Trump’s reelection campaign has already hinted at reconsidering the usual strategy. The Associated Press reported last year that the Trump campaign views nonvoters as “an untapped stash of Republican support that can help him overcome stubbornly low poll numbers and his difficulties in winning over voters in the shrinking political center.” Bill Stepien, a senior political adviser to the Trump campaign, told reporters: “There’s a new math spurred by a new candidate at the top of his ticket. And I think we need to throw out the old way we look at how elections are won and lost.”

Furthermore, in November, Justin Clark, a senior political adviser and senior counsel to Trump’s reelection campaign, reportedly said privately: “Traditionally, it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places. Let’s start protecting our voters.” He clarified his remarks to the Associated Press, saying he was referring to false accusations of the GOP engaging in voter suppression. “Neither I nor anyone I know or work with would condone anyone’s vote being threatened or diluted, and our efforts will be focused on preventing just that.”

One possible theory for why a generic Democratic nominee might be less popular than Trump to nonvoters in some battleground states is that nonvoters in those states are significantly whiter than nonvoters nationwide. According to the Knight data, in the 10 battleground states, there are 10 percent less black or Latino nonvoters and 10 percent more white nonvoters than there are nationwide.

Another theory for why Trump may be more popular than a generic Democratic nominee among nonvoters is that the political parties themselves are very unpopular, and nonvoters are excited by nontraditional candidates, like Trump.

The Knight survey results show that the vast majority—about three quarters—of nonvoters are registered to vote. The most common reason to not be registered is lack of interest. The No. 1 reason voters think other people don’t vote is because they think nonvoters don’t believe their vote matters. In reality, the No. 1 reason nonvoters cite for not voting is that they don’t like the candidates. This is especially true in the battleground states.

“It makes sense to me the idea that nonvoters or unreliable voters don’t have a strong attachment to either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party but may have an attachment to Donald Trump,” says Meagan Day, a staff writer at the democratic socialist Jacobin magazine. “This population has no love for the two major parties, but it’s possible for a charismatic change-oriented candidate whose campaign has a lot of vigor to break through and win their affections where the sort of generic partisan affiliation wouldn’t necessarily.”

In fact, according to the Knight data, nonvoters do view both parties unfavorably, as do voters. But fewer nonvoters view Trump unfavorably than voters do, and more nonvoters have a favorable opinion of the president than have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party itself. Fewer nonvoters consider themselves liberal, moderate or conservative than voters do, with more nonvoters volunteering that they “don’t think in those terms.” Nonvoters are also less likely than voters to identify with either of the major political parties. And that’s even more true in the battleground states, where more nonvoters identify as independent or say they’re unsure.