Despite national and statewide polls showing President Donald Trump trailing against Joe Biden, the president is reassuring his supporters not to fear, he has a secret weapon: A huge “silent majority” who will turn out on November 3 to bring Trump landslide re-election and prove the “fake” polls wrong, he has said.
So, who are these silent Trump supporters he’s promising will come out in droves on November 3, and do they really exist?
Republican party leaders and strategists have said there are plenty of Trump voters out there, they just aren’t speaking up publicly about their support for the president at a time when the political discourse in America is so divisive.
“I think it’s as true as saying the sky is blue,” said George Seay, a political strategist who has worked on several high-profile Texas GOP campaigns, including Sen. Mark Rubio and Gov. Greg Abbott.
“I wouldn’t call it the silent majority per se, but there are a significant number of people who either don’t respond to polls or they won’t reveal that they will vote for Trump because they fear what other people are going to think,” Seay said.
In an atmosphere of the so-called “cancel culture” and political correctness, many Trump supporters may even lie about their support when responding to pollsters, Seay said.
It may be too early to tell, given that in 2016, many voters in swing states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida decided on their vote just days before the election, partly contributing to the pre-election poll discrepancies in 2016, according to post-election analysis by the American Association for Public Opinion Research, or AAPOR.
Republican statements that Trump supporters are too afraid to go public, “sounds like adventures in strategic storytelling,” said Kevin Banda, an assistant professor of political science at Texas Tech Univesity.
The term “silent majority” was originally used by Richard Nixon, who was elected in 1969 on a platform that emphasized “law and order” during a time of civil unrest in the U.S. over the Vietnam War and civil rights. By calling on the “silent majority” to support him, Nixon tried to appeal to those voters who had not participated in anti-war demonstrations across the country.
The Trump Campaign has more ENTHUSIASM, according to many, than any campaign in the history of our great Country - Even more than 2016. Biden has NONE! The Silent Majority will speak on NOVEMBER THIRD!!! Fake Suppression Polls & Fake News will not save the Radical Left.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2020
