President Trump’s approval rating is at 38 percent. His base is said to be eroding. Average approval of the Republican-controlled Congress is at 16 percent. And the president is at war with his party’s leaders. For Democrats, what’s not to like? The answer isn’t as obvious as it might sound. …
Democrats see evidence in polls and focus groups of an electorate receptive to moving in their direction. They see energy in the number of candidates willing to step forward and run for office. They are confident that the anger that put so many people on the streets early in Trump’s president will carry forward to the ballot box 15 months from now, although evidence about enthusiasm among Democrats and Republicans offers a mixed picture.
But there are other factors that could frustrate the Democrats, from the state of the economy to obstacles created by structural aspects of a polarized electorate to the peculiar ways in which the president defies or at least confounds some traditional measures of public opinion. CONT.
Dan Balz, Washington Post