ELECTIONS/GOP/POLLS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “One of the Republican Party’s main challenges this November comes into plain view in the newest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll—and so does the GOP’s opportunity to address it. The party is suffering from an enthusiasm gap. Asked how interested they are in the midterm elections, 63% of Democrats rate themselves at the highest levels of interest. Only 47% of Republicans do the same. The shortfall is largely due to a group that the Journal/NBC News poll has been calling ‘Party Republicans’—the 40% of the GOP who may have been loyal party voters for years but don’t fully embrace President Donald Trump. Mr. Trump’s most ardent supporters are plenty energized. Some 61% rate themselves highly interested in the elections. But interest among Party Republicans—those who say they support the party more than they support the president—lags behind. Only 41% say they are highly interested. Energizing that group is a top job for the Republican Party this year, analysts and pollsters in both parties say. The new Journal/NBC News poll offers clues to what might work in motivating this group—and what likely won’t. On the whole, the poll shows, Mr. Trump is putting issues on the table that excite his base but don’t do much to boost the now-lackluster interest among Party Republicans.”
-Aaron Zitner, “GOP’s Biggest Task in Midterms: Firing Up Party Loyalists,” The Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2018 5:30 am