On the cusp of the New Hampshire primary, there are growing questions about GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s ground game in the state even as he maintains a double-digit lead against rivals.
An email sent out to supporters on January 30th called on them to “Talk for Trump Today!” and listed call centers across the state in four field offices, and four public meeting spaces.
At one hotel — listed as a call center — a receptionist told CNN one Trump staffer and about three volunteers showed up throughout the day. At two of the restaurants listed, employees told CNN they weren’t aware of any campaign activities that day.
In the months leading up to the primary, Trump has eschewed conventional wisdom that has had other candidates camped out in New Hampshire for months. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are staking their campaigns on success in the state, and Trump has held around one-quarter of the events as each of them.
“Everything that people thought about politics is out the window in this election cycle,” Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told CNN of their campaign tactics. “I think when you see a true leader and you hear that message that you want to make America great again and you want to make America win again, you don’t need to meet that person five or six or seven times.”
But following Trump’s second place finish in the Iowa caucuses, the billionaire has bulked up his schedule in the Granite State, adding three events.
The last few days before voters cast their ballot can be volatile, with one-third of likely Republican voters saying they are still trying to decide which candidate to support, according to Thursday’s CNN/WMUR poll.
That means turning out committed supporters on primary day will be key for all the candidates — and Trump will be relying on volunteers like Christopher Mazerall to do the field work.
“I’ve sat by the wayside for a lot of political events that haven’t really interested me but I feel like this, this is what Ronald Reagan said, this is our last stand on Earth. I really don’t know what we’ll be able to accomplish if Trump’s not elected,” Mazerall told CNN.
For many voters, volunteers like Mazerall are the local face of the Trump campaign. He is a microbiologist by trade but as a town campaign chair he is devoting much of his free time to efforts for the campaign, throwing small events at local restaurants and finding supporters willing to sign “endorsement cards” that can be sent back to the main office in Manchester with voters’ information.
Mazerall says he has done a lot phone-banking for the campaign already. The campaign asks volunteers to make 25 calls a day and he says the software the campaign uses allows a volunteer to make around 50 calls in 25 minutes.
The software is targeting low propensity voters, says Mazerall, and volunteers are instructed to include information about polling locations and times.
If the call goes to voicemail, Mazerall says the software allows volunteers to leave a prerecorded message for the voter.
Mazerall also told CNN there was a good crowd of phone bankers in his local field office of Keene on January 30, but that he spent most of the day putting up signs around his region.
One advantage over rivals the campaign often points to are the attendee lists from Trump’s events in the state, which draw thousands of voters.
Mazerall has not done much door-knocking, but said he has been trying to get an updated list of Trump event attendees for the coming weekend.
“It had been available early on and it was probably a much shorter list than it will be now,” Mazerall told CNN.
He says he plans to do some door-knocking this coming weekend but that the campaign told him to focus on putting up Trump signs around the state and to make sure his local field offices are well-stocked.
When he’s out looking for supporters Mazerall uses any creative means he can think of, including a pet cockatoo and a cowboy hat prominently displaying a Trump sticker.
“If I’m going to be hanging up signs and putting things out I’ll wear my hat I’ll take my parrot with me, a cockatoo who likes people, so that gets a lot of people’s attention,” Mazerall told CNN.
