The Trump campaign says the president remains laser-focused on the everyday concerns of people in the United States as officials hit back at Republican strategists who say he is in danger of forgetting the lessons that propelled him to power.
A poll published on Wednesday will add to concerns about a misfiring campaign. The survey by the New York Times and Siena College found that President Trump is trailing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden by 14 points nationwide.
The campaign has shrugged off poor polling numbers as failing to reflect a hidden majority of Trump supporters.
But critics within his own party worry that the president’s public speeches and social media posts have been dominated by personal grievances rather than reflecting voters’ concerns about jobs and the coronavirus.
The campaign’s deputy press secretary, Ken Farnaso, said Trump’s agenda reflected the priorities of the American public.
“President Trump is laser-focused on the concerns of everyday Americans. Whether it be restoring law and order, providing accessible COVID tests, rebuilding the economic renaissance we saw before coronavirus, or creating opportunity for minority communities to rise out of poverty, President Trump has taken bold actions to usher in real change,” he said.
A day earlier, strategists told the Washington Examiner that the president had time to overturn the disappointing numbers. Protesters trying to topple statues and take over city centers would alarm the white suburban female voters that proved crucial in 2016, for example.
But they said his campaign was still grappling with how to manage a famously unmanageable candidate and ensure that he drove home his message without distraction.
Several said that Saturday’s rally speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which included a 14-minute defense of his halting walk down a ramp at West Point earlier this month, missed its mark.
“In 2016, he was able to tap into the undercurrent that was coursing through the majority of this country, especially in the heartlands, as they call it,” said one strategist with experience of multiple congressional campaigns.
“They felt forgotten. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party had become the same versions of a different side of a coin — both very elite. Trump was able to tap into that.
“What I watched on Saturday night, I don’t know who the hell that taps into.”
