- Filmmaker Michael Moore has warned that history may be repeating itself, and as in 2016 complacent progressives are ignoring the huge and fervent support President Trump has in battleground states.
- “I’m warning you almost 10 weeks in advance. The enthusiasm level for the 60 million in Trump’s base is OFF THE CHARTS! For Joe, not so much,” wrote Moore on Facebook.
- Moore cited a series of polls showing Biden and Trump tied, or the race narrowing, in swing states that helped propel Trump to a shock victory in 2016.
- Moore, a supporter of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, was one of few to predict that “Rust Belt” voters would abandon Democrats and propel Trump to victory in 2016.
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Filmmaker Michael Moore has warned that enthusiasm for President Donald Trump is “off the charts” in key battleground states, and complacent Democrats risk the same shock they suffered in the 2016 election when many wrote off Trump’s chances.
Moore, who comes from Flint, Michigan, has spent his career documenting the plight of working-class Americans in the “Rust Belt,” whose decision to flip from Democrat to Republican was key to Trump’s shock victory four years ago.
He was one of few political observers to successfully predict in 2016 that Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton, as Trump’s America First message resonated in states where traditional industries have been decimated.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, he warned progressives against complacency as national polls continue to show Democratic candidate Joe Biden with a lead over Trump.
"Are you ready for a Trump victory? Are you mentally prepared to be outsmarted by Trump again? Do you find comfort in your certainty that there is no way Trump can win? Are you content with the trust you've placed in the DNC to pull this off?" he wrote.
"I'm warning you almost 10 weeks in advance. The enthusiasm level for the 60 million in Trump's base is OFF THE CHARTS! For Joe, not so much," warned Moore. "Don't leave it to the Democrats to get rid of Trump. YOU have to get rid of Trump. WE have to wake up every day for the next 67 days and make sure each of us are going to get a hundred people out to vote. ACT NOW!" wrote Moore.
He went on to claim that recent polling shows the race tightening in swing states.
In the post, Moore claimed that "when CNN polled registered voters in August in just the swing states, Biden and Trump were in a virtual tie."
The August 17 CNN poll taken ahead of the party conventions found that of registered voters in battleground states, 49% backed Biden and 48% Trump.
"In Minnesota, it's 47-47. In Michigan, where Biden had a big lead, Trump has closed the gap to 4 points," continued Moore.
In a poll on August 20, the GOP-leaning Trafalgar Group found Biden and Trump tied at 47% in Minnesota, while an August 20 poll by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found Biden with a five-point lead over Trump in Michigan.
The most recent battleground state poll, released by CNBC-Change Research on Wednesday, found that Biden currently leads Trump by 3 points in six battleground states, and his lead is narrowing.
Back in October 2016, as polls showed Clinton with a commanding lead over Trump and many pundits were writing off his chances, Moore warned that "Trump's election is going to be the biggest 'f*** you' ever recorded in human history."
"Whether Trump means it or not is kind of irrelevant because he's saying the things to people who are hurting, and that's why every beaten-down, nameless, forgotten working stiff who used to be part of what was called the middle class loves Trump," Moore said at the time.
