Trump Campaign Sees Elizabeth Warren as an Increasing Threat
Just two months after President Donald Trump declared
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren “finished,”
his campaign now is viewing her as a gathering threat in the lead-up to the
2020 election.
“Although our own early published polls and internal polls
discounted Elizabeth Warren, her recent momentum in May and June in national
and early caucus and primary states into a strong second place to a flat Joe
Biden is a cause for our campaign’s attention,” Trump campaign pollster John
McLaughlin recently
told Politico.
Until now, Trump and his campaign have focused mostly on
Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden. In the last few weeks, Trump has expressed
his concern about President Barack Obama’s former vice president by calling Biden
“China’s
Dream Candidate,” “Sleepy
Joe Biden,” and “Swampman
Joe Biden.” The latter pejorative
was thought up by Trump’s pal, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
However, Warren’s
strong showing in recent polls has Team Trump shifting more of its focus onto
the Massachusetts senator’s campaign. Previously, Trump’s attacks against
Warren mostly have been limited to calling her the racist slur “Pocahontas” while
mocking her previous claims to Native
American ancestry.
But according to
Politico, Warren’s “disciplined style, populist-infused speeches, and perceived
ability to win over suburban female voters” has “raised concerns” among Trump
advisers.
Recent polls show
Warren gaining ground on both Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has
consistently placed second until now in polling about Democratic contenders. A
recent UC
Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll showed Warren and Sanders
essentially tied months ahead of California’s March 3, 2020 Democratic primary
on Super Tuesday, with 18% and 17% support of likely Democratic voters,
respectively. While Biden continues to lead in the state, with 22% of likely
voters according to the poll, that number is down by 4% from an April Quinnipiac
University poll.
Equally noteworthy,
Warren not only has overtaken Sanders for second place in California polling,
but also she has knocked Sen. Kamala Harris into fourth place in her own home
state, with 13% of likely voters, according to the UC Berkeley poll.
In South Carolina,
which will host the state
Democratic Party’s annual convention next Saturday, Warren has overtaken
Sanders and Harris in the latest polling to place second, behind Biden, with
17% of likely Democratic voters, according to a new Post
and Courier-Change Research Poll. Biden’s support in the state has dropped
from 46% just after he announced his candidacy to 37% in the latest poll.
Warren, however,
isn’t taking the current polling numbers too seriously this far out from the
primaries and caucuses. ‘‘It’s way too early to talk about polls,” she said on
Saturday, according
to Bloomberg. “What are we, eight months away from the first caucuses and
primary elections?’’
Real
Clear Politics polling averages through June 12 show Biden with a
double-digit lead nationally, at 32.2%, while Sanders is in second at 15.8% and
Warren is in third at 11.2%. But Real Clear Politics also shows Warren gaining
sharply on Sanders in the month of June.
Trump’s re-election campaign and other GOP groups are paying close attention
to all of this.
Per Politico:
The GOP oppo
research shop America Rising has placed Warren in its top tier of Democratic
candidates and will prioritize putting trackers on her campaign events. The RNC,
meanwhile, recently sent out a news
release drawing attention to a radio interview in which Warren was
pressed on her past claims of Native American ancestry.
But Trump aides are
planning a barrage that extends well beyond the heritage issue, which has been
the focus of Trump’s mockery and broadsides. They’re preparing to dig into her
past as a professor and try to pick apart her laundry list of policy proposals.
Warren’s response to
this: ‘‘Donald Trump is going to do whatever he thinks helps Donald Trump,’’
she said, according to Bloomberg.