GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – President Donald Trump is visiting Northeast Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon, but just how important can a stop in this area be for his re-election bid?
“If the election is close, then Wisconsin is an absolutely critical state…We’re not 100-percent sure it’ll be an incredibly close race, but if it is, the candidates have to act like it is, right?” says UW-Oshkosh Political Science Professor Dr. David Siemers, “It’s an important signal that Wisconsin is really critical and that Donald Trump needs to win it in order to keep the White House.”
Dr. Siemers’ primary research is based in American Political Thought, with emphases in the presidency, separation of powers, and constitutionalism.
President Trump is expected to tout a new contract with Marinette Marine during his stop today. Siemers calls it a smart move.
“Every vote matters. A vote from Milwaukee counts the same as a vote from Green Bay, counts the same as a vote from Marinette…Why I think Northeast Wisconsin plays bigger into this is not that there is inherently a more important set of votes here. It’s that this is a place that is receiving federal money, and that’s important right now,” Siemers tells WTAQ News, “How many votes can you possibly pick up? Where can you go that is really critical? So go to a place that just had a very large military contract awarded to it. It’s definitely a signal…It may be that that contract would’ve been awarded regardless of who was president, but Donald Trump can definitely say that ‘I brought that money here to Northeast Wisconsin, and that’s the kind of thing that I do.'”
There will also be the town hall with Fox News, hosted at the Jet Air hangar at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport. Siemers thinks that will help energize Trump’s voting base after recent events were criticized.
“We know that appearances can energize people, but we also know that appearances can backfire. Surely the White House in the last few weeks has gotten a lesson in how events can backfire with Lafayette Square and Tulsa,” Siemers says, “This effort in message control…It looks like the White House is doing what it can to right the ship, and that is having a much more controlled event, touting the contract to Marinette Marine, and then going to Green Bay to record a town hall with a very sympathetic questioner in Sean Hannity.”
The town hall starts at 1:30 P.M. Thursday afternoon. It’s sold out – but even tickets don’t guarantee a spot – as seating is a first come, first served basis.
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