Donald Trump speaks at a December 2015 campaign stop at Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Photo Credit: Matt A.J./Flickr
John Gastil, a professor of political communication and senior scholar in the Penn State McCourtney Institute for Democracy, wrote about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on the GOP majority in the House of Representatives. An excerpt of this article is below:
John Gastil
“Some Republican leaders have expressed anxiety about a failed Trump campaign hurting GOP candidates all the way down the ballot. Media reports have focused on Trump’s negative impact on Republican Senate candidates, but the GOP majority in the House also merits attention.
“A few incumbent House Republicans have spoken out against Trump, sided with the Libertarian presidential candidate, or even endorsed Clinton. Time may be running out for others to do the same. Trump’s historically high negatives have worsened since the Democratic convention and could lead to a landslide defeat, with even Arizona and Georgia falling to Clinton.
“Even so, the 61-seat GOP advantage in the House is substantial, and handicappers like the Cook Political Report and the Iowa Electronic Marketspredict that Republicans will hold onto their majority.
“This unusual election year, however, raises another possibility: the very strategy that Republicans used to secured Congress could backfire. Their ‘great gerrymander‘ could become another ‘great dummymander.’ ”
Read more at The Washington Post Monkey Cage blog.