Guadagno’s Pivot to Trump Angers Police Chiefs and Even Republicans

New Jersey Republican Kim Guadagno’s pivot to Trumpism isn’t going so well. In the last few weeks, Guadagno has amped up her negative rhetoric and taken a hardline stance on immigration in a blatant attempt to echo President Trump.

As the Star-Ledger Editorial Board points out, Guadagno’s false attacks and policies go completely against the advice of police chiefs in Newark and Jersey City. The Board slammed Guadagno for such dishonest campaigning:

Kim Guadagno’s plan to cut state aid to “sanctuary” cities is the policy equivalent of her Willie Horton ad – a dishonest attempt to inflame voter fears about immigrants, and use that ugliness to gain a foothold in the governor’s race. 

And New Jersey voters just aren’t buying it. Yesterday, a new Fairleigh-Dickenson poll showed that Trump is driving Republicans out of the party:

A new poll has a new theory to help explain why Republican nominee Kim Guadagno has been struggling in the New Jersey’s governor’s race: Many Republican voters in the state appear to have left the party because of President Donald Trump.

The analysis by the Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind Poll, released Wednesday, found 14 percent of registered Republicans who are likely to vote now say they’re Democrats. By contrast, 6 percent of registered Democrats now say they’re Republicans.

But Guadagno has made her choice. Instead of listening to police chiefs and even voters in her own party, she went with Trump. 

“Kim Guadagno’s Trump mimicry isn’t fooling New Jersey voters, it’s actually driving them further away,” said DGA Communications Director Jared Leopold. “New Jersey voters were already fed up with Guadagno’s record of failure in the Christie administration. The Trump rhetoric and reckless policy proposals are just making it worse.”