SALT LAKE CITY — Donald Trump is scrambling to shore up support in the most reliably Republican state in the nation.
The Republican nominee’s inability to lock down Utah’s six Electoral College votes is emblematic of the challenges he faces in his bid to come from behind and defeat Hillary Clinton 12 days from now.
Trump still can’t count on the support of his own party in numbers sufficient to give him an opportunity to win the election — numbers that recent winning and losing Republican nominees achieved.
So on Wednesday, at the request of the Utah Republican Party, his running mate, Mike Pence, visited the state to rally support for and deliver a simple message: It’s time to overlook the nominee’s controversies and quirks and “come home.”
“A vote for any candidate other than Donald Trump, bottom line, is a vote to make Hillary Clinton the 45th president of the Unites States,” Pence said during an afternoon stump speech in downtown Salt Lake City.
It’s an unusual message this close to Election Day. Typically, the party coalesces between the end of the primary and the end of the nominating convention. By the time October rolls around, the nominee focuses is on expanding the tent.
But Trump’s combative tone on the campaign trail, unorthodox policies and constant feuding with Republicans who have had trouble embracing him has left many longtime GOP voters lukewarm on his candidacy.
Even some voters that are for Trump, and appreciate his background as a businessman, note that it’s not so much the nominee they’re voting for as much as the Republican policies they hope he protects or the shake up Washington they hope he effects.
“To me, I really like the platform for the Republican Party. I’m very pro-life and he’s pro-life,” retiree Louise Nielsen said.
“I support the concept of changing government and Trump is that vehicle,” said Jason Badell, 40, who runs his own marketing consulting firm.
This lack of enthusiasm or distrust of Trump has put in play typically red states like Arizona and Georgia. Even states like Texas that Trump is still on track to win, his vote share will probably be below the benchmark set by past nominees.
Those problems are more pronounced in Utah, a state that has delivered 66 percent of the vote, on average, to the Republican nominee in the past five presidential elections.
Here, the Mormon faith is dominant and conservatives prefer their political disagreements be conducted civilly. Trump also has run into trouble here with the harsh rhetoric he has directed at illegal immigrants and Muslims.
But what’s really put Trump’s hold on Utah’s six electoral votes in jeopardy is the entrant into the presidential race of independent conservative Evan McMullin.
Rather than simply fending off Clinton from the left, Trump is now being squeezed by McMullin on the right. McMullin has given conservative opponents of Trump who can’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton a place to park their vote.
The race is now a dead heat, even though it’s clear that McMullin has no shot at the White House. That’s how deep rejection of Trump is running in Utah.
“The way Mr. Trump has kind of displayed himself — Utahans don’t like that, so people are grappling with all of that,” said James Evans, the chairman of the Utah Republican Party.
“But we’re pragmatic,” he added. “When [Republicans] understand this is a vote about our Constitution and about our future, we’re pragmatic and understand that at the end of the day the choice is only between Trump and Clinton.”
It might not be that simple.
Trump supporters who attended the Pence campaign rally Wednesday said they feared that McMullin might win.
The former congressional aide and CIA officer, 40, and his running mate, Washington, D.C. GOP political consultant Mindy Finn, have been drawing attention here.
Like Utah Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a staunch constitutional conservative who has refused to endorse Trump, many Utah Republicans may do the same given the opportunity to vote for McMullin.
“I think he could take Utah, and that would be bad,” Trump supporter Kent Nielsen, 69, said.
Other Republicans are looking at Clinton, although it’s unclear how many.
However, the Clinton campaign is optimistic that the three-way competition created in part by McMullin’s candidacy could benefit the Democratic nominee.
In the past few weeks, Clinton has added staff and become more active in the state. On Wednesday, it held a “Republican Women for Hillary” phone banking event, calling prospective voters to urge them to vote for her.
The existence of this group is another feature of the GOP nominating Trump.
Working the phones at the phone bank was retired elementary school teacher Barbara “Cookie” Allred, 68, who has never voted Democrat for president before (she said that her husband is voting for McMullin.)
Another phone banker was Emily Ellsworth, 30, who has been active in local GOP politics and used to work as a congressional aide to Utah Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Chris Stewart.
“I initially knew I wasn’t going to vote Republican when Donald Trump got the nomination,” Ellsworth said. “I didn’t feel like Trump properly represented Utah values, or American values, or Republican values.”
