Rove: 'Fence-sitters' will decide whether Trump, Harris win election

Republican strategist Karl Rove argued that “fence-sitters” who fall into one of three categories will decide whether former President Trump or Vice President Harris will win the 2024 presidential election.

Rove said that Americans, outside of third-party voters, who have not decided whom they are going to vote for can be divided into three groups: the first being low-information voters; then those who agree with Trump on policy, but do not like his character; and, finally, those open to backing Harris, but still unsure if she can be up to the task in the Oval Office.

Rove, who served as deputy chief of staff under former President George W. Bush, wrote that low-information voters are “only now realizing there’s an election."

“These people are only tenuously linked to politics. They’re driven more by visceral reactions to the candidates than well-informed ideas about issues,” Rove wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.

The second batch, according to Rove, is Americans who are mostly aligned with the former president on policy but are unsure if they can handle another term because of Trump’s behavior.

“They believe America was more prosperous, safer and stronger when he was in office,” wrote Rove, a Fox News contributor. “But they see his character flaws and wonder if they can stomach four more years of narcissism, rage, grievance and ranting about 'the enemies within.'”

The last group is those who can see themselves backing Harris this election cycle, but are not convinced she has the necessary leadership or if she represents “change," according to Rove.

“To them she seems more honest and trustworthy than Mr. Trump, and she is certainly younger,” Rove wrote. “But can she lead? Does she have the necessary inner strength? Does she possess wisdom and empathy? Can her words be trusted? Will she govern more from the middle than from the left? Does she really represent a change?”

Earlier this week, Rove argued that Trump would win the election if he secured a victory in Georgia, Pennsylvania or Michigan.

“If he wins Georgia, the race is over,” Rove said on Fox News. “If he wins Pennsylvania and loses Georgia, the race is over, because if he does take Nevada, Arizona, and North Carolina, it gets him within basically either — 15 or 19 state electoral votes; Michigan, Georgia is 16, Pennsylvania [is] 19. Any one of them puts him over the top.”

The Republican strategist wrote in the op-ed that the three groups are in every swing state and that their decision to cast a ballot in 2024 will “settle the contest.”

“Each candidate’s closing message will either draw a majority of these fence-sitters or drive them away and with them victory,” he wrote.