Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign is relying on groups such as Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA to help turn out voters on election day.
However, the Associated Press reports that many Republican operatives are "terrified" by this prospect, as they do not believe Turning Point is competent enough to pull off such a large-scale operation at a national level.
As the AP reports, Turning Point's strategy is aimed at turning out Americans who have never voted before and eschewing persuasion tactics that have traditionally been used to win over swing voters.
The organization has zeroed in on non-voting churchgoers and hunters in swing states as two groups of people who could decisively tip the scales in Trump's favor -- but many Republican operatives say this strategy is more likely to end in disaster.
"Their strategy is bad," Arizona GOP strategist Tyler Montague told the AP. "They know how to talk MAGA, they know how to message the base. But they literally don’t know what to say to a swing voter. They alienate these people.”
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Turning Point's critics point to the way the organization failed to deliver in Arizona in 2022, when MAGA candidates Kari Lake and Blake Masters both lost despite campaigning at a time when inflation was 8 percent and gas prices were over $4 a gallon.
Additionally, longtime political observers argue that turnout has already been sky-high in recent presidential elections, and that it's hard to imagine Turning Point successfully juicing the MAGA base any further.
"You had the highest turnout in Michigan in those presidential election years than you’ve ever had before. It’s doubtful they’re going to get any more,” nonpartisan pollster Bernie Porn told the AP.
