. >> leann caldwell joining us.ow are voters weighing in on this, what are they making of this debate? >> hey, we'll lindsey graham is being out raising and out spent here, by watching television and all of the cam bane ads it is easy to see that graham is being out pent. the hamt of money that his challenger has for these, the latest polls show that the race is tied. something no one would have thought six months ago. he is soft among women. he is losing support, so what he is trying to do is to ensure that the republican base is really strong and backs him. that is why at last night's debate he focused not just on the kfs, but specifically on his leading role in confirming amy coney barrett. we asked voters what they thought. we spoke with a trump supporter and and this biden supporter. >> he is bound to push forward. >> i think is the right thing to do. i don't think is one thing that causes me to believe they are shipping in. i think he has been tried and true. >> there is controversy about moving forward before

joining me now from raleigh is leanne caldwell. have talked to voters who have waited in long lines to vote which is fwhad peopbad tha have to do that, but they are exercising their duty in american democracy. what have you been hearing from them? >> reporter: ali, i want to update your numbers for a second. the north carolina board of elections just minutes ago put out new numbers on totals. 16% or 17% of registered voters in the state have already voted. absentee ballots you can put in by mail and voting early has been going on for the first weekend. i'm outside the polling place in durham. the line goes down the street and stretches up to here and you see where the entrance finally is. voter enthusiasm seems to be extremely high. we also think of long lines as a form of voter suppression. in durham county, it has 14 places to go and vote today. you don't have to live in the district. you can vote anywhere. neighboring wake county where raleigh is has 20 places open. people are enthusiastic wanting to vote. that is what they have

joining me now nbc news correspondent leann caldwell. leigh ann, good morning.r getting up to talk about this. there's so much going on here. pelosi and mnuchin are still holding out hope they'll be able to do something before election day. the president has been pushing hard for that and insisting that senate republicans will go along with it. we did hear mcconnell behind closed doors and you and our team reporting that he essentially said, well, i'm not sure this is a good idea. pie don i don't want to do this before election day. how does that shake out? >> kasie, it's like watching two movies at the exact same time and not knowing how either one is going to turn out you have what's happening with pelosi and mnuchin on one hand. and then leader mcconnell admitting to his consults behind closed doors that he's encouraging the white house to wait until election day to come to some sort of an agreement with pelosi. he has said that there's just too many unknowns. he was -- in response to a member who is up for re-election in just a couple weeks who said, look, w

heard the suggestion that it came out of trump tower from anyone for the record, but let's go to leanne caldwell in charleston for us. put in perspective how close this race is. >> hey, alex. well, senator graham is in the political fight of his life. something he's never seen before. especially in this historically conservative state of south carolina. recent polls are showing that the race is tied here. something that no one thought would happen. even six months ago. but last night when they squared off at this debate, their first debate, a big focus was the nomination of supreme court justice, amy coney barrett. what jaime harrison did is he really tried to hit graham for his previous comments, saying that he would never confirm a nominee in an election year compared to what he's saying now and his critical role as head of judiciary committee. let's take a listen. >> your promise was that no judicial nominee should be considered or approved or what have you, in the last year of an election. the greatest that you could do as a public servant is to betray the trust of the people that you took a

just yesterday, but north carolina has topped a million votes cast in person and mail leann call leann caldwell is in raleigh talking to voters. what's it like there today >> reporter: so enthusiasm seems to be still extremely high polls closed for the second day of early in-person voting in 30 minutes. i'm at a place in cary, north carolina, a suburb of raleigh. i talked to the chief election judge, and she said they topped the number of voters they had yesterday today, and there's still time left. i spoke to the lot of voters about why they decided to come out and vote early, some standing in line in the rain here's what they had to say. >> i remember kind of when you couldn't vote early. so this is one of the finest hours. you can do it. get in there and cast your vote. >> for me there's something about coming in person and voting, as long as i'm physically able, i want to be able to do that, and just to really experience other people out here voting also. >> reporter: and north carolina is a huge battleground state, most political prognosticators say the president can't win the presidency u