It’s no surprise that Trump has alienated voters and insulted even his own party, but that should’ve been expected. What we shouldn’t have expected was that his $916 million dollar loss from his 1995 tax return would be uncovered and that he wouldn’t have anything to say to defend himself other than threatening to sue the newspaper for what he insists is “illegally obtained” material. Through all the insults and the general dislike of Donald Trump, surprisingly, the results of recent polling are in his favor and in some states, he has been projected to be better off than Clinton.
At this point in the race, it seems like both candidates have “found their safe places” and know the extent to what they can and can’t say that will cause controversy and a loss of supporters in the end. In my opinion, Donald Trump has realized that he can’t slander everyone or he would be left with no supporters. I think he realizes that his supporters may not 100% voting for him, but he’s doing everything he can to keep them on his side, which is why him leading polls in Maine isn’t surprising. Trump led by 10 points in a Boston Globe/Colby College poll conducted last month, and by 14 points in a Portland Press Herald poll. Maine is mostly a blue state, so this is very surprising that he is turning some districts of Maine in his favor, he is doing something extremely right.
Throughout Trump’s campaign, he has successfully kept supporters by keeping his themes for presidency broad, like by just talking about pressing issues like immigration and trade. Keeping themes broad has allowed supporters to stick by his side because they want to see a change with these issues, but going too specific will also lose support for him. Trump also has a good knack of talking about pressing problems at the right time. Though it might just be rhetoric and not necessarily meaningful, it has kept people on board with him. “As I’ve said all along, Donald Trump’s message on the economy and jobs really resonates with people who feel they’ve been left behind and who have lost their jobs because of poorly negotiated trade agreements,” Collins said.
Donald Trump may have done some sketchy things throughout this campaign season, but he is undoubtedly still a strong contender and his polling numbers going up does nothing but confirm this statement.
I really enjoyed reading your post but in terms of keeping voters on his side how does the debate with Clinton affect that? Do you think that Clinton bringing up Trump saying that the former Miss USA’s weight was a problem affected women that were on his side or thinking about being on his side? He also made a comment about her doing house work because she was Latina even though he knows that he needs to win support from the Latina community.
I like what you said about each candidate knowing their safe spaces. I think that is very true especially for Trump, and I think he will use that to his advantage in the upcoming debates. We talked in class about Trump only going through with interviews that are with “safe” interviews to help his ratings. This is a smart tactical move for his polling but may leave some people questioning if he can hold his own when people are up against him.