Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Democratic success in state legislative special elections continued last night in New Hampshire, where Kris Schultz easily won a state House race. The seat was already “blue,” so it doesn’t change the makeup of the Granite State’s legislature.
* The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 52% to 38%, among registered voters. Among likely voters, Dems still lead, but the advantage slips to 50% to 41%.
* This findings are roughly in line with Public Policy Polling’s latest survey, which found Democrats ahead nationally on the generic ballot, 50% to 40%.
* That same poll found congressional Republican leaders are not at all popular nationwide: House Speaker Paul Ryan’s approval rating is 24%; Mitch McConnell’s approval rating is 18%; and support for the GOP-led Congress is just 11%.
* PPP also found that a third of Trump voters don’t believe Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the campaign, despite the fact that participants in the meeting don’t deny its existence. * Paul Ryan’s re-election campaign is apparently concerned about Randy Bryce’s (D) challenge to dispatch trackers to one of the Democrat’s campaign events. Bryce said he hopes the trackers receive health care benefits as part of their employment. * And in Alabama, where the U.S. Senate special election primary is next month (Aug. 15), appointed Sen. Luther Strange (R) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R) continue to argue over who loves Donald Trump more.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
