But in the memo, Mr. Stepien suggested that candidates distancing themselves from the president are not capitalizing on one of the factors in the Republicans’ favor in the fall — the “historically optimistic mood of the American people” as measured in a “historical context,” a reference to polling data showing how many people believe the country is on the right track versus the wrong track.
He put the benchmark number that has been a harbinger for how midterm elections will turn out at 40 percent of people believing the country is going in the right direction. Right now, according to polling averages, that is what the number is, he wrote.
He added, “With Americans supporting the direction of the country at historically high levels — but with Republican voters clearly lagging in enthusiasm — the path forward is clear; Republican candidates need to closely, clearly and boldly align themselves with the policies that have provided Americans with this historic level of directional optimism.”
Minnesota, where the president will travel on Thursday for a campaign rally in Rochester, is an example of two congressional races where the candidates are taking decidedly different approaches.
Representative Jason Lewis, a Republican from the Second Congressional District in Minnesota, has asked to join the president at the event, aides to Mr. Trump said. By contrast, Representative Erik Paulsen, a five-term incumbent from the Third Congressional District has put distance between himself and the president.
In an early campaign ad over the summer, Mr. Paulsen highlighted his break with Mr. Trump on certain issues, a fact that Mr. Trump’s advisers see as hurting him, though New York Times Upshot/Siena College polls have shown both Mr. Lewis and Mr. Paulsen trailing their Democratic challengers. But one Republican strategist involved in congressional races, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to be candid, noted that Mr. Trump was struggling for support in Mr. Paulsen’s district.
“Watch closely where the president has and will campaign; you will see the president aggressively campaigning in districts with candidates who enthusiastically embrace the policies that have put America on the pathway to prosperity,” Mr. Stepien wrote. “These are candidates who understand what it takes to win — and the president is eager to play his part in helping them.”
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