Trump still has a 90% approval among Republicans.

[Kablooie]

So nearly every Republican you know and work with is totally onboard with all his criminality and destruction of US institutions and national security protections.
Revelations that shock us don't phase them one bit.

Pelosi is right that running against Trumps ability and character is a guaranteed loss.
For some reason all the things that we see as dangerous, criminal and destructive are deeply admired by conservatives. They have demonstrated what we have suspected all along, that conservative values are all a sham. They admire the lowest qualities of human nature.

I hope whoever we nominate does not run against Trump the man. They must run against his policies and propose policies that solve real world issues that people deal with everyday.

[PupCamo]

1. and these are people that some Democrats want us to make "inroads" with

good luck with that

I think teaching my cat to knit would be easier

[sfwriter]

53. His approval has fallen in WI, MI, and PA.

He is badly underwater in all three. He has shed 2.3 % of his supporters nationally according to 538. He is even worse off in these three states. I don't know, that sounds like a lot of voters up for grabs to me. in Wisconsin for example, he has lost something like 32,000 voters. He won the state by 22,378 votes, so that sounds like those 32,000 voters might be worth picking up or at least convincing to stay home.

[TheRealNorth]

60. We need someone who communicates better

Embracing Republican policies halfway will get us nowhere when the deplorables can get 100%.

[Ohiogal]

2. Nancy Pelosi is 100% right

They don’t care about his abhorrent character. Many of them embrace it.

Whoever runs against the ass has to explain in a sound bite why his policies are destroying us and our well being.

[marylandblue]

4. The need for sound bites hurt Clinton, she wasn't good at it.

This cycle, we have several choices who can do it.

[Revanchist]

66. I was constantly thumping my head on my desk during the 16 election season

Poster after poster hear kept saying that Clinton did address this issue or that, all you have to go to her website and read all about it. I think quite a few people here seem to forget how little the general population is invested in the political process and researching policies. Sound bites are necessary and need to be repeated often to drill the point into the head of the average voter.

[marylandblue]

3. You are right that running against Trump's character won't work.

But that doesn't necessarily mean conservative values are a sham. The Republicans I know have different reasons for why they still support Trump, but none of them have changed their values or lied about them.

[BurntPickle]

17. That's the thing with Republicans

They may not even agree with the guy but they'll stand behind him in support.

[marylandblue]

26. I disagree with Sanders on many issues and think he is hiding his tax returns for a reason

I am not even convinced he can keep any of his promises.
But I will support him to the hilt if he is the nominee. A lot of Democrats are thinking this way now. We can't afford not to.

[Blue_true]

27. Why should they lie, their intent is obvious.

If they support 51% of that pig, they support ALL of him, the racist shading, the corruption, the lying, the tendency to avoid taking legitimate blame.

[marylandblue]

30. Because that's not what they say and that's not how they live their lives

So if they say they don't support everything he does, but you say they do, who should I believe, them or you?

[Blue_true]

43. They vote for him, so they support him.

It does not get any simpler than that. I honestly don't need you to believe me, I have never lived my life or held views that were dependent on other people's approval.

[marylandblue]

46. That's true, it doesn't get any simpler than that. But people aren't so simple.

Based solely on how you voted in 2016, I can put you in a nice neat little box and think I know everything I need to know about you. But of course, there's a lot more to you than that. And that stuff is actually pretty important.

My question was meant to make you think. You are a fully formed, complex human being. So is everyone else. Even people you vehemently disagree with.

[Blue_true]

50. Ok, we agree to disagree. I generally like your posts when you make them, btw,

just not this set

Take care

[ChubbyStar]

67. You are a busy poster

Take care

[marylandblue]

70. Ok. And thank you.

[gulliver]

5. I think Trump is sort of their Michael Cohen

He does their dirty work. The only way to help followers of Republicanism become reasonable is to defeat them in elections repeatedly going forward. As long as they can keep political offices through cheating and accepting lowlife types as leaders, they will just keep it up.

[Blue_true]

28. Bingo.

The only post that I have read that is on point. 90% of republicans are going to vote Trump no matter what. Even if we are a majority, if we have 15-25% of our people sitting on their hands and acting like babies because their choice candidate didn't win our party's nomination, then we are going to lose elections, pure and simple. But if we use EVERY election as an opportunity to move the country forward, republicans won't stand a chance and they will be forced to change if they want to have any influence at all.

[fescuerescue]

6. And the remaining 10% will still vote for him anyway

Republicans put party above all else.

While some Republicans may disagree with him or hate the man, they will still vote for him because they believe that any Republican is better than any Democrat. Once a Republican is nominated, they line up behind him like a bunch of zombies.

