2016 Republicans despondent that Trump threw away final debate ‘Down-ticket Republicans lost,' one GOP pollster said. 'They needed some help and got absolutely none.'

Donald Trump’s rocky performance on the final debate stage in Las Vegas on Wednesday night did little to allay his party’s concerns that the GOP is headed for an electoral catastrophe up and down the ticket.

In interviews with over a dozen senior Republican strategists, not one said Trump did anything to change the trajectory of a contest that is growing further out of reach. And many said they were deeply distressed by Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the Nov. 8 election, an eyebrow-raising moment already dominating headlines.


With Trump’s prospects for securing 270 electoral votes growing dimmer by the day, many Republicans have turned their focus to the gritty, unpleasant task of protecting the party’s congressional majorities. Trump, they said, did little to buttress the GOP ticket — and may have worsened its position by repeating his claim that the election is rigged, something congressional Republicans are sure to be pressed on in the days to come.

Immediately after Trump’s remark, several party higher-ups, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, took to Twitter to distance themselves from it.

“The biggest loser tonight was not Trump; the presidential race is over,” said Robert Blizzard, a GOP pollster who is working on a number of congressional races. “Instead, down-ticket Republicans lost tonight — they needed some help and got absolutely none.”

Republicans have been conducting extensive polling to gauge what impact Trump’s tanking fortunes are having on House and Senate candidates. While many candidates have taken a hit since the release of the bombshell “Access Hollywood” tape, party operatives maintain that the bottom hasn’t completely fallen out and that a down-ballot landslide isn’t necessarily in the cards.

Yet many Republicans were eager to see Trump deliver a steady performance, something that would stabilize his poll numbers at a time when surveys show him losing ground in traditionally conservative states like Arizona, Georgia and Utah.

Steve Schmidt, who guided John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, said Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting election results would overshadow any strong moments he had.

“It’s the one and only headline that matters coming out of the debate,” said Schmidt. “It’s absolutely unprecedented for any presidential candidate in the history of the country.”

Not everyone agreed the performance was a complete wreck. To some, it represented a marked improvement on Trump’s first two showdowns with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton — one that was badly marred by one particularly damaging moment.

“He made a really huge mistake tonight when he would not commit to 100 percent accepting the results of the election whether he wins or loses,” said Austin Barbour, a Mississippi-based Republican strategist. “For him, that is a big takeaway from tonight. It’s a shame for him; he could have walked away, I think, as the winner from tonight, but that line will be one that is played in a big — in a bigly — way with the press tomorrow.”

To some, the performance represented what’s gone awry with the Trump campaign. After exhibiting moments of discipline early on, he squandered it later — with his remarks on the election, with his refusal to criticize Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and with his comment that Hillary Clinton is a “nasty woman.”

That Trump would go so far as to criticize former President Ronald Reagan — an almost universally beloved figure in conservative circles — on trade policy, left some Republicans aghast. “It’s hard to understand,” said Al Cardenas, a former Florida Republican Party chairman.

“This is microcosm of the general election campaign,” said Mike DuHaime, a former Republican National Committee political director who helped guide New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential bid. “Trump does well at times but can't sustain it for the entire time and makes unnecessary mistakes.”

In the short term, it will be up to Trump to limit whatever long-term damage the debate may cause — something he failed to do after the first debate at Hofstra University, when he was dragged into a series of back-and-forths over his treatment of a former beauty-pageant contestant.

“If Trump hopes to change things around, he can't repeat that act,” said Eric Fehrnstrom, a top strategist on Mitt Romney’s 2012 bid. “He needs to show the kind of discipline that has mostly eluded him so far.”

Yet the debate could have longer-term repercussions, potentially increasing the urgency with which down-ballot Republicans begin presenting themselves as a “check and balance” to a Clinton presidency. In doing so, they would all but concede that Trump is destined to fall short.

It’s an option that GOP strategists have been discussing but have yet to put into motion in a widespread fashion.

“Trump was already behind,” said Bill Kristol, a Trump critic and the editor-in-chief of the conservative publication The Weekly Standard. “He didn't help himself tonight; indeed, he hurt himself. He's very likely to lose, and to lose badly. He'll drag the Senate and House down with him unless Senate and House candidates can make the case they're needed to check and balance Hillary.”

