Fighting against polling headwinds, Trump campaign refocuses message on rebuilding economy

Fighting against polling headwinds, the Trump campaign is looking to refocus its message on rebuilding the economy after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and seeking to move the country beyond an acrimonious racial climate.

Nationwide polling shows President Trump trailing rival Joe Biden, including mid-June polling by Just the News showing Biden up 48% to 36% over Trump, and Biden leading by 14 among suburbanites.

Yet the Trump campaign has noted the economic strength of the United States under Trump prior to the global pandemic halting the economy. As the country continues its reopening, 2.5 million American jobs were added in May, far better than the predicted jobs loss of 8.5 million and the unemployment rate was much lower than anticipated and dropped from the previous month’s figure.  

May's employment figures also showed 283,000 new jobs were created for African-Americans and 662,000 jobs were created for Hispanics. African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian and Pacific Islander Americans have experienced record low unemployment under President Trump. The lowest-ever unemployment rate for Asian Americans (2.1%) came in June 2019.

“Before the booming economy was artificially interrupted by an unprecedented pandemic, President Trump’s pro-growth policies, tax cuts, and deregulation delivered record economic success — and he’ll do it again," Trump campaign Deputy Press Secretary Samantha Zager told Just the News. "President Trump’s America First vision has benefited Americans in every corner of the nation, including historic low unemployment for nearly every minority group, record job growth, freer and fairer trade deals, strong national security, and stopping endless wars. In his second term, President Trump will continue to deliver on those ‘Promises Made, Promises Kept.’ Joe Biden would be a disaster economically and would put America’s interests second — that’s why he refuses to be held accountable to the American public.”

The Biden campaign did not respond to request for comment from Just the News.

Pastor Darrell Scott, an African-American pastor and CEO of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, told Just the News that he doesn't put much stock into a polling snapshot four months out.

"You know, polls are like rollercoaster rides, they go up and down basically, on a week-to-week basis, depending upon what the news of the day or the news of the week or the latest crisis is," Scott said in a video interview.

He said he blames the media for fanning the flames of racial unrest in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police but said the country will soon move on to other issues.

"If there is a decline in President Trump's poll numbers, it's not — I hate to say it this way — but it's not Trump's fault. There are matters that are out of Trump's hand, but the media keeps the American public focused on these crises, and they seem to attribute them to the leadership of this country."

Scott said he believes that during the coronavirus pandemic, Trump was proactive about stoping the virus' spread, particularly when he ordered a halt in January to travel from China.

"And he received pushback, and he was accused of being a bigot and a racist," Scott said.

Additional Just the News polling showed a lack of enthusiasm among Biden voters and strong enthusiasm for Trump voters.

"It's not like Joe Biden is defeating the president," Scott said. "It's the media against the president, and the public listening to the media, in this sense, the left-wing media. They're magnifying every indiscretion and trying to lay it at the feet of Donald Trump. So I don't believe that these polls are going to be reflective of November. By the time November comes along a lot of these things we won't even be thinking about any more."