Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said two very important things in his so-called “law and order” speech Tuesday, only one of which is getting any play from the mainstream news media. “And believe it or not, I regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain”.
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He added: “Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues”.
The step into swing-state advertising, which came after Trump’s second staffing shake-up in as many months, did little to alleviate the concerns of Republican officials frustrated with Trump’s refusal to adopt the tools of modern-day political campaigns. Just 27 per cent of registered voters think Trump would make a good or great president, while 55 per cent say the bellicose NY billionaire developer would be either poor or bad president, a Pew Research Center poll said on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported. In interviews, Mr Trump has seethed at media reports that his campaign staff and prominent Republicans yearn for him to “pivot” to a more presidential approach, involving scripted attacks on Mrs Clinton read from a teleprompter. He’s struggled to offer voters a consistent message, overshadowing formal policy speeches with a steady stream of controversies, including a public feud with an American Muslim family whose son was killed while serving in the US military in Iraq.
A slightly smaller – though still wide – majority of Trump supporters (72%) say they believe Clinton would be a bad president if elected.
Trump, meanwhile, is expected to start airing his first general election ads in battleground states starting Friday. I have never voted for a Democrat for federal office, but when I hear the president criticize the GOP nominee, I can’t honestly disagree with him.
Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, promised on Thursday he would stick to a more disciplined and uplifting message to voters in the final dash to Election Day without crimping his freewheeling style.
The contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Nevada has become a statistical dead heat.
Nonetheless, both Trump and Clinton supporters are more likely to say the opposing candidate would make a awful president than to say their own candidate would make a good or great one.
Majorities of voters say there is at least some chance that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump would make major mistakes that would hurt the country, if they were elected president.
“That apology tonight is simply a well-written phrase until he tells us which of his many offensive, bullying and divisive comments he regrets – and changes his tune altogether”, said Christina Reynolds, a Clinton campaign spokesperson.
Clinton leads Trump 47 percent to 41.2 percent, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average, following weeks of errors that have alienated establishment Republicans and seen his own supporters tear their hair out. She says after a lot of research, she’s voting for Trump, and his speech today solidified that, “I think it’s a move in the right direction”.
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Peoples reported from Washington.
