Trump to speak to Christian group, then court black vote in Philadelphia By Reuters
Written by Nathan Layne
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will address a group of hardline anti-abortion activists on Saturday, before heading to Philadelphia for a rally aimed at wooing black voters.
The former president is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at an event organized by the Faith & Freedom Coalition, a group led by longtime Trump ally Ralph Reed, at 1:30 pm ET (1730 GMT) in Washington.
The rally will highlight issues important to conservative Christian voters ahead of the Nov. 5 election, and attendees will likely be eager to hear more about Trump’s stance on abortion.
Trump has tried to carve out a political middle ground on the issue, which has become a liability for Republicans in recent elections.
He claimed credit for appointing three right-wing justices to the Supreme Court that helped overturn Roe v. He passed away two years ago this Monday, removing the right to abortion nationwide in a victory for conservatives.
Trump recently said he would not support a federal ban on abortion, preferring to leave the issue to individual states.
That situation does not bode well for many evangelical voters, who are a key voting bloc for Trump. Reed said his party will continue to work for restrictions at both the state and federal levels.
Later on Saturday, Trump will hold a campaign rally at Temple University in the Philadelphia area, which has been a Democratic stronghold. Trump won just 5% of the vote in precincts within a half-mile of Temple’s main campus, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Trump’s campaign has made courting Black and Hispanic voters, who make up more than half of Philadelphia’s population, a priority this cycle, buoyed by some opinion polls that show he has succeeded in winning over these voters.
Although Trump has a slim chance of winning the city — President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won 81.4% of the vote in Philadelphia County in 2020 — Trump can still increase his chances by narrowing the margin in Philadelphia and surrounding counties that matter most. All in Pennsylvania, it’s a battlefield.
Trump’s campaign said he would use his Philadelphia speech to address Biden’s handling of inflation, the southern border and crime, all of which are central to the Republican’s second-term campaign.
William Rosenberg, a professor of political science at Drexel University, said he believes Trump’s main goal is to show that he can connect with black voters nationally, similar to the rally he held in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City last month.
“It’s a game to go on national television and say you’re in Philadelphia to make the case that this is a black community,” Rosenberg said. “Then maybe he’s convincing some voters that Donald Trump isn’t so bad.”
Democrats set up posters, billboards and kiosks in Philadelphia and on the Temple campus to promote Biden’s policies, including his efforts to forgive student loans, and criticize Trump’s record with the Black community.
State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, of the Democratic Alliance, said that black voters remember Trump’s history of promoting a conspiracy theory that questioned whether Barack Obama, the first African-American president, was born in the United States, and the policies he followed that harmed the performance of blacks. class.
“Donald Trump is in a Black neighborhood, but Donald Trump doesn’t criticize Black people,” Kenyatta said at a press conference at the Biden campaign office in Philadelphia, adding that Trump “will get the kind of reception he deserves” in the city.
