Alexandra Glorioso

Naples (Fla.) Daily News

NAPLES, Fla. — Republican Donald Trump, fighting through polls that suggest his presidential bid is slipping away, launched a campaign blitz Sunday in must-win Florida, where he will spend three days trying to avoid a loss in his second-home state.

Trump flew into Collier County Fairgrounds, in Republican-safe southwest Florida, on his helicopter to an eager crowd of more than 3,000 people Sunday.

“Are we glad that I started (campaigning)? Are we happy?” Trump said. “Well, I’ll let you know on the evening of November 8th whether I’m glad.”

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In a nearly 45-minute speech, Trump’s argument was two-fold: the system is rigged and so is the media.

“Without the media, she doesn’t doesn’t have a chance,” Trump said, referring to Democrat Hillary Clinton, as the crowd gave its most enthusiastic boos. “Including, campaign Carl,” he said, appearing to point to Carl Cameron, Fox News Channel’s Washington-based chief political correspondent who is traveling with Trump, as Cameron stood above the crowd in the media bleachers.

“The best evidence that the system is rigged, is that Hillary Clinton is even allowed to run for the presidency of United States in the first place. She shouldn’t be allowed to run,” Trump said.

The first national poll conducted since the final presidential debate, by ABC News, shows Clinton leading Trump by 12 points. The same poll in mid-October gave Clinton a 4-point advantage.

In addition to the widening gap, the poll suggests why Clinton is leading in the double digits: Republicans, unhappy with Trump’s responses to questions related to his treatment of women and with the nominee’s assertion that the election is rigged, may not turn out to vote. The number of registered Republicans who are likely to vote has declined by 7 percentage points since mid-October, the poll shows.

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And Trump, it appears, has picked up on this poll. Only minutes into his speech, he pointed to women in the crowd who supported him.

“I like those pink signs the best,” Trump said, referring to “Women for Trump” signs. “I’ll tell you what, we’re doing well in the polls. But, you know, I really think those polls are very inaccurate when it comes to women. I think we’re doing better with women than with men, frankly.”

Karl Rove, the former adviser who helped elect President George W. Bush and who is well known for his mastery of electoral politics, said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday that a Trump victory would be unlikely at this point.

Trump has scheduled a series of stops in Florida through Tuesday, with two rallies each day, as he urges supporters to help him prove the pundits and the latest national polls wrong. He will visit six more cities before he leaves Tallahassee on Tuesday. Trump must win Florida, but recent polls suggest Clinton is leading by a narrow margin in the state.

Trump has criticized the media at his rallies and, as he did Sunday, pointed them out and told his supporters reporters are corrupt. At the end of his Sunday appearance, men with video cameras walked along the media area, chiding local reporters and asking them to retire, calling them a disgrace.

As the campaign enters the final two weeks, Trump also offered insight into what he'll do as president with his first 100 days, including repealing the Affordable Care Act, lowering taxes and cutting regulation. It's part of what he called his "contract" with American voters.

“A Republican House and Senate can swiftly enact the other items in my contract immediately, including massive tax reduction," he said. "My plan to transform our tax, regulatory, energy and trade policy is the most pro-growth plan in American history. In American history. We have no choice.”

He told the crowd he would lower the business tax from 35% to 15%. “Our businesses are leaving because taxes are so high.”

Trump said he also would work to restore the Everglades, which he said he had flown over in his helicopter after arriving in his plane in West Palm Beach earlier Sunday.

“A Trump administration will also work alongside you to restore and protect the beautiful Florida Everglades,” he told the Florida crowd. “We’re going to protect the Everglades.”

He also said he would work repair the Herbert Hoover dyke at Lake Okeechobee, another nod to his southwest Florida supporters.

Trump continued his claims Sunday about the election being rigged, and many of those attending cheered in agreement.

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Angela Guerra, 72, Bonita Springs, said she would be voting but believed there was rampant voter fraud.

“I know here were a lot of problems with the voting,” Guerra said. “They’re bringing in a lot of people who shouldn’t be voting.”

Guerra said while she’s registered in New York, where she also lives, she received an absentee ballot for Florida and thinks it would be easy to fill out and vote twice. She said if Trump loses, it will “possibly” be because the system is rigged. She agreed the media is part of the rigged system as well.

In an effort to drum up support from his base, Trump is the first Republican nominee to hold an event in southwest Florida since Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004. And he’s come here twice in five weeks. Trump's campaign has focused, in part, on hosting rallies in areas of the country where the candidate enjoys strong support, encouraging that base to turn out in big numbers.

Early voting starts Monday, giving Democrats an opportunity to excel in turnout during a period they traditionally favor. Republican voters typically turn out in higher numbers on Election Day and participate more in absentee voting. As of Sunday, over a million Floridians had voted absentee and Republicans led with a narrow 1.73 margin. This time four years ago, their margin was 5.5 percentage points.

Still, Florida being Florida, the state is functionally in play, and the candidates are doing their best to cover every inch of soil this week, urging supporters to get to the polls. Clinton is deploying a wide network of surrogates to stump for her throughout the state. Clinton has scheduled an appearance Coconut Creek on Tuesday and, according to an official, will be in Tampa on Wednesday.

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Trump complained about Clinton’s surrogates throughout his speech, most pointedly about Obama, who was pushing an early-voting message Thursday at Florida Memorial University, a historically black university in a predominantly black city.

“She’s not going to win. I can’t believe … Do we want four more years of Obama? He’s going to go down as our campaign president. Here’s a guy, seriously, why isn’t he working? He’s always campaigning. His wife is always campaigning,” Trump said.

Follow Alexandra Glorioso on Twitter: @aglorios