In A Risky Ploy To Beat Harris Trump Is Targeting Voters Who Don T

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Oct 24, 2025, 11:09 PM

in a risky ploy to beat harris trump is targeting voters who don t

Additional reporting by Jason Lange, editing by Ross Colvin and Claudia Parsons Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Alexandra covers the 2024 U.S. presidential race, with a focus on Republicans, donors and AI. Previously, she spent four years in Venezuela reporting on the humanitarian crisis and investigating corruption. She has also worked in India, Chile and Argentina.

Alexandra was Reuters' Reporter of the Year and has won an Overseas Press Club award. Gram Slattery is a White House correspondent in Washington, focusing on national security, intelligence and foreign affairs. He was previously a national political correspondent, covering the 2024 presidential campaign. From 2015 to 2022, he held postings in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santiago, Chile, and he has reported extensively throughout Latin America. A view shows a jumbotron urging Trump supporters to make a plan to vote early or in-person on Election Day, during a campaign rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S., August 30, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Layne

In the lead-up to the November 2024 election, Donald Trump’s campaign has implemented a concentrated strategy to target infrequent voters, with Pennsylvania serving as a key state in this effort. Volunteers, such as Rachel and Chris Gottberg, have been actively canvassing in cities like York, Pennsylvania, with the goal of connecting with newly registered and “low propensity” voters—those who do not consistently participate in... Wearing “Trump Force Captain” t-shirts, the Gottbergs and other volunteers have been door-knocking with a specific focus on these infrequent voters, who are seen as pivotal to Trump’s success in battleground states. This strategy marks a significant shift from the campaign’s approach in 2020 and is considered both high-risk and labor-intensive, as it aims to engage voters who may ultimately choose to stay home. James Blair, the Trump campaign’s political director, emphasized the importance of getting these low-frequency voters to the polls. “We know they agree with us.

We know they favor us, but we have to get them to the polls,” Blair said. The campaign’s efforts are particularly focused on rural, white, and younger voters, as well as a portion of people of color. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll highlighted the potential of this strategy. While Trump leads Harris by just one percentage point among likely voters (48% to 47%), his lead grows to 49% to 40% among those who did not vote in 2020. This data underscores the campaign’s belief that turning out less-reliable voters is crucial for success. In the final stretch of an exceedingly tight presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are targeting people's fears as they barnstorm across the country to eke out wins in seven...

Trump, who has raised dire warnings about crime and border security since the start of the 2024 race, has more recently dumped millions of dollars into a barrage of swing-state ads that seek to... Harris, who has for months flagged concerns about Trump's fitness for office, has ratcheted up messaging about his penchant for dictatorial pronouncements, his election denial and role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and the warnings from several of his own former military advisors that he is a threat to national security. Read more: In final stretch, Harris revives attacks on Trump as 'unstable' and mentally unfit for office The fear-based messages have saturated campaign advertising in swing states, where voters in past presidential contests were met with messaging on regional issues such as farming or manufacturing. Democratic heavy hitters, including former presidents Obama and Clinton, are all out campaigning for Kamala Harris.

But others in the party are sounding the alarm that her popularity may have plateaued. The panel discusses where the race stands in the final stretch. Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. LISA DESJARDINS: Tonight, early voting is underway in all but a handful of states, and Election Day itself, just over three weeks away. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are ramping up their efforts to win over undecided and unlikely voters.

Democrats' heavy hitters, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and first lady Jill Biden are out campaigning for Kamala Harris. But others in the party are sounding the alarm that her popularity, particularly in the critical blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, may have plateaued. That could affect races down the ballot, including control of the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump's campaign taking an unconventional approach, holding rallies in solidly blue states as a way to highlight what he says are failed Democratic policies. Joining me tonight to discuss this and more are Jeff Mason, Reuters White House correspondent, Saleha Mohsin, senior Washington correspondent with Bloomberg, Ashley Parker, The Washington Post senior national political correspondent, and Jessica Taylor,...

Thank you to all of you for being here. Supporters cheer before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Greensboro Coliseum, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris listens during a town hall at the Royal Oak Theatre in Royal Oak, Mich., Monday, Oct. 21, 2024.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, uses a frier as an employee looks on during a visit to McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, Pa., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool) Latino leaders pray with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump as he participates in a Latino leader roundtable, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024 in Doral, Fla.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris listens as Stevie Wonder performs “Redemption Song” during a church service and early vote event at Divine Faith Ministries International, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) A retired homicide cop who’s seen things. An aspiring screenwriter worried that voters will green-light a Donald Trump White House sequel.

A steely Air Force vet on his fourth cup of coffee. They’re among the millions of Americans who tuned into the fiery Tuesday night throwdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in search of information, persuasion, or confirmation. The election is on a razor’s edge, with Harris and Trump tied in most national polls. As USA TODAY’s Susan Page recently observed, “Likely voters are holding back from Harris largely because they don’t know enough about her, and those same voters are holding back from Trump because they know... We sent reporters to talk with our USA TODAY Network readers in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin about what they expected from the debate, which candidate... Here's what our swing state readers had to say:

Those factors are starting to play increasingly important roles. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are locked in a race that refuses to budge outside the polling margin of error despite historic developments -- and outside factors are starting to... Two assassination attempts, a debate, controversies over conspiracy theories and theorists from the Trump campaign and more have largely failed to move the electoral needle in any significant way, leaving the players on the... For Trump, a recent push to change the way Nebraska's electoral votes are tallied and changes to the rules in Georgia marked an effort to gain advantages in key battleground areas. Meanwhile, Harris is leaning on referenda on abortion access to juice turnout while hoping that a firestorm surrounding North Carolina Lt. Gov.

and GOP gubernatorial nominee will depress Republicans in the purple state. Taken together, the maneuvers serve as a way to find some -- any -- edge, even if on the margins, in a race that poll after poll shows remains a nailbiter. We take a look at what Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are doing to reach voters in battleground states and in demographics that have not been favoring them so far. With less than a month to go before the presidential election, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are furiously campaigning. They're trying to squeeze votes out of battleground states and from demographic pockets that don't tend to favor them. NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson is on the line with us now.

Good morning, Mara. MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha. RASCOE: OK, so before we get into the details of what the candidates are doing, where does the race stand now? And don't tell me it's close. LIASSON: It's close. People who are following this race are going nuts.

It's what we call a real poll-er (ph) coaster. One day Harris is up in Michigan. The next day another poll shows she's down in Michigan. One day, Trump is winning Arizona, then he's not. The bottom line is this is a too-close-to-call race. It's tied.

We've never had a race this close for this long, and neither candidate has been able to develop a lead outside the margin of error in the battleground states. And you could ask them both the same question. Why hasn't Trump developed a lead? He's had a very good hand to play. He's ahead on immigration and the economy, the top two issues for voters. He's seen as better on those, even if some of those advantages are shrinking.

He's running against a historically unpopular administration. So why isn't he ahead? And you could ask the same question about Harris. She's running against a president who incited an insurrection, who voters rejected in 2020, who's been guilty - found guilty of 34 felonies, and she hasn't been able to develop a lead either. But what worries Democrats about Harris most is that she's still not where Biden was in 2020 with key groups of voters at this point in the race. In other words, African Americans, Hispanic voters and young voters - she's still not where he is.

In A Risky Ploy To Beat Harris Trump Is Targeting Voters Who Don T

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