Former President Donald Trump could break a 52-year GOP losing streak by winning the blue state of Minnesota, campaign officials said at a Republican National Committee retreat, citing internal polls.
Pollster Tony Fabrizio and senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita told attendees at the private donor event Saturday that they’re optimistic the 45th president could flip both Minnesota and Virginia, NBC News reported.
President Joe Biden won Minnesota by 7 percentage points in 2020, according to the outlet. The state has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign in 1972.
According to internal polls, Trump leads Biden by three points — 49 percent to 46 percent — in a head-to-head matchup in the North Star State.
In a six-way Minnesota contest with four independent candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump and Biden are tied at 40 percent each.
When Kennedy is taken out of the equation, Trump leads Biden by five points, at 46 percent to 41 percent.
Trump camp poll memo: Blue states MN & VA are in play
MN: Trump & Biden are tied 40-40%
Sans RFK Jr: Trump +5
Head to head: Trump + 3VA: Biden up 40-37%
Sans RFK: Biden +1
H2H: Biden +4 pic.twitter.com/rZYw5twBpQ— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) May 7, 2024
Overall, Trump campaign polls show the former president outperforming Biden in swing states.
“Fabrizio’s numbers, posted on a slide shared with NBC News, showed Trump ahead of President Joe Biden by small margins in the key swing states from 2020 — including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia,” the outlet reported.
Will Trump win Minnesota?
LaCivita said the Biden campaign’s suggestion that he could flip Florida and North Carolina — states Trump won in 2020 — is empty bluster, while the 45th president has a realistic shot at flipping some blue states.
“I think that the Biden campaign is deliberately playing a faux game by talking about [how] they’re going to expand the map in Florida and North Carolina,” LaCivita told NBC News. “But we have a real, real opportunity in expanding the map in Virginia and Minnesota.”
Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt scoffed at the very notion.
“While we have 150 offices open with hundreds of staff across the key battlegrounds, the RNC is closing offices and hemorrhaging money on legal fees,” Hitt said.
“Joe Biden has hit every battleground at least once, while Trump’s in the courtroom or on the golf course. We’ll see how that translates in November.”
While polls are temporary snapshots in time that can and do change, they paint an encouraging picture for Trump, who has been campaigning hard despite fighting sham lawsuits.
In contrast, his doddering Democratic rival is hardly campaigning, in a repeat of his lethargic 2020 efforts.
New: Swing State Polls with @thehill
AZ: 48% Trump, 44% Biden
GA: 47% Trump, 44% Biden
MI: 45% Trump, 44% Biden
NV: 45% Trump, 44% Biden
NC: 47% Trump, 42% Biden
PA: 47% Trump, 45% Biden
WI: 47% Trump, 45% Bidenhttps://t.co/tt6RQ0rGGP pic.twitter.com/c1xsuqa3Po— Emerson College Polling (@EmersonPolling) April 30, 2024
No matter what the polls say, it’s clear the United States is buckling under the weight of Biden’s disastrous presidency.
Americans are struggling with punishing inflation, terrifying crime and daily border invasions that are destabilizing the nation. Things cannot continue as they are.