The NRCC is in denial. In an interview with POLITICO, NRCC Executive Director Rob Simms punted on a question about Donald Trump’s drag on House Republicans’ reelection prospects, by saying that he does not have “any data to support or contradict any speculation” on the impact.
That could not be further from the truth: According to POLITICO, an NRCC-commissioned poll indicates that “a plurality of respondents — 48 percent to 40 percent — would be less likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate or incumbent if Trump were the nominee.”
“The NRCC is clearly in the willful ignorance phase of their Trumpocalypse management. Republicans and the NRCC can pretend that the data doesn’t exist, but their own polling indicates that Donald Trump’s presence at the top of the ticket will turn off voters from supporting all Republicans, including members of the House,” said Meredith Kelly of the DCCC.
Interview excerpt here:
Speaking of the top of the ticket: In December, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who chaired the NRCC in 2005 and 2006, told POLITICO that “the correlation between presidential votes and House votes is higher today than it’s ever been in American history, so we all have a vested interest in advancing the strongest nominee that we can.” Do you think Donald Trump puts the House in play?
I think we were set up to have an extraordinarily competitive cycle, regardless of the dynamics at the top of the ticket. That’s largely a byproduct success we’ve had in the last three cycles. We are defending 26 seats that Obama has won, so we knew from the beginning that this was going to be very competitive and so did our members. … Everyone is speculating about what an impact of one or the other on our races, but I don’t have any data to support or contradict any speculation. …,” said Rob Simms.