--- title: Obama Warns Democrats Not To Take Election For Granted description: Barack Obama took a break from his vacation to rally support for Hillary Clinton at a Democratic fundraiser at Martha's Vineyard. canonical: https://time.com/4453751/2016-election-obama-donald-trump-hillary/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-16T11:34:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:00:31.551Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Warns Democrats Not To Take Election For Granted og:description: "It's still possible for her to lose" og:url: https://time.com/4453751/2016-election-obama-donald-trump-hillary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d1d1010b02a47a/6988974a5f570f9acbb21488/malia-obama-graduation-white-house-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Vacations in Martha's Vineyard og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Warns Democrats Not To Take Election For Granted twitter:description: "It's still possible for her to lose" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d1d1010b02a47a/6988974a5f570f9acbb21488/malia-obama-graduation-white-house-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Warns Democrats Not to Take Election For Granted by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Aug 16, 2016 11:34 AM UTC  Aug. 15, 2014 President Barack Obama and daughter Malia Obama ride bikes along the Correllus State Bike Path outside of West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. Aug. 15, 2014 President Barack Obama and daughter Malia Obama ride bikes along the Correllus State Bike Path outside of West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Mass.Rick Friedman—Press Pool/Getty Images by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Aug 16, 2016 11:34 AM UTC Even though Donald Trump is [sliding in the polls](http://time.com/4450362/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-poll-swing-states/), President Barack Obama took a break from his vacation Monday to urge Democrats to not get complacent. Obama [said](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-trump-dccc-fundraiser-227045) at a Democratic party fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard that to vanquish the Republican nominee, the party still needs a strong ground game and urgency to seal Hillary Clinton’s victory, _Politico_ reports. “If we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake,” Obama said. And if the Democratic ground game behind Clinton is not strong, he continued, “then it’s still possible for her to lose.” Clinton’s opponent eight years ago, Obama has become one of his former Secretary of State’s staunchest allies. He has [repeatedly blasted Trump](http://time.com/4435282/president-obama-donald-trump-unfit-president/) for the Republican nominee’s comments on a myriad of issues and took a break from his vacation to stress that Democrats cannot be complacent with 83 days to go until the election. The President added that the First Lady Michelle Obama normally urges him to withdraw from political life during his vacations. But he made an exception on the Massachusetts island to rally support for Clinton and make yet another jab at Trump. “I don’t have to make the case against her opponent because every time he talks he makes the case against his own candidacy,” Obama said. \[[_Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/obama-trump-dccc-fundraiser-227045)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4453751/2016-election-obama-donald-trump-hillary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4453751/2016-election-obama-donald-trump-hillary/"},"headline":"Obama Warns Democrats Not to Take Election For Granted","datePublished":"2016-08-16T11:34:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:00:31.551Z","description":"\"It's still possible for her to lose\"","url":"https://time.com/4453751/2016-election-obama-donald-trump-hillary/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Barack Obama","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d1d1010b02a47a/6988974a5f570f9acbb21488/malia-obama-graduation-white-house-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73d1d1010b02a47a/6988974a5f570f9acbb21488/malia-obama-graduation-white-house-photos-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Vacations in Martha's Vineyard","caption":"Aug. 15, 2014 President Barack Obama and daughter Malia Obama ride bikes along the Correllus State Bike Path outside of West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Mass.","creditText":"Rick Friedman—Press Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4453751/2016-election-obama-donald-trump-hillary/","name":"Obama Warns Democrats Not to Take Election For Granted"}}]}] ```