Americans have already voted. That’s well over half of the number that voted in 2016,” Stephanopoulos noted. “So given all that, what is your clearest path to 270 right now?”
"If you speak with many smart Democrats, they believe that President Trump will be ahead on election night, probably getting 280 electoral (votes) somewhere in that range, and then they're going to try to steal it back after the election," Miller said Sunday morning, misleadingly suggesting that early leads would guarantee Trump electoral votes and that all ballots arriving after Election Day are invalid.
Though many states' laws allow for the tabulation of votes prior to Election Day, 16 require the count to wait until Tuesday and 17 more prevent their tabulation until polls close. A number of states, including North Carolina and Pennsylvania, provide several days for ballots postmarked by Tuesday to reach county clerk and election offices, and multiple Pennsylvania counties announced they will not begin to calculate their absentee results until Wednesday.
"We believe that we will be over 290 electoral votes on election night, so no matter what they tried to do, what kind of hijinks or lawsuits or whatever kind of nonsense they try to pull off, we're still going to have enough electoral votes to get President Trump re-elected," Miller continued, again denigrating the processes by which some may attempt to confirm their legal votes.
With two days to go until Election Day,Trumpis maintaining a busy schedule. He is slated to attend 10 rallies in seven different states on Sunday and Monday and could add more travel on Tuesday before the returns are reported.
In elaborating upon his optimism, Miller pointed to several different demographic groups with whom he believes Trump will out-perform his numbers from four years ago.
"President Trump is going to get well over 10% of the Black vote. I think he'll get over 20% of African American men. President Trump will probably get 40% of the Latino vote," he said. "The entire demographic shift within these parties -- it's a different world now, George, and that's why we're trying to turn out our supporters. We feel good about it."
According to nationalexit polls, Trump garnered the support of 8% of Black voters, 13% of Black men, and 28% of Latino voters in 2016.
Miller further identified Nevada and Minnesota as a pair of Clinton-won states Trump could flip this year to make up for any potential disappointments in the Sunbelt region.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos additionally pressed Miller on Trump's unsubstantiated claims at recent campaign events that health care providers are misreporting COVID-19 death counts to receive additional funding.
"You know, our doctors get more money if somebody dies from COVID. You know that, right?" the president said at a rally in Michigan on Friday. "I mean, our doctors are very smart people ... so what they do is they say 'I'm sorry, but you know, everybody dies of COVID.'"
"Why does the president repeatedly attack doctors working on the frontlines saying they're inflating COVID numbers?" Stephanopoulos asked Miller.
"I don't think he was attacking anybody at all," Miller said. "I think there have been a number of reports that have raised issues out there regarding billing and things like that."
While it is true that the government provides hospitals with additional funds to treat coronavirus patients, including a 20% increase for Medicare recipients created through relief legislation earlier this year, that money is pegged to cases rather than deaths. There is additionally no evidence that the death toll is being inflated.
As for Trump's repeated claims that the U.S. is "rounding the corner" on the pandemic -- even, as Stephanopoulos noted, diagnoses continue to surge and a subsequent rise in hospitalizations and deaths has proven the case increase is not solely a product of more widespread testing -- Miller cited progress on a vaccine as rationale.
"We're right there on the cusp of having this vaccine finalized and ready for distribution," he said Sunday, nearly two months after the presidentexpressed optimism about a vaccine's delivery"maybe even before Nov. 1st."
"We will have it done and start distributing it by the end of the year," Miller added.
