Trump campaign manager says he'd win in an "electoral landslide" as of today
President Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale is predicting Mr. Trump will win even more electoral votes than in 2016 — "an electoral landslide" — dismissing independent polling that shows the president trailing top Democrats.
Parscale made the comments in an interview with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett, hours ahead of Mr. Trump's reelection launch rally in Orlando.
"I think we win Florida, yeah," Parscale told Garrett. "I think we win in an electoral landslide as of today."
Asked to define an electoral landslide, Parscale responded, "I think even more electoral points than he did last time." Mr. Trump won 306 electoral votes in 2016 (though two faithless electors declined to cast their votes for him, leaving him with 304 officially). A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidential election.
Mr. Trump has declared reported internal polls that show him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in key states, Florida included, non-existent, or inaccurate. Parscale declined to comment on the polling controversy — including the firing of pollsters amid leaks of internal polling details to the media — but cast doubt on all polling on the 2020 campaign. Parscale insists current methodology is unable to accurately capture the sentiment and likely voting habits of the American populace.
"I just think the country is too complex now to call a couple hundred people and ask them what they think," Parscale said. "There are so many ways and different people who show up and vote now. The way turnout works now. The abilities we have now to turn out voters. The polling can't understand that. And that's why the polling was so wrong in 2016. It was 100% wrong. Nobody got it right — not one public poll. The reason why — it's not 1962 anymore."
Parscale's sentiment about polls echoes his boss, who often expresses similar doubts, particularly when the polls cast him in a negative light. As Mr. Trump often says, few predicted his victory in 2016.
"The Fake News has never been more dishonest than it is today. Thank goodness we can fight back on Social Media," Mr. Trump tweeted last week. "Their new weapon of choice is Fake Polling, sometimes referred to as Suppression Polls (they suppress the numbers). Had it in 2016, but this is worse ..."
Mr. Trump has come under fire in recent days for his openness towards accepting foreign aid in the next election. Parscale said Mr. Trump would "listen, go to the FBI if he wanted to."
"Look, I would never talk about policies that we have, I just don't talk about that but the president has stated how he would do it," Parscale told Garrett. "He would listen, go to the FBI if he wanted to and the things he will do, I would never talk about internal policy."
But, speaking of intervention by a foreign government, Parscale said the conclusion of the investigation into Russian interference ended up benefiting the president.
"I actually think the ending has been a good thing and him being fully exonerated," the campaign manager said. "And all this lies about Russian collusion and all this crap that said that we cheated and these things and they want to act like all this stuff that never happened now."
Mr. Trump's reelection rally in Orlando is expected to draw tens of thousands of supporters, with some lining up as early as Monday morning to secure a good spot. The rally kicks off at 8 p.m.
Look for more of Garrett's interview with Parscale on "CBS This Morning," airing 7 a.m. Wednesday.