Trump targets Florida, his other home state
Attacks Clinton, advances pledge to ‘drain the swamp’ of corruption in Washington, D.C.
Donald Trump’s chances of pulling off a comeback in the presidential race depend on him winning one of his two home states.
The New York businessman — and proprietor of the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach — is devoting a three-day campaign swing to Florida this week, a state that is essential to any Republican’s hopes for winning the White House, especially this year.
“I love Florida, this is my second home,” Trump told supporters at a rally Monday in St. Augustine. “I’m here all the time.”
Speaking with farmers at an earlier roundtable event in Boynton Beach, Trump said: “I believe we are actually winning. If you read The New York Times and if you read some of these phony papers — these are phony, disgusting, dishonest papers — but if you read the stuff, it’s like what are we doing?”
As polls show him slightly behind Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Florida, Trump began his trip Sunday in Naples and stumped Monday in St. Augustine and Tampa. The Republican candidate, who usually likes to campaign in different states on consecutive days, wraps up his extended trip to Florida on Tuesday with appearances in Sanford and Tallahassee.
Trump is using his Florida swing to attack the ethics of “Crooked Hillary” and to advance his pledge to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington, D.C. — and also rally legions of conservative loyalists who may be the key to his success.
“It’s definitely a turnout battle, which it always is, but this time especially,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, failed to mobilize enough voters in Florida, losing the state’s 29 electoral votes to President Obama.
Florida is also central to Trump’s hopes of winning the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidency, just as it was in 2000 when George W. Bush prevailed after a disputed recount with Democrat Al Gore.
Step one for Trump is to hold the states — and the 206 electoral votes — that Romney won four years ago. Clinton, however, is challenging Trump in some of those Romney states, notably North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Utah.
Beyond the red states from 2012, Trump is hoping to capture three battlegrounds that went Democratic last time: Florida (29 electoral votes), Pennsylvania (20) and Ohio (18). If he holds the Romney states, those three would give Trump 273 electoral votes, enough to win the presidency.
Although polls are close in Florida and Ohio, Clinton enjoys a clear lead in surveys out of Pennsylvania.
In Florida, Clinton leads Trump by around 4 points, according to the RealClearPolitics rolling average of polls.
Trump is spending much of his time in rural, more conservative areas of Florida. He and aides say they have brought new voters into their “movement,” enough to provide the margin of victory in states like Florida (and to confound the polls).
“It’s definitely a turnout battle, which it always is, but this time especially.” Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida