Clinton launches rare attack ad on Trump in Utah
Say it with me: UTAH? Yeah, the state that hasn't seen an attack ad in recent memory now has an anti-Trump mailer from the Clinton camp. Go figure. Matt Canham writes:
Hillary Clinton's campaign is calling Donald Trump "unfit and unprepared" in a mailer sent to some Utah voters, a rare dip of the toe into Utah's electoral waters by a Democratic presidential candidate.
The campaign wouldn't say how many mailers were sent out or what segment of voters they were targeting, but it is obviously not Democrats. The piece includes the image of a stern-looking woman above a paragraph that says: "You care about your community and the future of the country. That's why the thought of Donald Trump as president is so alarming."
Clinton has been chipping away at voters in Utah, in part, because of Donald Trump's wild unpopularity among Mormons. Still, it's hard to believe the state's in play. In last week's PPP survey, Trump led Clinton in the state 39-24. Only 33 percent of Utah Mormons viewed him favorably, while 56 percent had an unfavorable view of Trump. Nonetheless, Clinton fares worse among Mormons, with a 12-84 percent favorable/unfavorable rating.
The mailer strategy might have less grounding in Clinton's ability to actually win the state than perhaps convincing Utah voters to vote for someone else besides Trump. In the PPP poll, libertarian Gary Johnson garnered 12 percent support and anti-Trump independent Evan McMullin came in at 9 percent.
Another possibility is simply trying to depress the Republican vote there in an effort to impact down-ballot races. Though some polls have shown freshman GOP Rep. Mia Love with a double-digit lead over Democratic challenger Doug Owens, the polls have been almost as unpredictable as the seat has proven to be in recent election cycles. Cook Political Report rates the race a "Toss Up." In 2012, Love narrowly lost the seat even though Romney outperformed Obama in Utah by 37 points. Love came back in 2014 to win the seat, but only by five percentage points, a much lower margin than one might have expected during that GOP wave.
Mailers are a relatively low-cost way for a presidential campaign to potentially sway voters and impact a race.