As the 2024 election cycle heats up, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is embracing a new type of on-the-ground strategy that is very atypical in its approach and has resorted to some unconventional tactics to mobilize voters in crucial battleground states. The play comes as a reflection of the outsider brand of Trump, set to energize his base and swing voters in key regions that will guarantee an electoral victory.
Grassroots mobilization is perhaps the hallmark of Trump’s ground game. It’s doubling down on hosting large rallies, which serves as a voter outreach event and a media spectacle. These rallies are held across smaller, rural areas, where small-scale turnout could swing entire states. It is here that Trump’s team collects voter data and gets close to supporters. This is later followed by grassroots volunteers, which yield to intensified door-to-door canvassing as well as personal voter mobilization that rejuvenates a community as often left unattended or neglected by more traditional campaigns.
Finally, the Trump campaign has used technology in ways perhaps only dreamt of by its strongest supporters. Where social media remains part and parcel of the mix, the 2024 plan includes intense targeting through channels like Telegram and other more modest social media sites targeted to specific groups. This hyper-targeting extends into data gathering so that messages about tax policy and immigration reform can be sent directly to targeted voters’ messaging applications.
The most surprising aspect of Trump’s ground strategy is the surrogates’ deployment into non-political events. His campaign has aligned itself with local sports games, community gatherings, and church functions with representatives to interact with potential voters in an organic, non-partisan setting. The tactic helps to lighten his image among moderates while keeping his combative tone at larger political arenas.
Unlike more rigorously traditional voter outreach maneuvers, Trump has actually based his ground game on contact rather than blitzes that advertise and hype. Such an approach is one intended to exploit the zeal of his dedicated base but could swing voters in novel community approaches. As 2024 draws closer, it will remain to be seen if these strategies become the means to reclaiming his seat in the White House.
Through grassroots mobilization, in-your-face application of nonmainstream digital tactics, and community outreach face to face, the Trump campaign hopes that its brand of populism will once again allow him to catch his opponents off guard in the nation’s most pivotal battleground states.
