Horowitz: Trump’s Election Is Rigged Gambit Backfires
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Donald Trump’s worst moment in the 3rd and final Presidential debate last week was his stubborn refusal to say that he will accept the results of the election. The Reality Star and Businessman continued to argue that the election was rigged against him, claiming the existence of widespread and systemic voter fraud, despite all the evidence to the contrary. In maintaining this position, Trump contradicted all his surrogates, including his daughter Ivanka, his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, and Rudy Guiliani, who were all over television before the debate asserting that Trump would accept the results.
After Trump uttered his first refusal to commit to conceding, debate moderator Chris Wallace followed up and gave Trump yet another bite at the apple, “Sir ,there is a tradition in this country, in fact one of the prides of this country is the peaceful transition of power.” said Wallace,. "And that no matter how hard fought a campaign is, that at the end of the campaign, that the loser concedes to the winner Are you saying you're not prepared now to commit to that principle?"
Trump replied, "What I'm saying is I'll tell you at the time.. I'll keep you in suspense, OK?"
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTDonald Trump's unprecedented refusal to commit to a ‘peaceful transition of power’ dominated the news coverage of the debate, crowding out mentions of his more favorable debate moments. This was especially the case, because Trump’s ill-advised answer evoked Hillary Clinton’s best moment of the night. “Calling it "horrifying" that he'd consider rejecting the election results, the former Secretary of State concisely listed a series of Trump's assertions of other contests being rigged against him: "He lost the Iowa caucus. He lost the Wisconsin primary. He said the Republican primary was rigged against him. Then Trump University gets sued for fraud and racketeering. He claims the court system and the federal judge is rigged against him. Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is is rigged against him.. When his reality TV show, "The Apprentice," didn't get nominated for an award, , he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged."
Polls conducted since the debate show what a big a political mistake Trump made. Roughly 2-out-of-3 likely voters disapprove of Trump’s refusal to say whether or not he will concede the election with a majority strongly disapproving, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC news poll. Similarly, nearly 6-in-10 likely voters reject Trump’s claim that the election is rigged in favor of Clinton.
This mistake is even more problematic because it reinforces one of Donald Trump’s major weaknesses; namely, that a substantial majority of likely voters do not believe he has the “right temperament” or the qualifications to be President Additionally, claiming that the election process is rigged is a recipe for discouraging your more casual supporters from voting.
Donald Trump is not only doing the nation a disservice by continuing to question the integrity of the voting process without any real evidence; he has and continues to do substantial damage to his own candidacy. In this case, the damage he is inflicting to his own cause is well-deserved.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, elected official and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at University of Rhode Island.
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