Fox News hosts on Wednesday night didn’t even bother trying to sugarcoat the latest numbers for the Republican Party heading into the midterms.
“You look at our polls, and you look at the condition of the economy, and this is the one for midterms we look at closely,” said anchor Bret Baier. “And that is, Excellent or Good, 24 percent, only Fair or Poor, 76 percent. And that has got to have Republicans, Senate and House, concerned.”
“Absolutely, Bret,” agreed analyst Brit Hume. “And the truth is, there’s not much good news for Republicans in this whole poll we did. Underwater on the economy as you showed, underwater on affordability, those two issues are front and center for sure.”
Hume noted that Republicans do have “a little bit of a lead” on national security and policing, “but everywhere you look, Republicans are down.”
The only solace for Republicans is that President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to get a number of GOP-controlled states to redraw congressional districts to rig themselves extra seats will give the GOP a bit of a cushion in the House, Hume added.
Even this, though, has likely long-term implications that could hurt the GOP, experts have warned in prior reports.