Dem
54
GOP
46
It took a while, but Democrats finally got Barack Obama, who remains popular among Democrats (unlike the other former Democratic president), to ramp up his efforts to help Democrats during the final 3 weeks of this cycle. Obama is raising money, cutting ads, and hitting the trail, all of which he is very good at. This is likely to energize Democrats more than Republicans since many Democrats (especially Black ones) still revere him, while Republicans have latched onto more recent targets to hate.
His message has been that many races are on a razor's edge and that Democrats need to step up and vote, donate, and help campaign. He has repeatedly warned Democrats that although some polling looks good for them now, it is not a done deal until the last vote has been counted. So far this cycle, Obama has raised $14 million for party committees. Candidates for whom he has cut an ad or made an endorsement this week include Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, David Crowley in Wisconsin, and Deb Haaland in New Mexico. All these are people of color. But he has also helped white candidates, including Troy Jackson in Maine and Jon Ossoff in Georgia. On Friday, the DNC launched a six-figure ad buy featuring Obama telling voters to get involved.
His next campaign stop will be Michigan, where he will campaign for both Jocelyn Benson, who is running for governor, and Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for the Senate. El-Sayed is far to the left of Benson, and Obama joked that leading the Party is a pain in the butt because it holds such a wide range of ideological views. But he is campaigning for all of them anyway. This is what a team player does.
Maybe Obama is just what the doctor ordered. A recent NBC poll showed 43% of voters would be more likely to support candidates Obama endorses and 37% would be less likely. In contrast, 30% would be more likely to support a candidate Donald Trump endorses and 52% would be less likely. Obama is still the Democrats' best surrogate and he is out there meeting the moment now. Trump is the Republicans' worst surrogate, but he is out there, too. (V)