With less than four months until Election Day, Donald Trump has decided to replace Brad Parscale as his re-election campaign manager.
The president announced the shake-up via social media on Wednesday, confirming Parscale would be succeeded by Bill Stepien, a political operative who worked in the 2016 Trump campaign as the national field director. POTUS said Parscale, who was tapped to lead the re-election efforts back in 2018, will remain with the campaign as a senior adviser for data and digital strategies.
"I am pleased to announce that Bill Stepien has been promoted to the role of Trump Campaign Manager. Brad Parscale, who has been with me for a very long time and has led our tremendous digital and data strategies, will remain in that role, while being a Senior Advisor to the campaign," Trump wrote. "Both were heavily involved in our historic 2016 win, and I look forward to having a big and very important second win together. This one should be a lot easier as our poll numbers are rising fast, the economy is getting better, vaccines and therapeutics will soon be on the way, and Americans want safe streets and communities!"
Though Parscale had no background in politics, he was hired to create a website for Trump's first campaign and was eventually named as the campaign's digital director. There were whispers that Parscale's position on the team was at risk because of the disappointing turnout for last month's Tulsa rally. His demotion also comes as Trump's national poll numbers continue to fall, while presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is seeing a steady rise.
According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, the former vice president has widened his lead over Trump by 15 points. Meanwhile, Trump's overall job approval rating sunk to 36 percent—the lowest it has been since August 2017. The poll points to a number of factors that may be contributing to POTUS' decline; these include his coronavirus response, his handling of the economy, and the way he addresses racial inequality.
"Yes, there's still 16 weeks until Election Day, but this is a very unpleasant real time look at what the future could be for President Trump," said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy. "There is no upside, no silver lining, no encouraging trend hidden somewhere in this survey for the president."
