Trump has to appeal to college educated women: Strategist

The republican national convention kicks off in Charlotte, North Carolina and Greg Valliere, AGF Investments Chief U.S. Policy Strategist weighs in on what Trump needs to do to bolster his sagging poll numbers.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Greg, do you think that Donald Trump is gonna be able to successfully argue, given that kind of comment from Joe Biden, that Joe Biden is gonna raise everyone's taxes?

GREG VALLIERE: Yes. Because it's not just for people who make over $400,000. They're talking about a Wall Street transaction tax. They're talking about higher capital gains taxes.

They're talking about higher estate taxes. So-- in addition, of course, to higher corporate rates. Now, corporate rates would go up by quite a bit. And there probably would be a minimum corporate tax. All of the corporate tax-- taxes would get passed along to consumers.

So it's disingenuous for him to say it wouldn't affect anyone under $400,000. I think it would. And I think the Republicans will make that point.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Hey, Greg. It's Julia La Roche. And great to be with you again. If you look back to the DNC last week, a major theme that really emerged was empathy and character.

And you mentioned at the top of this conversation, President Trump really has to win over some groups, including college-educated women. How does he do that? What do you think his strategy is going to be when we're coming off of the heels of the DNC that was really talking about character and empathy?

GREG VALLIERE: Well, first of all, I think he ought to tone it down a notch with the personal insults, you know, Sleepy Joe and all the insults he gives people. I think that the harshness of his rhetoric has hurt him with a lot of key groups like college-educated women. I mean, Trump already has the base. He's got the right wing base locked up. There's nothing he can do to jeopardize that.

So why not say, I've got that. Let's see if I can move a little more toward the middle, talk more perhaps about education, maybe about urban violence. But I think that the tone of his rhetoric sometimes can be so nasty that it's a turnoff. I think he needs to, again, forget about his base. He's gotta look at other new voters.

BRIAN CHEUNG: Hey, Greg. It's Brian Cheung here. What's been interesting to watch from the DNC's angle is the appeal to some, I guess, if you want to call them "moderate Republicans," right? John Kasich, the former governor of Ohio, speaking there.

And then there was I think two dozen or so former GOP members of Congress that have supported Joe Biden, including former GOP senator Jeff Flake. I guess I'm wondering, is that casting a shadow on the RNC? I know Mitch McConnell and some other established Republicans are speaking there. But what type of tone do you expect to hear from them? Because as we know, a lot of them have also been kind of disappointed, if you will, with some of the rhetoric that you were just talking about in the last answer.

GREG VALLIERE: Well, I don't see them really overtly breaking from Trump. They haven't yet. I don't think they will now. I think they'll still stick with him.

But they need to think about the consequences if Biden wins the Senate and the House. The House is gonna stay Liberal. We all know that.

But I think that there's a decent chance the Senate could go as well. And you could have a so-called "blue wave." That's something the financial markets traditionally don't like. They like divided government more than anything else.

So I-- I think-- I think Trump has to be careful, again, as I said before, with his rhetoric. He's gotta be more inclusive. You know, that's, like, a touchy-feely word for him. But he needs to be more inclusive because he cannot win re-election with just his base.

JULIE HYMAN: Just real quick, Greg, can he do that? Is he capable of doing that?

GREG VALLIERE: Well, isn't that a good question, Julie? I think that he has a problem staying on message. You know, he may go off and talk about QAnon, or his relatives, or, you know, the vaccine.

See, he does stray from his message frequently. I think if he stays on message and talks about what he might do in the next four years-- I haven't heard a lot about what he might do. So there's plenty of opportunity, in my opinion, to close this by Labor Day to a six- or seven-point Biden lead. And then I think things will get tighter as we go into October.

JULIE HYMAN: All right. We shall see. Greg Valliere, AGF Investments, chief US policy strategist, great to talk to you as always.