BOZEMAN, MT — President Trump making a campaign stop in Montana did not come as a surprise to Dr. Kal Munis from MSU’s Political Science Department.
“He’s on the trail right now; he’s trying to shore up the republican base in these districts and states that are anticipated to be highly competitive on election night.”
You can watch the full story here:
Dr. Munis says with the race for Montana’s western congressional seat running neck and neck, this visit fills that bill.
According to most polls, Democrat Sam Forstag and Republican Aaron Flint are in a race that’s too close to call.
When it comes to the midterms, Munis says that can be risky for the political party in power. “When the majority in Congress is very close it becomes very difficult for that majority party to be able to carry out its legislative agenda.”
Munis also points to what he calls complacency by voters during the midterm elections.
“The president’s co-partisans tend to get a little bit complacent and aren’t as motivated to show up and vote because, after all, they already control the president, the most visible office that there is.”
When asked what he sees the Forstag team doing with this visit, he says because of some disillusionment in the country right now: “You might see the Forstag campaign maybe even want to highlight Trump’s visit here and try to tie Flint more directly to Trump”.
Munis says typically the opposing candidate’s campaign simply ignores the visit of a dignitary.
While this is not President Trump’s first visit to Montana, it is the first visit to Northern Montana by a sitting president in more than 50 years.
