The latest poll on the midterms is making Democrats nervous. Said anti-Trump MSNBC commentator Mika Brzezinski on Monday, “Democrats can still win the midterms but with time running out, the message and the momentum appears to be on Donald Trump’s side.”
She was referring to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll’s results which were released on Monday, which noted:
Hand in hand with Republicans’ increased election interest is a rise in Mr. Trump’s job-approval rating to 47%, the highest mark of his time in office, with 49% disapproving of his performance. That is an improvement from September, when 44% approved and 52% disapproved of his performance.
Democrats still lead on the question of which party should control Congress. Among poll respondents identified as likely voters, 50% prefer Democrats, while 41% prefer Republican control, about the same as in last month’s poll.
Among all registered voters, a broader group of respondents, Democrats’ advantage over the GOP is narrower — 48% to 41%.
As The New American reported on Monday, the issue in November isn’t healthcare and it isn’t the economy. It’s Donald Trump. His remarkable jump in the polls in just the last 30 days is what’s making Brzezinski nervous. She added:
We’ve been talking about the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which has some favorable signs for Democrats. But also plenty for Republicans to like. Fred Yang, the democratic pollster who works on the survey for NBC and the Journal, said, “What we all thought would be a blue wave is running into a rip tide of uncertainty that has been created with a surge of Republican intensity.”
That “surge of Republican intensity” — stoked by the Democrats’ outrageous handling of the confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh — is at the highest level ever recorded. As GOP pollster Bill McInturff, who assisted with the poll, said, “It’s a barnburner. There’s a switch that’s been flipped.… They [Republican voters] are engaging in the campaign and the process.”
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For Brzezinski, the polls showed something even worse:
Throw the national polls out and go race by race, and what you see is a stark reality for the Democratic Party. Barring some dramatic change, control of the Senate is out of reach, and Republicans are fighting very hard to keep the speakership and control of the House and they just might.
Donald Trump is talking about trade, crime, immigration and judges. What are the Democratic issues that pack the same kind of inspiring, emotional punch? Democrats can still win these midterms, but with time running out the message and the momentum appears to be on Donald Trump’s side. Democrats have two weeks to turn that around. Can they? For those who are growing increasingly concerned we’re about to see a repeat of 2016, there is no time to waste.
It may already be too late. Wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Janet Hook: “Although Democrats are preferred in the national [generic] poll overall, their advantage has vanished in the House districts that matter most. In districts rated as the most competitive … the parties are dead even on the question of which one should control Congress. In last month’s poll, Democrats led by 13 points.”
The president continues to keep the pressure on the Democrats with a remarkably energized schedule of appearances and rallies. Speaking in Montana last Thursday, the president fired off his agenda for the second half of his first term, provided that Republicans retain control of Congress:
If you vote to elect a Republican House and a Republican Senate, we will continue to cut your taxes, cut your regulations, raise your income, make our country great again, protect Medicare and Social Security, continue confirming judges who interpret the Constitution as written, fully secure the border, pass Kate’s law, stop sanctuary cities, stop catch-and-release, end the visa lottery, end chain migration, keep the criminal drug dealers and terrorists the hell out of our country, and lift millions of our citizens from welfare to work, dependence to independence, and from poverty to prosperity.
And in Houston, Trump supporters began lining up for Monday night’s rally at 10 a.m. on Sunday, with estimates of more than 100,000 supporters expected to turn out to hear the president.
Bzezinski’s co-host and husband, Joe Scarborough, lamented that “it seems that Donald Trump, whether it’s on crime, whether it’s on immigration, whether it’s on the wall, wherever it’s on, there’s no focused Democratic response.”
With the midterms just two weeks away, Democrats are on their heels.
Image: JNEphotos via iStock / Getty Images Plus
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
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