Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini said Monday that Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings gave the GOP a much-needed boost ahead of November’s midterm elections by taking the focus off of President Trump.
“I think what was interesting with the few weeks we’ve gone through with the Brett Kavanaugh nomination is that for a long period of time, it wasn’t about [Trump] exclusively,” Ruffini, co-founder of Echelon Insights, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“That has helped Republicans, right? I think the fact that … we have moved from an issue — Trump has been an issue that has almost, for the most part, galvanized the Democratic base to turn out at record rates in special elections, in primaries, and we have moved to a debate that galvanizes both sides. The Supreme Court as an issue galvanizes both sides,” he continued. “That has helped Republicans in polling in the last week in specific, in battleground districts.”
Ruffini’s comments come after Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court after three sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against him during his confirmation process.
Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegations during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee after his first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, testified before the panel.
Republicans rallied around Kavanaugh, while Democrats defended his accusers.
A Politico/Morning Consult survey released last week found that 68 percent of Republicans said they were “very motivated” to vote after Kavanaugh’s confirmation, while 77 percent of Democrats said the same.
— Julia Manchester
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