Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray isn’t surprised by the change at the top of Trump’s campaign management chart, but he suggests Stepien shouldn’t get comfortable in that job.
“We might see another campaign manager replace him before this is all said and done and Bill Stepien serve in another role,” Murray told KYW Newsradio. “That’s what happens with the Trump campaign ... even as these people are replaced, like Corey Lewandowski, they still hang around.”
Murray was noncommittal as to whether Stepien can turn things around in less than four months. He looks back to the 2016 campaign, when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton held a comfortable lead in the summer.
“Trump was able to thread the needle in three key states in order to win the Electoral College," Murray said. "That was an unlikely outcome, and yet he did it. So to write him off at this point simply because of what the polls look like today, I think, is a huge mistake.”
Presumptive Democratic opponent Joe Biden enjoys leads in several national and regional polls, including in Pennsylvania, one of the states Trump turned to his favor four years ago.
A new Monmouth poll in Pennsylvania shows Biden with a 13-point lead. Clinton had a 10-point lead in the commonwealth in the summer of 2016.