Former President Donald Trump has vowed to expand the electoral map to deep-blue Democratic bastions in 2024, in particular his former home state of New York, and recent survey data suggests that such an upset could be feasible.
Trump trailed President Joe Biden by just 6% in New York in a recent Emerson College survey. The incumbent president led his Republican challenger 44% to 38%.
That matchup also included independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who earned 6%, independent Cornel West, who earned 2%, and the Green Party's Jill Stein, who earned 1%. A further 11% of registered voters were undecided.
"Independent voters in New York who traditionally vote for Democrats, according to exit polling, have flipped to lean toward Trump by a margin of ten points, 43% to 33%," said Emerson College Polling Executive Director Spencer Kimball.
Conducted May 28-29, the survey notably predated Trump's guilty verdict in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money case. Trump was convicted on all 34 counts and has vowed to appeal the decision.
The survey questioned 1,000 registered New York voters and has a margin of error of +/- 3%.
Throughout the trial, Trump campaigned heavily in New York City and staged a number of smaller-scale campaign events designed to reach out to traditionally Democratic constituencies, such as a visit to a Harlem Bodega in April.
Earlier this month, he held a rally in Wildwood, N.J., that saw him draw a considerable crowd and repeat his vow to expand the electoral map.
“All across America, millions of people in so-called Blue States are joining our movement based on love, intelligence and a thing called common sense,” he said at the time.
"I believe we have a chance to win New York. I believe we have a chance to win New Jersey. If you look at Lee [Zeldin], he lost by a pretty close race. But it’s 100 times worse now than it was two years ago. Now, you have people—you have migrants living on Madison Avenue," Trump said earlier this year.
Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.
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