WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) – For months, Democrats argued that voters would get “serious” about the campaign once it reached the fall and would reject Donald Trump’s no-hold-barred approach.
They’re still waiting.
With fewer than 50 days left, polling shows a tightening national race and – most unnerving to Democrats – a Trump rise in key battleground states. But as Trump’s provocative appeal gains traction, Hillary Clinton is sticking with the traditional playbook: Lots of attack ads, a focus on getting out the vote and intense preparation for next week’s first general election debate.
Her approach underscores what’s emerged as a central question of the 2016 campaign: Can Clinton’s play-it-safe political strategy win against a chaos candidate?
Even President Barack Obama, who long dismissed the idea of a future Trump administration, has started ringing alarm bells, warning Democratic supporters to expect a tight race that Clinton could possibly lose. Polls show the Republican leading in Iowa and Ohio, tied in Florida and North Carolina and gaining in Virginia and New Hampshire.