Report: Over 25% of Signups for Three of Trump’s PA Rallies Didn’t Vote in 2016

BUTLER, PA - OCTOBER 31: Supporters listen as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Over a quarter of the signups for three of President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rallies, which he held on Saturday, did not vote in 2016, according to Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Trump held multiple rallies across the Keystone State on Saturday. According to McDaniel, thousands who signed up for the events did not vote in 2016:

McDaniel has continued to provide such updates as Trump campaigns across the country in the final days of the election. Following his Wednesday rallies in Arizona, McDaniel reported that 45 percent of the signups for the Bullhead City rally had not voted in 2016, nor did 36 percent who signed up for the Goodyear rally:

Trump also appears to be attracting more than traditional Republicans to his events.

“We are seeing DEMOCRATS and INDEPENDENTS turn out in droves for @realDonaldTrump’s rallies,” McDaniel said on Friday, noting that the majority of the signups for Trump’s recent rallies in Rochester, Minnesota, as well as Green Bay, Wisconsin, were “not Republican”:

Robert Cahaly, the chief pollster with the Trafalgar Group, has continually emphasized the existence of the “hidden” Trump voter, which he believes most pollsters are missing yet again this election.

“In 2016, the worst being said about Trump voters is that they were ‘deplorable.’ 2020 is a whole different ballgame,” Cahaly told Politico. “It is worse this time—significantly worse.”

“This year had more things where you can get punished for expressing an opinion outside the mainstream than almost any year I can think of in modern history,” he said, explaining that people are “very hesitant [to share their preference for Trump], because now it’s not just being called ‘deplorable.’”

“It’s people getting beat up for wearing the wrong hat, people getting harassed for having a sticker on their car. People just do not want to say anything,” he said.

“I don’t think they’re measuring people’s genuine opinions. And I think [pollsters] are just not going to see it coming,” Cahaly added.

Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, generated buzz after photos showed tens of thousands in attendance. By some estimates, the number was as high as 57,000:

A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll also sent shockwaves through the media Saturday evening after it showed Trump leading former Vice President Joe Biden by seven percent in the battleground state of Iowa.

Democrats in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, are growing increasingly anxious over Biden’s prospects in Pennsylvania, following what the Washington Post described as the president’s “last-minute, two-day blitz” in the crucial state:

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