Half of Texas Rally Registrants Were Democrats, Trump Campaign Manager Says

President Donald Trump at a Make America Great Again rally in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 11, 2019. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump’s rally in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 12 drew the highest number of Democrats at any of the president’s campaign events since the 2016 election, according to Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Out of the roughly 30,000 people who had registered online, 50 percent were Democrats, 25 percent were swing voters, and the remaining 25 percent were Republicans, according to RNC data. When registering, people submitted a phone number, which was used to match the person with party voting data.

Figures also revealed that an estimated 70 percent of attendees were Hispanic. The Feb. 12 rally—Trump’s big push for a physical barrier along the U.S.–Mexico border—was held at The El Paso County Coliseum, which holds around 8,000 people. Tens of thousands were outside the arena, watching the event on screens.

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale at a Make America Great Again rally in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 11, 2019. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

The rally was the seventh event that Trump had held in Texas, and his first in El Paso since announcing his candidacy. It was a signature campaign-style rally—his first since the November midterm elections—only the “Promises Made, Promises Kept” banners had given way to banners reading “Finish the Wall.”

Latino support of the president has been something that’s been overlooked, Parscale said. One key statistic was that two-thirds of all attendees had only voted in two or fewer of the past four presidential elections.

“The El Paso rally had thousands of people from New Mexico... The left’s narrative isn’t working, Latinos support @realDonaldTrump in epic numbers,” he said on Twitter.

In subsequent posts, Parscale responded to some media reports that suggested only 6,500 people were inside the venue for the rally. Some also questioned the numbers outside.

“I saw the clicker. 7950 people were inside the arena. 6500 seats, 1500 on the floor,” he said.

“We scan every ticket that came into El Paso. We know exactly who came in. My data is n=30968. This is a giant sample and shows New Mexico is in play for 2020.”

During the rally, Trump cited El Paso as a prime example of the success of border fencing, as the crime rate went down after the barrier was erected there. Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, sits across the border and has high levels of violence.

“Thanks to a powerful border wall in El Paso, Texas, it’s one of America’s safest cities now. You’re talking a few feet away,” Trump said. “Last year, Juárez had 1,200 murders. El Paso, right next door, had 23 murders. Walls work.”

Parscale told Axios on Feb. 14 that the data shows Trump is “building a coalition that extends far beyond the traditional Republican base.”

Latino Numbers Up

Trump’s approval rating among Latinos shot up by 19 points, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released in January.

The poll, conducted from Jan. 10 to Jan. 13, found that 50 percent of Latinos surveyed approve of the job Trump is doing. The same poll, conducted in December, showed the approval rating at 31 percent. Pollsters surveyed 1,023 adults by phone in the latest one.

Trump said the survey’s findings reflect how important the wall is to Hispanics.

“Wow, just heard that my poll numbers with Hispanics has gone up 19%, to 50%,” he said on Twitter. “That is because they know the Border issue better than anyone, and they want Security, which can only be gotten with a Wall.”

A mid-October survey by the same pollsters in 2018 found only 27 percent approval among Latino voters. The surge came in the midst of the partial shutdown that began late December and indicates that Trump’s Latino base strongly supports the construction of a border wall.