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Watching the Independent Vote

November 2, 2018 at 11:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “For all of the attention on the fired-up base voters (Trump supporters vs. urban/suburban women), it’s also important to keep an eye on the middle of the electorate.”

“In our Arizona poll, Sinema was winning independents by 26 points (58 percent to 32 percent); just 33 percent of independents approved of Trump’s job performance; and indies preferred a Dem-controlled Congress by 14 points (50 percent to 36 percent).”

“In our Indiana poll, Donnelly was winning independents by 23 points (54 percent to 31 percent); just 39 percent of indies approved of Trump’s job; and independents preferred a Dem-controlled Congress by 9 points (47 percent to 38 percent).”

“And in our Tennessee poll, Dem Phil Bredesen was winning indies by 24 points (59 percent to 35 percent); just 42 percent of indies approved of Trump’s job; and indies preferred a Dem-controlled by 5 points (46 percent to 41 percent).”

Stephen Miller’s Uncle Speaks Out

November 2, 2018 at 11:08 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The uncle of White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said Friday that the caravan of Central American migrants seeking asylum is just like his Jewish ancestors who fled Europe and came to the US as refugees before World War II,” CNN reports.

Said David Glosser: “They are just like our family. We needed to come here. We needed to find someplace to go and those that couldn’t suffered the consequences.”

Nothing Subtle About GOP Attempts to Rally White Voters

November 2, 2018 at 9:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump, joined by many Republican candidates, is dramatically escalating his efforts to take advantage of racial divisions and cultural fears in the final days of the midterm campaign, part of an overt attempt to rally white supporters to the polls and preserve the GOP’s congressional majorities,” the Washington Post reports.

“On Thursday, Trump ratcheted up the anti-immigrant rhetoric that has been the centerpiece of his midterm push by portraying a slow-moving migrant caravan, consisting mostly of families traveling on foot through Mexico, as a dangerous ‘invasion’ and suggesting that if any migrants throw rocks they could be shot by the troops that he has deployed at the border. The president also vowed to take action next week to construct ‘massive tent cities’ aimed at holding migrants indefinitely and making it more difficult for them to remain in the country.”


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Dead Heat In Georgia

November 2, 2018 at 8:38 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Atlanta Journal Constitution poll in Georgia finds Stacey Abrams (D) and Brian Kemp (R) locked in a dead heat for Georgia governor, 47% to 47%.

Democrats Are Avoiding Bill Clinton

November 2, 2018 at 8:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “As Democrats search for their identity in the Trump era, one aspect has become strikingly clear: Mr. Clinton is not part of it. Just days before the midterm elections, Mr. Clinton finds himself in a kind of political purgatory, unable to overcome past personal and policy choices now considered anathema within the rising liberal wing of his party.”

“The former president, once such a popular political draw that he was nicknamed his party’s ‘explainer-in-chief,’ has only appeared at a handful of private fund-raisers to benefit midterm candidates, according to people close to him.”

A Recession Is Coming

November 2, 2018 at 8:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Cracks are beginning to show in a booming economy that’s on pace for a 10th year of continuous growth,” Axios reports.

“There’s plenty of good news — economists expect today’s jobs report to show unemployment holding at a stunning 49-year low, for instance. But look closer, and visible threats suggest an all-out recession could come as soon as next year.”

Congress Thinks Voters Are More Conservative

November 2, 2018 at 7:44 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Senior staffers in congressional offices hold highly inaccurate assumptions about what voters in their districts actually want when it comes to policy. They tend to believe that voters support much more conservative policies than they actually do. And this stunning misperception can largely be explained by the disproportionate attention lawmakers and their aides lavish on donors and special interest groups.”

“Those are the results of a new paper forthcoming in the American Political Science Review by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez of Columbia University and Matto Mildenberger and Leah C. Stokes of The University of California, Santa Barbara.”

Who Is Actually Voting Early?

November 2, 2018 at 7:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The following post for members is by G. Elliot Morris of The Crosstab.

We’re nearing the point in the midterm cycle where we’ve reached a saturation of knowledge and data that can be used to craft expectations for election night. Like on a run, the early high of hitting our final mile has worn off, and we are waiting for the final sprint in our final sprint toward the finish line. In this short period of less-hurried thinking, let’s take stock of some early voting data and an assessment of district level polling, courtesy of the NYT Upshot live polling project.

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A Realignment Election

November 2, 2018 at 7:29 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

David Brooks: “This is not a wave election; it’s a realignment election. The results Tuesday will not be shaped by some crest of momentum behind the Democrats. They are going to be shaped by the fact that people are hardening into their categories, and those categories tend to produce a Democratic House and a Republican Senate.”

