GOP, White House fret about election prospects
The prognosis for President Donald Trump and his party was grim. In a post-Labor Day briefing at the White House, a top Republican pollster told senior staff that the determining factor in the election wouldn't be the improving economy or the steady increase in job creation.
It would be how voters feel about Trump. And the majority of the electorate, including a sizeable percentage of Republican-leaning voters, doesn't feel good about the president, according to a presentation from pollster Neil Newhouse that spanned dozens of pages.
Newhouse's briefing came amid a darkening mood among Republican officials as the November election nears. Party leaders were already worried that a surge in enthusiasm among Democrats and disdain for Trump by moderate Republicans would put the House out of reach.
But some Republicans now fear their Senate majority is also in peril - a scenario that was unthinkable a few months ago given the favorable Senate map for the GOP.
"For Republican candidates to win in swing states, they need all of the voters who support President Trump, plus a chunk of those who do not," said Whit Ayres, a GOP pollster. "That is threading a very narrow strategic needle."
