Republicans hope that the 2016 elections become a referendum on President Obama’s handling of the terrorist threat posed by the Islamic State.
As Obama’s poll numbers on his strategy to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State turn south, the Republican campaign committees are increasingly encouraging their candidates to exploit that disaffection by contrasting their views on how to counter radical Islamist groups with the president’s.
“Americans are deeply concerned about the threat of terrorism and it’s clear President Obama is refusing to lead,” said Katie Martin, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “The 2016 elections are shaping up to be about national security issues; and that won’t bode well for Democrats now that the American people have lost trust in their party’s leader.”
A CNN poll taken before Obama tried quelling Americans’ fears about homegrown terrorism following the shooting rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., with a rare prime-time address Dec. 6 showed that 64 percent of voters disapproved of the president’s strategy to combat terrorism. That’s the most since pollsters began asking the question.
“In all of our polling, terrorism is a huge concern,” said Andrea Bozek, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Americans “don’t trust the president to keep us safe.”
Since the Islamic State’s attacks on Paris Nov. 13 and the Dec. 2 shooting spree in California, the GOP campaign committees have been hammering Democratic congressional candidates over Obama’s refusal to change the military response to the Islamic State.
“Does he stand with President Obama by supporting his current strategy that is roundly being rejected nationwide?” asked an NRCC release about Rep. Scott Peters, a Southern Californian Democrat. “Scott Peters’ constituents deserve a representative who is willing to put the safety of Americans ahead of playing nice with a president who has not taken the threat of ISIS seriously,” Martin stated in the release, which was part of a series against numerous House Democrats issued Dec. 7.
Democrats worry that line of attack will hurt their candidates in November if voter disapproval with Obama’s anti-Islamic State strategy remains high.
“It’s never good for Democrats when they’re on the defensive on national security and terrorism-related issues,” veteran Democratic strategist and former top Senate Democratic aide Jim Manley said.
On generic ballots, Republicans are out-pacing Democrats on the national security issue. The CNN poll also revealed that 61 percent of voters disagree with the Obama administration’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the U.S. this year.
“They’re going to be stuck with it,” another veteran Democratic strategist said of Democratic candidates who will be forced to defend Obama’s reluctance to change course against the Islamic State.
Perhaps in no race is the issue coming into greater focus than in the Wisconsin Senate race, where former Sen. Russ Feingold is challenging incumbent Ron Johnson to once again rejoin the upper chamber. State and national Republicans are hammering Feingold, who voted against creating the Department of Homeland Security, the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, among others.
Bozek said the contrast is striking, given Johnson’s position as Homeland Security Committee chairman and proposals to fight the Islamic State he has submitted from that perch.
“As the lone senator to vote against the Patriot Act, one of only nine senators to oppose the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the champion for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, Michael Dukakis’s weak national security record managed to find its doppelganger in Senator Russ Feingold,” read a Dec. 7 NRSC release about Feingold’s fundraiser last week with Dukakis, the 1988 failed Democratic presidential candidate.
Congressional GOP leaders will look to force their Democratic colleagues to defend Obama’s anti-Islamic State and Syrian policies, or abandon him, with legislation like the House recently passed that would halt the administration’s Syrian refugee resettlement plan, Democratic strategist say.
They will be “looking for soft spots where they can put Democrats on the defensive,” Manley said. “House Republicans, in particular, will continue to look to exploit the issue.”
Republicans also hope to saddle the Democratic presidential nominee with Obama’s Islamic State and Syrian baggage.
“The trust component is a huge issue and voters see Hillary Clinton as an extension of President Obama’s failed foreign policy,” Bozek said.
