The numbers back it up: President Trump is beating Joe Biden in the number of events and campaign schedule pace during the critical final weeks of the election.
A Washington Examiner analysis found that from Sept. 1 through Oct. 26, Trump led Biden in number of days traveling (35 to 27), number of visits to cities or metropolitan areas (49 to 34), and number of battleground states visited (13 to 9) — even though Trump was not on the campaign trail for a week and a half due to his coronavirus diagnosis in early October.
Part of the reason for the Democratic presidential nominee and former vice president is not traveling to campaign as much as Trump is to demonstrate concern for the coronavirus pandemic and model appropriate COVID behavior. That’s a contrast from Trump, whose campaign rallies often feature large numbers of attendees not wearing face masks. And since Biden leads in most state and national polls, there is little incentive for the 77-year-old to ramp up his pace.
But Biden’s leisurely campaign schedule has raised eyebrows among the press and political analysts. It’s also become a line of attack for Trump on “Sleepy Joe.” Even when taking the constraints of the coronavirus pandemic into consideration, Biden’s light travel schedule would likely garner criticism if he loses the election.
A major criticism of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 was that she did not hold enough campaign events or travel to enough key states in the last critical weeks of the campaign season. Most notably, she never traveled to Wisconsin.
According to FiveThirtyEight, in the last 10 weeks of the 2016 campaign, Clinton made 71 campaign stops while Trump made 106 stops.
The total number of travel events that Biden and Trump have held since Sept. 1 first is not too far apart — 51 White House and campaign events for Trump versus 40 for Biden. But Biden’s events are much smaller and less-advertised than Trump’s.
Many of Biden’s events are small events with local leaders, while Trump favors holding large rallies in spite of social distancing recommendations to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Biden also uses local stops as a reason to schedule interviews with local media outlets.
Trump has visited 13 battleground states while Biden has visited nine battleground states. Especially in the recent last few weeks of the election, Trump is much more likely to visit multiple battleground states on the same day. Biden tends to focus on one state per day or make multiple stops in the same metropolitan area.
Pennsylvania is Biden’s favorite campaign stop destination. Since it neighbors Delaware, Biden can easily make quick campaign speeches in Philadelphia or other southeastern areas of the state.
The break between the two candidates’ travel styles is more noticeable in the last half of October. In the 12 days from Oct. 15 to Oct. 26, Trump traveled every single day, while Biden traveled on only six of those days.
Many commentators and analysts often note Biden’s early “lids” on in-person events — a press industry term that means there are no more in-person movements expected from Biden for the remainder of the day.
Biden’s campaign called a “lid” on in-person events before noon on 16 of the 56 days in September and October so far. Some days had a “lid” called slightly after noon due to Biden attending church on a Sunday. On many days when an early “lid” was called, Biden still held virtual events, appeared in virtual fundraisers, or recorded media interviews.
Below are campaign travel figures from the Washington Examiner’s analysis of candidate schedules and pool reports.
In the 56 days from Sept. 1 to Oct. 26:
Trump appeared in or held in-person open press events on 43 days (including days he held events at the White House), 35 of which he was traveling.
While traveling for in-person open events, Trump:
- Held nine White House events (such as traveling to Florida to deliver remarks on seniors) and 42 campaign events (such as rallies or roundtables)
- Participated in two televised town halls (ABC and NBC)
- Participated in two debates
- Traveled to one 9/11 remembrance ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
During the travel days, Trump made 49 visits to particular towns or metropolitan areas.
Additionally, Trump held six virtual events, three of which took place on days that also included in-person travel and five of which took place on four days when he did not travel. He also held a Sinclair town hall event at the White House.
Days in battleground states:
North Carolina — seven
Pennsylvania — seven (once for 9/11 memorial)
Florida — seven
Wisconsin — four
Nevada — three
Ohio — three (once for debate)
Minnesota — two
Michigan — one
Arizona — one
Georgia — two
Iowa — one
New Hampshire — one
Days in other states:
California — one
Virginia — one
Tennessee — one (for debate)
This count does not include fundraisers or other closed-press events, or other press interviews.
Trump’s longest streak without travel during this time is 10 days, from Oct. 2-11, due to his coronavirus diagnosis.
Meanwhile, in the same 56 days from Sept. 1 to Oct. 26:
Biden appeared in or held in-person open press events on 32 days (including days he held events in Wilmington, Delaware), 27 of which he was traveling.
While traveling for in-person open events, Biden:
- Held 40 campaign events (such as delivering remarks, holding a roundtable, or taking a tour of a local area)
- Participated in three televised town halls
- Participated in two debates
- Traveled to two 9/11 remembrance ceremonies in New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and to Washington, D.C., to see Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lying in state
During the travel days, Biden made 34 visits to particular towns or metropolitan areas.
Additionally, Biden participated in 10 virtual events, four of which took place on days that also included in-person travel and six that took place on six separate days when he did not travel.
Days in battleground states:
Pennsylvania — 10 (once for 9/11 memorial, twice for town halls)
Michigan — three
Florida — three
Ohio — three (once for debate)
Wisconsin — two
North Carolina — two
Minnesota — one
Arizona — one
Nevada — one
Days in other states:
New York — one (for 9/11 memorial)
Tennessee — one (for debate)
D.C. — one (to attend a ceremony for Ginsburg lying in state at the U.S. Capitol)
This count does not include fundraisers or other closed-press events, or press interviews.
Biden’s longest streak without travel during this time is three days. In September and October, there were four times that Biden did not travel for three days: Sept. 4-6, Sept. 12-14, Sept. 26-28, and Oct. 19-21.
Biden’s busiest campaign stop day was Sept. 30, when he made seven campaign stops on a “train tour” through Ohio and Pennsylvania on the day after the first Democratic presidential debate.
