Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Blair County Convention Center in Altoona, Pa. (PHOTO: REUTERS)
Donald Trump vowed “to go full blast” on the campaign trail day until Election Day and admitted he has “no choice” if he wants to win the election. The comments come at the end of a week that saw controversy and the candidate barnstorming battleground states including Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
“It’s set up and we have to do it. It’s so important. We have 90 days left and I wanna maximize the time,” Mr. Trump said Friday night. “I just feel that I have no choice. I have to really go full blast and get this thing done because we will make America great again.”
In Florida, the Republican presidential candidate held rallies in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Kissimmee, drawing more than 40,000 at events this week. Still, he continues to trail in the polls against Hillary Clinton, including the People’s Pundit Daily U.S. Presidential Election Daily Tracking Poll. Though his polling numbers appear to have leveled out, he’s struggled to get back some of the voters he lost since his post-convention bounce.
“It’s not that Mrs. Clinton is rising, it’s that he has fallen so much,” said PPD’s senior political analyst Richard Baris. “He will likely continue to trail in the polls until he either expands his appeal among working class voters back to prior levels and regains the support of his party’s base.”
For the first time this cycle, the New York businessman seemed to acknowledge he could lose, though he didn’t at all seem to concede he will. At his second rally on Friday, Mr. Trump said the only way he will lose Pennsylvania is if “cheating goes on,” repeating his frequent claims that the election system is rigged. While the media had a field day with the comments, polling data show most Americans do not believe in the integrity of the electoral process.
“We have to call up law enforcement, and we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everybody watching. Because if we get cheated out of this election, if we get cheated out of a win in Pennsylvania, which is such a vital state, especially when I know what’s happening here, folks…[Mrs. Clinton] can’t beat what’s happening here,” Mr. Trump said in Altoona.
After a series of controversies, media created or not, the candidate tried to get back to his strong point this week–the economy. He gave a well-received speech to the Detroit Economic Club and another to the National Association of Home Builders in Miami, Florida. Mrs. Clinton also gave an economic address in Warren, Michigan, where she vowed to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership as president and other trade deals “that hurt the American worker.”
Mrs. Clinton had previously called the TPP the “gold standard” of trade deals, and longtime Clinton ally Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said she had changed her position for the election. As president, he said, she would not oppose the deal.
[brid video=”58765″ player=”2077″ title=”Donald Trump FULL interview with Mike Huckabee on Hannity 81216″]
