Dem pollster says cracks in GOP suburban support emerged in 2016

Democratic pollster Molly Murphy told Hill.TV on Tuesday that cracks began to emerge in Republicans’ suburban support as early as the 2016 presidential election. 

“Unsurprisingly, there were more suburban districts that Hillary Clinton won that were being held by Republican members of Congress, so there was already this emerging sort of tension, sort of swing profile even ahead of 2018, and they sort of flipped to voting for Democrats this cycle,” Murphy, a partner at ALG Research, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”

“Without a doubt, it was the suburban parts of the country in the 2017 [off-year] elections, and then also in the 2018 elections that represented the biggest sort of tidal wave for Democrats,” she continued.

There were 25 GOP-controlled House districts up for reelection in 2016 that Clinton was able to win, including Virginia’s 10th district, California’s 49th district and Florida’s 27th district. 

All three of those districts flipped from red to blue in the 2018 midterms, which saw Democrats regain control of the House. 

— Julia Manchester