An attendee wears an outfit with "Anti Communist Patriot" written on it in Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. REUTERS/Callaghan O'hare
President Donald Trump has sharply escalated his warnings about a communist takeover of the Democratic Party ahead of November's US midterm elections. The success of democratic socialists and other progressive candidates in Democratic primaries has given Trump and his fellow Republicans a fresh line of attack.
A Reuters analysis of Trump's public comments from June 23 through July 6 — when a string of left-wing Democratic candidates won their party's primaries in New York — found he invoked communism 81 times.
Preliminary findings from his team's focus groups suggest the message strongly energizes Trump's base and could boost turnout among infrequent Republican voters.
But the message appears less effective with independents — often decisive in closely fought contests — and younger voters who did not live through the Cold War.
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