Analysis: Why Was Turnout So Underwhelming at Trump's Much-Anticipated 'Comeback' Rally?
Guy Benson
Posted: Jun 22, 2020 10:35 AM
As the afternoon faded into early evening on Saturday, anti-Trump Twitter was abuzz. Turnout for the president's re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma was looking underwhelming, and his critics were having a field day. Team Trump had been publicly boasting about receiving more than one million RSVP's for the event, causing them to set up a massive overflow area outside of the arena, where both the President and Vice President were scheduled to make appearances to address and energize the throngs who couldn't fit inside the 19,000 seat arena. But as showtime approached, the 'overflow' crowd was so sparse that the outdoor portion of the program was hastily scrapped altogether, and the stage dismantled:
Will Steakin
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@wsteaks
President Trump will no longer deliver a planned address to the overflow crowd outside the BOK Center at his Tulsa rally, a Trump campaign source tells @ABC News.
Inside, the crowd was large and fired up, but thousands of empty blue seats were visible throughout the BOK Center's upper deck, in addition to the conspicuously non-crowded arena floor. For an average political rally, the turnout was strong. But for a Trump rally, especially one that was hyped and debated for weeks, it was a flop. And the president knows it:
Rick Klein
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@rickklein
Trump was “livid - extremely irritated†by the turnout last night at the rally, @CeciliaVega reports #thisweek
353
8:45 AM - Jun 21, 2020
How did this happen? Four factors, as far as I can tell. First, Coronavirus. In spite of all the rhetoric, it's clear that a great many Americans -- including scores of Trump supporters who would have swarmed into Tulsa under different circumstances -- just didn't want to roll the dice by attending a large indoor gathering, when push came to shove. The campaign had said that anyone who felt uncomfortable or potentially unwell shouldn't show up, and it appears as though quite a few people decided to err on the side of caution. Members of the president's own COVID task force, including Doctors Fauci and Birx, reportedly advised against holding a rally under the circumstances (indoors, no distancing, etc). The campaign pressed forward anyway, but the people voted with their feet. In a state with surging infections, a statistic that requires some context and nuance, many simply were not prepared to take the risk.
excerpt:
So if this was intended to be a morale booster for the principal, as well as a means of generating quasi-convincing talking points about robust enthusiasm in spite of flagging polling numbers, the rally must be viewed as an embarrassment. We'll see if anyone gets the axe because of it, or if millions of online and TV viewers might salvage things a bit. Regardless, it really looks and feels like Trump is in trouble right now, as the campaign enters the summer slog. I'll leave you with two clips from Trump's speech, including an ill-advised 'joke' (this piece is worth reading, since we're back on the subject of COVID testing) that the Biden campaign is already seizing on:
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https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2020/06/22/analysis-why-was-turnout-so-low-at-trumps-muchanticipated-comeback-rally-n2571024