Experts Say Strategy May Fall Flat as Voters Focus on Cost of Living and Trump Seeks to Energize His Base.
U.S. President Donald Trump has renewed his rhetoric about election fraud as key elections that will determine control of Congress approach, but experts warn that his strategy may not work this time.
RELATED:
Trump’s Statue at the European Parliament is “Offensive”: Slovak PM
With just under a month to go before the midterm elections, Trump has stepped up his campaign against mail-in voting, telling reporters on Monday that there is “a lot of fraud” in the system. Ironically, moments earlier, he had urged his base to vote early and mail in their ballots.
“I would prefer that you vote in person, but you can vote by mail if you want, since it seems we have no other choice; a lot of people want to vote by mail,” the U.S. president told reporters while traveling to Nebraska for a campaign rally.
“It is a contradiction that shows he is afraid of losing the election and that is precisely why he is once again stirring up the specter of election fraud,” historian and political scientist Miguel Tinker Salas said.
REPORTER: Why are you telling your supporters to vote by mail if you think it’s fraud?
TRUMP: I’d rather have them vote in person, but they can vote by mail if they want. But there is a lot of cheating in vote by mail.
REPORTER: There’s no evidence
TRUMP: You are fake news pic.twitter.com/tgsCGEDE4n
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 5, 2026
Mail-In Voting
Trump has already suffered a setback in his attempt to restrict mail-in voting. In September, the Supreme Court blocked a plan to impose, before the Nov. 3 elections, a system under which the Postal Service would send ballots only to citizens included on lists that states, which are responsible for managing the electoral process, were required to compile.
The MAGA leader called the high court’s ruling a “big defeat” for Republicans and the United States and vowed to continue his crusade against “rigged” elections.
“I don’t think this ‘idea’ of election fraud and a ‘deep state’ that won’t let him govern is going to work in these elections,” Tinker Salas said, adding that voters have historically been driven by the economy and that “Americans’ battered pocketbooks” will determine the election outcome.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll found that more than half of respondents identified the cost of living as the top issue ahead of the Nov. 3 elections. Concern over the issue was virtually identical among Republicans and Democrats.
Trump and the 2026 midterms: what happens on 3 November if the Republicans lose?
This video lays out one scenario, step by step, built on recent events. In 2020, Trump declared election fraud, and 147 Republicans in Congress voted against certifying the results. In January… pic.twitter.com/fj0PeUAvxd
— Adnanos (@A_SX100) October 5, 2026
A Message to His Base
For Ricardo Valencia, a professor at California State University, Fullerton, Trump’s insistence on election fraud stems from the need to keep his base energized.
“At this point, the only thing he can do is energize his supporters, who are the only ones who believe in these issues. That is why he is lashing out at Democrats,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly taken opportunities to fuel this rhetoric. Late Sunday, he called the U.S. electoral system “corrupt” without presenting evidence and suggested that results are “rigged” in Democratic cities or states by comparing the speed of vote counting with that of elections held in Brazil.
“In Detroit, Philadelphia, California and many other U.S. cities and states, results, with much lower numbers (of voters), often take weeks to be rigged … I mean, counted,” the Republican leader wrote on Truth Social.
The president also attacked a county in Arizona, a state where Republicans have been losing ground. “Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county,” he said, referring to an error by a vendor that sent about 3,000 early-voting ballots to voters six days before the designated date.
Trump said the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, led by Republican Justin Heap, should be “ashamed” of the incident, which became public on Oct. 4.
Valencia agrees with Tinker Salas that although Trump’s strategy of alleging fraud before an election has worked in the past, this time the message “is not going to generate the same response in terms of mobilizing voters” as it did previously.
“Trump is at a point in political communication where he is already desperate. He is waiting for a ‘Hail Mary,’ throwing out the only thing he has, which is relatively popular with his base, but he will most likely lose the party,” Valencia predicted.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.