House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is abandoning the job so he can “spend more time” with his family, says he thinks President Donald Trump will actually be a plus for Republican candidates in the mid-term elections.
The Wisconsin Republican said Trump can help in some key states, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016.
“The president is strong in these states,” Ryan told hundreds of attendees at a Wisconsin Republican convention on Saturday. “He’s an asset.
“Whether I’m running around southern Wisconsin or America, nobody is talking about Stormy Daniels. Nobody is talking about Russia. They’re talking about their lives and their problems. They’re talking about their communities, they’re talking about jobs, they’re talking about the economy, they’re talking about national security,” Ryan said.
Ryan, though, did warn that a “blue wave” — a large influx of Democrats into the House — may be coming.
“The ‘blue wave,’ as they say it, they want to take it all away,” he said, the Associated Press reported.
The party not controlling the White House often wins seats in mid-term elections, and pollsters are predicting a big win for Democrats this November (but remember, these are the same pollsters who gave Hillary Clinton a 93% chance on winning in 2016).
Democrats, though, are stuck with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who said on Thursday that she hopes to do away with Trump’s tax cuts for the middle class — which she has called “crumbs.”
“The tax bill is a dark cloud over our children’s future,” the California Democrat said Thursday at the Peterson Foundation Fiscal Summit in Washington. “We want to revisit in a way that puts the middle class first and reduces the debt.”
Meanwhile, a new CNN poll shows Republicans aren’t in bad shape going into the mid-terms.
1. The economy is becoming more prominent as a voting issue, as Trump recedes somewhat. More than 8 in 10 voters (84%) say the economy will be “extremely” or “very” important to their votes, while 64% say the same of the President. The better the economy does — or is perceived to be doing — and the less that people see the 2018 election as a straight referendum on Trump, the better for Republican chances.
2. While Trump’s job approval numbers remain stuck in the low 40s, he appears to be less of a drag on congressional Republicans today than he was a few months ago. In January, 52% said they would be more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who opposes Trump, while 41% said they’d be more likely to back someone who supports him. That margin has narrowed in the new poll; 48% said they’d rather choose a candidate who opposes Trump, while 43% prefer a candidate who supports the President.
3. Republicans are getting more interested in the 2018 election. In March, just 1 in 3 GOPers (and GOP-leaning independents) said they were “very enthusiastic” about the midterms. That number is up to 44% in the new CNN survey.
It’s not over till it’s over.