Trump supporters' election test: a movement or a moment
NOVEMBER 2, 2018 / 6:22 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Peter Eisler, Ned Parker, Julia Harte
12 MIN READ
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Reuters) - In rally after rally, President Donald Trump exhorts throngs of red-hatted supporters to treat next week’s congressional elections as a referendum on Trumpism and the grass-roots movement that swept him to power.
“You’re voting for me in 2018,” Trump told a raucous crowd in a late September appearance for Republican candidates in Missouri. “You’re voting for me.”
The plea speaks to the challenge facing the president and his supporters: With Democrats threatening to take over the House of Representatives and key governors’ offices, the success of his legislative agenda over the next two years hinges on whether he can energize his backers around candidates who are not named Trump.
This year’s election is the first real test of whether the coalition behind Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan can evolve from a diffuse, personality-driven following to an organized political force able to boost candidates outside his electoral strongholds.
Reuters surveyed officials from 18 Republican campaigns, analyzed data from polling partner Ipsos and interviewed dozens of candidates, strategists and Trump supporters to assess the reach and influence of the president’s self-styled “MAGA Movement” ahead of the elections.
United behind Trump’s “America First” agenda of tighter borders, protectionist economic policies and unilateralist diplomacy, the MAGA coalition swept up 2016 voters who felt ignored by Washington and welcomed Trump’s vows to upend its institutions. Today, it attracts Tea Party conservatives, evangelical Christians, gun rights advocates, and working-class voters drawn to Trump’s outsider persona.
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-maga-insight/trump-supporters-election-test-a-movement-or-a-moment-idUSKCN1N710E
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