… Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign and congressional Republicans surely will highlight the country’s economic gains should they continue through 2020, of course, and will target Democrats over issues such as taxes and the size of government — particularly if a liberal like Senator Bernie Sanders or Senator Elizabeth Warren emerges as the Democratic nominee.
But both parties have overwhelming incentives to push next year’s election toward issues of the heart, not the head. …
And Mr. Trump is at the center of nearly every current event. In a private memo that was sent to the House Democratic campaign committee this month, Democratic pollsters found an overriding issue with swing voters in a series of six focus groups — only it was no issue at all.
“As we saw in the 2018 cycle, swing voters’ complaints about Trump are dominated by his style and personality, not his agenda or policies,” wrote the pollsters at ALG Research, the Democrat firm of John Anzalone, after speaking with voters across three states. “Most participants express real concern about Trump’s tweeting, name-calling, staff turnover, distortions of the truth, etc. In seeking initial impressions of Trump, even when asking about his ‘agenda’ or ‘priorities,’ virtually no one volunteered the ACA repeal fights or the G.O.P. tax bill.” CONT.
Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns, New York Times