Written by Nathan Lane
(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will hold an outdoor rally in the sweltering city of Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, seeking to rally support in a swing state that he lost twice but which opinion polls indicate is tilting in his favor in the November 5 election. . .
It will be Trump's first large-scale rally since a New York jury found him guilty on May 30 of forging documents to cover up funds to a porn actress on the eve of the 2016 election, making him the first former president to be convicted of a crime. .
On Thursday, Trump spoke at a public event in Arizona, another battleground state, telling his supporters there about his plans to curb illegal immigration and blaming issues at the southern border on his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden.
Immigration will be a focus of his speech in Las Vegas, along with criticism of rising post-pandemic inflation during Biden's term, according to a campaign statement.
Temperatures are expected to be blistering during the event, with temperatures reaching 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 degrees Celsius) when Trump takes the stage at noon local time and rising to 102 degrees by 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
In a press release, the Trump campaign encouraged attendees to dress for the heat and stay hydrated, and said there would be bottled water, mist and cooling stations available, as well as medical staff on site in case of an emergency.
The campaign noted that an extreme heat warning issued by the NWS for Las Vegas — part of a heat wave sweeping the southwestern United States — was scheduled to expire the Saturday evening before the event.
The measures are intended to avoid a repeat of the cases of heat exhaustion at Trump's event in Arizona on Thursday, when several people who lined up for hours in extreme temperatures had to be taken to the hospital.
Nevada is one of the six or seven swing states that are likely to determine the outcome of the election. A Fox News poll conducted after the guilty verdict showed Trump leading Biden in Nevada by five percentage points, an advantage roughly in line with the average of polls over time compiled by the poll tracking site FiveThirtyEight.
Rebecca Gill, a political science professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, said she is skeptical that polls fully capture where voters will be in a few months, given that many have not yet cared about the race.
Jill said she does not believe Trump's criminal conviction has fully resonated with voters and could deter some moderate Republicans from supporting him. In addition, a proposed amendment to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution would, if placed on the ballot, likely boost Democratic turnout.
“I think (Nevada) is still in the running 100%,” Gill said.
Sunday's rally comes on the heels of Trump's three-day fundraising campaign that included stops in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, where he raised millions of dollars from tech executives and other donors.