{"id":2095997,"date":"2023-11-10T05:31:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T10:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-is-lukewarm-on-early-voting-while-national-republican-leaders-embrace-it\/"},"modified":"2023-11-10T05:35:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T10:35:02","slug":"trump-is-lukewarm-on-early-voting-while-national-republican-leaders-embrace-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-is-lukewarm-on-early-voting-while-national-republican-leaders-embrace-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump is lukewarm on early voting while national Republican leaders embrace it"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-is-lukewarm-on-early-voting-while-national-republican-leaders-embrace-it%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2095997&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Trump&#8217;s Mixed Signals on Early Voting<\/h2>\n<p>When it comes\u2062 to early voting, former President\u200c Donald Trump is like \u200ca petulant child forced by\u2063 a parent to apologize to a sibling after an\u2062 argument.\u200b He&#8217;ll mouth the words but doesn&#8217;t seem to really mean it.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, the likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has sent \u2062mixed\u2064 signals \u2063over early voting, \u200ca practice he blames,\u200c at \u200bleast in part, on\u200d his 2020 loss to\u200d President Joe Biden.\u2063 That puts him \u2062at least somewhat at odds\u2062 with GOP leaders \u200bwho have belatedly but enthusiastically embraced the practice. This includes \u2062Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Virginia Gov. Glenn \u200dYoungkin, a GOP star of sorts after his 2021 \u200bwin in a state that had \u2064been trending blue.<\/p>\n<h3>November to Remember: \u2063Six Things to Watch on Election Day<\/h3>\n<p>Assuming Trump nabs the 2024 \u2062GOP nomination \u2014 and most polls show him \u200bat least 30 percentage \u200dpoints ahead\u200b of primary rivals \u200dlike Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina\u2063 Gov.\u2062 Nikki Haley \u2014 his level of enthusiasm could affect the outcome in\u200b key swing states. Like the 2016 and 2020 presidential races, a\u200c 2024 Biden-Trump rematch could be decided \u200cby a cumulative tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states, meaning every strategy and tactic, if deployed properly, can make a \u2064difference.<\/p>\n<p>In late \u2063July, Trump said he supported the Republican National\u200b Committee&#8217;s &#8220;Bank Your Vote&#8221; initiative ahead\u2062 of the 2024 presidential elections, a sign he \u2062was moving away from \u2064his past stances against early voting. The RNC&#8217;s &#8220;Bank Your Vote&#8221; program launched in June as an attempt to persuade Republicans to vote before Election Day, including through absentee voting, legal ballot harvesting, and in-person early voting.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s support of the initiative was a marked departure from his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-is-lukewarm-on-early-voting-while-national-republican-leaders-embrace-it\/\" title=\"Trump is lukewarm on early voting while national Republican leaders embrace it\">previous statements denigrating early voting<\/a>\u200c as not secure.\u2062 During a mid-July Fox News town hall with \u2063Sean \u2064Hannity, Trump, who continues\u200d to make unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, said \u200dhe embraced early voting but voiced some concerns\u200b about the process.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;They also \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-raises-concerns-about-phony-ballots-despite-rnc-push-to-embrace-early-voting\/\" title=\"Trump expresses worries about 'fake ballots' despite RNC's push for early voting acceptance.\">create phony ballots<\/a>, and that&#8217;s \u2062a real problem. That&#8217;s my opinion,&#8221; Trump \u2062told Hannity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On the campaign trail since then, Trump has, from time to time, voiced similar doubts about early voting, a program wholeheartedly embraced by Democrats in the past several \u200delection cycles.<\/p>\n<h3>Dampening \u200cEnthusiasm?<\/h3>\n<p>There&#8217;s\u200b good reason to think\u2064 Trump&#8217;s\u200d past \u2062rejection of early voting has\u200c cost Republicans dearly. \u2064He denigrated the practice in the run-up to a\u200b pair of January 2021 Senate runoffs in Georgia. Democratic \u2063Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won\u2064 those seats \u2014 tipping \u2062the\u2062 chamber&#8217;s\u200b majority to Democrats, which\u2063 the \u2063party\u200b still holds.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2022 midterm elections, Trump was again largely bearish on early voting.\u200b It proved at least a contributing factor to\u2062 Republican candidates losing \u2063winnable races in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, \u2063New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Trump seems to have recognized, relatively late in the game, that early voting has the potential to boost support for him in his bid to be the \u200conly\u200c second return president, after Democrat Grover Cleveland, in the\u200d White House during nonconsecutive terms spanning 1885-89 and 1893-97.<\/p>\n<p>A \u2064September USA Today poll of unlikely voters found that, by a 2-1 margin, people who said they don\u2019t plan on\u200d casting a vote next year \u200dwould vote for Trump if \u2063they could be convinced \u2064to show \u200bup.\u200b Those unlikely voters include registered voters \u2062(32% for\u2064 Trump, 13% for Biden) and unregistered ones (28% for Trump, 15% for Biden).