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BumRushDaShow

(142,278 posts)
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 07:34 AM Oct 20

Exclusive: Trump ground game in key states flagged as potentially fake

Source: The Guardian

Sat 19 Oct 2024 11.30 EDT
Last modified on Sun 20 Oct 2024 02.15 EDT


Donald Trump’s campaign may be failing to reach thousands of voters they hope to turn out in Arizona and Nevada, with roughly a quarter of door-knocks done by America Pac flagged by its canvassing app as potentially fraudulent, according to leaked data and people familiar with the matter.

The potentially fake door-knocks – when canvassers falsely claim to have visited a home – could present a serious setback for Trump as he and Kamala Harris remain even in the polls with fewer than 20 days until an election.

The Trump campaign earlier this year outsourced the bulk of its ground game to America Pac, the political action committee founded by Elon Musk, betting that spending millions to turn out Trump supporters, especially those who don’t typically vote, would boost returns. But leaked America Pac data obtained by the Guardian shows that roughly 24% of the door-knocks in Arizona and 25% of the door-knocks in Nevada this week were flagged under “unusual survey logs” by the Campaign Sidekick canvassing app.

The Arizona data, for example, shows that out of 35,692 doors hit by 442 canvassers working for Blitz Canvassing in the America Pac operation on Wednesday, 8,511 doors were flagged under the unusual survey logs. The extent of the flagged doors in America Pac’s operation underscores the risk of outsourcing a ground-game program, where paid canvassers are typically not as invested in their candidate’s victory compared with volunteers or campaign staff​.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/19/trump-campaign-leaked-data-voters-elon-musk

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Think. Again.

(17,955 posts)
1. The rightwing door-knockers are rightwingers, so....
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 07:44 AM
Oct 20

...of course they're going to lie about how many doors they knocked on. And anything else they happen to speaking about.

pecosbob

(7,904 posts)
2. There was a story a couple of days ago...turns out their tracking app sucks.
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 07:52 AM
Oct 20

They couldn't track their door-knockers and the door-knockers knew it.

EarthFirst

(3,151 posts)
4. Indeed.
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 08:28 AM
Oct 20

The offline walkbooks by individuals whom do not have 40/kbps or better signal to geo-locate their position have no way of certifying their completion; often leading paid volunteers to ‘speed walk’ their routes and self-certifying their completion.

Even those who have legitimately completed their routes are having issues uploading to the app that their route was completed correctly.

Saved the campaign millions supposedly…hope the lack of voter engagement was worth it!

pecosbob

(7,904 posts)
5. Gladdens my heart that we still benefit from the 'Harry Reid machine' here in Nevada.
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 08:41 AM
Oct 20

I've been contacted by phone three times this week by Dems.

angrychair

(9,736 posts)
11. Why are Democrats doing this??
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 03:32 PM
Oct 20

Sorry, I'm tired of the "all the polls I don't like are fake" because if they are fake then we're winning right? We don't have to work as hard because we're really, secretly, winning.
It also causes us not to address hard truths and to make a plan for what to do if things don't turn out like we want.

I'd rather be seen as pessimistic than trying to tell people "everything is fake but the things that are in our favor" type of person

NJCher

(37,868 posts)
13. Because
Mon Oct 21, 2024, 06:56 AM
Oct 21

In this particular situation, it’s fact. And in many of the others, too, if you care to check the facts on Republican sponsored polls.

I have no trouble believing what has happened with the canvasers because I worked in market research for 7 years. It is similar to this because people are being paid to make an in-person contact. In market research it is important because of the random sample that is drawn. Deviating and substituting from it causes unreliable reports. Trustworthy firms like the one I worked for build in layers of checking. That was a big part of my job—supervising the checking. If the canvasers or field researchers think they can get away with faking the contact, they will.

This can be quite lucrative if a canvaser fakes the contacts.

Without checkers and strict supervision, Musk and trump are just throwing money away.

SWBTATTReg

(24,085 posts)
12. From what I understand, tRUMP has NO gameplan for the ground opers. Kamala is the only one on the playing
Sun Oct 20, 2024, 03:35 PM
Oct 20

field and this advantage will help us in the long run, get voters favorable to Kamala to the polls.

With all of the 'money' that tRUMP has 'burned thru' (I personally think that he's pocketed a hell of a lot of it), he's already moaning that his 'donors' aren't giving enough, moan, moan, moan. His usual list of gripes.

He's going to get his ass kicked (pardon language). And I hope it gets kicked good and hard. He deserves a good plain ol' thrashing.

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