Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is expressing concern about the possibility of a “referendum” hurting President Donald Trump’s chances of re-election.
During an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday, Mulvaney admitted he believes Trump could be facing an uphill battle if there is an emphasis on the popular vote.
“If it ends up being a popularity contest or worse, a referendum on President Trump, I think he’s got some real headwinds to face,” Mulvaney said.
He pointed out what he believes is Trump’s strongest attribute might be to attract new voters while maintaining his supporter base. According to Mulvaney, Trump may be able to expound on the contrasts between himself and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“One of the things you do is to point out to people that you made America great, to use his term in the first place, you could do it again,” he explained.
Mulvaney also accused President Barack Obama and Biden of having a history of “not being able to get the country out of a slow economy.”
See Mulvaney’s remarks below:
“If Joe Biden has a history of anything, it’s not being able to get the country out of a slow economy, that eight years under President Obama and Vice President Biden to do that and it didn’t work,” Mulvaney said.
He continued, “So, if the president can go back to drawing those contrasts between him and Joe Biden, that becomes a race between Trump and Biden, I think the president does extraordinarily well.”
Mulvaney’s remarks come amid Trump’s growing concern about the impact of mail-in voting on the upcoming general election in November.
Although there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, Trump has repeatedly tweeted his concerns about mail-in voting resulting in a rigged election. The president has also claimed that mail-in voting would likely make it difficult for Republicans to win elections.
Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans. @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
Having lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016, Trump could be faced with a problem if mail-in voting does, in fact, draw more Democratic voters.
The general election is set for November 3, 2020.