It appears Donald Trump's unhinged, combative style of governance isn't going over well in the Midwest, where a new NPR/Marist poll shows support for Congressional Republicans collapsing.
In that poll, the generic ballot trended upward for Democrats to a 12-point advantage (50-38 percent), building on their 7-point advantage in July (47-40 percent). NPR and Marist attribute that shift largely to Trump's change in standing in the Midwest, as earlier polling from NBC suggested this summer.
"Every way we are looking at the data, the same general pattern is emerging," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. "The Midwest is an area that is getting restless about what they hoped was going to occur and what they feel is not occurring." [...]
In small towns, for example, there was an 11-point swing toward Democrats, and there was a 6-point drop-off among rural voters on the congressional ballot.
This seems to be a product of Trump's trade/tariff war, which is disproportionately hitting the Midwest and farmers, in particular. The problem for the GOP is that because they've done absolutely nothing to curb Trump's erratic impulses, voters appear to view Republican lawmakers as accomplices to his disastrous trade policies.
"Congressional Republicans are buying into Trump for November," Miringhoff noted, pointing to their all-out push to confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in advance of the midterms. "In terms of brand, they look totally in lockstep with the president — and that has become extremely clear to voters."
Trump's approval rating in the poll came in at 39 percent, the same as NPR's July poll, but also the seventh poll in the past two weeks to put Trump's approval rating below 40 percent.
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