There’s a constant theme being reported in the media which continues to prop up the idea that Hillary Clinton is simply unbeatable in November no matter what the recent polls may be saying. How can you tell? Time Magazine ran an article this weekend which seeks to explain precisely this theory, helpfully titled How to Tell Who’s Winning the Presidential Race. One of the central themes they point to is the often repeated mantra that Clinton must be better organized because she’s opened more campaign offices and is spending the money to put desks and chairs in all of them.
Although Trump has boasted otherwise, Clinton’s campaign has a massive ground game advantage, especially in key battleground states. In Florida, Clinton has 51 campaign offices and more than 90,000 volunteers. In North Carolina, her campaign has opened 30 offices and signed up 40,000 people to volunteer. And in Pennsylvania, her campaign has 38 offices and more than 60,000 volunteers.
Trump still lags far behind those numbers. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for a comment, but told CNN it had opened 30 new field offices in 21 states in the past two weeks.
Yes, offices are nice and can provide a convenient base of operations, but how many people do you actually have who are trained in the art of political warfare and getting out into the field? After all, offices are simply that… real estate. An office can’t make phone calls, knock on doors or organize your GOTV strategy. On that score you may be surprised to learn just how busy the RNC has been on behalf of Donald Trump. Sean Spicer released some data today which paints a very different picture.
As the presidential election comes down the home stretch, the RNC ground game is far surpassing anything we did in 2012.
In 2012, we had 576 staffers and organizers in 13 battleground states. This year, we have 3,894.
In Florida, we had 84 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 1,040 today.
In North Carolina, we had 61 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 657 today.
In Ohio, 79 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 436 today.
In Pennsylvania, 56 staff and organizers in 2012 vs. 392 today.
All told, the RNC has 6,000 staff and trained organizers and millions of volunteers spread out across 33 states, and they’ve already knocked on 4.4 million doors this cycle, a number far greater than what we did four years ago.
Here’s a quick breakdown of where we stand today.
That’s a lot of people, particularly in the key areas we need to be hitting. They may not all be working out of offices with Donald Trump’s name on the door, but many are making use of county GOP offices and other organizations. The key takeaway is that it doesn’t really matter which door your people walk out of in the morning or where they are picking up the phone… it’s that you need the actual people in place to do the work.
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