Donald Trump has a Utah problem, according to Donald Trump.
A day after his political rival, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, wrote an opinion piece for the Deseret News (and almost a week after a third-party candidate did the same), Trump revealed his thoughts about how he’s faring in Utah to a room of evangelical pastors in Orlando, Florida, at the American Renewal Project.
He at least admitted he’s having a problem in the Beehive State. Give him that.
Donald Trump says his campaign is “having a tremendous problem in Utah.” https://t.co/r4GSg06J23
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 11, 2016
"I'm having a tremendous problem in Utah. But Utah's a different place."
— David Gibson (@GibsonWrites) August 11, 2016
Guess that's his Deseret News op-ed, in short
"Utah is... a different place... Is anyone here from Utah? I didn't think so." Trump, disparaging state where he's RAPIDLY losing support.
— Nick Morrow (@NRMorrow) August 11, 2016
More than just those soundbites, Trump also placed blame for his Utah struggles on a false narrative.
Speaking in Florida, Trump blames "false narrative" for closeness of the race in Utah, calls it "a different place." pic.twitter.com/ipWqVlWhvr
— Adam Aigner-Treworgy (@AdamATCBS) August 11, 2016
Twitter immediately mentioned the flaws with Trump’s remarks and how that really could hurt him in Utah this November.
"'Utah is... a different place...Is anyone here from Utah? I didn't think so.'Trump, disparaging state where he's RAPIDLY losing"
— Karen Springer 🇺🇦💉🇺🇸 (@SpringerKM) August 11, 2016
We’ll see if there’s more to come from this.
Trump currently leads in Utah polls 34 to 27 percent. And Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced today he planned to vote for Trump in the election, saying he’s the right man to govern the country.
Trump has also previously been skeptical of the faith, at one point even calling it an “alien” religion, according to The New York Times.
With BYU grad Evan McMullin announcing his independent candidacy and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s recent surge, this surely increases Utah’s potential to play a role in this election.
Herb Scribner is a writer for Deseret Digital Media.