Trump eyes liberal stronghold in re-election battle
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Washington — Donald Trump’s campaign is pouring resources into winning Minnesota, betting that rising public opposition to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests will tip an historically Democratic state the president narrowly lost four years ago.
Trump won the White House in 2016, in part, on narrow victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But he trails former vice-president Joe Biden in all three. Michigan and its 16 Electoral College votes, where Republicans lost congressional races and the governor’s mansion in 2018, looks particularly out of reach.
That has got the president’s campaign working on an alternative path to re-election. His aides say one possibility is some combination of wins in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine and Nevada, states with a combined 24 Electoral College votes that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 by a thin margin. It’s a strategy to some extent forced on Trump; public disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic has weighed on his support nationwide, including in Michigan.
A public policy polling survey of Michigan conducted between August 28-29 found that 56% of voters think the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has done a better job on the outbreak, compared with 39% who think Trump’s done better.
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan have a combined 46 Electoral College votes. Winning the presidency requires 270.
Vice-President Mike Pence flew to Minnesota and Michigan on August 28, a day after the Republican National Convention ended. In Minnesota that day, six mayors from the state’s Iron Range region, long a Democratic stronghold known for iron ore mines, endorsed Trump.
Minnesota has a progressive tradition that dates back generations through its Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the US Democratic Party and has produced an outsized number of national political figures.
The state has backed a Republican for president just three times since 1932, most recently when it voted for Richard Nixon in 1972. Walter Mondale, a Minnesotan, carried his home state and no other in Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election landslide.
Cultural shift?
Yet Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said last week on a conference call with reporters that the state is “culturally shifting our way”. Barack Obama won Minnesota by 10 percentage points in 2008 and by 7.7 points in 2012; Clinton edged Trump by a slender 1.5 points.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, said on the call that the campaign had reserved $14m in television advertising to ...
Trump won the White House in 2016, in part, on narrow victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. But he trails former vice-president Joe Biden in all three. Michigan and its 16 Electoral College votes, where Republicans lost congressional races and the governor’s mansion in 2018, looks particularly out of reach.
That has got the president’s campaign working on an alternative path to re-election. His aides say one possibility is some combination of wins in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine and Nevada, states with a combined 24 Electoral College votes that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 by a thin margin. It’s a strategy to some extent forced on Trump; public disapproval of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic has weighed on his support nationwide, including in Michigan.
A public policy polling survey of Michigan conducted between August 28-29 found that 56% of voters think the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has done a better job on the outbreak, compared with 39% who think Trump’s done better.
Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan have a combined 46 Electoral College votes. Winning the presidency requires 270.
Vice-President Mike Pence flew to Minnesota and Michigan on August 28, a day after the Republican National Convention ended. In Minnesota that day, six mayors from the state’s Iron Range region, long a Democratic stronghold known for iron ore mines, endorsed Trump.
Minnesota has a progressive tradition that dates back generations through its Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the US Democratic Party and has produced an outsized number of national political figures.
The state has backed a Republican for president just three times since 1932, most recently when it voted for Richard Nixon in 1972. Walter Mondale, a Minnesotan, carried his home state and no other in Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election landslide.
Cultural shift?
Yet Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said last week on a conference call with reporters that the state is “culturally shifting our way”. Barack Obama won Minnesota by 10 percentage points in 2008 and by 7.7 points in 2012; Clinton edged Trump by a slender 1.5 points.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, said on the call that the campaign had reserved $14m in television advertising to ...