Republicans Win Pennsylvania Special Election; Voters Credit Trump with Good Economy; Suburban Women Start to Swing Back to GOP

This district was very Republican, but it's still... something.

Barely.

Fred Keller, a Republican state representative, beat Democrat Marc Friedenberg in the race to represent Pennsylvania's 12th District on Tuesday.

Keller's victory means that the north-central Pennsylvania district will remain in Republican hands after former Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) stepped down in January, less than one month into his fifth term in office.

...

Keller also got a last-minute boost on Monday when Trump held a rally in Montoursville, inside the 12th district, to campaign with the GOP hopeful.

Voters are finally admitting that maybe Trump and Republican policies have something to do with the the historically great economy.

Most Americans remain confident about the U.S. economy and in their own financial situation, and more now give President Trump's policies credit for a strong economy than did so last year.

Seven in 10 Americans say the economy is in good shape, including a quarter who say it is very good. Nearly all Republicans and most Democrats and independents share this view.

Americans increasingly give the president credit for the economy. Forty-one percent of those who say the economy is good say Mr. Trump's policies are mostly responsible, up from 32% at the beginning of 2018. Republicans give the president relatively more credit for the economy than Democrats do.

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There is partisan division about where the economy goes from here. Thirty-seven percent of Americans think the economy is getting better, including 71% of Republicans, but just 11% of Democrats agree.

Meanwhile suburban Republican women, many of whom defected to the Democrats in 2018, are returning to the fold.

When the 2018 elections practically wiped out GOP members from suburban districts, the party went into a panic. But since, the suburban vote, especially among women, has come back to the Republicans as the economy has surged.

"President Trump remains popular among suburban and rural voters, especially suburban women. Trump polls very close with suburban women among" 2020 Democratic challengers, said pollster Jonathan Zogby of Zogby Analytics.

"The suburban data is interesting and is a good reminder that midterm elections tell us almost nothing about what’s going to happen in the presidential election," added pollster Chris Wilson of WPA Intelligence.

One more poll finding: 64% of voters believe the FBI knew the Hillary Clinton ("Steele") dossier was false when they used it to get a warrant on Trump.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters believe the FBI knew a controversial dossier was unreliable when they used it to obtain a search warrant against President Trump’s 2016 campaign. A ScottRasmussen.com national survey found that skepticism is shared by 86% of Republicans, 64% of Independents, and 47% of Democrats (see crosstab results).

Forty-nine percent (49%) favor having the Department of Justice investigate whether the FBI illegally spied on the Trump campaign. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are opposed and 22% are not sure. Support for an investigation comes from 64% of Republicans, 52% of Independents, and 34% of Democrats.

Just 34% of voters know that the compilation of the dossier was paid for by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Nice job, media. You sure did your best to hide that information, while simultaneously repeating the false claim that "Republicans paid for it."

posted by Ace of Spades at 03:38 PM

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