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5 points
NBC News: “From November 2016 to November 2017 there was a 5-point drop in the number of people who call themselves Republicans, from 42% to 37%, according to Gallup. In that same time, the number of people identifying as Democrats stayed flat at 44%. … Do the math and a 2-point edge for the Democrats in party identification, 44% to 42%, has been pushed to 7 points, 44% to 37%, in just one year. That’s getting up into the area that may be a concern for Republicans in the 2018 midterms, where a big swing in party allegiance could lead to a swing in House and Senate seats.”
29%
A new CNN poll finds that just 29% of Americans hold a favorable view of the Republican Party. That is down 13 percentage points from March and is the lowest mark for the GOP since CNN began asking the question in 1992.
“I think there’s going to be a rebellion against everybody, not just leadership. If we get to December and we’ve not repealed Obamacare, don’t build the wall… it’s not going to be pretty.”
— Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), quoted by Axios.
45.5%
Wall Street Journal: “Data from Gallup show 45.5% of adults in exurban communities self-identified as Republican in the second quarter of 2017, down from 49.6% in the first quarter of 2017 and 51.6% in the fourth quarter of 2016. It was also the lowest quarterly number for self-identified Republicans in the exurbs since 2013, the earliest numbers available. … The data also showed an increase in self-identified Democrats in exurban counties to 40.5% from 37.3% in the first quarter of 2017 and 36.8% in the fourth quarter of 2016. The 40.5% was the highest number recorded from Democrats since 2013.”
“If the Republicans have the House, Senate and the presidency and they can’t pass this health care bill they are going to look weak. How can we not do this after promising it for years?”
— President Trump said the party would look like “dopes” if it couldn’t pass the bill after passing a repeal bill in 2015, at a dinner with GOP senators on Monday evening, reports Politico.
“Scandals have typically operated as a cloud over a president’s agenda. But the Russia-related legal challenges swirling around President Trump are functioning more like a cloak for his joint agenda with congressional Republicans. That difference captures the GOP’s decision to govern in a manner aimed almost entirely at stoking their hard-core base—a critical calculation that could determine their fate in the 2018 election, and possibly the 2020 contest, as well.”
“It’s hard to win if you don’t govern. If you make these promises, it’s going to be hard for us to win in the midterms.”
— RNC chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, quoted by the Washington Examiner.
“I almost feel sorry for them. But I don’t.”
— Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), quoted by Roll Call, on the challenges Republicans faced on health care.
“I don’t know that we could pass a Mother’s Day resolution right now.”
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), quoted by Politico, on the GOP’s agenda.
“I’ve been in this job eight years, and I’m wracking my brain to think of one thing our party has done that’s been something positive, that’s been something other than stopping something else from happening. We need to start having victories as a party. And if we can’t, then it’s hard to justify why we should be back here.”
— Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), quoted by The Atlantic.
