Trump's reelection strategy hinges on his ability to animate his most loyal supporters with fears of a Democratic administration, motivating them to show up at the polls and attempting to turn away moderates who might be leaning toward voting for Joe Biden. (File photo)Complications pummeled Ohio Republicans this week as they sought to put up a united front headed into the GOP’s national convention.
One of their best-known politicians threw his support behind Democrat Joe Biden, their Republican state attorney general challenged the Trump administration, and the president took on an iconic Ohio company in an area of the state where loyalties to job security ran higher than to party four years ago.
With early voting set to begin in less than seven weeks, Democrats are enthused about their possibilities in a state crucial to Trump, one he carried by 8 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016. It’s a striking turnaround for a party that just last year was wondering if the one-time swing state had moved out of its reach.
Democrats have seen progress since Trump faced Clinton in the 2018 mid-term voting and 2019 local elections, including in key suburban areas.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump
President Donald Trump spent the week of the Democratic National Convention forsaking what has historically been an incumbent's greatest advantage: He's in the job his challenger wants.
Traditionally, an incumbent would devote the week of his rival's convention to bolstering his own credentials as a leader. But rather than focusing on his command of the job or using its power, Trump hit the campaign trail, where he flouted his own administration's pandemic safety guidance and expressed gratitude for support from adherents to an extremist conspiracy theory, QAnon.
It was a consequence of Trump's unwillingness to share the limelight, but also a necessary attempt to shift the November campaign from a referendum on his job performance to a choice between himself and Joe Biden. Ten weeks out from Election Day, as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged Trump's reelection chances, aides have recognized that a vote on his presidency is not one he is likely to win. (AP)