Why did the GOP have such a disappointing Election Day? According to President Donald Trump, it was because he wasn’t on the ballot.
“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” he said in a Truth Social post.
Newell Normand from Audacy station WWL in New Orleans noted Wednesday that elections do seem a bit different when Trump himself is on the ballot.
“When Trump’s on the ballot, it’s a whole different story,” he said Wednesday while interviewing John Couvillon, political analyst, pollster and founder of JMC Analytics and Polling this week. “I mean, the way that he monopolizes news cycles, the ways that he feeds the information to the voters and everything else is one thing. You don’t find that same saturation point when he’s simply endorsing a candidate.”
Indeed, two notable candidates backed by Trump lost their races Tuesday. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) won the New Jersey gubernatorial election against Trump-backed Jack Ciattarelli and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat – lost the New York City mayoral race to Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist who focused his campaign on affordability, per CBS News.
“There’s always an upside and a downside to things,” said Couvillon in response to Normand’s comments about Trump. “So, in other words, if now your party has more, you know, less educated, more downscale, less politically attuned voters, well, there are certainly the numbers for that. The problem is if they don’t vote, it’s very hard to push, pull and shove them to the polls in a non-presidential race and or Trump not being on the ballot.”
Furthermore, the Associated Press noted that “Trump was largely absent from the campaign trail,” though some candidates “closely aligned themselves with the president.”
Looking back at the results as of Wednesday morning, it looks like that approach didn’t pan out. Both CNN and CBS News even reported that polling indicated that voters who did turn out to the polls Tuesday wanted to send a message about their dissatisfaction to Trump
“He was a factor for many voters in each of the places where exit polls were conducted: Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and California,” said CBS News. “And more said their vote in these races was to oppose him, than support him.”
KCBS Political Analyst Marc Sandalow noted in a Wednesday interview that Trump admitting things went poorly for the GOP was a rare move for the president.
“Donald Trump never admits defeat… and he admits it was bad night for Republicans,” said Sandalow, who also mentioned that Trump stressed his lack of connection with the elections and that he was not on ballots.
In another Truth Social post, Trump wished himself and voters a “happy anniversary” for his presidential election win last year. Interestingly, he also touted a “BOOMING” economy as voters shared concerns about economic issues and said “Affordability is our goal,” echoing the same sentiment as Mamdani far across the aisle.