Americans' waning sense of national security may catapult Republicans to victory in the midterm elections, says John Zogby, CEO of Zogby Analytics and founder of the Zogby Poll.
"One of the reasons why Sen. [Barack] Obama and then President Obama has been able to win has been the fact that he has triumphed on national security," Zogby said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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"First in 2008 and then 2012, Democrats were actually seen as handling national security better than the GOP, where that had traditionally been a Republican strength.
"In my latest polls . . . not only have the Democrats lost that edge, but they've lost it to the GOP. The GOP is now seen as protecting Americans and our national security better. That in fact could be the pivotal deciding issue — and, of course, Ebola comes under national security."
Zogby says that in the pivotal Kentucky Senate race, Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes did herself no favors by refusing to answer over and over again whether she had voted for Obama.
Grimes, who hopes to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, got word on Tuesday that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had stopped running TV ads for her.
"She probably hurt herself irreparably with that. Mitch McConnell was on the ropes. This was a close race, and he's been ahead by about 3 percentage points. In fact, it was starting to trend a little bit back toward Alison Grimes," he said.
"But in instances like this, what do you expect a U.S. senator to do? You expect a U.S. senator to tell you where she stands on issues and how she's going to vote, and here she refused to essentially say where she stands and how she voted, and she damaged herself irreparably."
In the Arkansas race between Republican Rep. Tom Cotton and Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, the polls are trending toward Cotton, Zogby said.
"His average lead is 4, 4 1/2 points. That's not a done deal, but Mark Pryor is clearly on the ropes, and he started this election year as the most endangered of the Senate Democrats in competitive races, and he's right back up there as the most endangered."
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