Trump Is ‘Pure Poison’ for Independent Voters

Ron Brownstein: “The GOP’s disappointing showing among independents this year marked the third consecutive election in which the party has underperformed with those critical swing voters…”

“The GOP’s 2022 struggles with independents were especially striking because they came even as most of those voters expressed negative views of both President Joe Biden’s job performance and the state of the economy – sentiments that typically cause most swing voters to break for the party out of the White House. To many analysts in both parties, the reluctance of so many independents to support Republican candidates despite such discontent underscores how powerfully the Trump-era GOP has alienated these voters.”

Said GOP consultant John Thomas: “There’s a huge lesson here, which is if you talk like Trump or remind voters of Trump, particularly at a personality level, it’s pure poison to independent voters. It might have been effective in 2016 because voters were looking for something new and a change, but it hasn’t been useful since then.”