President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Erie International Airport on Oct. 20, 2020, in Erie, Pa. | Jeff Swensen/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump yearns for the magic of his 2016 upstart campaign: the multi-rally days, crisscrossing the country in a Trump-branded plane, the screaming crowds.
And with coronavirus infection rates climbing, the Trump rallies often draw negative headlines in local news markets because the packed events defy public health guidelines, featuring few masks and almost no social distancing. After Trump’s recent rallies in Bemidji and Duluth, Minn. — both in counties the Trump campaign hopes to win — local health authorities connected roughly 24 new Covid-19 cases to the rallies and protests outside of them.
Perhaps most importantly, the rush of the rallies and crowds puts Trump in a good mood. “He gets a lot of energy from them,” said a second former senior administration official. A Trump campaign official argued the rallies do draw new voters. The official said the campaign’s internal data showed nearly a quarter percent of rally goers at a recent Prescott, Ariz. gathering did not consider themselves Republicans, and that nearly 38 percent had not voted in 2016. Similarly, data from a Tucson rally indicated nearly 29 percent of the attendees did not vote in 2016 — stats, the campaign argues, that give credence to the idea of hidden Trump supporters.
“I think you could see that again and again this year,” the official added. “If he can speak to another 100,000 people in Michigan in the next two weeks, that might end up being the difference.” “The problem with his rallies is he gets worked up and doesn’t confine his message,” said Ed Rollins, chair of the pro-Trump Great America PAC. “Beyond the immediate audience, the message that gets carried is usually the most outrageous thing he says.”On a call with his own campaign staff earlier this week, Trump laid out his rally strategy.
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