Absolutely delusional and tribal thinking on their part.

[bluestarone]

7. Only thing this proves is

You REALLY REALLY REALLY can't fix STUPID!!

[itsrobert]

8. Republicans are an endangered species

Their numbers drop every day this President remains in the White House.

[walkingman]

11. I hope your right but I'll believe it when I see it. After the BS Iraq war I would have bet money

that "W" would not have been re-elected but he was. They still defend the war even knowing it was based on lies. You would think their days are numbered but as a Texan I can tell you that they have not morals or guilt when it comes to electing someone that reflects their own values and you can bet Trump is not an aberration it is one of them.

[Blue_true]

29. The 2018 special election results, the 2018 election and more recent races say the poster's

view is right. When we show up to vote, we win because a lot of independents, many former republicans are joining us. When we don't bother to vote in significant numbers, our candidates struggle to win. Republicans are a declining minority, we need to use the vote to silence their influence in society and force them to honestly change if they want that voice back.

[TheRealNorth]

63. Turnout isn't guaranteed for us

See this week's State Supreme Court election in WI.

[Blue_true]

64. True. But nothing in life is a certainty.

We know that conservatives are going to be sure to vote, that is how they maintain control. The local DNCs should drive turnout with us helping through funding the national DNC. Currently our efforts in that area are ad hoc for state and local elections.

[Doodley]

9. I think it shows a failure to communicate. Trump gets away with his lies and takes credit

for continuing the same economic streak that he inherited because lawmakers aren't even trying to put the record straight.

[berni_mccoy]

10. 90% of a fast-shrinking group. I know many people who have left the party. MANY.

[FakeNoose]

12. Yep - every day!

Maybe they won't join the Dems, but at least they won't be voting for Chump.

[Blue_true]

31. In my county, Hillary Clinton ran closer to Trump than I figured she would.

My county is majority republican by a large amount. But Independents and Democrats combined outnumber republicans by around 10,000 votes. Hillary did better than I expected here, even as she put no effort into this part of the state outside of the local DNC, she didn't show up (Trump did) and she didn't send any Democratic Party big guns into the region.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. Pelosi is right and wrong...

It's not about the 90% of Republicans who support him. It's about the voters who, for whatever reason, didn't vote or voted third party in 2016. Those voters are still susceptible to Trump's ability and character. These are the same voters who thought, for some god-awful reason, he would be tamed by the presidency or would be handicapped from doing any harm.

Now they know better.

Just focusing on the policies is what got us Trump in the first place. Hillary ran one of the most substantive, policy-driven campaigns in American history and still lost because, at the end of the day, people only heard the attacks, whether it was about locking her up or otherwise.

Case in point: the 2016 debates. Trump was off the rail crazy and Hillary generally stuck to ideas and policy. It didn't do a damn good for her campaign, though. What people heard was Trump lobbing bombastic accusation after another and it overwhelmed to the point it drowned out Hillary's policy-driven answers. Where Hillary REALLY landed her hits was when she went after Trump's character - specifically as it tied to Russia. Her line about him being Putin's puppet landed more than any other line of her's in that debate. It flustered Trump. He came back with a silly, "you're the puppet" but she backed off, went back into policy, and that was that.

We need to do both. We need to address policy but also go hard at Trump's character. We CANNOT treat this like a typical general election. The Democrats ran a typical presidential campaign in 2016 and have nothing to show for it. 2020 won't be any different. They've got to get nasty because Trump will be nasty and just focusing on policy cedes all the zingers and one-liners to him and he then dominates the airways.

[Blue_true]

34. Hillary's campaign had some self inflicted wounds.

Someone on DU pointed out that essentially ignoring the Midwest was an enormous mistake. Also Hillary's campaign in Florida was a big city, big county campaign, when around 60 of the state's 67 counties tend to be in the range of 250,000-600,000 population with no big cities. Holding down Trump's vote by an average of 2,000 in those counties would have given Hillary the state. My county is a good case because I loved it, Trump came to the area for a rally, his supporters were pumped up and they became more and more active. No one representing Hillary's campaign came here, if we wanted to see and get a chance to talk to a big name democrat, we had to drive 80 or 90 miles to one of the two nearest big cities.

Our candidate doesn't need to get into an insult contest with Trump, but our candidate must have a rapid response arm to his or her campaign to call out Trump lies in real time, because the half assed news media won't do that. Also, our candidate must exhaustively campaign, hitting large and small parts of states, our candidate can't have a campaign that relies heavily on high turnout in big population parts of states and in doing that, don't reduce the republican's victory margin in smaller population areas, because on Election Day, victory or defeat will come from the WHOLE state.

