Independent voters are poised to be the difference between a bad vs. a galactically bad midterm outcome for Republicans, and party operatives have less than 100 days to make sure it's the former, the Washington Examiner reports.
Polls show that Independents have low approval of President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress, but there's also a bloc that remains undecided on generic ballots, too.
While most prognosticators are predicting Democrats to retake the House, winning the hearts of undecided Independent voters could mitigate the blue gains there and definitely keep Republicans the majority in the Senate.
"When you get a wave, it’s because independents went decisively one way or the other. Has that begun to occur or are they thinking through things?" Republican pollster David Winston told the Examiner.
Further, 31 percent of voters in the 2016 election identified as Independents, up 5 points since 2000. And Independents drove the last two big wave midterm elections, one for Democrats in 2006 and the other for Republicans in 2010.
"We can’t let independents harden against us," a Republican strategist told the Examiner. "There’s no coming back from that."
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