Posted on 01/19/2019 3:57:27 PM PST by yesthatjallen
Former White House political strategist Karl Rove warned Senate Republicans in a meeting this week not to become overly reliant on their conservative base as they head into what could be a tough 2020 presidential election.
Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush’s top political strategist, was brought in by Senate GOP leaders to speak to the 22 Republican incumbents up for reelection at an all-day planning session Thursday hosted at Nationals Park in southeast Washington, D.C.
GOP lawmakers are getting nervous about next year’s election as polls show President Trump’s approval rating dropping during the 28-day government shutdown, with economic experts warning that the standoff could dampen economic growth significantly.
Rove advised lawmakers at the meeting not to rely too much on the conservative base, which is solidly behind Trump in the stalemate over funding for a border wall, and to remember the importance of expanding the GOP’s appeal, according to Republicans familiar with his remarks.
“He talked about politics being about addition and multiplication. You want to continue to bring people in who support you and the ideas that you’re presenting to help the country move forward in a productive way,” said a GOP senator who attended the meeting.
Polls show that while Trump has strengthened his standing with Republican voters during the shutdown, he is losing ground with independents and non-college educated white voters, another key demographic.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll published Thursday showed the president has seen his approval rating drop by 9 points and his disapproval rating climb by 9 points among suburban men.
A GOP source familiar with Thursday’s meeting said Rove talked about his column published in The Wall Street Journal the previous day that warned “a base-only strategy is a perilous bet for 2020” and advised “the party that realizes this first may gain the edge in the coming presidential contest.”
Rove in his op-ed argued that while Democrats have refused to compromise, the White House should consider “publicly announcing an offer to end the shutdown” by asking for border wall funding in return for legal status for Dreamers.
A Quinnipiac University poll published Monday showed that registered independent voters found the arguments of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) more believable than Trump’s by a margin of 48 percent to 33 percent.
Rove also discussed the problems that GOP candidates had appealing to suburban voters in the 2018 midterm, according to a Republican senator who heard his remarks.
CNN exit polling from the last election showed Democratic and Republican House candidates splitting the suburban vote evenly, 49 percent to 49 percent. It was a troubling development for GOP candidates as suburban voters have leaned more Republican over the last two decades.
In the 2014 midterm, by comparison, Republicans performed 12 points better than Democrats among suburban voters.
Rove sounded the alarm about the eroding support for Republicans in the suburbs shortly after Election Day.
Senate Republicans have a much tougher map to defend in 2020 compared to 2018, when Democrats had to guard 26 seats and wound up losing four incumbents.
Trump should listen carefully to Rove’s advice, every word of it, and do the exact opposite.
Rove, you magnificent GOPee soyboy.
President Trump needs to take away more Democrat voters. :)
You don’t ‘focus’ on one group or another. You stand for something, you mean what you say, and you do what you say.
Hey Rove...take your white board,sharpen it’s edges,and stuff it...moron
Rove in his second decade of being wrong!
Yep.
5.56mm
Rove is shilling for his Chamber of Commerce masters and cheap labor. His GOP minions ignored the base in 2005-06 and paid by losing congress and eventually the White House. Rove is still waging the political wars of the late 90’s and early 00’s at which he literally won by the skin of his teeth and did nothing after he won. Rove just go away mad, happy or stupid but you’ve been around for 25 years with power and done NOTHING but set the country back.
Trump stood for something and THAT'S what fires up the base.
Karl Rove = Jeff Flake
No thanks. Go away. Forever.
Yep. Listen to the political strategist who nearly threw away two elections against the Democrat equivalents of McCain and Romney.
Instead of proclaiming “Rove you magnificent bastard” it should have been “Rove you ignorant bastard.”
Rove has never cared about the base. He’s not part of it. Anyone who listens to him must have a great desire to lose.
The GOP swamp, always looking for a way to lose.
Karl Rove, the man who has the ability to turn landslides into squeakers. Listen to him if you want to to lose.
It depends how you define the conservative base.
The “conservative” ruling base (i.e. Donor class )or the middle class.
BIG difference.
I agree. I think the only thing that saved Rove and the gang was Gore ran such a poor campaign that he forgot about his home state of Tennessee.
Hey Karl, there is no one to replace us. If the GOP moves away from the base, they will lose. We are all there is. And no Republican will win without us.
Don’t rely on the conservative base? Well then who are you going to rely on? What demographic out there is going to flip and vote for the GOP in mass numbers if Republicans push away from the base? Explain that.
Romney lost. McCain lost. Trump won. Rove should be the one asking for advice.
Does Rove want me to believe he wants Trump to be
‘re-elected?
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