This election is going to be up to women

It’s E-6 days.

Days to election: 6 as of Wednesday

Votes already cast: > 75 million. (That’s more than a third of registered voters. See where your state ranks.)

Final CNN national poll before Election Day: Biden – 54% / Trump – 42%

This is not a national race, obviously, so these numbers are maybe less important right now than certain battleground state polls. But they confirm Democrats are voting early, while Republicans are waiting to vote. Look here:

Those who said they had already voted: Biden – 64% / Trump – 34%

Those who said they’re voting Election Day: Biden – 36% / Trump – 59%

Wrong track. Read this from the report by CNN’s Jenn Agiesta: Only about 4 in 10 Americans say things are going well in the country right now (39%). That figure has only dipped lower twice in re-election years since 1980: In 1992 (35% going well) and in 1980 (32% going well).

Historical note. What 1992 (George H.W. Bush) and 1980 (Jimmy Carter) have in common are incumbents who lost bids for reelection.

Elections are referendums on incumbents. So it’s important for incumbents to have compelling stories about their success. Trump tried to do that Tuesday when a White House office issued a list of his accomplishments as President.

They included “Ending the Covid-19 Pandemic.”

Latest on Covid. We’ll soon approach 100,000 daily new infections. So, no, it’s not over. Read more.

Kushner on tape. Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner told Bob Woodward in April that Trump was essentially rescuing the country from doctors. Many people have died since then. Read more.

Anonymous no more. We learned today that Anonymous is a former top official at the DHS, and a CNN analyst since September. Read more.

Are you better off? The most important measure of success for most Americans might be the economy, and Trump argues he was on pace to have the best US economy ever before the pandemic hit. CNN’s Annalyn Kurtz and Tal Yellin put together a detailed map to Trump’s economy.

The story he should be telling is focused on median incomes, housing and the stock market. Instead, he makes inaccurate claims about manufacturing jobs and more.

The debt is huge. The most interesting chart, to me, in Annalyn and Tal’s story is the spiking national debt. Can we talk about the fact that none of the politicians are talking about the national debt right now? Republicans want to cut taxes and Democrats want new programs. But, holy smokes, that chart in the story above is incredible.

Bold prediction. If Republicans lose the White House, they’ll suddenly find the gospel of raising concern about the debt again.

Women are propelling Biden

In that new CNN poll, men are split: Biden 47% and Trump 48%.

Trump won 52% of men in 2016, according to exit polls that year, so he’s underperforming there.

But women break heavily for Biden, 61% to Trump’s 37%.

And Biden is doing better with women than Hillary Clinton did. She won 54% of women, according to 2016 exit polls.

The top candidates are two old White men, but there’s a lot to suggest it’s female voters who hold the key to this election, including that Trump keeps openly asking suburban women for their votes. His new riff on this came Tuesday, when he argued he’s gotten their husbands jobs.

That’s a dubious claim and it could draw attention to the fact that the Covid shutdown has been harder on women in the workplace than men. Read more from Paul LeBlanc.

It’s Biden whose message — which is largely being the anti-Trump — has resonated more with women. Look at this chart in a story by CNN’s Fredreka Schouten and reported in conjunction with the Center for Responsive Politics about how women are donating to Biden’s campaign.

It will be interesting, as the history books are written, to see how Trump’s nomination of a woman to the Supreme Court who could be the vote to overturn Roe v. Wade will affect turnout among women.

Can’t wait for Tuesday, when all these questions will start to be answered.

It’s too late to send back mail-in ballots in most places. Find another way to vote.

Voting by mail? USPS says it needs seven days to safely deliver ballots.

We’re six days to the election (as of Wednesday).

Bottom line: If you’ve got a mail-in ballot, you probably shouldn’t mail it. If you haven’t requested a mail-in ballot, it may be too late to count on one arriving in time, even though some states still allow those asks.

Kathy Boockvar, the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday that even though Pennsylvania can count mail-in ballots received up until November 6 (three days after Election Day), she’d rather people just drop their ballots off.

“At this point, we’re a week out, right? We’ve all heard of stories of ballots being delayed in the mail. I don’t want anybody to lose their opportunity to vote, so I want every voter who has the ability to drop it off in person,” Boockvar said.

Voters in most places can also deliver their ballots directly to their election offices to sidestep any potential mail delays. There’s usually also the option to vote early or on Election Day.

In states that allow the counting of ballots received after Election Day — including the battleground states of Ohio, Iowa and Nevada — it’s still possible to use the postal system and be outside that seven-day recommended time period. But the mail-in window is about closed. There are other options.

CNN’s voter guide is here.

A list of which states will accept mail-in ballots after Election Day is here.

Still, the USPS is dealing with a lot of ballots. CNN’s Paul Murphy has been keeping track of their efforts to get them delivered on time.

• USPS created a national election task force and local election task forces that are composed of local managers and union officials.
• These local task forces meet daily; the national election mail task force meets every Thursday.
• USPS has told local managers they are “authorized and expected” to use extraordinary measures to “accelerate the delivery of ballots” until November 24.
• Local managers are expected to take ballots that arrive at post offices (from mail carriers picking them up or voters dropping them off in letter collection boxes) and have them postmarked, then deliver them directly to election offices.
• In some instances, they’re doing this multiple times a day.

Note: The Wall Street Journal tracked average delivery times for first-class mail in key states and found them at six days in nearly every state that requires ballots to be received by Election Day.

New data. The Postal Service submitted data to a federal court Tuesday as part of a case related to election mail and reported mixed results — a lower score for election mail headed to voters and an improved score for mail headed from voters to election offices.

Verify receipt. It is essential, if you mailed your ballot, to make sure it was received, either by tracking it online or calling your local election office.