Trump sway over base in question as three favored GOP candidates go down
by W. James Antle III, Politics Editor |
| June 25, 2020 12:00 AM
After a string of successful endorsements in Republican primaries and special elections, President Trump has hit a rough patch. Two candidates Trump opposed in GOP primaries won on Tuesday night, not long after an incumbent the president endorsed was ousted at a Virginia state party convention.
The results have some questioning whether Trump’s anemic national poll numbers — he now trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 10.1 points in the RealClearPolitics average — have finally taken a toll on his stranglehold over the party, or at least his sway with rank-and-file Republican voters.
“For a president who has relied on a base-first strategy at all costs, hoping to win reelection without courting new voters, even the slightest slippage among rock-solid Republicans is alarming,†writes National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar, who tweeted after Tuesday’s election results that “Trump's Midas touch with Republicans not looking as strong these days.â€
Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia was booted at the state’s drive-thru GOP convention earlier this month despite Trump’s endorsement. Riggleman took just 42% of the vote to challenger Bob Good’s 58%. Social conservatives had raised eyebrows over the incumbent officiating a same-sex wedding, though it’s not clear that was the decisive issue in his defeat.
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