For Sen. Ron Johnson every time his name appeared on the ballot Sarah Motiff has voted, starting in 2010 when the Wisconsin Republican was first elected as part of the tea party wave. She began the year planning to support his reelection again, Fond of his tough views on spending.
As the House committee investigating her became sceptical this summer on Jan 6, 2021, with fake presidential electors for Donald Trump from Wisconsin and Michigan Capitol insurrection reported his office discussed giving then-Vice President Mike Pence certificates, part of a broader push to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Motiff, a political independent, wasn’t convinced but Johnson has downplayed the effort and the certificates were never given to Pence.
Wisconsin said “When I’ve had some concerns about some of the reports that have come out I’m not going to lie from Columbus the 52-year-old nonpartisan city councilwoman says that,”. “It just in my mouth put a bad taste.”
Democratic challenger, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Motiff is opposing Johnson and supports his, and in one of the most fiercely-contested Senate races this year, nudged further invalidating a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion by the June U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Motiff said to Johnson that “In the past I do think he’s done good things because for me this was really a hard decision”. “But this is pretty damaging.”
For Republicans emerging from a tumultuous summer Motiff’s evolution represents the challenge, defined by the court decision, high-profile hearings on former President Donald Trump’s actions during the insurrection and of his intensifying legal scrutiny and efforts handling of classified information to overturn the election.
The outcome could hinge on self-described independent voters like Motiff, In politically-divided Wisconsin where recent elections have been decided by a few thousand votes.
Whit Ayres, Republican pollster, said “In so many ways in the news, having former President Trump so prominently makes it easier for Democrats to frame the midterm as a choice between two competing futures as opposed to a referendum on the Democrat governance”.
“That’s hurting Republicans. From the referendum message it’s distracting and allowing more of a focus on a choice of two different parties.”
In Columbia County that tension is playing out, Wisconsin, all within commuting distance of Madison, a constellation of tidy small towns surrounded by rolling dairy farm country.
In the past three elections top-of-the-ticket candidates have won by barely a percentage point, Statewide. By a little in 2020 out of 33,000 cast more than 500 votes Trump won Columbia County.
With more than a dozen independent voters here over two days last week in interviews, many were rethinking their support of the GOP this fall.
“Trump stacked the Supreme Court. Gray, of small-town Rio, said “We all knew he wanted to overturn Roe”, where Trump won by two votes in 2020. “Trump threw that decision in this election as a partisan hand grenade.”
Jesse Stinebring, a pollster advising several Democratic campaigns said that the court decision “upended the physics of midterm elections”.
To judge a policy advance backed by the minority party he said it gave voters the rare opportunity, distracting them from a pure up-or-down vote on majority Democrats.
Stinebring said “From a political perspective in power the backlash isn’t directed at the traditional party, but in terms of this Republican control of the Supreme Court it is actually reframed,”.
The decision made Dilaine Noel’s vote automatic. she had never affiliated with either party, the 29-year-old data analytics director for a Madison-area business said.
Despite her grievances moderate and liberal wings about Democrats’ warring, for the party’s candidates this fall her support for abortion rights gave her no choice than to vote.
Noel said “By default, I have to move in that direction”, from small-town Poynette in the Wisconsin River valley. “I’m being forced to.”
To vote Democratic because she worries the court might overturn other rights Mary Percifield is a lifelong independent voter who says the abortion decision motivated her.
From Pardeeville the 68-year-old customer service representative, said “A right has been taken away from us”. “If a woman’s right to vote I question will be taken away. A woman’s right for birth control.”
One that breaks through others the economy remains the most effective message, GOP campaign officials say.
For Congressional Leadership Fund the communications director, a superPAC supporting Republican U.S. House candidates, Calvin Moore, said “Prices and things are so front-of-mind to people”.
“It’s not just something that’s on the news. In their daily life it’s something they are experiencing every day. When they go to the grocery store it’s something they face themselves every day.”
In Wisconsin a shift by independents is particularly meaningful, as Republicans work to overtake Democrats’ one-seat majority in the Senate.
“It’s absolutely scary,”, who has often voted Republican, Wood said. “To me that’s the most existential threat to our democracy. It makes him a non-starter and to think he was even considering.”
There’s time to win out for an economic message, but about Trump fading it will require news, GOP pollster Ayres said.
Trump has a full schedule of fall campaign travel he has endorsed meanwhile, for candidates. “The best Republican message he said any distraction from that focus undermines”.
Source:- https://usnewscap.com/gops-election-year-standing-with-independents-at-risk/
