Donald Trump Reportedly Seen As ‘Drag’ On GOP Candidates In Senate, House Races
According to a Sunday report from The Washington Post, President Donald Trump is viewed as a “drag” on Republican candidates in a number of key Senate and House races.
Both Democrats and Republicans reportedly believe that the president’s management of the coronavirus crisis has been so inadequate that the entire Republican Party will suffer in November.
A polarizing figure, Trump has apparently lost ground in the suburbs, which could prove detrimental to the GOP’s electoral prospects.
According to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrats are “feeling very good” about winning the United States Senate in November.
“It’s just in the air. You just feel it, the importance of taking back the Senate, the importance of getting the country moving again, the importance of paying attention to the middle class,” he said.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe argued that Trump has failed to show leadership amid the COVID-19 pandemic, predicting a blue “tsunami” in November.
“If he’d early on jumped in front of the coronavirus and been a leader, this guy would’ve been unbeatable,” he noted.
Abby Curran Horrell, executive director of the Democratic House Majority PAC, said that Trump is “just a drag on these Republican candidates, and it’s just tough to get around that.”
Amy Walter, national editor of the Cook Political Report, argued that the commander in chief is “taking with him Senate and House candidates.”
“Instead of just a slight drag, the president is tying anchors around the ankles of Republican candidates.”
Former Republican congressman Carlos Curbelo of Florida said that moderate voters who backed Trump in 2016 are “in a vastly different mood” now. In particular, he suggested, suburban voters in key states such as Florida may be open to backing the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Republican leadership is reportedly concerned about Sens. Martha McSally of Arizona, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. In addition, prominent Trump allies Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham will have to fend off strong, well-funded Democratic challengers.
In the presidential race, Trump is trailing Biden in virtually every nationwide poll, as well as in key battleground states. A CBS News poll released on Sunday showed that Trump is trailing the Democrat by 6 percentage points in the state of Florida. The survey also found that the two men are essentially tied in Arizona and Texas.
According to a CNBC/Change Research released earlier this month, Biden has also surged past Trump in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
