Two Americas could render diametrically opposed verdicts on President Donald Trump’s tumultuous first two years in today’s election.
From one direction, Trump faces intense antipathy among young people and minority voters and unusually broad resistance among college-educated white voters, especially women. That threatens Republicans with widespread losses in well-educated, often racially diverse, suburbs in major metropolitan areas around the country, as well as the possible loss of Senate seats in the diverse and growing Southwest states of Nevada, Arizona and possibly (though less likely) Texas.
On the other side, Trump retains strong support among evangelical, rural and non-college-educated white voters, including women. Trump has energized these voters with a campaign closing argument that appeals to white racial fears and resentments more overtly than any national political figure since George Wallace in the late 1960s. …
In both the House and Senate, the strong emotions surrounding Trump appear likely to accelerate the transformation of congressional races into quasi-parliamentary contests in which individual assessments of the two candidates are overshadowed by broader judgments about the President and the two parties. CONT.
Ronald Brownstein, CNN