Bill Stepien, President Donald Trump’s new 2020 campaign manager, told Fox News Monday that Trump is “absolutely not” losing to former Vice President Joe Biden, despite what nearly all national and statewide polls say.
Stepien, in his first interview since taking over POTUS’ reelection effort from former campaign manager Brad Parscale, said he would “leave it to you guys and others on TV to pay attention to polls more than 91 days from Election Day.” (RELATED: Trump Floats Delaying The Election ‘Until People Can Properly, Securely And Safely Vote’)
“I don’t get caught up in the daily horse race,” he continued. “The pollsters got it wrong in 2016 from July through November of 2016. There were 226 national public polls. Clinton led in 213 of the 226.”
WATCH:
“It wasn’t just the national polls that got it wrong. The state polls got it wrong, too. 120 in state polls in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, the president led in 1 of 120,” Stepien stated. “Our internal polls show strong standing. We care about our internal polls because they were right in 2016 and right now.”
Stepien also outlined the three points he’s refocused the campaign around since taking over two weeks ago: “Focusing only on things that win votes,” focusing winning a “series of one-day campaigns” and matching Trump’s “work ethic.”
Trump is currently trailing Biden in most election polls, both nationally and in a number of key battleground states. Notably, he has lost significant support among Republicans for his coronavirus pandemic response over the past two months.
A poll from ABC, The Washington Post and Langer Research Institutes also found that just 38% of survey participants approved of the federal government’s response to coronavirus. The same poll showed that 63% would prioritize regaining control of the pandemic over jump-starting the economy.
Trump frequently talks about the inaccuracy of polls and points to 2016 metrics that showed him trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by a significant margin heading into November. He recently told a group of reporters gathered in North Carolina that his campaign’s internal polling showed him leading Biden in most battleground states.
“Four years ago, I was losing everywhere. I had poll numbers where I wasn’t going to win any state, and I ended up winning every one of them,” he continued. “You know the swing states, I wasn’t going to win any of them and I won all of them.”