Its not just scandal: Moore lost in Alabama because the GOP agenda is toxically unpopular

[applegrove]

By Matthew Yglesius at Vox

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/12/16766840/alabama-senate-election-results-moore-jones

"SNIP......


The larger issue is that the Republican Party is led by an unpopular president and unpopular congressional leaders who are pursuing an unpopular agenda, and it’s putting them in massive electoral peril.

Republicans have been ignoring warning signs all year

It is entirely normal for the party that occupies the White House to lose ground down ballot during midterm elections. That said, the GOP’s results in 2017 have really been quite bad:

*Across about 65 special elections for House and state legislature, Democratic candidates have run 9 points ahead of Hillary Clinton on average.

*Republicans lost the governors’ mansions in Virginia and New Jersey last month, while losing ground in both state legislatures.

*Trump’s net approval rating is lower today than it was for any previous president on record at this point in his term, and, remarkably, that’s been true for every day of his presidency.

*The Republican tax bill is less popular than any previously passed tax bill.

*Polling on all the different health care bills the GOP has tried and failed to advance has been dismal.

*Democrats are currently 10 points ahead in generic congressional balloting, which would be enough to win the House despite significant gerrymandering.

......SNIP"

[gratuitous]

1. This is very true - Democrats should tell their story

People are tired of the all-talk no-action nonsense from the Republicans. Take abortion, for example. Republicans have been promising to outlaw abortion for decades. Well, they had all the power from 2002 to 2006 and all this year, and have they outlawed abortion? If you're a single-issue abortion-banning voter, you have to feel like you're being led by the nose. If you don't feel that way, you should.

Democrats should be telling the story of what they've done for the American people: Social Security, Medicare, health insurance that won't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, peaceful relations with our allies. All of those things are at risk from Republican domination of the federal government, and it doesn't take a tuned-in political junkie to see them.

[applegrove]

2. And they should refer to Alabama as "the new south" so people associate

Jones as just the start of something great.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. "*Republicans lost the governors' mansions in Virginia"

The current governor of VA is a Democrat (Terry McAuliffe) so that wasn't a "loss" for the GOP but more a "hold" of a governorship for Democrats. NJ was the "loss" for the GOP, although it was a foregone conclusion given Crispy's antics the past 4 years.

NC was also a "loss" of a governor for the GOP (during the 2016 election) and that state's legislative temper tantrums have been well-reported on, but MD & KY were "losses" of governors for Democrats.

What will be a test is here in PA in 2018 if we can get Tom Wolf (D) back in for a 2nd term as governor (which would then have him there during the 2020 census).

We basically have to claw back our seats anyway we can.

[uponit7771]

4. Red Don is polling 48% in Alabama, what are his swing state polls?