GOP group’s campaign aims to sway voters toward Biden

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A national super PAC that called themselves Republican Voters Against Trump aims to unseat President Donald Trump by spending millions in Florida in the coming election.
• Dubbed “Project Orange Crush,” the campaign was created to sway Florida voters toward Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
• The GOP group has enlisted the help of Mike Murphy, a Republican political consultant who helped Jeb Bush win twice as Florida governor.

A Republican group is reportedly working on a campaign dubbed “Project Orange Crush” in the Sunshine state to support Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden over President Donal Trump this November election.

Officials with the national super PAC Republicans Voting Against Trump said they would target moderate voters in Florida to support the former vice president and flip that state, which went with Trump in 2016, the Miami Herald reported on Monday.

The group has enlisted the help of Mike Murphy, who was behind Bush’s two gubernatorial wins, to lead the campaign as well as David Hill, a former Bush pollster.

The campaign is expected to spend as much as $10 million in the run-up to the November election on TV, social media and digital ads to persuade the nearly 500,000 independents and moderate Republicans in the state, who are skittish about re-electing Trump but have not committed to Biden.

“Our plan is to surgically target the key 450,000 Independents and soft Republicans who will decide the election,” said a memo from the group, obtained by the Miami Herald.

They are focusing on Florida because Biden has a slight advantage in the polls, and because there is diversity in the state’s voters, in comparison with other battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

“Florida is a strong hedge against any potential Trump comeback [in the] industrial Midwest,” the memo said.

The PAC conducted polling in July that found a majority of voters among groups of women, independents and people 65 and older who weren’t backing Biden or Trump were leaning toward the former veep.

Digital ads are expected to begin appearing this week, with TV ads beginning mid-month.

The RealClearPolitics index of polls shows Biden with a 3.7 percentage-point lead over Trump in Florida.

In 2016, Trump won Florida against Hillary Clinton 48.6 percent to 47.4 percent.

Source: New York Post