Republican polling has so deteriorated this month that the only uncertainty remaining ahead of the midterms is the depth of the party’s losses. With early or mail ballot voting beginning in nearly half the country this week, that question will mainly be determined by which money matters more: the massive cash infusion from GOP groups into every competitive race or the price of gasoline soaring toward $5 a gallon.The spending advantage could mitigate Republican losses, especially in suddenly vulnerable precincts of red-state America. Yet those advertising dollars may be effectively nullified if the price of unleaded and diesel continues rising and grips the public’s attention more than any commercial.What’s clear is that GOP candidates are in a race against time.That urgency was on vivid display Monday when Mike Rogers of Michigan and Ashley Hinson of Iowa, Republicans running in two of the country’s most crucial Senate races, each said it was time to end the war.Multiple Republican lawmakers and strategists told me that their fate will be determined between now and early next month, by which point they’ll know if their onslaught of spending arrested the Democrats’ gains.“If there’s movement by the second week of October, we’ll know we’re in good shape,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who’s locked in one of the tightest races in the country. “Republicans always outperform their polling.”The cavalry can’t come soon enough for many Republicans. And, in fact, the money from President Donald Trump’s super PAC may have arrived too late. The high cost of living and a deepening fatigue with Trump’s self-obsession were cementing opinions about the midterms at the worst possible time for the GOP — in the critical weeks after Labor Day.“The bottom's beginning to fall out,” one House Republican from a blood-red district told me. Trump is even underwater in this lawmaker’s seat, which the president carried overwhelmingly two years ago. “We have money that we've never had before, but they have every strategic advantage in their direction, and the president's made it worse — nobody in my district cares about the Kennedy Center, arches or the Reflecting Pool, all this nonsense,” said this GOP member.The unpopular war and its impact on gas prices are the biggest drivers of voter dissatisfaction; the national average for regular unleaded was $4.48 a gallon as of Monday, according to GasBuddy. Yet not far behind is a recognition, even among the most loyal Republicans,… [TheTopNews] Read More.
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