President Trump’s campaign has redeployed to the field to woo voters in person despite a summer coronavirus surge as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s team wagers that people scarred by the pandemic prefer virtual engagement.
On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Iowa, a swing state where Trump and Biden are running even. On Sunday, senior Trump campaign official Mercedes Schlapp is to headline a Women for Trump bus tour event in Wisconsin, another battleground where the president trails. Those stops account for just two of the more than half-dozen, in-person visits to key states organized by the Trump campaign this past week.
This direct contact with voters, an approach that has included a return to in-person door-knocking and peer-to-peer advocacy by Republican field operatives, stands in sharp contrast to the Biden campaign’s strategy. Even with the addition of running mate Kamala Harris, a California senator, the former vice president is sticking with the robust, virtual voter turnout operation he adopted in March when the coronavirus halted traditional, in-person campaigning.
“The Trump-Pence ticket is leading by example, showing Americans that they can safely and securely reopen,” Trump campaign spokesman Ken Farnaso said. “Biden and Harris continue to fear-monger from behind closed doors. It’s not controversial to say the American voters deserve to connect with both campaigns as they try to win their support.”