JUDY WOODRUFF: Last night's
Democratic Convention
featured Republicans
who will vote for Joe
Biden in the election, including
John Kasich, the former governor
of Ohio, and 2016 Republican
presidential candidate.
Some Republican groups are
going further, supporting a
Democratic candidate in ways
never seen before.
Our John Yang has the story.
DONALD TRUMP, President of
the United States: We want
to get our schools open.
JOHN YANG: With slick ads, viral
tweets and op-ed columns...
MARCHERS: Jews will
not replace us!
NARRATOR: America is
better than Donald Trump.
JOHN YANG: New conservative
groups are organizing
to support an unlikely
candidate, former Vice
President Joe Biden.
Rosario Marin was U.S.
treasurer in the George
W. Bush administration.
Now she's a member
of the group 43 Alumni
for Biden. She says
backing a Democrat over
a sitting Republican
president was difficult.
ROSARIO MARIN, 43 Alumni for
Biden: Prior to him, I had been
to five Republican Conventions
as a delegate. I have been a
spokesperson to five Republican
presidential candidates.
But I couldn't do it for him,
and I certainly couldn't do
it now. To then go that other
step, to go out and vote for
a Democrat, it is painful.
JOHN YANG: Another group,
The Lincoln Project,
is known for its ads
targeting President Trump.
NARRATOR: What does
it say that he won't
condemn the flag of hate?
JOHN YANG: Political consultant
Reed Galen is a co-founder.
REED GALEN, Co-Founder,
The Lincoln Project: When
we put out the "Trump is
not well" advertisement
about his shuffle down the
ramp at West Point, it clearly
pierced his bubble of unreality
that he continually lives in.
And I think that's been
our greatest contribution,
is pushing him back
on his heels, keeping
him back on his heels.
JOHN YANG: On Twitter, President
Trump called them "a group
of Republicans in name only
who failed badly 12 years
ago, then again eight years
ago, and then got badly beaten
by me, a political
first-timer, four years ago."
NARRATOR: They chose Trump.
JOHN YANG: But Galen says
the group's goals are
wider than just getting
under the president's
skin.
NARRATOR: Remember
their actions.
JOHN YANG: They are also
challenging senators who
support the president.
REED GALEN: These folks have
violated their oaths. They have
abdicated their responsibilities
as an Article 1 body in the
United States Senate. And
they have really forsaken any
conservative values to
support Donald Trump.
JOHN YANG: The group plans to
organize in the battleground
states of Wisconsin, Michigan,
Ohio, Arizona, North
Carolina, and Florida.
MAN: I'm tired of
being embarrassed.
WOMAN: I have been
riddled with guilt.
WOMAN: I am ashamed to
this day of voting for him.
JOHN YANG: Another group,
Republican Voters Against Trump,
is also targeting battleground
states, collecting testimonials
from GOP voters disenchanted
with the president.
Conservative activist
Sarah Longwell is one
of the co-founders.
SARAH LONGWELL, Co-Founder,
Republican Voters Against
Trump: People really
don't like political
ads. But what they're --
really find persuasive
are actually real stories.
I have been conducting focus
groups for the last three years
with what I would call reluctant
Trump voters. Those people now
are very, very clearly have
seen that Donald Trump is not
fit for the moment, that he is
not the right person to steward
the country through compounding
crises, a health
crisis, an economic
crisis, a racial crisis.
JOHN YANG: But will these
Republican-led efforts
actually win Biden any votes?
Republican pollster Jon
McHenry is skeptical.
JON MCHENRY, Republican
Pollster: We have already seen
a lot of those folks who would
have been inclined to go away
from Republicans, go away from
this president have already done
so. So I don't know that
there's a lot to work
with there for them.
JOHN YANG: McHenry also points
to Mr. Trump's strong approval
rating among Republican voters,
hovering around 90 percent
even during the pandemic. The
president says there's more
enthusiasm for him
than there was in 2016.
DONALD TRUMP: I think we're
doing very well in the polls.
And I think you have a silent
majority, the likes of which
this country has never seen
before. This is a very important
election. We have
done a great job.
JOHN YANG: But all three
anti-Trump groups say
the Democratic nominee
presents a unique
opportunity.
SARAH LONGWELL: One of the most
common responses I get in the
focus groups to why did you vote
for Donald Trump in 2016 is,
people say: I didn't vote for
Donald Trump. I voted against
Hillary Clinton.
And so it's hard to overstate
how much of a difference it
makes having Joe Biden as
the nominee, as opposed
to Hillary Clinton.
ROSARIO MARIN: I'm going to vote
for Joe Biden because whatever
I may disagree with him in
his policies, I know he knows
government. He has been there
a long time. He knows how
to govern. He knows what he
can do and what he cannot do.
JOHN YANG: And you still
consider yourself a Republican?
ROSARIO MARIN: Yes, a true
Republican, a true Republican.
I don't know what this guy is.
JOHN YANG: For the "PBS
NewsHour," I'm John Yang.