Will 2018 be the year suburban Republicans vote Democratic in significant numbers? It’s a scary thing to hope for, because it’s a prospect Democrats have been targeting for several years without success, but the Alabama and Virginia election results combined with Donald Trump’s staggeringly low popularity are providing renewed hope, while Republicans are getting nervous:
“There’s no illusion about the storm that’s coming,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, invoking last month’s governor’s races and last week’s Senate special election. “If you had any doubts, they were wiped away after New Jersey, Virginia and Alabama.”
From Texas to Illinois, Kansas to Kentucky, there are Republican-held seats filled with college-educated, affluent voters who appear to be abandoning their usually conservative leanings and newly invigorated Democrats, some of them nonwhite, who are eager to use the midterms to take out their anger on Mr. Trump. [...]
Beyond the biggest blue states, perhaps two dozen red-hued districts with significant suburban populations could be winnable for Democrats in a banner year, including those held by Representatives Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dave Reichert of Washington State; Ted Budd and Robert Pittenger of North Carolina; and Kevin Yoder of Kansas.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll highlights the intensity gap that could put those districts in reach:
According to the poll, 59 percent of Democratic voters say they have a high level of interest in next year’s elections (registering either a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale), versus 49 percent of Republican voters saying the same thing. Additionally, 62 percent of voters who said they voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 have a high level of interest in next year’s midterms, compared with 50 percent of Trump voters.
Can we just fast forward to November, please?
And can you help make the dream a reality by giving $1 to the Democratic nominee funds in each of the Daily Kos-targeted House districts?