By Jarrett Renshaw and Bryan Pietsch
Aug 22 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's re-electioncampaign hosted events in 2020 battleground states on Thursdayto mobilize and train suburban women, an important voting blocthat defected from Republicans during last year's congressionalcontests.
Campaign representatives - including conservativecommentators, a former "Apprentice" contestant, a beauty pageantwinner, and campaign and White House staff – tried to persuadewomen at gatherings in 13 states including Pennsylvania, Floridaand Ohio to talk openly about their support for Trump andencourage others to do the same.
Jessie Jane Duff, a member of the advisory board for theTrump campaign's women coalition, told about 100 mostly whitewomen packed into the basement of the Fairfax County RepublicanParty headquarters in Virginia that "the greatest threat toDemocrats are right here. Women."
But some women at the Fairfax event, which drew professors,retirees and a software engineer, said they often refrain fromdiscussing their support for Trump because they fear being seendifferently in the workplace.
A woman named Sydney, a law student at a university inWashington who did not want to give her full name, said shesupported the president's policies even if he sometimes was toobrash. Some of her classmates have been afraid to voice theiropinions at school because of criticism from liberal students,she added.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted this week, shows39% of women approve of Trump's performance in office and 56%disapprove. The numbers have hovered at these levels for a year.
Erin Perrine, a deputy press secretary for Trump, said thenumbers did not reflect the true level of support for thepresident among women. She noted, for example, that 51% of hisdonors in the latest quarter were women.
"We all know about the silent Trump supporter," said Perrinesaid, who was scheduled to host an event in North Carolina.
"We want to empower women to share their stories about whythey support President Trump and help bring more supporters intothe fold."
'KEEPS HIS WORD'
The events, which coincide with the 99th anniversary ofwomen suffrage, were put together in part by the Trump VictoryLeadership Initiative, a grassroots arm of the campaign thatwill target key demographic groups in the months leading up tothe November 2020 election.
Speakers in Fairfax highlighted Trump's economic record andhow he has kept his promises on issues like immigration andhealthcare.
"This president keeps his word," said Penny Nance, another"Women for Trump" advisory board member.
While Trump's efforts to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexicanborder have stalled, he has persisted in a controversial crackdown on immigration, including separating families.
A promise to lower prescription drug plans has not been met,and his hope of riding a strong economy into 2020 is facingheadwinds from signs a recession may be looming.
Trump has had a checkered history with women, from messydivorces and allegations of sexual harassment to a video thatcame out during his 2016 election campaign that showed himbragging about how his money and power allowed him to "grab"women anywhere he liked.
In 2016, women overall favored Democrat Hillary Clinton, thefirst woman nominated for president by a major party, by roughlya 12-point margin over Trump. White women in particular ended upvoting for Trump by nearly the same margin, exit polls showed.
Tana Goertz, who competed on Trump's reality television show"Apprentice" more than a decade ago and was set to host an eventin Iowa, said voter contact would be key to winning.
"Yes, I am going to motivate them and give them techniques,but I am also get them registration information, other data andhelp turn them out," said Goertz, who is now a Trump campaignstaffer.(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in New York and Bryan Pietsch inVirginiaEditing by Colleen Jenkins, Sonya Hepinstall and DarrenSchuettler)