T. Belman. When Trump talks about voter fraud, I get the feeling he is not really worried about it. Perhaps he is confidant about his upcoming reelection. Why shouldn’t he be. Everything is coming up roses. Historic peace treaty soon to be signed. Nominated for two Nobel peace prizes. Pandemic is over now and deaths are greatly reduced. Economy is roaring back. Blacks and Latinos are supporting him in increasing numbers. Enjoying huge enthusiasm gap. And he is just getting started.
By Ebony Bowden, NY POST
Donald Trump AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee passed an enormous milestone this week — making contact with their 100 millionth voter through door knocking and phone banking.
The RNC says it has knocked on the doors of 12 million potential voters in battleground states since mid-June — that’s around 1 million a week — while the Biden campaign has knocked on zero.
The wildly different door-to-door strategies could make all the difference in races up and down the ballot in states like New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Michigan, which were won by razor-thin margins in 2016.
And to get there, RNC chief of staff Richard Walters told The Post, they turned to an unlikely source: Barack Obama.
“We are not secretive about our strategy when it comes to our field program. We copied Barack Obama,” Walters said.
“People made fun of him in 2012 for being a community organizer, but he organized himself into a second term,” Walters said of the Obama ground game strategy. “It’s interesting to me that Biden, who was on the winning ticket in 2008 and 2012 and was elected based on this strategy, has decided to forgo that strategy.
“We saw it work for Obama in 2012 and we saw it work for us in 2016. It’s mind-blowing that Biden isn’t doing it.”
The Trump campaign has deployed 2,000 hired staff in 22 target states and has trained another 2 million volunteers. They hope to beat Obama’s 2.2 million record before the November election.
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Walters said staffers were required to read the book “Groundbreakers: How Obama’s 2.2 Million Volunteers Transformed Campaigning in America,” which analyzes the former president’s winning field strategy in 2008 and 2012.
Volunteers reached their 100 millionth voter this week in North Carolina, a number three times larger than their 2016 effort.
The DNC and the Biden camp, meanwhile, have forgone door knocking, blaming the pandemic, and expressed confidence in their decision to reach voters through phone calls or texts.
David Bergstein, the DNC’s director of battleground state communications, called the GOP strategy “repulsive.”
“Democrats’ field programs are crushing Republicans in key metrics like vote by mail request and voter registration, and we’re reaching out to voters in a way that’s safe, effective and isn’t going to get folks sick,” Bergstein maintained.
“The approach the Republicans have taken in their field strategies regarding the pandemic is the same approach that Trump has taken: they’ve tried to ignore it, they’ve put their head in the sand, and they’ve pretended like the United States is not in the middle of a very serious pandemic,” he continued.
“That is not the kind of leadership or approach that voters are looking for right now. Their field organizing tactics are just as repulsive as the president is.”
But Walters said the Biden campaign was missing in action long before the pandemic reached US shores in February. He added that the opposing strategies between the DNC and RNC would make the difference in states like Michigan.
The Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
The GOP chairman for Lackawanna County, Pa., Lance Stange, explained how Republican volunteers are still campaigning door to door while their Democratic opponents are only doing an online campaign.AFP via Getty Images
“They will tell you that it’s because of the pandemic, but the reality is it’s because the DNC did not have the money to fund and organize an appropriate ground game,” Walters said.
“They say they don’t have anything because of the pandemic and accuse us of being irresponsible — but what did they do between January 2019 and March 2020?” he asked.
“I think that a lot of people underestimate the importance of asking an individual for their vote. Going to them and explaining what your message is and asking them to support your candidate is incredibly important.”
While Biden continues to lead in national polls, the race is tightening in battleground states. In Michigan, the RealClearPolitics polling average has Biden ahead by 4.2 percentage points, but that is half of the 8.4-point advantage he held over Trump in early June.
Biden’s campaign knocked on zero doors this week — while Trump’s hit one million
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has been dogged by reports of dwindling cash reserves in recent weeks. The president responded by saying while they still have plenty of cash on hand he would use his personal wealth to bolster the reserves if needed vowing to contribute “whatever it takes” — and was reportedly considering spending as much as $100 million in the remaining six weeks.
Biden’s campaign and the DNC announced a stunning $365 million fundraising haul in August — nearly double the $210 million that Trump and the RNC raised over the same period.
When pressed on the disparity, Walters said the money wouldn’t make a difference to Biden’s operation this late in the game.
“If the first $300 million on TV didn’t turn them out, another $100 million won’t turn them out,” he said.
“That’s why we believe if you have people directly in the communities knocking on people’s doors and turning them out, when races are won on such a small margin, that’s when it really matters.”
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