10.26.26 Seth Grossman and Pollster Rick Shaftan on WPG Radio: Early Voting and How Republican Candidates Should Campaign When Trump Dominates the News.

Above Image: Rick Shaftan of Neighborhood Research and Media, Rodanthe, North Carolina @shaftan. Political campaign pollster, consultant, and producer of TV and radio messages. SETH GROSSMAN: In 2018, I was the Republican candidate for Congress here in South Jersey. My opponent was our current Congressman Jeff Van Drew when he was a Democrat. Rick Shaftan was my media consultant. Shaftan gave me the accurate polling I needed. He also produced my TV and radio spots, and got great deals from the radio stations and TV cable companies. He did such a great job that I did better in that "Blue Wave" election of 2018 that most Republican candidates in New Jersey--better than some incumbent Republican Congressmen like Leonard Lance. And I only had $300,000 to spend while Democrats spent more than two million dollars against me. Rick Shaftan helped me do that. He understands the issues because he looks at the facts, the poll results, the data. He doesn't let his emotions or feelings get in the way of analyzing the facts he gets from his polling. I talked to Rick a lot last year. We both saw Jack Ciattarelli and the other New Jersey Republicans missing key issues and running losing campaigns for Governor and the Legislature. Rick Shaftan called me almost every week. He'd say, "Jack is throwing away a winnable race! Can you help me get a chance to talk to him?" And I tried, but I got nowhere. Anyway, enough of introductions. Early, in-person voting begins today, Saturday, October 24: One more thing before I bring on Rick: The second phase of the elections begins today. Last month, anyone who wanted to vote could vote through the county clerk's office with a mail-in or messenger paper. You can still do that right up until the Monday, November 2-- the day before the final election day of November 3. Click here for link to New Jersey Division of Elections for details: NJ DOS - Division of Elections - In-Person Early Voting SELECTED EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS NEAR ATLANTIC CITY: Location ATLANTIC COUNTY *EVC-Atlantic City QUAREMBA HALL AT ST MICHAELS, 15 N GEORGIA AVE ATLANTIC CITY, NJ 08401 *EVC-Buena Vista Township DR MARTIN LUTHER KING COMMUNITY CENTER, 661 JACKSON RD NEWTONVILLE, NJ 08346 *EVC-Egg Harbor Township ATLANTIC COUNTY LIBRARY - EHT BRANCH, 1 SWIFT DR EGG HARBOR TWP, NJ 08234 *EVC-Galloway Township ATLANTIC COUNTY LIBRARY - GALLOWAY BRANCH, 306 E JIMMIE LEEDS RD GALLOWAY, NJ 08205 *EVC-Hamilton Township ATLANTIC COUNTY LIBRARY - MAYS LANDING BRANCH, 40 FARRAGUT AVE MAYS LANDING, NJ 08330 *EVC-Hammonton Town HAMMONTON FAMILY SUCCESS CENTER, 310 BELLEVUE AVE HAMMONTON, NJ 08037 *EVC-Northfield City SHOREVIEW BUILDING, 101 SHORE RD NORTHFIELD, NJ 08225 CAPE MAY COUNTY: *EVC-Lower Township EVC LOWER LIBRARY, 2600 BAYSHORE RD VILLAS, NJ 08251 *EVC-Middle Township EVC MIDDLE LIBRARY, 30 MECHANIC ST CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, NJ 08210 *EVC-Upper Township EVC UPPER LIBRARY, 2050 ROUTE 631 WOODBINE, NJ 08270 CUMBERLAND COUNTY: *EVC-Millville City MILLVILLE WOMEN'S CLUB, 300 E ST MILLVILLE, NJ 08332 *EVC-Vineland City Vineland Fire Department Headquarters, 400 W Plum St, Vineland NJ 08360 OCEAN COUNTY: *EVC-Little Egg Harbor Township LITTLE EGG HARBOR LIBRARY, 290 MATHISTOWN RD LITTLE EGG HARBOR TWP, NJ 08087 *EVC-Manchester Township MANCHESTER LIBRARY, 21 S COLONIAL DR MANCHESTER, NJ 08759 *EVC-Stafford Township OCEAN COUNTY SOUTHERN RESOURCE CENTER , 179 S MAIN ST MANAHAWKIN, NJ 08050 SETH GROSSMAN: All right. I've kept Rick Shaftan waiting long enough. Rick, welcome to the program. There are two reasons I'm calling. First, early in-person voting begins this morning. Second, the Democrats finally started their attack ads against Jeff Van Drew. Many people assumed that Jeff had a pretty - safe seat. - But after hearing those ads linking Jeff Van Drew to President Trump, high gas pricdes and the war in Iran, some people are not so sure. The basic theme of the Democratic Party attack ads are something like "Jeff Van Drew used - to be a good guy and he was - a Democrat and he did all the right - stuff, But then he followed Donald Trump and - doing all these bad things that are ruining our live. Let's get rid of this bad career politician and vote for the Democrat." I know Jeff Andrew very well. He is one of the few people in politics who is in it for the right reasons. He has ethics. He has character. Van Drew does things based on principle and helping the people in this District. What Democrats are saying about Van Drew are total lies. I got to know and respect Van Drew when I ran against him in 2018. I can tell you for sure that Jeff Van Drew is one of the best members of Congress. But based on your knowledge and experience, how are most voters looking at this. Do you