Poll’s Warning for GOP: Back the Trump Agenda or Face Defeat in 2018

Townhall.com ^ | September 8, 2017 | Timothy Daughtry

[Kaslin]

You dance with the one who brung you to the dance.”

The wisdom of that old political adage might seem outdated in this age of expensive consultants, focus groups with instantaneous tracking of reactions, and micro-targeting of voters.  But the McLaughlin & Associates poll released this week reinforces the wisdom of that adage for any Republican who wants to avoid defeat in the 2018 primary season and in the general election that follows.  

The message of that McLaughlin poll could not be clearer or simpler for Republicans as they choose in the coming weeks between the agenda of President Trump and the agenda of the Beltway insiders:  The base that brought you to the dance supports the Trump agenda.Dance with your base and win.Dance with the Beltway and lose.

To be fair, elected Republicans face many practical pressures inside the Washington Beltway.  There are always K Street lobbyists for various special interests and for large corporations wanting special favors, all offering generous campaign contributions.

And there are the Alinskyite Democrats and their leftist media threatening personal attacks, smears, and ruin for anyone who crosses their socialist agenda.

And then there are some old hands who have learned to thrive in that environment, whose advice is to tell the folks back home anything they want to hear but do the bidding of the Beltway insiders in order to survive.

Candidate Trump called all of that a swamp, promised to drain it, and stunned most of the political experts with a victory those experts said was impossible.  And now Republican officials are doubtless hearing from those same experts that the Trump phenomenon is a fluke, an aberration, and that the smart move is to wait it out.Maintain your distance from the Trump agenda and it will all go away

But the McLaughlin poll of likely voters tells a different story.  Here are just a few highlights:

• Voting to increase the debt ceiling without new constraints on spending will make 62% of voters less likely to vote to re-elect a Member of Congress.
• “Bailing out health insurance companies without repealing Obamacare” leaves 53% overall less likely to re-elect a representative, and only 29% more likely.That 53% figure jumps to 67% among Trump voters.
• Conservatives (70%) and Trump voters (67%) are less likely to support a Member of Congress who has failed to support President Trump’s efforts to vet immigrants more carefully, especially those from countries with a strong terrorist presence.
• Refusing to repeal the burdensome Obamacare mandates and taxes leaves 75% of conservatives, 68% of Trump voters, and 66% of Republicans overall less likely to vote to re-elect a Member of Congress.
• Eighty-five percent of likely voters still believe that freedom of speech is a fundamental right, even if it offends some people.  Only 9% support restrictions on speech.  That is not good news for the proponents of political correctness, or for those who bow to its dictates.
• In stark contrast to the impression one gets from the leftist news media, when voters are reminded of the violence of the ANTIFA protesters, 81% of conservatives and 63% of voters overall oppose ANTIFA.  Only 21% overall support them. 
• And, as things stand now, 49% of likely voters see the Republican Leadership as “supporting the swamp that President Trump promised to drain,” with only 22% seeing them as helping to drain that swamp.

And those are just the highlights. 

Now here is the point that Republican officials cannot afford to miss.The issues of concern to the GOP base – conservatives, self-identified Republicans, and Trump voters – are the same kinds of issues that gave rise to the Tea Party movement in 2009 and led to GOP victories in 2010 and 2014.  The Trump phenomenon is not just a fluke, but is instead a sign that the sleeping giant of mainstream America is waking up and demanding that Washington get control of our spending, secure our borders, repeal and replace Obamacare, and stop giving in to the stifling demands of political correctness.  Trump’s agenda is their agenda. 

Elected officials who have not helped to carry out the Trump agenda will not only be going against President Trump; they will also be pitting themselves against the movement that elected him. 

The Democrats have become increasingly radicalized and unified since the 1960s.  And when Democrats are in power, they enact their socialist agenda.  Their voters get what they vote for, with no waffling and no excuses. 

And, even with all its internal debates, the Republican party is still the political vehicle for the center-right mainstream.  But mainstream America is beginning to wonder why the results they are seeing do not match the rhetoric they heard during the campaign.Why is it that the Democrats can enact the socialist agenda but the Republicans cannot carry out the agenda of mainstream America?

