Trump maintains 'aggressive pace' into Election Day
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is hitting key battleground states in the final hours before Tuesday's election. His campaign says he is even planning at least one rally on Election Day before his campaign gathering in New York City Tuesday night.
Eyewitness News participated in a conference call with top Trump and Republican Party staffers over the final weekend of the campaign. Jason Miller, Trump's chief communications chief, told reporters Trump's energy and enthusiasm is resonating with voters in several key states.
On Sunday, Trump campaigned in Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia. On Monday, he has scheduled events in Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire and again in Pennsylvania. It's a strategy Miller calls aggressive.
Trump's campaign dismisses recent polling as "lagging behind the current climate," with data it considers days old and does not reflect the closing gap republican data contends is evident in states like Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, and even Virginia.
Republican party officials contend that early and absentee voting data in key swing states such as Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio shows that Republican voters are casting ballots in higher numbers than they did during the 2012 race between then-nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.
Miller also told reporters that it is Trump's message about "the economy and trade" that is making the difference with late deciders.
Republican Party officials also suggested that a "historic voter outreach campaign" has helped. They said that staffers and volunteers have knocked on 16.3 million doors since the beginning of the 2016 campaign cycle, and since the start of early voting made 12 million phone calls to prospective voters. Those calls totaled as many as 2.5 million over the final weekend alone.
As of late Sunday, his public schedule did not indicate any campaign rallies after Trump's appearance with his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, in New Hampshire Monday night. But on the conference call, the campaign indicated there would be a final event on Election Day in Pennsylvania, a key swing state worth twenty electoral votes. It takes 270 to win the presidency.