think Van Drew is in danger of losing? And if you do, what do you think Van Drew and other Republicans should do to overcome this? RICK SHAFTAN: I mean, the first question - is what has Van Drew been saying? Has he been running ads? Are those ads describing Republican accomplishments in this Congress that few people seem to know about? I mean the "Green New Deal" scam got ended. Illegal aliens are getting thrown off all kinds of - government assistance. Medicaid slackers are being taken off the rolls. - Right? I mean, Republicans in Congress did a lot of great things. NPR defunded, - USAID - defunded. Right? A lot of things that are positive. - I mean, is he talking about any of - that? Is he talking about his record or - what he's done in in other things? Anything - he's done for South Jersey? I don't know how Jeff Van Drew has been campaigning. However, I've seen a lot of strong Republican incumbents in supposedly safe Republican districts getting sucker punched. They leave themselves open because they don't talk about what they've done. They instead run these stupid personality ads where they're walking on the beach and pointing at the scenery, or being with their families, their spouses and their kids. When you look at that ad by itself and - you're a candidate, it looks fine. But when you're watching TV and you see six ads that look exactly the same, you just tune them all out. That's exactly what voters are doing with these types of ads. So, I don't really know what Van Drew has up on the air right now, but that is what he should be doing. Because there's there are two messages. Each side has a message. Now the message for Democrats is not tough to figure out. It's not inflation. It's not gas prices. - It's not diesel fuel. It's not corruption as people say. It's not. It's just one thing. It's Trump. They just hate - Trump. So, they're coming out to get even with Trump. They hate Trump. SETH GROSSMAN: And of course, Trump is telling everybody to pretend that he is on the ballot. And the so-called mainstream media is going along, by turning every little thing Trump does anywhere in the country into national headline news. Click above image or below link for video: President Trump tells South Carolina Republicans, "Pretend that I'm on the ballot!": https://youtube.com/shorts/SFD8r7q2sTA?si=kOLIL_Q4mAEu_XcX ********** RICK SHAFTAN: On the Republican side, it's not like people love Trump the way they did at one time. I mean, Trump has been around for now ten years, eleven years. So, there's a certain level of Trump fatigue. Everybody has to kind of redo their act after a while. You need new things. Trump is not motivating Republican voters right now. But here's what does motivate Republicans this year. Concern about socialism, communism. The Democratic Party's border policies. The fact that they want to de-fund ICE and immigration enforcement. They are afraid that Democrats will let everybody from Somalia and every other weirdo place into the country. Is Van Drew talking about fighting the Left. Fighting socialism. Above Image: Issues posted on Jeff Van Drew campaign website. Click here for link: The Latest - Jeff Van Drew for Congress SETH GROSSMAN: Yes. Jeff Van Drew has been doing that. He has ads doing that. Van Drew has been painting his Democratic opponent as a radical leftist. RICK SHAFTAN: Then Van Drew is going to be in a - in a good position. He needs to really step down hard on on this guy's neck. Van Drew needs to say that a vote for whatever this Democrat's name is is a vote for House Democratic leader Hakim Jeffries. It's a vote to undo everything Republicans have done during the last two years. SETH GROSSMAN: You're doing lots of polling. And right now, most polls show that roughly 35 to 40% of voters favor Trump - and somewhere between - 60% to 65% oppose him. Now, of course, many Republicans and Trump supporters are saying, "Those polls are fake. Democrats are putting out these fake polls to discourage Republic voters. To me, Democrats believe these polls, because they are doing everything they can to tie every Republican candidate to Trump. I understand that. This also explains why the pro-Democrat national media is making Trump into headline news every day. Trump could be speaking at a high school - in South Dakota, and all the major - networks are covering it as if it's major - news. Above Image: Campaign Signs for Five Republican candidates for county and local offices in Somers Point, in Atlantic County, New Jersey. None of them mention Trump--or that they are Republicans! RICK SHAFTAN: Most Republican candidates are not putting Trump in their ads. Republicans are not putting Trump in their ads because politics is not a loyalty test. Some people think it. President Trump kind of said that this election is not a loyalty test. It's about ideas. It's about the future. Right now, we're going into the last Congress of Donald Trump. However,...