An ex-GOP pollster says one MAGA Senate candidate's disastrous debate night previews a much bigger problem for the GOP in November.
Sarah Longwell, the anti-Trump Republican strategist who publishes The Bulwark, said Friday on "The Secret Podcast" that Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) was left "sputtering in a pool of his own urine" during Thursday's Georgia Senate debate, and she warned the performance reflects a slate of GOP candidates that could keep Republican voters home.
"Now, I had not seen a lot of Mike Collins," Longwell told co-host Jonathan V. Last. "But he was left sputtering in a pool of his own urine as Jon Ossoff scared the living daylights out of him with his level of competency."
Last compared the matchup to a boxing mismatch, calling Collins "a tomato can."
"This is like watching Mike Tyson in his prime beat up some guy they picked up at a gym around the corner in Atlantic City," he said.
Longwell argued the bigger damage comes after the debate ends. Even voters who skipped it, she said, will see the coverage.
"The headlines from Georgia will be Jon Ossoff wiped the floor with Mike Collins. Like, it wasn't even a fair fight. And the voters know it," she said. "This is when I talk about depressed voters lead to depressed turnout."
She said the problem differs from 2022, when Republicans nominated what she called "ostentatiously bad" candidates such as Kari Lake and Herschel Walker.
"This time around, the candidate quality is bad in sort of a different way, which is that they are all just sort of Trump rubber stampers and they have no charisma," Longwell said. "They're not smart. They're not interesting candidates. And so they are sort of getting blown up just out of pure mediocrity."
Longwell also pointed to a new Pew Research Center poll putting President Donald Trump's approval at 30 percent and his disapproval at 68 percent, and to a Cook Political Report update that moved 18 House races toward Democrats.
She said pollsters typically watch for Republicans to "come home" in the final month of a campaign, but that "is currently not how it looks to be shaping up."
"The polls continue to either hold steady for Democrats or even get a little bit better," she said.
