The Trump campaign looks in disarray. Just yesterday, he split with his longtime campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and some of his fellow Republicans who have been coerced to his side now seem reluctant to support him.
Further, according to Media Monitors, over the 10-day period from June 10 to June 19, not one Trump campaign TV ad has appeared in the top 60 DMAs nationwide.
Conversely, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has run 1,771 spots and Priorities USA Action, the pro-Clinton super PAC, has run 3,128 anti-Trump ads.
The difference is stark. Add in the weak digital advertising presence of the Trump camp, the Republican nominee appears confident of his own appeal and celebrity. Apparently, he believes he can win solely using Twitter and rallies.
Of course, the GOP and Republican super PACs will start airing presidential TV ads at some point, and the Trump campaign can be expected to as well.
Particularly looking at swing states, Clinton is injecting over $5 million in overall ad spend into Ohio and Florida in June, whereas Trump is at naught.
When it comes to paid campaign staff, the Trump trend continues. The campaign estimates that there are around 30 paid staffers on the ground, throughout the country. That is compared to the many hundreds employed by the Clinton campaign.
The Trump campaign doesn’t seem to see this as a problem. Senior Trump aide Karen Giorno, explained: “It would be disingenuous and wrongheaded to take a playbook that has been used over and over again. We are creating the playbook.”
There is other troubling news for the Trump campaign: His poll numbers are significantly below any former Republican nominee at this point in the race. His nationwide poll numbers are falling significantly below 40%, something that did not happen to the three previous nominees.
Trump’s campaign is unconventional in every way, yet he won Republican primary voters. Winning over Independents and convincing moderate Republicans that he can truly represent their values will prove an arduous task.