In a new sign of potential reelection troubles, President Trump’s base is starting to crack, with men and non-college-educated voters drifting off, according to a new survey of 10 key battleground states.
In the latest Zogby Poll, which had shown solid support for Trump this year and through the early days of the coronavirus crisis, the president’s status has now changed to “on the ropes.”
According to the poll analysis, “He is not down for the count yet and there is a path to victory, but in the way is Joe Biden. Has the pandemic and recession dampened Trump’s support among his base or could they come out in less force this time around? Could Trump gain momentum as the economy reopens or will another lockdown doom his reelection? One thing is for certain, Trump needs to get his show on the road quickly and fill those seats immediately because even his biggest supporters are not impressed with his job as president at the moment.”
Men are a key concern. “In six states (Wisconsin, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan and Maine), four of which the president won in 2016, he did not receive a majority approval rating from men. Also, just as disturbing, the president did not receive a majority approval rating from non-college educated voters in all 10 states we surveyed,” said pollster Jonathan Zogby’s survey.
- Top presidential aide Kellyanne Conway was helping whip up a Wisconsin crowd for Vice President Mike Pence last week when she turned to who Democrat Joe Biden might pick as his running mate. To prove it won’t make a difference, she asked the crowd if they could recall who Hillary Rodham Clinton picked in 2016. Only one got Sen. Tim Kaine. Instead of a political juggernaut, she said they looked “like a middle-aged couple going to couples counseling.”
- Many in Washington are starting to put their bets on Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as Biden’s vice presidential nominee. A Democratic campaign advisor told us that Warren would help to bring progressives to the ticket. Many Republicans agree, saying that a Biden-Warren ticket would be the “grown-up choice.”
- The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, part of the 38th president’s popular library complex in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has a new boss. Gleaves Whitney, the director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University since 2003, will replace Joe Calvaruso in September, who will retire after serving as the foundation’s executive director since 2008. The foundation promotes Ford’s legacy and library exhibits, some of which are considered the best in the presidential library system.
