“I honestly think it’s all just tactical by Hillary’s team and by her allies in the national media,” Mike Pence told Rush Limbaugh. | AP Photo Pence: Clinton trying to 'demoralize' GOP

Hillary Clinton’s push into red states in recent days is a plot to “demoralize” Donald Trump supporters — and the media are helping her do it, Mike Pence said Monday.

“I honestly think it’s all just tactical by Hillary’s team and by her allies in the national media,” Pence told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh when asked about Clinton’s move in red states and a new focus on down-ballot races. “There’s two ways you can defeat your opponent. No. 1, you can defeat them outright. Or No. 2, you can just demoralize them. I think that’s what they’re trying to do here. But I don’t think the American people are buying it.”


Pence continued to predict victory, comparing Trump to President Harry Truman, who overcame a deficit in the polls to win reelection in 1948.

As Trump has fallen in the polls — he was down 12 points nationally in a recently released ABC News poll — Clinton and top Democratic surrogates have sought to expand the map, holding campaign stops in places like Arizona and buying ads in deep red states like Texas and Indiana. Clinton has also shown a new vigor in trying to lift down-ballot Democrats.

A recent Arizona Republic poll showed Clinton up by 5 points in the state, which last voted for a Democrat for president in 1996. Some polls show Clinton within striking distance in Utah, Georgia, Texas and Alaska — none of which have gone blue since 1992 or before.