POLLS/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VA: “It makes all the sense in the world that President Donald Trump would personally go after Sen. Jon Tester. Mysteriously and without any proof, Trump said he knows things that could sink the Montana Democrat’s re-election bid. We assume this is a specious claim from a master conspiracy theorist until we see some sort of proof. That aside, it makes every bit of sense that Trump would want to go after Tester. Yes, Tester picked the fight, of sorts, as the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, becoming the public face of opposition to Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson’s since-withdrawn nomination to be veterans affairs secretary. Start with that, then add to it that Tester is up for re-election as a Democrat in Montana, one of just 12 states where the President’s approval rating has been over 50%, according to data released by Gallup back in January, the most recent available…Trump is now targeting Tester, in a state where they are both popular. Will Trump’s attacks make Montanans rethink their support for Tester? Whether red states like Montana still want blue senators is going to be one of the main political stories between now and November.”
– Z. Byron Wolf, “Why Trump’s attack on Sen. Jon Tester was bound to happen,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 30, 2018 6:18 pm