Donald Trump has the potential to flip California’s government over to the Republicans, simply because he isn’t there.
Without Trump, How Will they Motivate Their Supporters?
Since they had President Trump to vote against, liberals poured out in unprecedented numbers. However, California’s remarkably close governor recall race is among the first sizable trials of voter turnout for Democrats in the post-Trump age. It is also revealing just how difficult it may be for the Democrats to inspire their base without Trump as a counterpoint.
There are alarming indicators for the Democrat establishment, even in this stronghold of leftist ideals. Last week, a CBS News YouGov survey says that those who voted for Joe Biden are far less inclined than Trump fans to be watching the recall carefully and to be eager to participate. Registered Democrats and Independents were roughly 30 percent less likely than conservatives in a Berkeley-IGS poll to report a strong desire to vote in the election.
The California recall election is going to be close, as corporate media is playing the lowest of the low moves. They are shook! #YesOnRecall pic.twitter.com/4Ryj5FfAHu
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 20, 2021
Liberals are so concerned about the lack of optimism that the state’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom is already working overtime to link his main conservative opponent, Larry Elder, to former President Trump.
Meanwhile, personnel with the liberal activist organization, Courage California, phoned voters last week, pleading with them not to toss aside their mail ballot papers. Will liberals be able to win without Trump as a counterweight? Gray Davis, the former California governor who was dismissed in 2003, said this is the struggle.
Hundreds of California recall ballots, drugs, loaded gun found in passed out felon’s car: policehttps://t.co/NdS3pQ77Gs
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 24, 2021
The recall is just a few percentage points away from passing this coming month in a strongly Democrat county. This is a county that Newsom, a first-term Democrat, defeated his Republican rival in by three million ballots in 2018; it’s also where Biden beat Trump by nearly 30 percent two years later.
Democrats Struggle to Get Support in Their Elections
78 percent of California Republicans are ‘very interested’ in voting in the recall versus 47 percent of Democrats.
Please, please vote. Tell people you know to vote. Don’t count on others. The ballot comes to you and it doesn’t even need return postage.https://t.co/yEJrHOiYUQ
— s. e. smith (@sesmith) August 21, 2021
The dwindling Democrat enthusiasm in the campaign is almost entirely to blame for the previously unthinkably narrow gap. Even if Newsom wins, as many believe, the competition’s closeness is the latest hint that Democrat turnout increases earned during the Trump era may be untenable — with big consequences for Democrats heading off next year’s midterms.
It’s not just about California. The strongest Democrat nominee in the race failed to even progress from the all-party primaries in a Texas House special election. A conservative won a special election for a state legislature seat in Connecticut the other week; this happened in an area that Biden won by 20 points last year.
David Keith, a Democrat consultant who has reviewed House races around the nation, described the Connecticut contest as a gauge as the results came in. He claims that bringing out Democrat voters without Donald Trump on the ticket is a major issue for the party. They tried everything they could in Connecticut, but still fell short.
