Over the weekend, former United States President Donald Trump made an appearance at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina where he waved to the crowd in attendance. But Trump wasn’t just there as a NASCAR fan – his appearance at the sporting event was a political move.
As several political experts told The Charlotte Observer this week, Trump’s decision to attend the Coca-Cola 600 makes sense considering that North Carolina is a swing state in the upcoming presidential election.
“It’s a great visibility thing,” said Republican strategist Larry Shaheen.
The vast majority of NASCAR’s fanbase leans conservative, so it makes his appearance make sense.
“Politically, it fits his base,” Shaheen said of Sunday’s expected crowd.
Shaheen went on to call appearances like this a “winning strategy” for Trump given that working-class America supports him heavily.
“With all his flaws and character issues, it’s funny because he has been a hero of the working man over the course of the last several years,” Shaheen said. “… It’s a winning strategy.”
As political scientist Eric Heberlig points out, appearances like this help Trump reach an audience that otherwise may not have been exposed to him.
“The bulk of the audience there isn’t there to see him. They’re there for the event. So it allows him to reach a broader audience than he otherwise would,” Heberlig said.
And there is one more benefit to appearances like this – it doesn’t cost a lot of campaign money.
“And it’s free,” Heberlig said. “He doesn’t have to pay for it in his paid advertising.”
Needless to say, this seems like a pretty genius political move from Trump.
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