Banter Box #2—A Sleeper Factor in November?

Foreign policy might matter in this year's presidential election in important but subtle ways.

Greetings TLP readers —

Thanks for participating in our second Banter Box feature for TLP supporters. I read your comments and got the sense that foreign policy *ought* to matter in this year’s presidential election campaign, even if it doesn’t wind up mattering in reality—at least not in ways we can pick up via polling and campaign messages.

Gstew2 told an interesting anecdote about how highlighting NATO and Russia are the most effective ways to make “inroads on Trump-related concerns with Republican friends and family.” Right now, it doesn’t seem like such concerns will shift votes one way or another—but then again, the Biden campaign hasn’t really ramped up and made this an avenue of attack against Trump yet. It could be a way for Biden to appeal to Haley voters and other disaffected Republicans who back Ukraine. In other words, foreign policy could be a sleeper issue for a number of voters—it may not change their votes, but it could keep waverers on side.