Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

What We're Watching

Trump’s ground-game gamble

A Trump Vance campaign sign sits at the Cobb County Republican Party's booth at the Pigs and Peaches Country Festival in Kennesaw, Georgia, on Aug. 17, 2024.

A Trump Vance campaign sign sits at the Cobb County Republican Party's booth at the Pigs and Peaches Country Festival in Kennesaw, Georgia, on Aug. 17, 2024.

REUTERS/Megan Varner
Make us preferred on Google
Less than six weeks before Election Day, Donald Trump is gambling on an unconventional (and untested) strategy to target potential voters. The polling margins in the states expected to decide the election’s outcome – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada – are exceptionally tight. That’s why the get-out-the-vote operations supporting the Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns are even more critical than usual.

Both sides know they must motivate as many supporters, and potential supporters, as possible to cast a ballot. Harris is taking a more conventional approach to the “ground game” by relying on the resources of the Democratic National Committee and on hundreds of thousands of volunteers to knock on doors in key states and to register more voters likely to support her.

Trump has a different strategy. Rather than relying on the Republican National Committee and volunteers as past GOP presidential candidates have done, the Trump campaign is reportedly outsourcing these operations to outside groups, including one backed by Elon Musk, to target mainly undecided voters. These groups pay workers to do the groundwork once done mainly by volunteers.

If this strategy works, it may change future campaigns for both parties. If it doesn’t, Trump’s gamble will likely be remembered as a bad idea that helped cost him the election.

More For You

People hold a sign that reads "No" during a rally of the "No to EU" campaign ahead of a referendum on whether Iceland should resume accession negotiations with the European Union, in Reykjavik, Iceland.

People hold a sign that reads "No" during a rally of the "No to EU" campaign ahead of a referendum on whether Iceland should resume accession negotiations with the European Union, in Reykjavik, Iceland, August 27, 2026.

REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Iceland votes on restarting EU accession talks Polls remain tight as Iceland holds a referendum tomorrow on whether to restart EU accession talks. Membership has long been a divisive topic on the island, which gained independence from Denmark in 1944 and remains fiercely protective of its sovereignty. During previous talks, the bloc’s fisheries [...]
A damaged section of a highway in Nuwakot, central Nepal

A damaged section of a highway in Nuwakot, central Nepal, is seen on August 27, 2026, following an outburst of a glacial lake in Tibet.

Sanjit Pariyar/NurPhoto
Catastrophic flooding in Nepal tests its young, new leaderA massive wall of mud and rock crashed into a river along Nepal’s Himalayan border with Tibet on Wednesday, triggering catastrophic flooding that swept away bridges, destroyed buildings, and swamped roads. Over 300 people were killed, and over 1,000 remain missing – including hundreds of [...]
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria February 5, 2017.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit on a vehicle in the north of Raqqa city, Syria February 5, 2017.

REUTERS/Rodi Said
Syria’s main Kurdish militia disbandsSome of our readers may recall German sociologist Max Weber’s famous definition of a state as having “a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.” Well, now you can watch that monopoly expanding in real time in Syria as the country’s main Kurdish militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has officially [...]
Election officials display a ballot paper while sorting and counting votes after polls close at a polling station during Zambia's general elections.

Election officials display a ballot paper while sorting and counting votes after polls close at a polling station during Zambia's general elections, including the presidential election, in Lusaka, Zambia, August 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Moses Mwape
Zambia’s post-election crisis deepensThe mineral-rich southern African nation is slipping into political crisis following last week’s disputed election, in which incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema won a second five-year term. In the days since, his government has launched a deadly crackdown on the opposition. On Friday, a former minister was [...]