[Drunken Irishman]

36. I agree with your first paragraph. Your second is wrong.

And if we follow it, Trump will be reelected.

I am not a Bernie supporter but his speech calling Trump a racist is exactly what we need.

[Blue_true]

44. I did say that we must have Bill Clinton and Barack Obama style rapid response.

The woman that did rapid response for Bill Clinton and Stephanie Cutter for Barack Obama were excellent, when a lie came out, they did not ignore it or wait for the press to correct it, they came out swinging immediately.

I am not saying ignore what Trump is, but I am saying that we must think about the wisest way to fight him back, getting into a name calling contest with him does not look wise, IMO.

[Drunken Irishman]

47. I think we need to hit on two fonts - who he is as a person and his policies...

It's important we frame him as a bigot extremist who is in way over his head with this whole presidential thing. We can't just treat him as another incumbent with bad policies or I think we'll be doomed to lose.

[Blue_true]

51. I am ok with your ideas, but we need to make sure that we have those efforts fine tuned,

even as we are aggressive and relentless in executing them.

[John Fante]

14. Doesn't surprise me. I have yet to meet a Republican voter,

even one who claims he/she isn't on board with Trump, that doesn't have at least a little bit of deplorable in them.

The ideology itself appeals to the basest of instincts, and is hateful and exclusionary even at a strictly economic level.

[Goodheart]

15. trumpism is a religion.

[rufus dog]

16. Republicans are assholes

It is really that simple. As a white, male, over 50, upper 5%er, it is obvious. The things they want make nothing to make my life better. The policies just make others lives worse. Now if I was a 1%er I see how the policies help me financially, but it still would mean I am an asshole. This isn’t a tRump issue because they loved Palin, before Palin it was Gingrich. It is who they are at their core.

[Blue_true]

35. Actually.

The 1% is being smoked by the 0.5-0.01%. An article posted here on DU (I think) pointed that out. The 1% can afford to endow several chairs at a top university or finance a building at one of those places, the 0.01% certainly can, as can others up to maybe the 0.3%. So the 1% are resorting to cheating and brides to get their children into top colleges. So Ms. Loughlin and her rich husband worth around $60 million have to cheat to get their kids into USC, when a Rap Mogul and a friend dropped $70 million on that should to endow a whole department and the rap mogul's kid got into USC (hopefully on her own merits, but her dad's pile of money to the school didn't hurt).

Your life as a top 5%er is pretty comfortable. But you have concerns that a person richer than the top 1% doesn't even know exists, because of their lives in their gilded world, where people are constantly kissing their asses.

[whathehell]

18. Only about 25% of American voters identify as Republican

So that number is less intimidating than it seems. The majority of voters are now Independents

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/24/only-a-quarter-of-the-country-identifies-as-republican-there-are-two-reasons-the-party-keeps-winning-anyway/

[LuvLoogie]

32. Trump blows their cover. That's why they leave. They still vot GOP

They just want their bigoted nihilism stealthy, not in daily tweet updates.

[whathehell]

68. I'm sorry, but I'm not understanding you..

What are you trying to say?

[LuvLoogie]

72. Republicans becoming independent over trump haven't changed their philosophy

They are fine with his agenda, but they are embarrassed by him. They aren't becoming Democrats or supporting us in any way. They just don't want to be labeled as nihilistic bigots like trump is and demonstrates on a daily basis.

[whathehell]

74. I understand what you're saying..

Not voting for him should at least help somewhat.

[struggle4progress]

19. Pennsylvania and Michigan

By Henry Olsen
Columnist
April 5 at 4:01 PM

... Trump’s reelection will depend on again winning the formerly Democratic states in the Upper Midwest that he surprisingly captured in 2016. Unfortunately for Trump, the economic news in two of those states isn’t as good as in the nation as a whole ...

Michigan and Pennsylvania, however, are not sharing in the national gains quite so much. Their unemployment rates are above the national average, and rates are even higher in the regions that propelled Trump to victory. In Pennsylvania, for example, that’s the regions of Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Johnstown and Williamsport. Their unemployment rates all remain at or above 5 percent as of February. That’s down a point or so from when Trump took office, but it’s not “great again” either. It’s probably not a surprise, then, that Republicans didn’t mount a serious challenge for either major statewide race, lost four House seats in the midterms, and won another three seats with less than 52 percent of the vote. A recent Emerson poll also shows that Trump would lose Pennsylvania by 10 points to either former vice president Joe Biden or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

But these economic figures are positively rosy compared to those in Michigan. As in Pennsylvania, Trump’s margin was large swings in blue-collar areas such as Flint, Saginaw and Bay City. He was the first Republican presidential candidate to carry either Saginaw County or Bay County since President Ronald Reagan in 1984. But these counties’ economies have barely improved from January 2017 to this year, with unemployment rates dropping only about a point from a shade higher than 6 percent to a bit more than 5 percent. Again, an improvement, but not a boom.