Looking at the McLaughlin poll, “the Democrats won’t let us” will not play well during the primaries, let alone in the general election.

The music is starting for the 2018 election.Base or Beltway.  Choose your partner.

[arthurus]

A determined normal Republican President who is not a Beltwayitei.e. one who is innately a politician and not a businessman but has the same goals that Trump has would work better with a Democrat controlled Congress-both houses- than with the Republican Party nominally in charge. Trump? I wouldn’t guess which party he would have the best results with. His tactics are from a different game.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Trump needs to endorse a slate of MAGA candidates to primary RINOs.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So you would have preferred Hillary choosing Scalia’s replacement?

[amihow]

If those known Axx Hats switch now to support Trump’s agenda, DON’T believe them!!! Vote them out!

[DesertRhino]

And that damn Bush family hasn’t done a thing to help him .

[ConservativeMind]

There is nothing to support your assertion of Trump being a fraud.

Trump is, by far, the best person for thr job out of those who ran.

Period.

[WatchungEagle]

We conservatives have failed to effectively shape the terrain in Congress for Trump’s agenda over the last few election cycles. Too many swamp creatures like McCain and McConnell survived primary challenges where they should have had a snowball’s chance in hell. We saw a lot of conservatives go wobbly against McCain last time around, finding lame excuses to not support his opponent. Same with Rubio in Florida etc.

There needs to be an all out push against the swamp creatures. We need to consolidate around the early leading reasonable challenger, not waste time trying to find a perfect challenger.

[erkelly]

I would vote conservative 3rd party, or write in a good candidate who lost in the primary, rather than vote for the likes of McConnell et al (in my case Heller.) Granted the democrat would probably then win because there enough Republicans who think like you rather than look at the slate of candidates on the ballot and vote for the best one. But there has to be a consequence for these obstructionist RINOs who hate us, and that consequence should be the end of their political careers. How are Graham, McCain, and, highly likely, YOUR GOP senator whoever he may be, be any better than a democrat? Indeed the democrat might be better, his voting record would be no worse than these useless RINOs who hate us, and we get these horrible people out of office and clean up our party. I implore you not to vote for your RINO, it is the absolute worst thing you can do for our country.

[odawg]

Let’s see now:

I posted: It would make more sense for these Republicans to be primaried out of office. Context of “these Republicans” refers to RINOs.

You then post me: “I implore you not to vote for your RINO”

My question: Can you understand what you read?

[laplata]

That’s right. Bastards.

[Backstop73]

“I will no longer vote for the alleged lesser of two evils.”

Yessiree Bob.

This was the 3rd election I practiced that.

---

I brought her to the dance and twice she wouldn’t dance with me. Instead she danced with my enemy. I’m finished with her.

IMO the only way the GOPe will support Trump is if they fear for their jobs.

And I won’t tolerate that any more.

Kick every last one of them to the curb. Seeyoulaterbye.

[Deplorable American1776]

I believe you'll​ see new candidates who'll be campaigning for Trump agenda in 2018, some might be RS, but some might be 3rd party...(Deplorable Party)

[cp124]

So you would have preferred Hillary choosing Scalia’s replacement?

---

I am beginning to think it doesn’t even matter. We are so far away from what this country was founded on, I don’t see how you get it back. There is no rule of law and the constitution is just words on paper. The globalist run the government, education, broadcast media, print media, social media, sports, most corporations and the internet. They are the elites. It is the elites against us second class serfs. The second class serfs that actually make the country work.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Well, stop fighting and give up, in which case you probably don’t need to hang around here anymore.

[RegulatorCountry]

Internet slang terms you an “Eeyore.” Oh, woe is me, just give up, it’s hopeless.

[Kaslin]

That is very possible

[2ndDivisionVet]

Why GOP leaders should be scared (Trump has 98% approval with Republicans who voted for him)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/3584396/posts

[Kaslin]

Support a third party, who doesn't have no chance other than maybe in local town elections and even that is questionable.

You have got to be joking

[TADSLOS]

Not just endorse. He needs to fire up Trump Nation with non stop rallies, ads and fire breathing speeches. He needs to call these GOP bums out use his most powerful force of Deplorables at the primaries for draining the DC Swamp!