By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 at Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com.
President Trump kicked off his reelection campaign Tuesday in the battleground state of Florida as GOP leaders remain skeptical about his poll numbers leading up to the 2020 election, polls that find him trailing in virtually every swing state, including Florida, North Carolina and Michigan, states he carried in 2016.
At least least one GOP-commissioned polls says the president could win Ohio and Pennsylvania in 2020, states he also carried in 2016, among others.
Battleground states determine electoral votes, and electoral votes determine winners of presidential elections, no Democrat ever winning the White House without first winning Ohio and no Republican of remembrance doing so either.
The crowd at Tuesday's rally in Orlando, Florida repeatedly applauded the president during his energetic speech, and booed the media, Trump denouncing what he calls fake news and saying he will keep America great if he gets four more years.
"Our country is now thriving prospering and booming and frankly its is soaring to new heights," Trump said. "Our economy is the envy of the world."
Blacks, however, still say job creation is lagging in the Black community.
The Black vote is overwhelming handed to Democratic presidential candidates whose rhetoric on jobs, the economy, education and health care appeals more to the traditional Black voter.
A Republican real estate mogul who upset Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win the presidency in a close election in 2016 where he won the electoral college and Clinton won the popular vote, Trump, 73, cannot afford to alienate any ethic group, at least not now.
There is no question that Black votes matter.
The Black vote fell seven percentage points in 2016 with Blacks making up 12 percent of the electorate that year, and some 4 million Obama voters stayed home, an indication that courting the Black vote in 2020 may take some hard work and grassroots campaigning for both Democratic and Republican candidates for president.
Campaigning is what Trump loves and he is at his best while preforming for his right-wing Republican base.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, still leads the Democratic hopefuls for president, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders,whose numbers are dropping, Sen Elizabeth Warren, whose numbers are surging, and Sen Kamala Harris and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, both of them tied and stagnant.
Polls have Biden leading Sanders 38%-17%, a commanding lead that makes him the sure front runner across partisan lines with the presidential election some 500 days away.
It is not surprising that the president chose Florida as the venue where he would officially announce his bid for reelection.
A June 18 Real Politics poll has the president losing to Biden in Florida 50 % -41 % if the November 2020 general election were held today
That same poll shows that Sens Sanders, Warren and Harris would also win over Trump there too.
The first Democrat debate, which is June 26-27, will also showcase Florida, but in Miami, the Democratic National Committee determined to also woo voters.
The president's diminishing popularity comes has his foes demand he be impeached, though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, amid opposition from some Democratic congressional lawmakers such as Reps Marcia Fudge and Tim Ryan of Ohio, Ryan also a long-shot presidential candidate, says impeachment would be a distraction, and that Democrats should focus more on winning in 2020.
She has said publicly that she prefers that the president "be imprisoned."
The growing desire for impeachment, with national polls showing that nearly a quarter of Americans approve of it, also spells trouble for the president.
The recent controversy regarding Trump and his administration follows the controversial release of the Mueller report, the official report documenting the findings and conclusions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election.
An NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist Poll finds that some 22% of Americans want impeachment proceedings to ensue against the sitting president while another 25% want an investigation into potential wrongdoing.
The president says it is all a political witch hunt, though the Muller report did not exonerate him, nor his entourage, from any malfeasance.
He begins his reelection campaign as an underdog to a Democratic former vice president, but that is not all that bothers his campaign team, the president's poll numbers for job performance at 44 percent signals more trouble to his reelection campaign, and could make it more difficult for him to win the popular vote.
Trump's overall approval rating is at 42%, according to a June 6 Quinnipiac University poll, with a June 10 Rasmussen poll showing him at 48%.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio –
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
