The Trump and Biden campaigns are fighting for every advantage over the airwaves and on the ground with less than 90 days before the election.
The pandemic has forced campaigns to get creative in finding new ways to reach voters.
President Trump
Donald John TrumpTrump suggests some states ‘can pay nothing’ as part of Trump’s unemployment plan denies White House asked about adding him to Mount Rushmore Trump, US face pivotal UN vote on Iran MAYThe campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are pursuing an aggressive ground strategy by sending masked men to knock on doors to oppose Democrats. Joe Biden
Joe BidenTrump denies asking White House about adding him to Mount Rushmore HuffPost reporter: Biden’s VP shortlist does not suggest progressive economic policy. Jill Biden says she plans to continue teaching when she becomes first lady MOREhis onslaught of ads that are too much air.
Trump’s campaign has plowed his money into field staff and refurbishing personal voters contacts. Despite the pandemic, field personnel knocked on 1 million doors in 23 states last week.
Biden’s team and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are taking a radically different approach.
Biden, who will accept his party’s nomination from Delaware and not travel to Milwaukee for the nominating convention, has made the careful handling of the coronavirus the focus of his campaign.
The Biden campaign recently announced the largest advertising reservation in history, a $ 280 million television and digital investment that nearly doubles Trump’s current reservations.
Biden staff did not knock on doors, believing it was unsafe and a turnoff for voters during the pandemic. Instead, the campaign is aimed at guaranteeing Democrats through mail through a fast-growing telephone and virtual outreach program they say reached more than 3.5 million people last week.
The different approaches underline the political separation between the two parties when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump has called for a return to normalcy, even as some states that have reopened their economies have experienced new outbreaks.
Democrats have taken a more cautious approach, accusing the president of life-threatening and prolonging the pandemic by moving too hard.
“Sending a masked organizer to knock on a stranger’s door in the midst of a raging pandemic is not a safe or effective use of campaign funds,” said David Bergstein, DNC’s director of urban land communications.
The Trump campaign and RNC began reopening offices, holding events and volunteering in June, culminating in a new drive to reach voters throughout the rounds.
They say that everything has been done in accordance with local guidelines for reopening and that they have strictly implemented capacity limits, mask wear and social distance measures.
The Trump campaign has spent more than $ 100,000 on personal protective equipment and office cleaning. All employees received an 8-page document detailing Centers for Disease Control guidelines and other health protocols.
“There is widespread evidence that knocking on doors is the most effective and motivating way to expel voters,” said Mandi Merritt, the RNC’s national press secretary. “It’s more personal, and although virtual and telephone outreach are also important avenues, and that’s why we’re continuing with that, nothing can replace the sophisticated connection you can make with someone at the door. We do that and the Biden campaign is not. ‘
Trump Victory brought in 300 new field staff last month, giving it a total of 1,500. Another 1,000 will be hired soon to focus on door-knocking and efforts to get out of the voice.
Staff should read the book “Groundbreakers: How 2.2 Million Volunteers of Obama’s Transformed Campaign in America” to take lessons from the former president’s organization techniques.
Trump Victory says it will surpass Obama’s 2.2 million volunteers and claims that his ground efforts have diminished the advantage of Democratic voter registration in key battlefield states by hundreds of thousands of voters.
The Trump campaign emphasizes that it is not all betting on personal contacts, saying it reached more than 3 million people by phone last week.
Trump victory says it has made more than 70 million voter contacts this cycle, more than doubling its 2016 commitment. The campaign says it will have spent $ 100 million on its ground game by the end of the cycle.
State directors of Trump campaign have been on the ground for more than two years in some states, while the Biden campaign has only recently taken important positions in the field battles.
“We’ve seen the biggest and best groundbreaking action ever,” said Trump spokesman Tim Murtaugh. “Because of our permanent presence in these states and a data-driven approach to our exit, we have built lasting relationships with voters on the ground that will empower President Trump to victory in November.”
The Biden campaign says its rapid pivot is moving away from personal contacts to a phone and virtual campaign, along with its unrestricted focus on postal voting, the former vice president over the top will push in an election defined by the coronavirus pandemic.
Democrats have devised a strategy that they say helped them win a landslide victory at the Supreme Court in Wisconsin earlier this year, shortly after the pandemic hit and voters turned to them to send emails.
A field organizer will make large numbers of short phone calls to talk about Biden before passing it on to the customer service style organizer if they express interest in voice mail. The second organizer is trained to help voters navigate their local vote with post protocols, often sitting on the phone with voters to help them navigate the relevant Secretary of State website.
Democrats say this pays off, helping them open up a 500,000-vote-by-post enrollment benefit in both Florida and North Carolina. Democrats also requested e-mail votes at a much higher rate than Republicans in Pennsylvania.
“Unlike the GOP, the Biden campaign and DNC months ago successfully overcame our field tactics and that has allowed us to crush Republicans in key metrics, such as voting via email requests on the field battles,” Bergstein said.
The Biden campaign is being hired hard and says it will have more than 2,000 field staff by the end of the month, according to the Trump campaign.
They say the response rates to phone calls and open rates for charts texts have been rising as more people work from home during the day.
A recent weekend of action in late July produced more than 500,000 phone calls to voters in Michigan, and more than 1 million texts were sent to voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Florida, urging voters to vote by mail.
Democrats said they see the fruits of that strategy pay off in real time at the primary polls.
Nearly 600,000 Arizona Democrats turned out for the recent primary, beating the previous record set in 2016 by more than 100,000 people.
Democrats also set a primary turnout record for voting in Georgia, surpassing the 1 million voter mark of the pandemic in an election plagued by confusion and administrative commitment.
“Vice President Biden is conducting his campaign in the same way he would lead us through this crisis as president – consulting with medical experts, listening to science, and protecting the health and well-being of the American people – even as our staff and volunteers contacting millions of voters in successful states across the country using both traditional and leading-edge organizing tactics, ”said Michael Gwin, a spokesman for the Biden campaign.
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