Donald Trump is trying to reach potential voters who don't engage with traditional news media by appearing on podcasts and showing up at combat sporting events.
The former president turned up recently on boxing legend Mike Tyson's podcast "Hotboxin'" as part of his campaign's strategic outreach to men who are interested in combat or contact sports but don't watch much news, and he'll appear on the popular "UFC Unfiltered" podcast after making an appearance at an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Las Vegas, reported Politico.
“Doing non-traditional media and showing up to major cultural events like UFC fights allows former President Trump to hit a completely different audience than doing an interview on Fox News or other political media,” said Republican strategist Andy Surabian, an adviser to Donald Trump Jr. “He’s putting himself in front of people who are far less politically engaged and don’t necessarily have a baked-in view of him.”
Trump and his team are betting his re-election chances on less political active voters, a demographic that played a key role in electing President Joe Biden, who improved substantially on Hillary Clinton's support from male voters -- particularly white men who did not graduate college.
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“For Trump, the one thing I don’t think people put into perspective, where he lost in 2016 to 2020,” said Republican strategist Ryan Girdusky. “He left a ton of chips on the table.”
Trump advisers are trying to reach undecided and independent voters, women without a college degree and younger white voters, all of whom typically don't engage with traditional news media, and they're hoping to energize that portion of the electorate to make up for the voters who would never cast a ballot for the twice-impeached former president.
“It’s a challenge to get the ‘no news’ voters information about the election, but to win their votes, the Trump campaign is working overtime to get them through alternative media sources,” said Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin.
