They love to hate, so they’re actually happy about this:
“It’s going to be a hate election,” a Republican tied to President Trump‘s political operation told Axios. “Voters have to hate the Dems more than they hate us. And we have material to work with.”There’s broad GOP frustration that Trump has made challenging midterm elections worse by not focusing heavily on pocketbook issues — especially the tax cuts Republicans won — while launching the Iran war, which raised gas prices and fueled inflation. […]Trump hopes his speech will pressure Congress to pass his controversial SAVE America Act and excite his base voters to turn out. But GOP pollsters and election pros outside of the White House say it’s falling on deaf ears.”We’ve studied this, and it’s not a winner,” said a Republican pollster working on multiple races nationwide. “Our research shows people want the president to make their life better, and they don’t believe he has.”
So they’re counting on screaming “Commie woke transgenders are coming to kill you in your beds!”
“Swing voters have a persistent fear the Democrats will just go too far left,” said a second GOP pollster with an array of clients across the nation. “So we can make the case that yeah, we suck. But they’re worse.”
Maaaaybe. But maybe not:
A majority of voters consistently view Trump as dishonest (even in red states, including Texas).And Republicans counting on voters hating liberal Democrats more than them might consider this: A CNBC poll out Friday found that voters now are more likely to be turned off by a MAGA candidate than a democratic socialist.
Some people may be spooked by the “S” word but I suspect it’s true that more are spooked by Trump and his cult these days. But that won’t stop them. It really is all they have and they are professionals when it comes to character assassination. It’s going to be very ugly.
Published with permission of Digby’s Hullabaloo