All conventions are a mix of reaching out to wavering voters and shoring up your base. The D convention, especially Biden& #39;s speech, was perhaps 65/35 in the reaching-out direction. Night 1 of the RNC was about 50/50. From the list of speakers, the rest of the RNC might be 35/65.

If I were Trump, I would in theory weight the reaching-out-to-swing-voters part much more heavily. His base is already with him, and will likely turn out no matter what he does. But, it also isn& #39;t a very large base, even with its advantages in the Electoral College.

But in practice, Trump has an awfully tough sell with swing voters between the pandemic, the economy, and the fact that at least half the country thinks he& #39;s racist. Which explains why he& #39;s down 9 points in the polls, of course.

One thing they could probably have done without, though, is all the time devoted to Trump family members. It& #39;s pure ego-puffery and having Don Jr. speak in between Haley and Scott doesn& #39;t allow a swing voter to suspend her disbelief and pretend Trump is a "generic Republican".