Donald Trump drags down-ballot Republicans as late pivots fail
By Dana Whitfield · Reporting from Washington ·
As Donald Trump drags down-ballot Republicans with plunging approval ratings, candidates are executing desperate website purges, but voters will reject these hollow escapes.
The anchor drags down the deck
President Donald Trump is dragging his own party toward a blue tsunami. His national approval rating hit a historic low of 32 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. USA Today reports that his Real Clear Politics average keeps falling. That military quagmire and record-high diesel prices have created an economic albatross across the heartland. This midterm cycle forces candidates to navigate a polarizing president's unpopularity as an anchor dragging down-ballot campaigns, like the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections. Today's candidates face an identical desertion, echoing the cascading fallout of the 2006 United States midterm elections. An unpopular war and soaring oil prices forced vulnerable incumbents to flee their own party's record. Conservative radio host Steve Deace noted the danger in home states like Iowa where Trump dominated. If the environment is this bad there, the damage elsewhere is immense.
Scrubbing websites and fleeing stages
Vulnerable Republicans are engaging in political self-preservation by bolting from the administration with frantic digital makeovers and policy shifts. CNN and NBC News report on these digital makeovers. Florida gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds, California Rep. Young Kim, and Kentucky Senate candidate Andy Barr scrubbed prominent presidential references from their campaign websites. In Iowa, Senate nominee Ashley Hinson called for an immediate end to the Iran war and skipped the Republican midterm convention. She demanded gasoline tax suspensions alongside pausing diesel exports. Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers released an ad demanding a quick end to the Iran conflict. Meanwhile, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar ran an ad in Florida warning that Hispanic voters feel betrayed. She criticized aggressive deportation pushes for going too far.
The fantasy of the fifty-dollar check
Both camps are selling magical thinking to escape a reckoning voters will deliver. The White House offers voters a $5,000 dividend check if Republicans retain control of Congress. This cash-for-votes gimmick ignores mounting inflation and wartime debt. Panicked incumbents pretend they can sever ties with the titular head of their party. Yet they keep reaping the financial benefits of the machine he built. Nathan Gonzales of Inside Elections points out the impossible tightrope: trying to appeal to independent voters without alienating the base. Voters see through the charade. University of Akron political scientist David Cohen observed that candidates are superglued to Trump whether they want to be or not. People angry about diesel prices understand exactly who is to blame.
Cutting the cord too late
Candidates cannot outrun an economic crisis they enabled simply by deleting a photo or issuing a late press release. Echelon Insights finds that 56 percent of Republicans now consider themselves primarily supporters of the party rather than Trump. The brand is broken. Cygnal founder Brent Buchanan notes that candidates must show an independent streak to win back wavering voters. David Cohen rightly calls these late pivots way too little and way too late. The workable answer is honest accountability. Candidates should own their legislative votes on trade and war rather than staging hollow escapes. Come November 3, voters will issue a clear verdict on the administration's arithmetic. No amount of digital scrubbing will save those who hitched their wagons to it.