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.
Because you talked GW into not fighting back and that worked so well.
Dead fish bait.
Any Pubbie who hires him..is dead fish meat.
Yep - Rove went from “Rove, You magnificent bastard!” to “Rove, You bastard!” and has no more laurels to rest his chubby butt on....
Sic transit gloria.
We saw it play out right here on the forum. A lot of Freepers were also banned during George Bush’s run-up to the nomination for criticizing him. Nowadays, that is pro forma.
And if anyone ever had a lock on FR, it was Ann Coulter. Not so much now.
Trump followed his advice yesterday, we’ll see if it makes a difference.
Why did Rove forecast this?
Rove wants to run a centrist like Romney or Hillary. Whats the difference. They both think government is the answer to every problem.
Did it ever occur to him that:
IF YOU STICK TO YOUR BASE...YOUR BASE EXPANDS.
Because it shows that you are not a wimp...like you, Karl.
I remember...I also recall how we jumped the shark with Rubio when he first made the scene....Coulter is one of the bigger disappointments....maybe she’s channeling George Will.
I see Coulter as having Peggy Noonan’s weather vane (everything depends on which way the wind is blowing) but without Noonan’s treacle. It is not true that the upstairs monster in Poltergeist was modeled on Coulter.
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