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WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign said Thursday (Oct. 1) that it would launch an in-person voter polling operation in multiple battle states, changing tack in the final weeks of a pandemic race. of the coronavirus.
Some of Biden’s Democratic allies have expressed concern that the campaign has been too cautious to put its boots on the ground for mobilizing voters in the states that will decide the November 3 election.
The campaign had put security first in light of the pandemic, choosing to forego knocking on doors in favor of remote contacts, although President Donald Trump’s campaign has made extensive in-person effort.
But in the coming days, Biden’s team will send several hundred volunteers to Nevada, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania to focus on reaching voters who may be difficult to reach by phone or computer, with plans to expand the effort to more. states before the election.
“We are now expanding our strategy in a specific way that puts the safety of communities first and helps us mobilize voters who are harder to reach by phone now that we are on the home stretch,” said the campaign manager. of Biden. Jen O’Malley Dillon, who had rejected criticism of the Democratic field organization.
Democratic allies were concerned that the lack of an in-person running game could be a misstep given the narrow margins in various battle states that helped Republican Trump narrowly defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“Trump is running a full-blown operation to get the bloody vote out and the Democrats are making a virtual effort to get the vote out of Zoom,” said Brad Crone, an independent political consultant in North Carolina. “There is a world of difference.”
Some Biden supporters in Florida, a grand prize with 29 electoral votes, have also been uncomfortable with the campaign’s quiet presence there, particularly with recent polls in the state showing Trump is making progress with crucial Latino voter groups. . On his first campaign trip of the year to the state last month, Biden barely interacted with voters.
“We have to knock on the door,” said José Parra, a Florida-based strategist who leads the Hispanic-focused communications group Prospero Latino. “Even if it only manages to move 10,000 votes, that could be the difference in a state as close as Florida.”
Both Florida and North Carolina are among the states that will see an expanded voter counting operation in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter.
INCREASING HOURS
Biden’s campaign argued that its remote outreach was engaging voters and had already resumed leaflet delivery to homes.
Biden has consistently led Trump in national opinion polls, although the race is closer in battle states. Other indicators show that Biden and the Democrats are building momentum as voters begin to cast early mail ballots.
A Reuters / Ipsos poll in late September found that 82 percent of registered Democrats and 81 percent of registered Republicans were “completely sure” they would vote, eliminating a traditional enthusiasm gap that favors Republicans.
Spurred by opposition to Trump, a record surge in fundraising by Biden has also boosted Democratic hopes for November. In August, Biden and the national Democratic Party topped Trump and the Republicans by $ 364.5 million to $ 210 million, resulting in a blitz of television advertising.
Biden has started to accelerate his campaign program. The former vice president made his first general election trip to North Carolina last week, where polls show a tie with Trump, who racked up five visits there in a month between late August and late September.
Biden and his wife, Jill, took a train ride through Ohio and western Pennsylvania on Wednesday after the Cleveland debate, the kind of multi-stop battlefield state tour that some of his supporters had pushed for. .
The Trump campaign, which for months has knocked on doors and staged large demonstrations, often over the objections of local elected officials and public health experts, said his rival’s efforts were too scant and too late.
“You can’t just parachute a month before the election and hope to make up ground,” said Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh.
