Republicans thought they could force 2018 Democrats to cut deals, but Trump keeps sliding in polls
By Paul Kane July 8 at 1:42 PM
Senate Republicans began this year thinking that they had leverage over some Democrats, particularly the 10 up for reelection next year in states that President Trump won in the fall.
Those Democrats, some GOP strategists believed, would want to work with the president to appeal to enough Trump voters to win their states in November 2018.
That didn’t happen. Instead, Trump’s standing has slipped in many of these states. The president has faced legislative gridlock and a deepening investigation of his campaign’s connections to Russia. His focus, in public appearances and on social media, has regularly drifted away from the policy agenda on Capitol Hill.
That’s left Senate Democrats feeling stronger than they expected to be eight months after their highly disappointing showing in 2016, which left them in the minority and heading into 2018 defending 25 seats compared with Republicans’ eight.
If Trump had spent his first six months increasing or even maintaining his popularity in these states, he might have struck enough political fear in these 2018 Democrats to compel them to support some of his initiatives.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-thought-they-could-force-2018-democrats-to-cut-deals-but-trump-keeps-sliding-in-polls/2017/07/08/283ea444-6350-11e7-a4f7-af34fc1d9d39_story.html
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