New Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on Thursday that it is a good thing the Republican nominee is down the in polls, saying it "lights a fire under us."
Conway not only said this but also acknowledged that they are behind in polls, unlike Trump surrogate Michael Cohen, who had trouble grappling with that fact at the outset of an awkward CNN interview the day before.
"I think it helps us to be a little bit behind, and we are," she said on Thursday.
Before this exchange, a short clip was shown of Cohen and CNN’s Brianna Keilar sparring about Trump’s polling on Wednesday.
"You guys are down," Keilar said.
"Says who?" Cohen shot back.
"Polls," she said. "Most of them. All of them?"
"Says who?" Cohen replied again.
After showing this clip, Camerota asked Conway what she sees in these low poll numbers.
"It lights a fire under us and reminds us what we need to do to get this done," Conway said.
"And what is that?" Camerota asked.
Conway explained that the Trump camp is doing several things to turn these numbers around. She said that Hillary Clinton’s fundamentals are still poor, so voters aren’t necessarily jumping ship to Clinton due to aspects they disagree with when it comes to Trump.
She cited Clinton’s low trustworthy numbers.
"It’s not as if a majority of Americans now say, ‘I like her or I much trust her,’" Conway said. "She has a terrible gender gap among men. Basically half of the electorate, that has not been able to be turned around and I don’t know that she has many places to go. In other words, she’s a very defined individual."
Conway continued by explaining that, as part of their strategy to turn the polls around, they are focusing on the media. She said that this strategy is unlike the Clinton campaign since she does not hold press conferences like Trump does.
She acknowledged that they did lose some Republican votes, but also said that it is not like these Republicans are going to go and vote for Clinton.
"It’s very unusual for the Democratic Party to have a candidate that doesn’t have that uplifting, generational, inspirational message much like Bill Clinton, or Barack Obama, or JFK and so, we like our odds in this sense," she said.