In Midwest, Trump’s ‘law and order’ message wins some, loses others
If President Donald Trump’s portrayal of himself as the avatar of “law and order” is going to help him at the 2020 ballot box anywhere, it might be here in the key swing states of the Upper Midwest.
The target for the president’s tough message is white suburban and rural voters worried by protests that have, on occasion, led to arson and looting. And in 2020, Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin have been at the epicenter of the social justice uproar over police violence against Black Americans, after the death of George Floyd under an officer’s knee in Minneapolis, and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
Indeed, in Wayzata, a leafy town 16 miles from where Mr. Floyd was killed, it’s not hard to find residents who say the unrest has increased their support for President Trump. His uncritical support for police and diatribes about “violent left-wing extremists” appears to be solidifying and energizing his base.
Yet overall, polls indicate that the “law and order” tactic, reminiscent of the way Richard Nixon ran for the presidency in 1968, isn’t boosting Mr. Trump much in these northern states – or at least, not enough to win.
In Minnesota – a state his campaign is trying hard to flip red in 2020 – he trails Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 8.8 percentage points, according to a FiveThirtyEight average of major polls.
The “Blue Wall”James Pierce for City CouncilMidwest racism“The silent majority”