The Trumpocolypse just keeps getting larger, like a hurricane over warm water. A couple of days ago I wrote a DIARY stating that CNN reported a poll showing Trump and Clinton basically tied in Utah with Evan McMullin within the margin of error. Now it appears that it might not just be the Mormon Church, which owns the Deseret News in which the poll originally appeared just trying to do a number on Trump. It appears there may be legs to this story.
The Washington Post thinks so anyway, and God knows they have more resources than I do. They report in an ARTICLE today that Trump really is in trouble in Utah, for several reasons. And every one of them is a serious threat to Trumpenstein’s chances in the state.
The first reason is that Mormons despise him. Julie de Azevedo Hanks is a psychotherapist who writes a blog that is widely read in the Mormon community. She is an independent who voted for Romney four years ago. She came out for Hillary. To quote from the article;
Hanks posted on her blog about how dangerous she thinks Trump would be as president. She said her husband, a rock-ribbed Republican, may just not vote at all now. Last night, she was one of nearly 70 volunteers who showed up to phone bank at Clinton’s Utah headquarters, on the outskirts of the capital of one of the country’s reddest states.
The parking lot overflowed. Volunteers – many who identify as independent or even Republican – parked down nearby residential streets and walked. They ate Little Caesar’s Pizza as they made the case on cell phones to their Utah neighbors to back a Democrat for president for the first time since 1964.
Sweet Jeebus, there is so much good stuff in there! Her solidly Republican husband is seriously considering sitting this one out? Music to our ears, not just for Clinton, but for all of the down ballot candidates as well. If Dr. Hawks votes for Clinton, will she go to the trouble of manually voting for down ballot Republican candidates, or will she tar them with the Trump brush? Also, an overflow crowd to phone bank at Clinton headquarters, with many independents and Republicans coming in to help? That sounds promising, especially if Republicans and Independents are talking to friends and neighbors. The Clinton campaign has a full time staffer on the ground in Utah to co-ordinate the efforts.
The poll I previously quoted showed Trump and Clinton each with 26%, followed by latecomer Evan McMullin pulling in a healthy 22%, within the MOE. People are so disgusted by Trump that they’re just begging for somewhere else to go. If Hillary can drive up enthusiasm in the state, which appears to be starting to happen, if some Republicans vote for her, and a lot of Mormon Republicans back their fellow Mormon McMullin, Hillary could squeak this out in a three way race.
Also, the Latino population in Utah is on the upswing. To the point that the Clinton campaign sent their Latino outreach director out to Utah to talk to Latino activists to see what they needed. The Latino population is centered in the UT-04 district, currently occupied by Mia Love. Even if Clinton loses narrowly, could an increased Latino turnout flip this seat to the Democrats? They are about 25% of the population of the district.
Trump’s little “Locker Room Banter” tape is killing him. Mormons are disgusted with him. The Deseret news, while not endorsing Clinton, came out with an editorial strongly urging their voters to not vote for Trump. It doesn’t help him that a previous Miss Teen Utah has come forward to accuse Trump of being a bad boy. Many Mormons have spent two years overseas on religious “Missions”, they’ve heard Trump’s “religious test” drivel before, and they know what it means. More persecution.
Utah is still a reach for Clinton, but more accusations, like the one just breaking now with a contestant from season 5 of “The Apprentice” calmly but emotionally graphically describing her treatment by Trump, could make it happen.
Thanks as always for reading, you are ALL the wind beneath my wings!
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