Special Poll
Top officials from former President Donald Trump’s campaign disclosed to donors at a Republican National Committee retreat on Saturday that they aim to win over Democratic strongholds Minnesota and Virginia in the upcoming November elections. The private discussions occurred at the Four Seasons resort, where pollster Tony Fabrizio and senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita presented internal survey results alongside strategies concerning finances and messaging. According to two attendees, the internal data shown included Trump leading President Joe Biden by slight margins in key 2020 swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia.
The strategic discussions at the retreat also highlighted potential inroads into traditionally Democratic states such as Minnesota and Virginia. This initiative comes as Biden’s re-election team considers targeting Republican strongholds like North Carolina and Florida. In 2020, Biden won with a significant electoral margin, securing pivotal states by a narrow cumulative vote total.
In a phone interview with NBC News, LaCivita critiqued the Biden campaign’s strategy, saying, “I think that the Biden campaign is deliberately playing a faux game by talking about they’re going to expand the map in Florida and North Carolina. But we have a real, real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”
LaCivita shared insights from the internal polls with donors, which are relatively consistent with limited public surveys. Public polling shows Biden with a slight lead in Virginia, while Trump’s internal polling suggests a competitive edge in Minnesota, despite contrasting public data. All results, however, remain within the margin of error, indicating closely contested races.
Detailed polling scenarios included multi-candidate simulations, with a notable six-way race in Minnesota showing Trump and Biden tied, and various candidate configurations altering the lead dynamics. Trump’s internal polling in Virginia also depicted tight competitions among multiple candidates.
Trump’s campaign did not release full details of the surveys or their methodologies. Campaigns often use optimistic internal data as a fundraising tool to encourage donor support.
Responding to these claims, Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt criticized the Trump team’s approach, stating, “Trump’s team has so little campaign or infrastructure to speak of they’re resorting to leaking memos that say ‘the polls we paid for show us winning, don’t ask us to show you the whole poll though.’ Sure, guys.”
She further contrasted the operational scale of both campaigns, pointing out Biden’s extensive field presence and Trump’s distractions with legal matters and golf, concluding, “We’ll see how that translates in November.”