Adele Malpass reports at Real Clear Politics on the wide disparity in popularity of the rallies being held by President Trump and his potential 2020 challenger, Joe Biden. Trump’s rallies bring in requests from 100,000 people for seating, meanwhile Biden is luck to fill 500 seats. Whatever their overall popularity, the enthusiasm of Trump supporters cannot be matched by any politician today. Malpass writes:
In 2016, Trump had the ability to fill arenas in multiple states on the same day.
“If people stand out in the rain and sun for hours, camp out overnight and take off work to attend a rally, then they’ll certainly show up to vote,” said Trish Hope, publisher of “Just the Tweets,” a compilation of the president’s first-year tweets.
“What the media misses is that people just want to be part of the Trump movement. And they are in denial that something big is going on here.” She added, “The media is going to be more shocked this year on election night than in 2016.”
A quick comparison reveals Trump’s appearances have generated much larger crowds than those of prominent Democrats. In Nevada last weekend, the president hit the campaign trail with a rally in Elko County, which drew 8,500.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden campaigned for Democratic Senate candidate Jackie Rosen in Las Vegas — before an audience of about 500.
Former President Obama was also recently in the state, but only 2,000 people attended his event in the University of Nevada-Las Vegas’s 18,000-seat arena.
On Monday, Trump held a rally in Houston where 100,000 people requested tickets.
At the Trump rallies, it’s customary now for there to be an overflow space outside for those without tickets. “Each rally is bigger than the last, and there are never enough seats inside,” said Hope. “Outside has become as much fun as inside.” That area typically features food trucks, bands playing patriotic music, vendors selling Trump swag, and big screen televisions to watch the president’s remarks.
There’s also a subsidiary benefit of these events to the GOP and the president: Trump’s 2020 campaign recently announced that it had raised a $106 million war chest, with 98 percent of it coming from low-dollar donors. Some of that likely comes from those attending rallies, who provide their email and cellphone information to obtain a ticket.
And each person who attends a rally is potentially a force multiplier as they recount the experience to their friends and relatives either directly or through social media.
Read more here.
FULL: President Trump Rally in Elko, Nevada (10/20/18)
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