The GOP’s Chances Of Holding The Senate Are Following Trump Downhill
Source: FiveThirtyEight
Donald Trumps post-conventions polling slump seems to be having an effect on the Republican Partys U.S. Senate candidates. We thought this might happen: Theres been an increasingly strong relationship between how a state votes for president and how it votes for Senate over the past few election cycles. And, indeed, Trumps tumble has coincided with worsening GOP numbers in key states. It may cost the party the Senate.
Democrats need to gain a net of four or five seats to win control of the Senate, depending on whether Hillary Clinton or Trump wins the presidency.1 Before the conventions, polling in the 10 states whose Senate seats were most likely to flip between parties this November showed a pretty close race. Democratic candidates led in Illinois and Wisconsin, both of which would be pickups for their party. The Republican candidate was leading in Nevada (a seat that Democrats currently control). I didnt include Indiana in my pre-convention analysis because of Democrat Evan Bayhs late entrance into the race we had just one partisan poll that included Bayh but Democratic chances seemed good there (it would be another Democratic pickup). And Republicans led in the other competitive Senate races, all seats the GOP currently holds, so Democrats looked like they could pick up a net of two seats if everything stayed as it was and the polling leader in each state went on to win.
Since the conventions, however, Trumps polling has worsened overall and in states with key Senate races. In the eight states with competitive Senate races and both pre- and post-conventions polling. Trump had previously been down an average of about 6 percentage points; hes now down an average of 9 points.3 And while Republican Senate candidates had been up by an average of a little more than 1 percentage point before the conventions in these eight states, they are now down by a little more than 1 point. That is, Republican Senate candidates in key states are still running ahead of Trump, but that cushion may no longer be enough to win now that Trumps fortunes have worsened.
Six of the eight Republican candidates for Senate are polling worse than they were before the conventions. Nothing has changed in Florida, according to the polls. And Sen. Rob Portman in Ohio is the only Republican whose fortunes have improved. (That may be partially because he has a massive fundraising edge over his Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland.) The biggest shifts have been in Illinois, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and in the latter two, the leader flipped.
Read more: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-gops-chances-of-holding-the-senate-are-following-trump-downhill/
I imagine the GOPers in Congress wish they'd have gone ahead with a vote on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
MichiganVote
(21,086 posts)Frank Cannon
(7,570 posts)In fact, you should be Tweeting MORE now. Like tax cuts, the reason your Tweets aren't working is that you're not doing enough of them! Really let those 140-character shitballs fly! Let the hate flow through you!
Yes. YES! Good... good...
George II
(67,782 posts)....in which we've been in a long time.
Not to be morbid, but there were rumors even when Obama was elected in 2008 that a couple of Justices were thinking of retiring. All of them are now 8 years older, and even before the 2020 election will be a couple of more years older.
Kennedy is now 80, Ginzburg is now 83, and Breyer is now 78. Unfortunately the 2 most conservative justices are still in their '60s (so it Roberts but he's been a little more reasonable). But we have two of the youngest (Kagan and Sotomayor) with one opening. So Clinton could very well be in a position to appoint four soon after being elected.
That would make a 6-3 alignment! "Citizen's United" and other right wing rulings over the last few years could be distant memories by the time she runs for re-election.
vkkv
(3,384 posts)groundloop
(11,519 posts)IF we can take the White House AND Senate, President Clinton won't have to limit herself to centrist judges. More left leaning judges should slide through relatively unhindered.