Professor Kerry Haynie appears on a expert panel convened by WRAL’s “On The Record” with host Laura Leslie to discuss the Republican National Convention, Trump’s speech and the state of the party.
“[His speech] didn’t accomplish what I think Mr. Trump needs to accomplish the most, and that is to broaden the base. Moving to the general election, he has to broaden that appeal. I don’t think he did that,” Haynie said during the discussion. “It was an appeal to the conservative wing of the base. The ‘law and order’ references over and over again helped him with that base and the delegates in the convention. I’m not sure how well it will help him moving forward in the general election.”
The party, Haynie said, has ignored the demographic growth among young people and ethnic minorities.
“I thought the tone and demeanor was odd. The yelling was high pitched and high toned. We already knew that Donald Trump. He had an opportunity, I think a missed opportunity, to introduce another side to himself and I don’t think he did that,” Haynie said.
He added: “It was a very white audience. The [Republican] autopsy plan called for reaching out to blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans. You didn’t see much of that in that audience. It was the whitest Republican convention in recent memory.”
Watch here: http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/15871976/ (starts at 2:04)