华盛顿——共和党全国委员会和总统唐纳德·特朗普美国竞选团队说，他们现在已经雇佣了1500名外勤人员，目的是将他们相对于民主党的财政优势转化为11月份的选票。
特朗普胜利(Trump Virtual)是两个组织的联合实地行动，周一宣布将再招聘300名工作人员，预计到周三将达到20个目标州，这是共和党有史以来规模最大的实地行动。
目标是在今年秋天代表共和党上下投票。特朗普团队表示，他们正朝着黯然失色帮助总统连任的220万志愿者巴拉克·奥巴马2012年。
该声明发布之际，公共和私人民调显示，特朗普在关键的战场州和全国范围内落后于民主党候选人乔·拜登。总统的团队认为，民意调查也显示特朗普在2016年落选，但他还是赢了。
RNC主席罗纳·麦克丹尼尔说，工作人员和志愿者希望利用RNC庞大的数据宝库和投票者的得分来接触到越来越少的摇摆选民和更大范围的低倾向选民——其中许多人已经喜欢特朗普，但不太可能投票。
仅仅一个野外项目并不能赢得选举——四年前，特朗普的地面游戏落后于希拉里·克林顿——但共和党认为，在一场势均力敌的选举中，它能显示出胜利和失败的区别。
麦克丹尼尔说:“在这样的选举中，几个州的票数会下降到几千票，这就是你的基本策略。”
共和党人很快注意到，他们在该领域的工作人员数量是拜登的两倍多，拜登的目标是到6月底有600名实地工作人员。此外，在某些情况下，RNC的工作人员已经在实地工作多年，而拜登只是最近才开始推出他的战场州主任名册。
虽然最近几个月，拜登的竞选团队已经超过了特朗普，但特朗普团队认为，其手头现金优势和招聘领先优势使其在接触选民方面拥有不可逾越的优势。
3月中旬，随着冠状病毒大流行的来袭，特朗普和拜登的实地行动基本上都是在一夜之间进行的。随着各州取消了一些病毒限制，特朗普已经开始恢复一些面对面的竞选活动。
特朗普竞选宣传总监蒂姆·默陶格(Tim Murtaugh)表示:“我们拥有有史以来规模最大、最好的地面游戏运营。”“我们已经与当地选民建立了持久的关系，这将使特朗普总统在11月赢得胜利。乔·拜登(Joe Biden)几乎没有走出他的地下室，在国家组织中落后得很惨，在他的候选人资格背后也缺乏任何热情。”
拜登的竞选团队驳斥了这些批评，并宣称民主党拥有更广泛的优势。
“在这个危机时刻，乔·拜登的信息引起了选民的共鸣，因为他展示了美国人民对总统的责任和领导能力唐纳德·特朗普拜登竞选发言人安德鲁·贝茨说:“他一次又一次地失败，他的不稳定和管理不善破坏了抗击冠状病毒的斗争，同时在我们比以往任何时候都更需要团结一致的时候传播仇恨，分裂我们的国家。”
自2013年以来，RNC已在数据、技术和实地项目上投资逾3.5亿美元。一个关键工具是“特朗普谈话”(Trump Talk)，它利用政治和商业数据，为工作人员和志愿者提供一个动态脚本，以便在亲自或通过电话联系选民时使用。
麦克丹尼尔说:“如果你敲错了门，那你就是在浪费精力。”
特朗普的努力已经让这个总统周期的选民接触超过5500万——比2016年全年都多——并聚集了140万志愿者。
作为一名志愿者，“你做了一件我们衡量过的事情:一个电话，一次敲门。”一些选民的接触，”RNC的参谋长理查德沃尔特斯说。麦克丹尼尔说，这一点很重要，因为“改变选民想法的最好方法是让他们看重的人与他们交谈。”
Trump's reelection operation hires 1,500 field staffers
WASHINGTON -- The Republican National Committee and PresidentDonald Trump’s campaign say they have now hired 1,500 field staffers, aiming to convert their financial advantage over Democrats into votes in November.
Trump Victory, the joint field effort of the two organizations, announced Monday the hiring of an additional 300 staffers set to hit 20 target states by Wednesday in the largest field operation ever mounted by a Republican.
The goal is to turn out votes on behalf of Republicans up and down the ticket this fall. The Trump team says it is on pace toeclipsethe 2.2 million volunteer total that helped reelect PresidentBarack Obamain 2012.
The announcement comes as public and private polls show Trump trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden across key battleground states and nationally. The president’s team argues that polls also showed Trump down in 2016 but he nonetheless pulled off a win.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said the staff and volunteers are looking to use the RNC’s vast data trove and voter scores to reach a dwindling swath of swing voters and the far larger universe of low-propensity voters — many of whom already like Trump but are unlikely to vote.
A field program alone doesn’t win elections — and four years ago it was Trump’s ground game that lagged Hillary Clinton’s — but in a close election, the GOP argues, it can spell the difference between victory and defeat.
“In an election like this, where it’s going to come down to a few thousand votes in a couple of states, that’s when your ground game matters,” McDaniel said.
Republicans are quick to note that their staffer count in the field is more than double that of Biden, whose goal was 600 field staffers by the end of June. Additionally, the RNC staffers have been on the ground for years in some cases, while Biden has only just recently begun rolling out his roster of battleground state directors.
And while Biden’s campaign has out-raised Trump in recent months, Trump’s team believes its cash-on-hand advantage and hiring head start give it an insurmountable edge in reaching out to voters.
Both the Trump and Biden field operations went virtual largely overnight in mid-March as the coronavirus pandemic hit. Trump’s has begun resuming some in-person campaign activities as states have lifted some virus restrictions.
“We have the biggest and best ground game operation ever seen,” said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. “We’ve built lasting relationships with voters on the ground that will power President Trump to victory in November. Joe Biden scarcely emerges from his basement, is woefully behind in state organizations and lacks any enthusiasm behind his candidacy.”
Biden's campaign dismissed the criticism and asserted a broader advantage by the Democrat.
“In this moment of crisis, Joe Biden’s message is resonating with voters because he has displayed the responsibility and leadership that the American people expect of a president — whereasDonald Trumphas careened from failure to failure, undermining the fight against the coronavirus pandemic with his instability and mismanagement while spreading hate to divide our country at a time when we need to come together more than ever,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said.
The RNC has invested more than $350 million on data, technology and field programs since 2013. A key tool is “Trump Talk,” which harnesses both political and commercial data to provide staffers and volunteers with a dynamic script to use when contacting voters in person or over the phone.
“If you’re knocking the wrong doors, then you’re wasting effort,” McDaniel said.
Already the Trump effort has made more than 55 million voter contacts this presidential cycle — more than it made in all of 2016 — and amassed 1.4 million volunteers.
To be counted as a volunteer, “you’ve taken an action that we measure: a phone call, a door knock. Some kind of voter contact,” said RNC chief of staff Richard Walters. That’s important, said McDaniel, because "the best way to change the mind of a voter is for someone they value to have a conversation with them.”