Steve King Challenger Gets Flood of Cash

November 2, 2018 at 7:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

J.D. Scholten (D), the former baseball player challenging Rep. Steve King (R-IA), “has seen a last second wave of cash come his way as King has sparked new controversy this fall. Scholten raised over $641,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday alone,” Politico reports.

Meanwhile, a video of King getting angry at a questioner who asked him about last weekend’s Pittsburgh massacre went viral.

Republicans Fear Trump’s Immigration Play Is Backfiring

November 2, 2018 at 7:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump hammered his hard line on immigration again on Thursday, but some Republicans wish he would shift focus to the economy, lest he drive away suburban voters and mobilize Latino communities against the GOP,” Politico reports.

“Several Republican operatives and officials described a growing sense of fear within the party over Trump’s hardline rhetoric on border security, which he has repeated nearly every day for the past three weeks.”

Pelosi Quietly Lines Up the Votes for Speaker

November 2, 2018 at 7:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is quietly courting Democratic candidates who’ve kept her at arm’s length throughout the campaign season, aiming to placate potential adversaries who could block her from the speakership,” Politico reports.

“The California Democrat’s efforts — from nudging her donors toward candidates, to appearing at private fundraisers for House hopefuls who can’t be seen with her publicly — are focused on the Democrats in competitive races who are most likely to win. While it’s too early to say whether she would have the 218 votes to claim the speaker’s gavel should her party claim House majority, Pelosi has clearly made inroads.”

“Of the 43 Democratic candidates in districts that Politico rates ‘lean-Democrat,’ ‘likely-Democrat’ or ‘toss-up’ — the swath of GOP-held seats most likely to flip — only 11 have said they would not back Pelosi for speaker. Of those 11, only four would confirm that they would vote against Pelosi on the House floor next year.”

A Hamstrung President

November 2, 2018 at 6:53 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “One constant during Trump’s presidency is that he’s seemed surprised by the constraints of the office. He came in as the CEO of a family real estate empire, who had to learn to deal with Congress, congressional leaders and the guardrails around the executive branch.”

“If Democrats take the House, Trump will be further shackled. The policy preferences he’s enumerating at the moment — new asylum policies, a militarized southern border and a new tax bill — would likely go up in smoke in divided government. There are serious concerns at the top of the GOP food chain that the White House is not fully attuned to this reality.”

Don Young Trails In Alaska

November 2, 2018 at 6:44 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Alaska Survey Research poll finds Alyse Galvin (D) leading Rep. Don Young (R), 49% to 48%.

“Galvin still has over a fifth of voters who have never heard of her, which is a good and bad thing… definitely bad this close to the election, but good in that she’s still got room to improve.”

Women and Older People Are Voting Early

November 2, 2018 at 6:40 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

CNN: “So far, some emerging themes are clear: more women than men have voted. And the early vote is also predominantly older in the seven states, although a higher percentage of early voters are often older.”

Pentagon Told White House Caravans Were No Threat

November 1, 2018 at 9:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Trump administration was informed by the Pentagon that “only a small percentage” of Central American migrants traveling with several “caravans” headed toward the U.S. will likely make it to the border, Newsweek reports.

“The information was received before the administration moved ahead with plans to deploy more than 5,200 troops to the border.”

A Rank Amateur’s Predictions for 2018

November 1, 2018 at 9:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The following piece for members is by David T.S. Jonas, a former policy aide to Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Tom Perriello.

My father is fond of the phrase, “revolutions happen in the midterms,” and for the last few cycles, it’s been hard to argue with him. 2006 saw the Democrats take over Congress and was a harbinger of the complete Democratic takeover in 2008. 2010 saw the electorate dramatically swing back to an energetic, aggressive Republican base. And in 2014, the silent revolution—the lowest turnout in 70 years—saw the full demobilization of the Obama coalition, a trend that improbably carried Donald Trump into the White House in 2016.

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‘Consider It a Rifle’

November 1, 2018 at 9:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump announced that the U.S. military would treat any rocks or stones being thrown by asylum-seeking migrants slowly heading toward the U.S.-Mexico border as firearms, Politico reports.

Said Trump: “I will tell you, anybody throwing stones, rocks, like they did to Mexico and the Mexican military, Mexican police, where they badly hurt police and soldiers of Mexico, we will consider that a firearm.”

He added: “They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. We’ll consider — and I told them — consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military and police, I say consider it a rifle.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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