Trump on track to lose Republicans' control over Senate and Congress, says leading pollster - Independent

April 9, 2018
Trump on track to lose Republicans' control over Senate and Congress, says leading pollster
'I think the Republicans are in deep trouble in the House and the Senate,' says Frank Luntz

Maya Oppenheim @mayaoppenheim

America’s best known public opinion guru partially heaps blame on Mr Trump for the waning electoral hopes of the Republican party Getty
A leading Republican pollster has predicted Donald Trump could take a hit in the 2018 midterm electi, with Republicans in danger of losing control of the Congress and the Senate.

Frank Luntz said if that the elections were to be held now, the Republican Party would likely lose control of both.

“I think the Republicans are in deep trouble in the House and the Senate as well. If the election were held today, frankly, I think Republicans would lose both,” the conservative pollster said on Fox News.

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America’s best known public opinion guru partially heaped blame on Mr Trump for the Republican Party's dwindling electoral hopes.

“If Donald Trump wants to keep the Republican Congress, he has to differentiate when he’s attacking Congress in general versus the Republicans in Congress,” he said.

“Differentiate when he’s attacking the press versus when he feels he’s not getting a fair shake”.

Mr Luntz argued the economy had flourished under the Trump administration but that the president failed to gain proper recognition for it. He suggested the leader’s obsession with tweeting deflected attention away from positive stories about the economy.

A slew of polls in recent weeks have shown Democrats with a lead over Republicans. A Quinnipiac University poll released last month showed Democrats holding a 10-point lead.

In the House, 435 seats are up for election in the forthcoming midterms. The Republicans in that chamber currently hold 238 seats and the Democrats have 192 but are predicted to procure more. The Democrats need to flip 23 seats in order to take back the House.

But the Senate is a far trickier political landscape - 35 seats are up in the 2018 elections there. The Democrats need to defend their existing 26 of those seats and win two extras in order to take control of the chamber.

Democrats believe that with Mr Trump’s approval at a record low and with a similarly record number of candidates from its party getting ready to run in November, they will be able to capitalise on anti-Trump sentiment and retake one or both chambers of Congress.

Former vice president Joe Biden recently argued Democrats would win back the House and maybe even the Senate in Autumn.

“We’re going to win back the House. We actually have a chance at winning back the Senate, for real. It’s a little more of a climb, but it’s real,” Mr Biden said in February.