A new NPR/PBS News Hours/Marist Poll finds that Democrats lead Republicans by nine points on the generic congressional ballot, 52% to 43% among likely voters nationwide.
Trump Wants Former Fox & Friends Host for U.N. Post
President Trump “has told advisers that Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman, is his leading choice to become US ambassador to the United Nations and he could offer the post as soon as this week,” CNN reports.
“Nauert, who came to government from Fox News, served as State Department spokesman for both Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo but has enjoyed a closer relationship with Trump’s second secretary of state than she did Tillerson, who was privately skeptical of her close ties with the West Wing.”
Independent Voters May Be Key to a Wave
GOP pollster Glen Borger tweets:
It’s clear that, in most places, Republicans have solved our September enthusiasm problem. What’s not clear is whether we’ve solved our problem with Independent voters. And that will be the difference between winning and losing in close races.
Amy Walter: “The most recent polling suggests that Republicans haven’t ‘solved’ their independent voter problem. The Marist/PBS poll showed Democrats leading among independents on the generic ballot by 10 points. The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Democrats leading the generic by 14 points. This is in line with the last three midterm wave elections (2006, 2010, and 2014), in which the winning party carried independents by 12 to 19 points.”
More Polls of Close Races
Some new CNN polls:
- FL-Sen: Bill Nelson (D) 49%, Rick Scott (R) 47%
- FL-Gov: Andrew Gillum (D) 49%, Ron DeSantis (R) 48%
- TN-Sen: Marsha Blackburn (R) 49%, Phil Bredesen (D) 45%
Trump’s Nationalism Is Breaking Point for Many Voters
New York Times: “If the 2016 election hinged in large part on a rightward shift among working-class whites who deserted Democrats in the presidential race, Tuesday’s House election may turn on an equally significant and opposite force: a generational break with Republicanism among educated, wealthier whites — especially women — who generally like the party’s pro-business policies but recoil from strident, divisive language on race and gender.”
“Rather than seeking to coax voters like these back into the Republican coalition, Mr. Trump appears to have all but written them off, spending the final days of the campaign delivering a scorching message about preoccupations like birthright citizenship and a migrant ‘invasion’ from Mexico that these voters see through as alarmist.”
Crown Prince Called Khashoggi a ‘Dangerous Islamist’
“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a dangerous Islamist days after his disappearance in a phone call with President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton,” the Washington Post reports.
“In the call, which occurred before the kingdom publicly acknowledged killing Khashoggi, the crown prince urged Kushner and Bolton to preserve the U.S.-Saudi alliance and said the journalist was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group long opposed by Bolton and other senior Trump officials.”
Trump Shocks with Racist New Ad
“In the most racially charged national political ad in 30 years, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accuse Democrats of plotting to help people they depict as Central American invaders overrun the nation with cop killers,” CNN reports.
CNN Cools on Hiring Trump Alums
“CNN is known for its big panels and endless parade of talking heads, but the network is signaling that it’s running out of room for figures from President Trump’s administration,” Politico reports.
“With the midterms next week, many White House aides are soon expected to head for the exits and look for new gigs, including in media. But CNN president Jeff Zucker has told people inside and outside the network that he’s not interested in hiring former officials he perceives as complicit in spreading falsehoods or spurious talking points, according to four people familiar with the conversations.”
Conspiracy Theorist Is Key Mueller Witness
“Self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi returned to Washington, D.C., again this week for more closed-door meetings with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators, and on Friday is scheduled to make a second appearance before the federal grand jury probing Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” ABC News reports
“Corsi, who until recently served as the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the controversial far-right media outlet Infowars, is one of at least 11 individuals associated with political operative Roger Stone — a longtime and close ally of President Donald Trump — who have been contacted by the special counsel.”
Trade War Impact Deepens Across Asia
Reuters: “The economic impact of the intensifying trade war between Washington and Beijing appeared to deepen last month with factory activity and export orders weakening across Asia, but analysts warned the worst was yet to come. In a sign conditions for exporters and factories were deteriorating, manufacturing surveys showed marginal growth in China, a slowdown in South Korea and Indonesia and a contraction in activity in Malaysia and Taiwan.”
Majority Blame Trump and Media for Dividing Nation
“A new Politico/Morning Consult poll conducted over the past fractious, violent week shows a majority of voters think that President Trump has done more to divide the country than unite it since he took office last year — but that the national news media are even worse.
“Just 3 in 10 voters, 30 percent, said Trump has done more to unite the country, compared with 56 percent who said he’s done more to divide it. Even more voters, 64 percent, said the media have done more to divide the country, while only 17 percent say they have done more to unite it.”
Fox Continues to Crush Other News Channels
More people watched Fox News any given day or night in October than tuned in to CNN and MSNBC combined, according to Nielsen Media Research.
This Isn’t the Way the 2016 Campaign Ended
First Read: “So Trump is straining to demagogue on immigration; he’s trying to Willie Horton Democrats; and he’s picking fights with his own party. This is, well, an interesting way to close an election season, willing himself — and immigration — to the forefront.”
“Yet as we wrote yesterday, Trump making himself the focal point of this election is a striking departure from the final days of the 2016 campaign, when James Comey’s letter, daily WikiLeaks disclosures and a disciplined Trump dominated the last two weeks of that race.”
“Maybe he thinks this is the best way to fire up his voters. Maybe it’s the best way to change the subject after Pittsburgh and Caesar Sayoc. And maybe he knows of no other way to close.”
King Vows to Win Re-Election Despite Rebuke
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) “rejected suggestions his re-election bid was in trouble after he was abandoned by Republican leaders and donors over his embrace of white nationalists and for rhetoric that has been denounced as racist,” Bloomberg reports.
“King said that his internal polling this past weekend showed him ahead of his Democratic opponent, J.D. Scholten, by 18 points. He dismissed a poll out Tuesday by the liberal firm Change Research that showed him leading by just one point.”
Democrats In Prime Position to Take House
A new Washington Post-Schar School poll of likely voters in battleground congressional districts finds Democrats maintain a strong position to retake the U.S. House, but the party’s base of less-frequent voters and concerns about illegal immigration stand out as wild cards in the final days before Tuesday’s midterm election.
Across 69 congressional districts identified by the Cook Political Report and The Post as competitive in late August, the Post-Schar School poll finds 50% of likely voters support the Democratic candidate, while 46% support the Republican.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“You have caravans coming up that look a lot larger than it’s reported actually. I’m pretty good at estimating crowd size. And I’ll tell you they look a lot bigger than people would think.”
— President Trump, in an interview with ABC News.
Corker Says GOP ‘Using Fear’ to Win Election
Retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) delivered a soft rebuke to his party on Wednesday, describing as a scare tactic some Republicans’ use of the migrant caravan in their final midterm election campaigning, the Tennessean reports.
Said Corker: “Let’s face it. We all know what’s happening. It’s all about revving up the base, using fear to stimulate people to come out at the polls.”
Trump’s 2018 Rallies Hint at 2020 Strategy
“President Trump’s choice of 2018 campaign stops offers a partial road map to his 2020 reelection push,” Politico reports.
“Trump has hit key swing states he won in 2016, such as Florida and Wisconsin, while signaling the states that he hopes to flip in 2020, such as Nevada and Minnesota. Even in Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina, where Trump can credibly claim to be campaigning for House candidates, he is also seizing on the ancillary benefits of stumping in states that will be vital to his reelection.”