<\/p>\n<p>But Trump doesn&#8217;t seem particularly interested\u2064 in attracting new voters beyond his nationalist-populist MAGA base, Patricia Crouse, a practitioner in residence at the University of New Haven, told the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think Trump makes a good \u200ceffort at trying \u2062to expand beyond his base,\u201d Crouse said. \u201cAnd I also\u200b don\u2019t \u2063think\u2063 Biden is doing a great \u2063job \u2064right now\u200b of \u200cthe same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The difference between Trump and \u2064Biden, however, is\u2064 that while the incumbent isn\u2019t inspiring confidence in voters, his likely \u200bchallenger has frequently told \u200bthem to\u2062 stay home.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe have to be\u2064 careful. \u200dYou&#8217;ve got to\u2063 get out there \u200band you got to\u2062 watch those voters,&#8221; Trump told a crowd in Derry, New Hampshire, last month. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to vote, don&#8217;t worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Crouse said that tactic wasn\u2019t something she\u2019d seen in past\u200c elections.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s \u200dsort\u2064 of the opposite of what you want to tell people,\u201d she said. \u201cVoter \u2063turnout is exceptionally important. \u200cThe lower the voter turnout, the less likely a particular party is going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And\u2064 Republicans think they can win\u2063 big next year.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2062 National Republican Congressional Committee released a memo this week outlining their\u2064 plan to grow their razor-thin majority \u2063in the House.<\/p>\n<p>On the \u2063other side of the Capitol, Republicans are staring down a friendly Senate map that leaves them with few, \u200bif any, truly vulnerable incumbents.\u200d While Democrats, currently holding\u200d a 51-49 edge, face strong Republican challenges in the\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/manchin-leads-vulnerable-senate-democrats-in-push-against-a-biden-green-energy-plan\/\" title=\"Manchin leads vulnerable Senate Democrats in push against a Biden green energy plan\">red-leaning states<\/a> of Montana and Ohio, and\u200b particularly \u2062West \u2064Virginia, where\u2064 in 2020 Trump crushed Biden 69%-30%.<\/p>\n<h3>Converts Are the Loudest Preachers<\/h3>\n<p>With the possibility of real House and Senate gains, the Republican establishment has jumped on the early-vote \u2064bandwagon as a way to juice turnout\u200d and try to replicate \u2063the successes of 2020. While Trump lost \u200bthe White House to Biden, House Republicans,\u2062 then in \u200cthe minority, did considerably better than expected. Against most pundit predictions,\u200b House Republicans gained 13 seats \u200bin the 435-member\u2062 chamber, putting them within striking \u200ddistance \u2064of nabbing the majority two years later, which\u200b they\u200d did.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) in \u200dparticular\u200c has been \u2064a\u200c booster of getting Republicans to mail \u200din their \u2064ballots, perhaps as a way to differentiate himself from other prospective Republican \u2062presidential candidates. However, that prospect is off\u2062 the table after the Nov. 7\u200b off-year\u200b elections. A \u200cswath of\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-state-republicans-lead-democrats-by-six-points-on-generic-ballot\/\" title=\"Poll: State Republicans Lead Democrats by Six Points on Generic Ballot\">state legislative candidates<\/a> in Virginia backed \u200bby Youngkin \u2064came up short, leaving Virginia&#8217;s House of\u200b Delegates\u200d and state Senate in Democratic hands, with the power to block the governor&#8217;s agenda over\u2063 the second half of his four-year \u2062term.<\/p>\n<p>Youngkin, along with RNC \u2064Chairwoman McDaniel, \u2062have in recent months been among the highest-profile\u200b backers\u2063 in early voting. It&#8217;s a stance that at times still puts them at odds with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>In the former president&#8217;s eyes, these tactics are precisely the problem. Early \u200cvotes and mailed-in ballots laid the foundation of Trump\u2019s \u201cBig Lie\u201d \u2062that spoiled the 2020 Georgia\u200c Senate\u200b runoff for the GOP. It&#8217;s \u2064also turned off those nonvoters who\u2063 would otherwise turn out for Trump \u2014 and possibly down-ballot Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>Trump telling \u200bvoters the election was\u200b rigged in Georgia\u2064 in the 2020 presidential race \u201cdampened turnout\u201d in the runoff, Matt \u200dDallek, a political historian at George \u200dWashington \u2064University, told the \u200cWashington Examiner.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPeople are hearing that message and some \u2064are saying, \u2018Why would I go waste my\u2063 time? It\u2019s set up to be stolen \u2064again,\u2019\u201d said Dallek, author of Birchers: How the John Birch \u200cSociety Radicalized the American\u2062 Right, published in March.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And the problem for Trump, \u200dDallek \u200bsaid, is not only that \u200che is telling voters not to show up, but that he doesn\u2019t\u2063 have any sort of \u201cget out the vote\u201d message, since it \u200cwould contradict what he\u2019s been saying for the\u200b last three\u200d years.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHis message over the past several years has, at least at times, dampened, sown doubts among Republicans about the voting process and the \u200cintegrity of it,\u201d Dallek \u2064said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>There\u2019s a \u200cchance Trump is \u2063tuning into an \u200dold idea that high-turnout elections\u2062 will always benefit Democrats,\u200c whereas low-turnout elections are better for Republicans. If he can \u200dconvince enough people to stay home, he\u200d can \u2062drive down \u2064the\u2063 baseline and help push the GOP over the \u2062top.