Before former President Donald Trump was set to take the stage Monday at a North Carolina rally, MSNBC cameras panned Dorton Arena, which seats 7,600, and showed empty seats and seemingly bored rallygoers . Five minutes after the rally was set to start, reporter Vaughn Hillyard said the arena in the battleground state was about 70% full.

For nine years we have talked about the enthusiasm and the masses that have come out for Trump rallies time and again, even at his politically lowest points, including in 2022, Hillyard said. But interestingly, and I cant tell you exactly why, this final week, we have seen far smaller crowds.

If the pollsters (and even astrologers) are correct, its because Trump is on a downslide as the exceedingly close race comes to a close.

And at Trumps Monday rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, it was no different. David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine, shared a photo on social media and called the arena, which has a capacity of 8,800, mostly empty .

The smaller crowd is probably a shot to the ego for Trump, who regularly brags about how big his rallies are. On Saturday night, he told a rally crowd in Greensboro, North Carolina, that hes had the biggest rallies in history of any country.

Every rally is full. You dont have any seats that are empty, Trump said.

As soon as Trump said that, a camera operator for NTD Television Network panned out to show quite a few empty seats at First Horizon Coliseum, which holds 22,000. That night, NewsNation campaign reporter Libbey Dean posted a video on social media of the arena an hour into Trumps rally. The entire back of the arena was empty.

And even though Trump packed New York Citys Madison Square Garden, which seats 19,500 , on Oct. 27, CNN producer DJ Judd pointed out on social media that people began to leave while Trump was still talking possibly because he took the stage two hours later than expected.

Trumps campaign did not respond to a request for comment.