August 6, 2018
IT'S PERSONAL:
The Voters Who Will Decide the Midterms (Henry Olsen, Aug. 6, 2018, NY Times)
"Romney-Clinton" voters are generally the sort of highly educated, affluent, more moderate voters who disapprove of Donald Trump. The most recent Voter Survey shows Mr. Trump had less than a 20 percent job approval rating among them; nearly 70 percent of these formerly Republican voters disapprove of his job performance. And they are taking this dislike with them to the voting booth. Forty-three percent say they will vote for Democrats this fall; only about 20 percent intend to back Republicans.These voters are very important for the battle for the House. Democrats need to pick up 24 House seats to get a majority, and Republicans hold 25 seats in areas that Hillary Clinton carried. Mitt Romney won the districts of 13 of those seats in 2012, and his margin of defeat was smaller than Mr. Trump's in another nine. Democrats simply cannot retake the House unless they get a lot of these voters to stick with them when Mr. Trump isn't personally on the ballot.
Posted by Orrin Judd at August 6, 2018 4:26 AM