The situation is much worse in non-metropolitan Michigan. These areas, mainly in the northern “thumb” and the Upper Peninsula, gave Trump his largest swings over Mitt Romney’s percentages in 2012. These areas more than anywhere fueled his narrow 11,000-vote victory. But their economies have gotten worse, not better, since Trump took office. In January 2017, non-metro Michigan had a 6.8 percent unemployment rate. In February 2019, that rate is now at 7 percent ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/05/trump-has-two-big-problems-pennsylvania-michigan/?utm_term=.13e0e253824f

[Blue_true]

37. In my republican led county, at best, things have not changed at all.

Places are closing. Large segments of the population rely on government jobs or healthcare related jobs. Trump's attack on Obamacare has done some damage here, Obamacare fueled growth in the healthcare industry, resulting in two new hospitals as many resident were able to access healthcare for the first time.

[struggle4progress]

20. Approval tanks in 5 swing states he won in 2016

... In Morning Consult's most recent survey, Trump is down in the following swing states: Florida (-24 points), Ohio (-20), Michigan (-19), Wisconsin (-18), and Pennsylvania (-17).

In 2016, Trump won all of those states, which together represent 93 electoral votes. Trump's electoral vote margin of victory was 74 points that year ...

Even in states where he is likely to win re-election, like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Wyoming, Trump has seen steep double-digit declines in support.

The poor showing could very well be the result of a presidency swimming in corruption, incompetence and bigotry. Trump's sole major legislative accomplishment was the tax scam, which rewarded the uber-wealthy and giant corporations and has been resoundingly panned by average Americans ...

https://shareblue.com/trump-approval-tanks-2016-swing-states/

[Blue_true]

41. I truly believe that Hillary would have won Florida in 2016 had her campaign blanketed

the state to match Trump. Trump was everywhere here, Hillary's campaign seemed to rely on running up the score in the big population areas of the state and hanging on as the smaller areas came in, that strategy didn't work, too many votes were left on the table in those smaller counties.

[Still In Wisconsin]

52. Wisconsin even more so. Hillary didn't come here even ONCE during the General campaign...

she lost the state by 0.7%. I love HRC and I am 100% sure she would have made a really good President, but she got some very bad advice from her campaign people.

[Blue_true]

57. Our nominee and his or her staff can't make those mistakes again.

I like what Harris did earlier this week. She was visiting Nevada. Of course every candidate visited the vote rich Las Vegas area. She was the only one to also go north and visit the Reno area and smaller towns of that region. What she did is what our nominee must do in every key state in the 2020 General. Go in and buck up local democrats, even in the less populated parts of the state.

[Still In Wisconsin]

75. You are exactly right. Scott Walker lost his re-election bid here not because Evers won the rural

vote. Walker lost because his MARGINS weren't anywhere near where they needed to be in rural areas to make up for Democrats' reliably strong advantages in the more populated parts. Our next Presidential candidate can win here (and also in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Iowa) by simply cutting into Trump's margins in the Republican counties. There are Democrats in those places too- just need to get them to the polls, and you don't do that by never even making an appearance in the state! Sending Chelsea to Madison a couple times wasn't near enough.

[TheRealNorth]

61. Midwesterners

One things we don't like is being taken for granted. Don't call us fly-over country like nothing is here. Even I felt a little miffed that HRC didn't bother to visit, although obviously she would be 1000 X better.

[Still In Wisconsin]

76. It did feel like a slight, and we're Democrats.

Imagine how it would feel if you were an on-the-fence independent!

[Progressive Jones]

21. Nobody cares what the lowest quality residents of the US think. nt

[Blue_true]

42. They always vote, many people on our side find reason not to vote.

Yeah, I don't care what they think, but we have better get our act together on voting, because if we don't, they are going to keep political control and destroy life as we want it to be.

[struggle4progress]

22. Well underwater in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan

GREG HINZ ON POLITICS
April 05, 2019 01:08 PM UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

... Here in Illinois, Trump never was very popular after the first couple of months in office and still isn’t. His approval rating as of March 1 was 58 percent negative, 37 percent positive, a -21 percent overall.

The shift is more dramatic in nearby industrial states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which Trump carried in 2016. His net rating in those states is -7, -12 and -12, respectively.

