Trump ready to return to campaign trail, hold rallies

President Trump reopened the country, now he’s ready to restart his rallies, too.

The president’s team is hoping a return to the campaign trail sometime in the next two weeks — including a reboot of Mr. Trump’s raucous, free-wheeling rallies — will give his reelection effort a badly needed jolt after weeks of headlines about the pandemic, job losses and riots.

Campaign officials confirmed Tuesday that campaign manager Brad Parscale will present Mr. Trump within a few days with possibilities for his next rally. The president tweeted that he could be back in front of a crowd as soon as next week.

“Big Demand!” he tweeted. “Starting up again soon.”

Campaign officials said they are still evaluating venues and what type of coronavirus safety measures will be implemented.

The president has been absent from the stump since a March 2 rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has fallen behind presumptive Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden in national polls and in most surveys in battleground states.

Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said the return to the campaign trail is perfect timing for Mr. Trump.

“Faced with a triple whammy of the Chinese virus, a pandemic-induced weak economy and the largest civil unrest in quite some time, the Trump campaign could really use a boost,” Mr. O’Connell said. “Not only do Trump supporters get energized by the rallies and feed off of them, but so does the candidate.”

He said the rallies also will “help President Trump try to define Joe Biden at a time when he hasn’t had the oxygen to be able to do so.”

Since the coronavirus crisis took hold in early March, Mr. Trump has been largely stuck in Washington, defending his handling of the outbreak as the death toll climbed past 100,000 and more than 40 million workers lost their jobs.

The president trailed Mr. Biden by 14 percentage points in a CNN poll released on Monday. Mr. Trump’s approval rating dropped to 38%, down 7 points from the same survey in early May.

In a CBS News poll released Tuesday, Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump, 47% to 43%.

In a memo, Trump campaign pollster John McLaughlin challenged the accuracy of the CNN poll and other surveys that show the president trailing, saying the polls undercount Republicans and often don’t target likely voters. He said it’s likely a deliberate effort by the liberal media to suppress GOP turnout.

Regardless of the true margin between the candidates, some in the GOP say the president is losing ground to his rival.

“He’s been going backwards on the map,” said a Republican operative close to the campaign who spoke on condition of anonymity. “And that’s a problem for him. He needs to turn the tide and right the ship.”

Mr. Trump trails Mr. Biden in the Real Clear Politics averages of polling in the battlegrounds of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, all of which the president won in 2016. In most cases, Mr. Biden’s lead is within the margin of error.

Priorities USA Action, a leading Democratic super PAC, on Tuesday announced plans to expand its ongoing TV ad campaign against Mr. Trump into Arizona. The group said Mr. Trump is increasingly nervous about his chances in Arizona, which could be key to the president’s reelection hopes.

A new ad from the group hits Mr. Trump for his response to the coronavirus and the ongoing protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis and is set to run in Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

“Think of the damage that’s been done, and imagine what four more years might look like,” a narrator says over images of police confronting protesters and Mr. Trump’s holding up a Bible outside of St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House last week.

Mr. O’Connell said he believes that Mr. Trump’s gap against Mr. Biden is “totally recoverable,” less than five months until Election Day.

“It’s just it’s one of these things where the clock is ticking,” he said. “When you look at the six states that really matter, it is absolutely recoverable, it is within the margin of error. And I think a lot of people who want to be fired up just haven’t had a reason for the last 90 days.”

• David Sherfinski contributed to this report