Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, we examine how Donald Trump is stepping up his campaign activity in the final stages of the race. Plus, senior political editor Mark Murray breaks down the fault lines in our new survey of Latino voters.
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After the GOP worried that Harris was holding him flat-footed, Trump picked up the pace on the campaign trail
By Katherine Doyle, Jake Traylor and Jonathan Allen
Former President Donald Trump is finally gearing up for an all-out sprint to take back the White House.
Trump, who was flat-footed as Democrats shuffled their candidates this summer, held 26 campaign events this month — most of them rallies — up from the 21 he attended in June and July, according to an analysis of his schedule by NBC News. The ramp-up began in August with 19 events.
Although it is traditional to gather campaigns after Labor Day, some Republicans of the vice president Kamala Harris He leapfrogged President Joe Biden when he stormed the country in August after moving to the top of his party’s ticket. Now Trump is racing against Harris and the clock.
Trump held two rallies over the weekend in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. In both, he made increasingly personal attacks on Harris, unreasonably questioning his mental health and calling him “mentally retarded.” At a rally in Pennsylvania, he called for Harris to be “impeached and prosecuted” for his policies on the US border with Mexico.
A campaign official said Trump was more to blame for the events, saying Trump should have had a slow Sunday but instead insisted, “We’ve got to do something,” which led to a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, the day of the vice presidential debates, Trump is scheduled to make two stops in Wisconsin. And on Saturday, Trump plans to return Butler, Pennsylvania, to hold an event at the site where he was shot during the July 13 assassination attempt.
Aftermath of Hurricane Helene: Trump skipped the campaign trail on Monday to visit Valdosta, Georgia. Hurricane Helene.
Matt Dixon, Adam Edelman and Megan Lebowitz report that Trump falsely claimed that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was unable to reach Biden to discuss the hurricane’s effects on his state. Earlier in the day, Kemp, a Republican, said Biden initially missed the call but called back and the two were able to connect Sunday evening.
Although Trump said that he did not go to Georgia to talk about politics, he criticized it a photograph Harris said on social media that he had been notified by the FEMA administrator as “HOLDING and RELEASED” and that he he said the federal government and Democratic governors, including Roy Cooper of North Carolina, are “doing everything they can to not help people in Republican districts.”
Biden and Harris have both said they intend to travel to areas affected by Helen if their trips do not affect emergency response operations.
A new poll highlights just how diverse and divided the Latino electorate is
By Mark Murray
Our best overall pick NBC News/Telemundo/CNBC Latino poll How politically diverse and divided the Latino electorate is in 2024 reflects the same fault lines we see in the broader electorate.
The poll shows Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump 54% to 40% among registered Latino voters nationwide. There is a notable gender gap: Latino women support Harris over Trump by 26 points, 60%-34%, while Latino men are split between the two candidates at 47% each.
Broken down by religion, Harris leads Catholic Latinos by 20 points (56%-36%) and non-religious Latinos by more (71%-24%). Meanwhile, Trump has a 36-point lead among evangelical Latinos (64% to 28%).
There is also a division of education. Harris leads both among college-educated Latino men (58%-42%) and college-educated Latino women (61%-35%), while Trump leads among men without a college degree (51%-38%).
And then there are issues like immigration, with 52% of Latino voters polled saying it’s more important to prevent discrimination against immigrants and create a path to citizenship, while 46% say it’s more important to secure the border and stop immigrants. entering the country illegally.
“The Latino electorate is incredibly diverse. It can’t be overstated,” said Democratic pollster Aileen Cardona-Arroyo of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the poll with Republican pollster Micah Roberts and his team at Public Opinion Strategy.
“We’re looking at Latino voters more than the combined Latino community,” he said.
Telemundo’s Julio Vaqueiro put it this way on “Meet the Press” Sunday: “I sometimes wonder if there is such a thing as a ‘Latin Voice.'”
That, more than anything else, explains why Democrats have lost among Latino voters over the past decade, according to polls. They are not monolithic and reflect the same divisions – across gender, religion and education – that we see with the broad electorate.
More details: Nnamdi Egwuonwu enters How are the Harris and Trump campaigns? they target the increasingly fragmented Latino electorate very differently.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- ⚫ The result of the assassination attempt: A majority of voters blame the “extreme political rhetoric” of some politicians and media figures for contributing to the attempted assassination of Trump in Florida this month. According to a recent NBC News poll . Meanwhile, 58-year-old Ryan Routh, who was accused of killing Trump, pleaded not guilty to all charges. More →
- ⚖️ The ban on abortion in Georgia was canceled: A Fulton County judge has overturned Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, allowing the procedure to resume and legalize up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. More →
- ⚖️ Georgian election rules were challenged: Democrats are suing the Georgia State Board of Elections over a newly adopted rule that requires counties to hand-count ballots cast on Election Day. More →
- 📣 Speaking of his generation: At-large voters are likely to play an important role in the election, as a once-reliable GOP voting bloc has become more vocal. More →
- 💰 Doubles: Harris vowed to “double down” on Justice Department resources to reduce the flow of fentanyl into the US after Trump falsely claimed he wanted to legalize the drug. More →
- 💵 Need help: Americans rely on government assistance more than ever, relying on programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, The Wall Street Journal reports. Aid is critical in economically stressed areas, many of which are in swing states. More →
- 🗳 Downvote battles: A summary of state legislative chambers up for grabs this fall. More → Watch live from the campaign trail →
That’s all for the Policy Desk for now. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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