Trump's attacks on mail-in voting may incidentally threaten GOP turnout

Donald Trump. — (Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump's new campaign manager Bill Stepien on Monday expressed concern about voters receiving their mail ballots as early as late September, echoing GOP strategists who believe Trump is operating on an accelerated timeline to regain momentum before Election Day on Nov. 3.

Stepien wants to counter the expected nationwide surge in mail-in voting by holding more debates, but that likely wouldn't fix another potential looming problem for his campaign that may be, in part, Trump's own doing. Per The Washington Post, Trump's repeated attacks on mail-in voting, which he argues will lead to mass voter fraud, is discouraging Republicans from utilizing the practice and could threaten party turnout. A Monmouth University poll taken in July found that 60 percent of Democrats would at least consider voting by mail, compared to just 28 percent of Republicans.

In any other year, that might not be such a big deal. Sure, weather and forgetfulness could always prevent someone from going to the polls on Election Day, Politico notes, but the threat of a coronavirus outbreak is looming over this year's election and could keep more people at home than usual, which is partly why Democrats are pushing for more mail-in voting.

Article continues below

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Republican strategists are hoping Trump rolls back some of his criticism, or at least makes it more specific, going forward, so Republicans don't refuse to vote absentee if they need to. "It is a problem," one GOP strategist in North Carolina told the Post. "The president has oversimplified the issue to criticize the method of voting, rather than the way it's done." Read more at The Washington Post.

Explore More

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.