Trump greets guests ahead of first lady Melania Trump's address to the Republican National Convention from the Rose Garden at the White House, Aug. 25. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Here are some reasons why President Trump's top advisers say they feel better today than they did three weeks ago.
The state of play: Some early data suggests the Republican National Convention was a success and gave Trump more of a bounce than Joe Biden got from the Democratic National Convention.
- A new Morning Consult poll has Trump getting a 4 percentage point bounce out of the RNC, whereas Biden got no immediate bounce from the DNC the week earlier. (According to the latest Morning Consult poll, Biden leads Trump 50% to 44% among likely voters nationwide).
- A new Yahoo News-YouGov poll has Biden's lead over Trump shrinking to 6 percentage points after the RNC — the vice president's smallest lead in months.
- Fundraising performed well during the RNC. Trump's communications director Tim Murtaugh says the campaign raised $76 million during the RNC.
- Biden announced he would resume campaign travel after Labor Day, including a trip to Minnesota. Minnesota last voted Republican during Richard Nixon's landslide victory in 1972.
- COVID-19 cases have been trending down off of the late July peak.
Between the lines: A central goal of the RNC was to win back suburbanites who view Trump as racist and devoid of morals. That's why you saw so many Black speakers offering character testimonials for the president.
- To that end, Trump aides are encouraged by the Morning Consult poll, which showed that "Trump cut into Biden's lead among voters in the suburbs: Before the convention, Biden led by 14 points (54 percent to 40 percent), but after the convention, he led by 8 points (50 percent to 42 percent)."