WaPo: The reasons people say they leave Donald Trump's rallies early [View all]

[Dennis Donovan]

Michelangelo Signorile
From WashPost piece: "Why do people leave Trump’s rallies early? We asked them."

9:51 AM · Oct 4, 2024

WaPo (archived) - The reasons people say they leave Donald Trump’s rallies early

The Republican nominee consistently draws large, enthusiastic and rowdy crowds to his rallies and other campaign events, and at nearly all of them, another trend is clear: Scores of people head out before the end

By Marianne LeVine, Sabrina Rodriguez, Josh Dawsey and Abbie Cheeseman

Updated October 4, 2024 at 7:39 a.m. EDT|Published October 4, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

Less than 25 minutes into Donald Trump’s remarks, Melissa Prescott walked out.

She arrived at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson at 8:30 a.m. on a hot September day, waited in line outside with her teen daughter for more than four hours, then waited another hour inside before Trump took the stage about 2:15 p.m. As Trump was complaining about 2016 exit polls and speaking about how he likes “the old people the best,” Prescott, along with dozens of others, started trickling out.

“I’m glad we got in. I wish I could stay to hear more,” said Prescott, 36, who explained that she needed to go pick up her disabled cousin.

The Republican presidential nominee consistently draws large, enthusiastic and rowdy crowds to his rallies and other campaign events, and at nearly all of them, another trend is clear: Scores of people leave early.

/snip

Where are these large crowds? Every event I've seen where you can see the event space has tons of empty seats. You just don't see that at Harris events.

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