Behind closed doors, top strategists for Donald Trump’s campaign told donors they believe they can turn the Democratic strongholds of Minnesota and Virginia red.
Trump’s team presented its plan to the former president’s financial backers at a Republican National Committee retreat on Saturday.
Taking advantage of internal polls, pollster Tony Fabrizio, one of Trump’s favorites, and advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles made their pitch to donors.
According to two witnesses who were present at the meeting, which took place at the Four Seasons resort in Palm Beach, the presentation focused on finances, messaging and the political map.
Trump’s top strategists told donors Saturday that they believe the former president could achieve narrow victories in the Democratic strongholds of Minnesota and Virginia.
Using internal polls, Trump’s strategists showed how close the elections are in the two states.
Fabrizio’s polling results showed Trump winning narrow victories in critical states from 2020, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.
But the politician’s main strategists did not stop there. They also discussed an ambitious plan to make further inroads into Democratic territory.
Trump’s team argued that the former president could defeat Biden in the Democratic strongholds of Minnesota and Virginia.
Meanwhile, President Biden’s strategists harbor similar hopes, aiming to turn things around in North Carolina, where Republicans have won the last three presidential elections.
Biden’s team also hopes to prevail in Florida, where Republicans emerged victorious in the previous two presidential elections.
In 2020, Biden won the presidency by a margin of 74 electoral votes. Victories in critical states like Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia helped him to victory.
“I think the Biden campaign is deliberately playing a false game by talking about [how] “They’re going to expand the map in Florida and North Carolina,” said Trump adviser Chris LaCivita. NBC.
“But we have a real, real opportunity to expand the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”
“We have a real, real opportunity to expand the map in Virginia and Minnesota,” said Chris LaCivita (pictured, senior Trump adviser
In a head-to-head matchup in Minnesota, Trump’s team found that the former president would win 49 percent to Biden’s 46 percent.
The internal polling conducted by Trump’s team is fairly consistent with the few public polls that show Biden with a narrow lead in Virginia.
However, strategists’ polls showing a Trump victory in Minnesota differ from the limited polls that have been completed in that state.
But both state polls and those conducted by the Trump campaign fall within their margins of error.
This means one thing: a close race in Minnesota and Virginia.
LaCivita explained that they tested Trump’s success in three different scenarios: in a head-to-head matchup with Biden and in races between four and six candidates.
In a six-way race in Minnesota, strategists found that Trump and Biden were locked at 40 percent each, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on the Independent ticket, got 9 percent.
When the parameters were narrowed and it became a four-candidate race, Trump beat Biden 46 percent to 41 percent.
In a head-to-head election, Trump still defeated Biden by 49 percent to 46 percent.
In 2020, Biden won the presidency with the help of key victories in critical states like Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.
Biden’s team is also eyeing Republican territory, hoping to flip GOP strongholds like North Carolina and Florida in November.
In 2020, Biden won Minnesota by about seven percentage points. The state has not turned to Republicans since Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern in 1972.
In Virginia, top Trump officials found that Biden won a narrow victory over Trump in a six-way race: Biden finished with 40 percent, Trump with 37 percent and Kennedy with 8 percent.
In a four-candidate race, that margin narrowed even further, with Biden at 42 percent and Trump at 41 percent.
In a head-to-head matchup, Trump fared worse, finishing with 44 percent, while Biden got 48 percent.
Trump’s strategists have not yet made their complete surveys, as well as their methodology, available to the public.
Traditionally, campaigns make radical promises to donors (including winning in enemy territory) as an incentive to contribute larger sums of money.
Biden’s team issued a scathing statement in response to the meeting held by the pollster and Trump’s top advisers.
In Virginia, Trump’s advisers found that Trump would currently finish with 44 percent to Biden’s 48 percent, a gap they hope to narrow before November.
“The Trump team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of that they are resorting to leaked memos that say ‘the polls we paid for show us winning, but don’t ask us to show you the full poll,'” the Biden campaign said. spokesperson Lauren Hitt.
“While we have 150 offices open with hundreds of employees in key battlegrounds, the RNC is closing offices and losing money on legal fees,” Hitt continued.
“Joe Biden has hit every battlefield at least once, while Trump is in the courtroom or on the golf course.”
“We’ll see how that translates in November.”
