The Democratic push for impeachment of President Trump is boosting the GOP base, padding already record-breaking donations, and even luring in some Democrats dissatisfied with their party’s actions, according to top officials.
“The longer this goes, we are seeing more and more voters shift to supporting the president and recognizing that this is a totally partisan endeavor by the Democrats,” said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
“At every level, we have increased our share of people who want to contribute and invest,” she told Secrets in advance of this weekend’s test of the 2020 GOP get out the vote effort.
While it is a contrarian view, she also released some polling to back up what the party is experiencing. For example, since the impeachment proceedings started, Trump's approval ratings in 17 key states have increased 3 points, and some 70% believe it is about "politics" and would like congressional Democrats to focus on healthcare, trade, and the economy.
Officials said that during the National Week of Action, Nov. 1-5, some 75,000 new volunteers and the RNC’s staff in all states would test the 2020 blueprint to contact voters and get them to the polls to vote for Trump.
The new volunteers came into the party through its “Stop the Madness Campaign” focused on fighting impeachment and Trump rallies.
McDaniel said that the rallies are especially helpful in bringing in new voters. She said that 7%-10% of those attending Trump campaign rallies have not voted in four or more of the past elections, and 30% are self-declared Democrats.
“These are new people who are coming out. They haven’t always voted Republican and haven’t always voted,” she told Secrets.
The testing in 50 states of the get out the vote program “helps us ensure our field team is battle-tested and ready to go — ready to reelect POTUS and support every GOP candidate on the ballot,” said a party official, who added, “Turning out the vote next November requires a well-organized national operation put into place well before the election. This is where the RNC/Trump campaign is lapping the Democrats on every front: organizing, fundraising, volunteer training, voter registration.”
McDaniel said that the results would also be “vetted.” For example, if a volunteer reports knocking on 100 doors, the party will be able to verify that.
“We’ll be testing our volunteers’ capabilities one year out, providing metrics and goals for phone calls, door-knocking, and voter contact in each state we’re in,” said the official.
“This is a critical way we will grow support for all GOP candidates up and down the ballot once we move into the voter contact phase,” the official added.