Written by Warren Mass

Crowd outside Trump Rally in Toledo

The 90-minute Trump campaign rally held in Toledo, Ohio, on January 9 continued a trend that had held firmly in recent months — 42.8 percent of the 22,927 people attending the event were either a Democrat or an Independent. Broken down, 21.9 percent were Democrats and 20.9 percent of attendees identified as Independents.These figures continue a trend stretching back to last October 17, when 21.4 percent at a Trump rally in Dallas were Democrats, with 11 percent being Latino. Twenty-seven percent of those attending a Trump rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, on November 1 were Democrats, with 20 percent being black. At a November 26 Trump rally in Broward, Florida, 24 percent of attendees were Democrats, with 27 percent being Hispanic.More recently, several thousand Michigan Democrats attended Trump’s rally in Battle Creek, making up 17 percent of those present.That this trend has continued in Ohio is especially significant because the state has voted for the winner in every presidential election since 1964.These meticulous statistics are being compiled by Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and often are reported by Elizabeth Vaughn, a writer for RedState, a conservative political blog.What makes Parscale’s data collection and compilation important is that it is a key component in his campaign-management strategy. He has shown himself to be a veritable whiz at using statistics about voters to direct campaign resources to where they are needed to win elections.Parscale served as the digital media director for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and his great success in that position led to his being named as campaign manager for the 2020 campaign.