2012 Obama pollsters lay out 'big red flags' Trump’s 2024 campaign faces

06 September 2023

During his 2012 reelection campaign, former President Barack Obama worked closely with the Benenson Strategy Group, a marketing and consulting firm. The election ultimately went well for Obama, who defeated GOP challenger Mitt Romney by about 4 percent and picked up 332 electoral votes. Romney, now a U.S. senator via Utah, won 206.

Salon's Chauncy DeVega interviewed two Benenson execs, Senior Vice President Mike Kulisheck and Vice President Shannon Currie, for an article published in Q&A form on September 6. And they weighed in on the 2024 presidential election, which, according to countless polls, is shaping up to be a rematch between Vice President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Kulisheck stressed that a lot has changed since 2012, arguing, "If this were 20 years ago, voters would disqualify Trump completely based on the fact that he's been indicted on 91 different counts. But the reality of 2024 is that the MAGA Republican base loves him, and a lot of other voters are numb to his behavior."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Kulisheck noted that although Trump is "holding on to his base," Benenson's research "reveals fissures in his Republican support that would be more than enough to sink his candidacy and reelect Joe Biden." And the Benenson senior VP added that "fully two-thirds of independents break against" Trump when reacting to the former president's criminal indictments.

Trump's "greatest challenge," according to Kulisheck, is "calibrating his message to the audience that will get him 271 electoral votes" — while Biden "needs to find a way to tell his story of success as president."

Currie told DeVega, "America is changing, and our values and beliefs are being tested. No one needs a poll to tell us our nation is at a moral and cultural inflection point."

Read Chauncey DeVega's full interview at this link.

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