I was push polled Monday night (November 12). I'm guessing for the 2020 Senate race

[dflprincess]

Yes, not even a week after the midterm.

The first question I was asked was who I voted for in the Smith/Housley race.

I was surprised the caller didn't hang up on me because I argued about nearly every answer as the response choices were so limited (i.e. referring to Single Payer as a "government take over of medical care", so i had to point out that that's not what single payer is.)

Near the end I was asked if I was a Democrat, Republican, or independent and I did my sad sigh and said "I guess I'm a Democrat now, Trump has made it impossible for me to even imagine voting for a Republican."

I suspect the local Republicans may have been doing the calling themselves. She wouldn't tell me the name of the firm conducting the survey and she'd say was it was a "major national firm" - usually pollsters will throw out some kind of name even if it's something phoney. She also seemed taken aback when I said it was clearly a Republican push poll. (She also sounded a lot like Karin Housely - maybe the poor thing is occupying her days calling voters.)

I suspect the state Republican party is already trying to plot a strategy for going after Smith in 2020.

And, at my Senate District meeting this evening a few other members said they had also received the call.

[Eric J in MN]

1. Did they ask about any other candidates? NT

NT

[dflprincess]

3. No.

The only specific candidates mentioned were Smith and Housley when they asked who I voted for in that race.

They also asked if I'd voted in both 2016 & 2018 but didn't ask for who or what party.

[trotsky]

2. It's really remarkable how the state GOP has zero credible candidates to run.

The voting power of the more liberal metro area has finally overtaken the conservative rural districts. The GOP won't win a statewide race again unless they move left, and that's got to be driving them crazy.

I bet they make a serious push to have Paulsen run for this seat, though. Even with his loss, 2 years is enough time to rehabilitate his image with enough low-information voters. He's got name recognition and that's pretty valuable.