Trump Claims Bigger Crowds, Reports Say Harris Matches

At a rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump once again highlighted the size of his crowd, a recurring theme in his political narrative. Trump boasted to the audience that his campaign events attracted far larger crowds than those of Vice President Kamala Harris. This preoccupation with audience size is not new for Trump, who has long touted the supposed superiority of his event turnouts. However, according to on-the-ground reports and a deeper analysis by The New York Times, Trump and Harris are drawing comparable crowds during their respective campaign rallies.

The rally, held at Central Wisconsin Airport, saw Trump addressing what was described as a modest crowd. During his speech, Trump dismissed any notion that Harris could attract a large crowd, claiming that her rallies paled in comparison to his. He also praised some audience members, saying they had traveled all the way from North Carolina to attend the event. While pointing to the press section, Trump remarked, “No one has had crowds like this… and the fake news knows it,” prompting boos from the audience directed at the media.

This rally is just the latest example of Trump’s repeated attempts to downplay Harris’ ability to attract supporters, often claiming that her events are poorly attended. At a rally in Detroit, Trump even falsely accused Harris of using artificial intelligence to manipulate photos of her crowd, making it appear larger than it was. Despite Trump’s claims, his crowd sizes are not as consistently large as he suggests. The New York Times report noted that the crowd sizes at his and Harris’ rallies have been similar. Moreover, Trump’s lengthy speeches have led to noticeable crowd thinning during his events, something less evident at Harris’ rallies.

Trump’s obsession with crowd size is not a new phenomenon. Dating back to his first presidential campaign in 2016, Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the size of his audiences. At that time, his rallies often attracted larger audiences than his Republican primary competitors and his general election rival, Hillary Clinton. The Washington Post reported that Trump frequently inflated the turnout numbers for his events, sometimes doubling or tripling the actual attendance figures. During a 2015 rally in Phoenix, Arizona, for instance, Trump claimed that 15,000 people attended, though the actual number was closer to 4,200. This tendency to inflate crowd sizes followed Trump into the White House, where it became a hallmark of his administration’s communication strategy.

Perhaps the most infamous instance of Trump’s crowd size exaggerations came on Inauguration Day in January 2017. Trump claimed that 1.5 million people attended his inauguration, despite photographic evidence showing that the crowd was far smaller. In comparison to former President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, which saw record attendance, Trump’s event drew significantly fewer people. However, Trump and his administration repeatedly insisted that the inauguration had one of the largest crowds in history. The dispute over crowd size became a point of contention between Trump’s team and the media, culminating in then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer delivering a forceful defense of Trump’s crowd claims in his first press briefing, which was widely mocked.

Trump’s obsession with the size of his crowds was even parodied by former President Obama, who has criticized Trump for what he called a “weird obsession with crowd sizes.” At the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Obama made a lighthearted jab at Trump, mimicking the size of Trump’s audience with a humorous gesture. The moment drew laughter from the convention attendees, highlighting the long-standing absurdity of Trump’s fixation.

Despite the exaggerated claims, recent data shows that Trump’s crowds are not as enormous as he suggests. An analysis by the Harvard Kennedy School estimated that Trump’s rallies in 2024 have averaged about 5,600 attendees, a figure not significantly larger than Vice President Harris’ crowd numbers. In fact, the data shows that Trump’s rally attendance has remained relatively stable over the years, with his 2023 rallies averaging about 4,600 attendees. These figures undermine Trump’s ongoing narrative that he draws significantly larger crowds than his political rivals.

Trump’s focus on crowd size even extended to the January 6, 2021 rally in Washington, D.C., which preceded the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump claimed that his rally attracted a larger crowd than Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic March on Washington in 1963, during which King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. While King’s speech drew an estimated 250,000 people, the January 6 rally crowd was estimated to be around 53,000. Photographic evidence from both events further debunked Trump’s claim, but that did not stop him from repeating the falsehood.

The topic of crowd size continues to be a central theme for Trump, even as he campaigns in the 2024 election cycle. His remarks at the Mosinee rally are part of a larger effort to present himself as a political figure with overwhelming popular support, a narrative that relies heavily on the visual impact of large crowds. However, the reality, as shown by independent reports and data analysis, is that Trump’s crowd sizes are not as consistently massive as he claims. Harris, despite being a frequent target of Trump’s attacks, has drawn similar audience numbers to Trump, complicating his portrayal of her as an unpopular figure incapable of rallying significant support.

Ultimately, Trump’s fixation on crowd size is emblematic of his broader approach to politics, where appearances and perceptions often take precedence over facts. Whether discussing the size of his audiences, the results of elections, or the achievements of his presidency, Trump’s narrative frequently diverges from reality. Nevertheless, the former president continues to push the idea that his rallies are unrivaled in their scale, a claim that will likely persist throughout his current campaign. As the 2024 election cycle progresses, it remains to be seen whether Trump’s emphasis on crowd size will resonate with voters or if his preoccupation with this metric will further highlight the gaps between his rhetoric and the facts.