Behind closed doors, top strategists from Donald Trump’s campaign told donors they believe they can turn Democratic strongholds Minnesota and Virginia red.
Trump’s team presented their plan to the former president’s backers Saturday at a Republican National Committee retreat.
Pollster Tony Fabrizio – one of Trump’s favorites – and senior advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles used internal surveys and made their pitch to donors.
According to two witnesses present at the meeting, which took place at the Four Seasons resort in Palm Beach, the presentation revolved around finances, messaging and the political map.
Trump’s top strategists told donors Saturday they believe the former president could score narrow victories in the Democratic strongholds of Minnesota and Virginia.
Using internal polling, Trump’s strategists have shown how close the elections are in the two states
Fabrizio’s polls showed Trump posting narrow victories in critical swing states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, starting in 2020.
But the politician’s top strategists didn’t 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 Democratic strongholds Minnesota and Virginia.
Meanwhile, President Biden’s strategists harbor similar hopes and aim to flip North Carolina, where Republicans have won the past 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 clinched the presidency by a margin of 74 electoral votes. Victories in critical states such as Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia helped him to victory.
“I think the Biden campaign is deliberately playing a fake game by talking about it [how] they are going to expand the map in Florida and North Carolina,” Trump adviser Chris LaCivita said NBC.
“But we have a real opportunity to expand the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”
“We have a real opportunity to expand the map of Virginia and Minnesota,” said Chris LaCivita (photo0, Trump senior adviser).
In a head-to-head matchup in Minnesota, Trump’s team found the former president would win with 49 percent to Biden’s 46 percent.
Trump’s team’s internal polling is fairly consistent with the few public surveys showing Biden with a narrow lead in Virginia.
However, the strategists’ polls pointing to a Trump victory in Minnesota contradict the limited surveys conducted in that state.
But both the state polls and Trump’s campaign polls are within their margins of error.
This means one thing: a tight race in Minnesota and Virginia.
LaCivita explained that they tested Trump’s success in three different scenarios: in a head-to-head with Biden, and in four-way and six-way races.
In a six-way competition in Minnesota, the strategists found that Trump and Biden were each at 40 percent, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on the Independent ticket, scored 9 percent.
When the parameters were narrowed and it became a race between four candidates, Trump defeated Biden 46 percent to 41 percent.
In a head-to-head election, Trump still defeated Biden 49 percent to 46 percent.
In 2020, Biden won the presidency with the help of key victories in critical states such as Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia
Biden’s team is also eyeing Republican territory, hoping to topple Republican bastions like North Carolina and Florida in November
In 2020, Biden prevailed in Minnesota by about seven percentage points. The state hasn’t gone to the Republicans since Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern in 1972.
In Virginia, Trump’s top officials found that Biden won a narrow victory over Trump in a six-way competition: Biden finished with 40 percent, Trump with 37 percent and Kennedy with 8 percent.
In a race with four candidates, 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 took 48 percent.
Trump’s strategists have not yet made their full research and methodology available to the public.
Campaigns traditionally make far-reaching promises to donors – including gains in enemy territory – as an incentive to contribute larger sums of money.
Biden’s team issued a scathing statement in response to the meeting of the pollster and top Trump 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 close before November
“Trump’s team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of that they are resorting to leaking memos that say, ‘the polls we paid for show us winning, but don’t ask us to show you the entire poll to show,” Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said.
“While we have 150 offices open with hundreds of employees on key battlefields, the RNC is closing offices and losing money on legal fees,” Hitt continued.
“Joe Biden has entered every battlefield at least once, while Trump sits in the courtroom or on the golf course.”
“We’ll see in November how that translates.”