“I’m concerned about the swing voter. Maybe he’s a JFK Democrat. He voted for Bill Clinton. And later he voted for Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s going to get the nuance.”
I strongly disagree. The people you describe are not wishy washy fence sitters - quite the contrary - they are fiercely independent.
Think of the courage and clarity it took to leave their Democrat past, dissappoint friends and family who are still drinking the kool aid. They aren’t snowflakes, they are
These people are a lot smarter than you think.
I know a lot of them - union labor - welders, carpenters in PA. They understand nuance. They like Trump’s fight. I don’t worry about them.
I do worry about some supposedly pro-Trump snowflakes here on FR - I wonder how they would react if Trump were to tweet “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Would they accuse him of being suicidal or advocating suicide if you don’t get your way?
If he had said “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” would they accuse him of inciting violence?
> I know a lot of them - union labor - welders, carpenters in PA. <
Me too. Trust me on this. Not only do I know a lot of them, I once was one of them. I worked for five years in a union steel mill. Then the mills went down and I changed careers.
And here’s the thing that bothers me. Most of those guys went for Trump in 2016 for one reason. Trump promised them that he’d bring industry back to the region. Those guys didn’t like Hillary. But the return of industry was number one on the list.
I even remember one Democrat mayor going on the radio back then and saying he was going to vote for Trump. A Democrat mayor! That was amazing. It was all about those promised jobs.
I don’t know what it’s like elsewhere, but those industrial jobs never came back to my region. And I don’t see the Trump enthusiasm now that I saw in 2016. Maybe I’m just hang out with the wrong guys.
Anyway, Trump might win here in 2020 because of law-and-order concerns. But the Donald can’t afford any missteps. And that “question” about moving the Election Day was misstep. I think it will hurt him. I hope I’m wrong.
Oh, and one more thing. Among the older blue-collars guys I know, Biden is a hero. They didn’t like Hillary. But they love Biden. They see him as some sort of blue-collar champion. That’s very wrong, of course.