Saw a clip from a 2016 rally in Florida that made me check something

Linda Shah · 2026-04-16T13:15:09.725458+00:00

I looked up the crowd size at that same venue for an event he held there last month. The difference is huge, like three times as many people showed up now. What's causing this big jump in support?

rodriguez.jordan5mo ago

Look at the weather and the day of the week for both events. A rally on a rainy Tuesday in 2016 is going to draw a totally different crowd than a sunny Saturday rally now. Also, the way they count people at these things is pretty loose, they often count the overflow area and people watching screens outside the main venue. The hype machine is just way bigger now, so it pulls in more curious folks. I don't think the core support has actually tripled in size.

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shanel135mo ago

Used to think it was all hype until I saw the footage from both events side by side. The camera pans show way more people packed in tight now, not just spread out in a bigger space. Changed my mind seeing how many folks actually showed up in person.

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elizabeth4383mo ago

The weather point is fair but I feel like that undersells what we're actually seeing here. Even accounting for better weather or a different day, tripling your crowd size in this political climate isn't just random hype. The guy's got a whole different energy now, like people are hearing him differently after everything that's gone down. So my real question is, do you think that's purely manufactured hype or is there something in the message that's actually landing harder with people now? Because I keep seeing the same old clips from 2016 and the crowd reactions look way more intense now, like people are actually buying in deeper. What would it take to change your mind on this?

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