Trump Turns Midterms from Referendum Into a Choice

Playbook: “The burst of reporting reconsidering the conventional wisdom that Democrats will be crushed in the 2022 midterms continues this week. Most of the pieces emphasize that the return of Trump — through the Jan. 6 committee, the fringe candidates he’s backing and the multiple investigations he faces — could help Democrats bury their differences with anti-Trump Republicans and independents and unite into a majority coalition similar to the one that fueled Dem victories in the Trump-centered elections of 2018 and 2020.”

“Trump helps Biden because the former is even more unpopular than the latter.l

Amy Walter: “While neither Biden nor Trump are popular, Trump is the more polarizing. New polling from NBC News finds Trump’s net favorable ratings (-18) to be twice as bad as Biden’s (-8).”