A GOP strategist suggested on Sunday that his party may be falling behind Democrats in one key measure ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Scott Jennings, the former senior advisor to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said on CNN's "CNN Newsroom Sunday" that the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein saga over the last week could decrease the motivation of GOP voters to vote in the midterms.
"Midterms are all about base motivation," Jennings said. "Right now, Democrats and Republicans have sort of flipped in terms of who has the most committed or frequent voters."
For more than a year, President Donald Trump and his surrogates have told the GOP base that they would release the Jeffrey Epstein case files. However, the administration backtracked once they were in office, even though Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that the files were on her desk waiting to be released.
That decision appears to be already impacting the GOP base. A recent CNN poll found that 50% of Americans disagree with the Trump administration's handling of the case compared to just 3% who agree with how it's been managed.
Republicans are almost evenly split over how the files have been managed, the poll shows.
Jennings then pivoted to discuss the parts of Trump's platform that the GOP base still supports him.
"They support him on Iran. They support him on Ukraine, because what he's done is put NATO in the middle of it instead of U.S. tax dollars, it's European countries," Jennings said. "The base is with Donald Trump."
