Republicans already faced an uphill battle with the map in 2016 as the defending party in 24 out of 34 races, 7 of which are in states President Obama carried in 2012 and then Donald Trump took the lead in their presidential primary and down ticket hopes sagged. Trump’s newest poll numbers show he’s universally reviled with 69% of the country not approving of the Republican favorite.
Making matters worse, Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, shared Senate ratings changes that show 5 endangered Republicans. Each of the six changes is less favorable for Republicans:
Senate ratings changes pic.twitter.com/FIaISKukRJ
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) April 7, 2016
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Republican Senators are trying to pretend they don’t feel the pressure but their unprecedented obstruction of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee is making matters so much worse.
Watch Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) try to fight back against the Democrats’ “pressure” campaign to do his job:
Add a little Trump/Cruz extremism as the cherry on top of a bad map and a bad reputation (historically low polling numbers), and Republicans need to face the fact that contrary to what Donald Trump and Ted Cruz tell the, they are so far from winning it’s not even funny. Add to this mix the fact that voters don’t tend to split tickets in presidential elections and things don’t bode well for Republicans.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.