With less than 20 days to go until November's US Election, democrats are scrambling to try to win back those who they appear to have lost.
It seems republicans have successfully brought new voters into its fold after chipping away at the traditional democratic vote.
Polling shows that Donald Trump has gained new ground for the GOP - in particular with Latino and black communities.
While not a monolith, these minority groups have historically voted democrat. For instance, around 70% of Latino voters backed President Barack Obama.
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However, Mr Trump has slowly eroded that support. He has championed a message that the democrats have not delivered for them during their loyal decades-long support.
A New York Times/Sienna poll indicated that Democrat Kamala Harris had 78% support among black voters - compared to approximately 90% support for democrats in recent elections.
Research published in September showed that over one quarter of younger black men say they would support Mr Trump.
The same poll said the US Vice President is underperforming the last three democratic candidates for the White House among Latino voters. In 2016, 68% of Latino voters backed the democratic nominee. Ms Harris now has 56% support.
A majority still support democrats this election cycle. But, if Donald Trump moves the needle a fraction, it could greatly benefit the former president in battleground states as both candidates remain tied in the race for the White House.
Kevin Madden, who was a former senior advisor for Mitt Romney’s Presidential Campaigns, said that Mr Trump's transactional politics has blurred the lines of demographics that have had a traditional allegiance to one party or the other.
"It’s 'what has your allegiance to one party gotten you?" he told RTÉ's States of Mind podcast.
"Donald Trump is trying to appeal in a very non-linear way to voters - not thinking through the purity of an ideological lens on the left, or the purity of the ideological lens on the right. Instead, in a much more transactional way that says, '[you are] being taken advantage of by all of these elites and all of these power structures… and you got a raw deal and who's the better deal maker than me, Donald Trump?’" he said.
Kamala Harris has a problem and it's called Gaza
"He's trying to appeal to them more directly on a base level and that is why he's made inroads with Hispanic voters, some younger voters and African-American voters," he added.
It's an appeal and strategy not lost on the democrats.
Ms Harris has repeatedly admitted that she needs to do more to convince black men to vote for her.
This week, Ms Harris revealed an "opportunity agenda for black men" that is supposed to give them more chances to thrive.
Barack Obama joined the campaign trail in the last week to make an impassioned plea to black men to get out to vote (which may have backfired as one columnist dubbed him 'scolder in chief').
Some republicans believe that this is all part of a wider issue, that the party is now "fighting" for "forgotten" working-class Americans.
"From Iraq to Afghanistan, from the financial crisis to the Great Recession, from open borders to stagnating wages, the people who govern this country have failed and failed again," JD Vance told the Republican National Convention in July.
"Donald Trump represents America's last best hope to restore what - if lost - may never be found again," he continued.
Caitlin Sinclair, spokesperson for the conservative political advocacy group Turning Point Action, agrees.
"This election is about the forgotten American. This election is about Americans that don't feel like they have a voice" she said.
"They don't feel like they have a voice in their elected leaders and officials, and they want the American dream again. They want money in their pockets. They want to be able to fill up their gas tanks," she added.
"The young people, the young generations, these college campuses, I will tell you right now, these kids have had enough. These young people want to take this country back," she said.
Listen to the latest episode of RTÉ's States of Mind, or download from wherever you get your podcasts.
