Ahead of Donald Trump‘s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday, GOP strategist Doug Heye critiqued the former president for holding one in a state where he trails Vice President Kamala Harris by double digits, calling it “wasted time.”
As Election Day quickly approaches, the race between Trump, the GOP nominee, and Harris, the Democratic nominee, remains extremely tight, with the outcome largely depending on swing states, as both candidates continue campaigning across the country.
While New York is a reliably blue state, and Democratic candidates typically win statewide easily because of massive margins in New York City, Trump has continued to campaign there as he has held several other campaign events including rallies in the Bronx and Nassau County on Long Island.
“Whether you’re talking about Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, I’d say time spent out of the seven key states that are the swing states that could turn this election by and large is wasted time. Your time is better spent in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada, Arizona et cetera than it is in Texas or in Washington, D.C. or in New York,” Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee (RNC), said on Sunday in an interview with CNN‘s Rahel Solomon.
Heye explained that while the rally will likely get coverage, it may fall short of reaching young male voters, a group Trump has recently aimed to reach.
“But with this Trump event yes, it’s gonna get a lot of coverage––although a lot of people, especially young males, who Trump wants to win with big margins, will probably be watching football…Every political campaign that you’re on, there’s always some event that makes staff sort of scratch their heads and say ‘Why are we doing this in this way?’ and the answer is always to scratch that itch that a candidate has.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump wait for a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27. Ahead of Trump’s campaign rally at the famed venue, GOP strategist Doug Heye critiqued the former president for holding it in a state where he trails Vice President Kamala Harris by double digits, calling it “wasted time.”
ANGELA WEISS / AFP/Getty Images
New York last backed a Republican presidential candidate when it voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984. In 2016, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton carried the state by 22 points when she ran against Trump, and President Joe Biden carried it by 23 points in 2020 against the former president.
Battleground states will play a key role in determining the result of this year’s election due to the Electoral College, which awards each state a certain number of electoral votes based on population. A presidential candidate needs to secure 270 electoral votes for victory, and winning the national popular vote does not guarantee success. Surveys from battleground states may be more telling than those of national polls.
What the Polls Show
A CNBC poll conducted between October 15 and 19 among 1,000 voters nationwide showed that nationally, Trump held a 2-point lead—48 percent to Harris’ 46 percent, within the poll’s margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
However, in the seven battleground states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—Trump’s lead fell to 1 point, 48 percent to Harris’ 47 percent. That portion of the poll had a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Trump’s lead in the poll remained unchanged from August.
In a Fox News poll conducted between October 11 and 14 among 1,110 registered voters and 870 likely voters, Harris was 6 points ahead of Trump in the seven swing states—52 to 46 percent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 6.5 percentage points in the battleground states.
The poll also showed that Trump had overtaken Harris nationally, with 50 percent to her 48 percent, which falls within the poll’s overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. That is a 4-point swing from when Harris led Trump by 2 points a month ago, also within the margin of error.
In New York, Harris is still expected to easily carry the state, which is classified as “Safe Democrat” by the Cook Political Report. According to FiveThirtyEight’s poll tracker, Harris is ahead of Trump by 14.5 points in the Empire State, with 53.9 percent to his 39.4 percent, as of Sunday.
