- Trump’s campaign is already using his clenched fist salute in fundraising emails
- Pollster James Johnson said it underlined Trump’s key advantage over Biden
- READ MORE: Follow all the political news in our live blog
Donald Trump was already ahead in the polls, but some Republicans and demoralized Democrats now believe he is unstoppable after surviving an assassination attempt.
Commentators of all stripes described the photograph of a bloodied former president raising his fist in the air as “iconic.”
And the episode is already being used in fundraising campaigns.
“President Trump survives this attack; he just won the election,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin told Politico in a brief interview.
Minutes after the shooting, a Democratic strategist sent a private message to say: “Trump just secured his re-election.”
President Donald Trump raised his fist in defiance Saturday night after a bullet grazed his ear. Some Republicans now believe he is a lock to win re-election in November.
There are still four months to go until election day.
But the shooting has allowed Trump to present himself as a strong leader while doubts persist about Biden and his ability to do the job.
Biden’s campaign will also have to recalibrate its strategy, amid criticism that its framing of the election as a choice between democracy and authoritarianism created an atmosphere that could have fueled the gunman’s decision to target the former president.
Betting markets showed a shift towards Trump immediately after the attack.
And veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz wrote in X that the shooting would help mobilize Republican voters in November.
“Just as what happened to George Floyd had a lasting impact on tens of millions of Americans, the shooting of Donald Trump will have significant consequences in ways the shooter never intended,” she said, referring to a Black man killed by police officers in 2020 that sparked nationwide protests.
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told DailyMail.com that this would energize the base, but that the election was far from over.
“Absolutely not. We cannot be complacent,” he said.
“We have to push for victories in the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate.”
“President Trump survives this attack; he just won the election,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin told POLITICO in a brief interview.
President Joe Biden has had a tough time since the disastrous debate against Trump in Atlanta last month. The latest DailyMail.com/JL Partners poll had him six points behind Trump.
Still, betting markets showed a seven-point shift toward Trump over the past day, according to aggregator electionodds.com.
And Nick Ferres, chief investment officer at Vantage Point Asset Management, cited the surge in support for Ronald Reagan when he was shot in 1988, telling Reuters: “The election is likely to be a landslide.”
James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners and a pollster for DailyMail.com, said there was no doubt Trump had underlined one of his key advantages over Biden: that voters see him as “strong”.
“But a presidential race isn’t over until it’s over. We’re not in the world of the 1970s or 1980s, when it was possible to have landslide victories in the Electoral College,” he said.
‘America is polarized and the race will be tight either way.
‘Everything can change between now and November, with the future of the White House in the hands of a small number of voters in a small number of key states.
Trump’s campaign is already using images of his clenched-fist salute in fundraising emails.
“I’m Donald J. Trump and I will never give up,” he said in one. “I will always love you for supporting me.”