Peter Baker on Why GOP Candidates Face a Turnout Crisis: ‘It’s the Base That Is Collapsing’

EXCERPT:

BAKER: "Yeah. I mean, the problem for these candidates is not that suddenly people are going to vote for Democrats. It’s that the Republican base just isn’t going to turn out, right? They’re disappointed in what’s happened. They’re disappointed in the president that they voted for. My colleague, Sabrina Tavernise in the Times yesterday wrote this fabulous piece interviewing Trump voters about their lack of trust. 'I was sold a bill of goods,' one of them said, I think that the numbers, the people who consider themselves to be strong MAGA supporters, has fallen in half this year. So it’s the base that is collapsing around some of these Republican candidates. And so I think the reluctance to break too far is that you may not pick up a lot of votes in the middle, but you could lose votes that are still there to be had among hardcore Republicans. You need to energize them and give them a reason to vote. And I think that’s the trick at the moment, is that the president isn’t helping them, right? The president said at his midterm convention, 'Pretend I’m on the ballot.' Then he tells the U.N. this week, 'I’m not on the ballot.' He seems like he’s throwing them under the bus and he recognizes the election is going to go badly, and the candidates are out there taking the hits."