Trump says he thinks his base is so strong that he doesn't have to reach out to swing voters
- President Donald Trump said in a recent interview with TIME Magazine that he believes his core base of supporters is so solid, he doesn't think he needs to reach out to swing voters at all in 2020.
- The highly sophisticated operation behind Trump's re-election campaign strategy revolves around aggressive fundraising, a strong digital ad operation, and Trump's signature campaign rallies.
- Despite Trump shrugging off the idea of reaching out to swing voters, Trump campaign officials told TIME that the campaign is increasing outreach among African-Americans and Latinx voters, two groups that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
- Trump boasts a 70% approval among every key demographic in the subset of potential Republican primary voters, according to a recent Morning Consult report, but still holds an underwater approval rating.
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President Donald Trump said in a recent interview with TIME Magazine that he believes his core base of supporters is so solid, he doesn't think he needs to reach out to swing voters at all in 2020.
"I think my base is so strong, I'm not sure that I have to do that," he told TIME when asked if his campaign had a strategy in place to win over Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, including people who voted for Democrats in last year's congressional midterm elections.
The TIME piece dove into the mammoth operation behind Trump's re-election campaign strategy, which revolves around aggressive fundraising, a strong digital ad operation, and Trump's signature rallies, at which he fires up the crowd by touting his accomplishments and slamming his detractors.
Despite Trump shrugging off the idea of reaching out to Democratic or independent voters who may not have voted for him before, Trump campaign officials told TIME that the campaign still plans to reach out to American-African voters in competitive states like Florida and North Carolina to tout the administration's work passing the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill.
The campaign is also devising plans to campaign in Latinx and Hispanic communities in Nevada, a possible battleground state, and New Mexico, a solidly Democratic one, on the issue of tariffs, with one campaign official telling TIME that "the No. 1 issue driving Latino voters to like him and support him is his fight against China."
While the general election is 17 months away, Trump will first have to overcome his current underwater nationwide approval rating as well as his underwater approval in eight crucial battleground states, many of which he won in 2016, according to a recent Morning Consult report.
The same Morning Consult survey found that Trump's estimation of his support among his base is correct. He boasts a 70% approval among every key demographic in the subset of potential Republican primary voter, making him nearly maxed out in support among that group.
According to May 2019 data from Gallup, 30% of the electorate identifies as Republican, 31% identifies with the Democratic party, and 38% identify as independents. But as the Pew Research Center recently reported, an overwhelming majority of independents consistently vote with one of the two major parties.
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