None of that means Trump won’t win—or that Democrats have what it takes to beat him. But it does suggest he’s vulnerable, pending further developments in coming months ...

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg-hinz-politics/trumps-well-underwater-illinois-wisconsin-and-michigan

[albacore]

23. How do we ever "kiss and make up"?... knowing who and what they are...

Sometimes things are said or done in a marriage that can't be unsaid or undone.

The marriage between the two countries... the two worlds... in the US is rocky at best, but trump, and the approval of trump by literally all Republicans, points toward a further deterioration.
If I was a marriage counsellor, I'd advise divorce.
WTF do we do??

[lame54]

24. Those with a low opinion of him...

Are leaving the party

The question is - how many are left

[PSPS]

25. Higher than before and sure to go up because the denominator is shrinking

The numbers give the media something to write about that feeds the outrage industry, but the fact is that trump's vaunted "base" is shrinking every day.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. The more important number is how many people still identify as Republican.

According to Gallup, only 26% of Americans call themselves Republicans. https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx 90% of 26% is a little more than 23%, not nearly enough to win an election. Where Dems need to concentrate is on independents (42%), who can be all over the map ideologically, and especially on people who tend not to vote at all.

[Grasswire2]

40. yes

I wonder if Gallup has calculated whether the 11 million who left the Democratic Party in DemExit have returned or whether they remain as independents.

[smirkymonkey]

54. +1000

This is good news. It is the independents that we need to focus on, and we need to inspire non-voters to get out to the polls.

[Grasswire2]

38. judges and immigration

They are willing to subvert democracy itself in order to retain power on those issues.

[GulfCoast66]

39. I know 3 people who have left the Republican Party.

Actually changed their registration. To independent, but it’s a start.

Hopefully we are just seeing a concentration of the shit.

[shanti]

45. I have a cousin

who's always been a Repub, as her parents were. As such, I rarely discuss politics with her. I saw her a couple of weeks ago, and asked her how she feels about him now and she said she likes him "more than ever".

If she didn't have a serious, debilitating, progressive neurological illness, I would have nothing to do with her, but I do feel sorry for her, so I haven't cut her off. I just don't feel comfortable slamming her for her politics when she's undergoing something so awful.

HOWEVER, I do have other cousins who are also Trumpers and I don't speak to them.

[FakeNoose]

49. Some day this will all be behind us

... and I hope the families in America will be able to mend. It's all so crazy!

[Kablooie]

55. As long as we have right wing media screaming propaganda nothing will change.

They created this mess and intend to maintain it.

[UniteFightBack]

48. Not surprised since the GOP has transformed into the DOP. Deplorable Old Party. nt

[moondust]

56. WWE crowd

don't care if it's real as long as he keeps kickin' somebody. Sadists.

[no_hypocrisy]

58. And like lemmings, they will be 90 percent behind the next Republican in the WH.

It isn't Trump. It's partisonship.

[Demsrule86]

59. But consider only 26% of the population identify as Republicans.

[pnwmom]

62. Reuters says 82.4. YouGov says 83. Ipsos says 82. 90% sounds like an outlier.

http://polling.reuters.com/#!response/CP3_2/type/week/filters/PARTY_ID_:2/dates/20170201-20190402/collapsed/true

YouGov says 83.

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/984dair3x2/tabs_Trump_Tweets_20190404.pdf

Ipsos says 82.

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-04/2019_reuters_tracking_-_core_political_04_03_2019.pdf

[Takket]

65. i'm shocked it is that low. He is worship by them without question, like a god

[TheFarseer]

69. If we run on

He says naughty words and he's offensive - we are DEAD! I saw a article yesterday that 70% of Wall Street thinks he's getting re-elected. You are right - we have to show people how his policies hurt them and, just as importantly, what we will do to help.

[JSK]

71. Did they poll former Repugs?

The party is shrinking, thank the lord. Most people with half a brain have left. (name one intellectual in the Trump camp) So when they poll those who still identify as "Republican" it is mostly the die-hard Trumpanzees. That number is steady. Don't let the "90%" tag fool you.

[Ilsa]

73. I hope more republicans are leaving their R club. nt

[NoMoreRepugs]

77. I call BULLSHIT on the 90% - that # to me equates to almost universal admiration - I say IMPOSSIBLE.

[Kablooie]

78. Gallup poll Mar 1-10

https://news.gallup.com/poll/203198/presidential-approval-ratings-donald-trump.aspx

Donald Trump Job Approval by Party Identification
2019 Mar 1-10
Republicans. 90
Independents 33
Democrats. 4

[EleanorR]

79. No, it points to party above country, and that's nothing new for republicans.

Fear, anger, and ignorance lead to great loyalty.