<\/p>\n<p>But Crouse said she doesn\u2019t think \u2062that\u2019s an accurate way \u2064to think \u2063about elections.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHigh turnout, just a general, \u200cis good for everybody,\u201d Crouse said. \u201cBut\u2063 it\u2019s also, high\u2064 turnout benefits whatever party does the best job at motivating voters to come out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The 2020 contest wasn\u2019t exactly\u200c a battle of unknowns, but a 2024 rematch will be deja vu all over again. The \u2064handful of \u200cnonvoters who said they\u2019d line up behind Trump if they had to could make all the difference. Moreover, voter turnout has reached\u200c record highs during the\u2062 Trump era.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The elections of 2018, 2020, \u200band 2022\u200b were three of the highest-turnout U.S. elections \u2063of their\u200c respective types in decades,&#8221; Pew Research Center said \u2063in \u200ca July \u206212 report.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;About two-thirds (66%) \u2064of the voting-eligible population turned out for the 2020\u200d presidential election \u2014 the highest\u200d rate \u200bfor any national election since \u20631900,&#8221;\u2063 Pew reported. &#8220;The 2018 election (49% turnout) had the highest \u200crate for \u200ca midterm since 1914. Even the 2022 election\u2019s\u200b turnout, with a slightly lower rate of 46%, exceeded that of all\u2063 midterm elections since \u20641970.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s just a matter of who motivates their voters to come out,\u201d Crouse said.<\/p>\n<p>And therein lies the problem for Trump,\u2064 a \u2064populist\u2064 who has built a following of \u200ccommitted supporters who hang \u200don his every word, including his message telling them \u2064to stay\u2062 home.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI think the bind for Trump, \u200band Trump-supporting Republicans, is that you\u2019re\u200d really discouraging people \u200bfrom voting,\u201d\u2064 Dallek said. \u2064\u201cAnd your core \u200dmessage is, \u2018the system is rigged.\u2019 And if the system \u200bis\u2063 rigged, why should people go\u2063 vote?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Dallek added, \u201cThat is a kind\u2062 of structural, political problem for Trump\u2019s Republican Party right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> How might Trump&#8217;s approach to early voting impact his \u2063support \u200cfrom his base versus his ability to attract moderate voters?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  The School of Public Policy and \u2063Administration at Carleton University, told USA Today.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a missed opportunity\u200b because, as\u200b polls \u200chave consistently shown,\u200d there\u200c are voters out there who are \u200dnot yet committed\u200d to either party\u2062 and are open to persuasion,&#8221; Crouse\u2064 said.<\/p>\n<h3>Playing\u200d Both Sides<\/h3>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s mixed signals on early voting may be a strategic move. By\u2062 expressing support\u2064 for early voting\u200d while\u2062 also\u200b voicing concerns about its security and integrity, Trump can appeal to both sides of the political spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>For his base of supporters who are\u200b wary of widespread voter fraud, Trump&#8217;s concerns \u200dabout phony ballots provide reassurance\u200c that he is still fighting to \u200densure the integrity of the election \u2063process. At the same \u200dtime, by\u200b acknowledging the popularity and effectiveness of early voting, Trump can\u200c attract moderate \u2063voters who value convenient and accessible\u200d voting options.<\/p>\n<p>This approach allows Trump to maintain his strong support from his base while \u2064also reaching out to\u2063 undecided voters and potentially expanding his voter base. However, it also risks confusing and alienating some voters who may interpret his mixed signals as indecision or\u200b lack of commitment\u200b to a specific stance.<\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s mixed signals on early voting\u2064 reflect the complex \u2063dynamics of \u2063electoral politics. As a potential 2024 presidential nominee,\u200b Trump is \u200bbalancing the demands of his base with \u2064the need to attract undecided voters and expand\u2063 his support.\u2064 While his \u2064past rejection of early voting may have cost Republicans in previous elections, \u2064Trump seems to have recognized its potential \u200dto boost\u2064 his own chances of victory. By expressing support for early voting while \u200dalso \u200dvoicing concerns about its security, Trump is attempting to appeal to both sides of the political spectrum. Whether this strategic approach will be effective remains to be seen,\u2064 but it certainly highlights the importance of \u2064early voting in \u200cshaping election outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to early voting, former President Donald Trump is like a petulant child forced by a parent to apologize to a sibling after an argument. He&#8217;ll mouth the words but doesn&#8217;t seem to really mean it. Trump, the likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has sent mixed signals over early voting, a practice he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2095998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2095997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2095997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2095998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2095997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2095997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2095997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}