Dick Morris, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, predicted on Thursday that Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, will win this year’s presidential election by a “landslide.”
Morris appeared on The Jeff Katz Show on Thursday where a variety of topics from transgender surgeries to Trump’s McDonald’s appearance as well as Electoral College predictions were discussed. Morris predicted an upset for Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign which would branch from all of the swing states as well as “a few surprises.”
“I think Trump is going to win and I don’t think it’s going to be that close,” Morris said. “I think that he’ll win the popular vote narrowly but that will translate into an electoral landslide.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.
Morris, who was a friend and adviser to Clinton during his time as governor of Arkansas, became a political adviser after Clinton was elected as president in 1992. He encouraged Clinton to pursue a triangulation of traditional Republican and Democratic proposals, rhetoric and issues to gain popularity among constituents.
He has since been the president of Vote.com and has criticized the Clintons in several books, including Rewriting History. The New York Times reported in March of 2021 that Morris met with Trump “encouraging him to take on the party he once led.”
On the podcast, Morris noted that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the popular vote against Trump in the 2016 presidential election by 2.6 percent “and yet Trump defeated her in a wipe out in the electoral college.”
“I think that’s what’s going to happen here,” Morris said. “I think Trump’s going to carry all of the swing states with the possible exception of Wisconsin.”
Political consultant Dick Morris is seen in Richmond, Virginia, on October 8, 2010. Former President Donald Trump is seen on October 31 in Glendale, Arizona. Morris, a former adviser to Bill Clinton, predicted on Thursday that Trump, the GOP nominee, will win this year’s presidential election by a “landslide.”
AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Lindy Keast Rodman/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Since 38 of the 50 U.S. states have voted for the same political party from 2000 to 2016, the winner is almost always determined by a handful of “swing states.” This cycle, the winner will need to carry some or all of the following seven states: Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
According to the latest set of Marist polls, conducted between October 27 and 30, Harris is leading Trump in the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
For Trump to win the election, he needs to flip one of those three “blue wall” states from Harris. That is because if Harris manages to hold on to these three states that President Joe Biden won in 2020, plus get the highly likely single Electoral College vote from Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, then she will receive exactly 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the election.
Polls have been very tight in all three states, with 538’s poll tracker currently showing that Harris leads Michigan and Wisconsin by less than a point, while Trump leads Pennsylvania by 0.7 points—after Harris was previously leading him in the state.
Meanwhile, individual polls in all three states have fluctuated, with candidates generally staying within a 3-point margin. However, the four latest surveys from Pennsylvania indicate Trump holding a lead of 1 to 3 points among likely voters.
Along the same lines of thinking about swing states, but opposite in opinion to Morris, historian Allan Lichtman issued an assessment on Thursday, suggesting that Harris could win 283 votes, with the edge in Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Georgia.
He previously told Newsweek that women—who broadly favor Harris in most swing states—are “far outpacing men in early voting in swing states,” which gives the Democratic nominee an edge in these states.
On Thursday, Morris also predicted that Trump “will pick up a few surprises, like maybe Virginia and maybe Minnesota.”
“With those kinds of numbers, I think Trump is going to win about 350 electoral votes,” Morris said, suggesting that the Republican nominee will receive 65 percent of the Electoral College.
Virginia, once a key battleground state, has shifted significantly toward Democrats over the last decade, particularly in the populous northern suburbs. Trump lost Virginia to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020. This year, Democratic candidates and their allies have outspent Republicans on advertising in the state
With November 5 drawing closer, Trump is expected to hold a rally in Salem, Virginia, on Saturday.
As for Minnesota, the state has voted for the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1976. It is also the home of Harris’ running mate, Governor Tim Walz. Biden carried Minnesota by 7.1 percent in 2020 against Trump.
Meanwhile, a MinnPost-Embold Research poll released on October 28 showed Harris leading Trump by 48 to 45 percent in the state, a slight shift from September when Harris led Trump 49 to 44 percent, which narrowed to 49 percent to 45 percent when including those leaning toward a candidate.
