The general election season is roughly halfway over. And yet there are Republican House lawmakers across the country — most of them facing those competitive reelection races — still trying to find a way to talk about Trump:

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Rep. Will Hurd (Tex.), representing one of the only competitive districts in Texas this cycle, "I haven’t endorsed the guy because until he has a clear national security plan, until he shows he can respect minorities and women, I’m going to withhold that,"representing one of the only competitive districts in Texas this cycle, told the El Paso Times in August.

Rep. Erik Paulsen (Minn.) "My vote has to [be] earned, and it has not been earned," told the Star Tribune after Trump made his "Second Amendment" comments recently. "I'll just say that words matter."

Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.) in May. In August, "I can’t support Hillary Clinton, and I won’t be, but Donald Trump needs to earn the votes of me and many others," told The Washington Post in May. In August, she condemned Trump's fight with the family of a fallen Muslim soldier whose parents spoke at the Democratic convention (the Khan family is from Virginia) — without mentioning Trump's name.

Rep. John Katko (N.Y.) "My concerns remain," told Syracuse.com in July . "I will note that there is a perceptible change in his tone and demeanor in the last week or so, which is encouraging. But we will have to see if that is short-lived, or a real change in direction."

Rep. Martha McSally (Ariz.) "Who we each vote for is our responsibility as a citizen and a voter and, in that role, have a vote just like you have a vote and I personally believe that is between me, God and the ballot box," told the Tuscon Weekly in July.

Their struggles with Trump less than three months before the election mirror the struggles that Senate Republicans had with him the spring, when it became clear that Trump had a real shot at winning the nomination. It appears that time — and Trump's nomination — hasn't made the challenge any easier.

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A July Cook Political Report analysis found that of the 45 Republicans in swingy districts (and therefore most likely to be in tough races), just 58 percent have publicly pledged support for Trump, and just 31 percent have endorsed Trump by name. (Because apparently in 2016, there's a distinction.)

By comparison, David Wasserman of Cook writes, 80 percent of the rest of the House Republicans have said they'll vote for the nominee, and 62 percent have explicitly said they'll vote for Trump.

As I've written before while watching Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struggle to keep a positive outlook on the party's nominee, Republicans have no good answers on Trump because there are no good answers.

His standing in the polls, especially in the all-important battleground states, is collapsing. And his penchant for controversy feels like it's picked up since he won the nomination, rather than calming down. Since House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed Trump in early June, he's had to denounce something Trump says roughly once a week.

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Things have gotten so bad that as top Republican congressional leaders hint that they could lose in November, they're sending a not-so-subtle message to their donors that they'll need more help staying afloat in a potential Democratic wave election. We could soon see a world where the Republican Party cuts Trump off from their resources and spends it to try to save candidates like the House lawmakers in this story instead.

And yet Republicans sharing the ballot with Trump have to be careful not to entirely alienate him — or his supporters. Some 68 percent of Republican voters have a favorable view of Trump, and 83 percent said they plan to vote for him in November, according to an August Washington Post-ABC News poll. (However, Trump is less popular among Republicans than Clinton is among Democrats. She has an 87 percent approval rating among Democrats, and 92 percent say they'll vote for her.)

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), who represents one of the most competitive districts in the country, is walking a fine line with Trump.

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Earlier this month, Coffman became the first House GOP lawmaker to run a TV ad announcing that he's no fan of his party's nominee: "Honestly, I don't care for him much." But Coffman hasn't explicitly denounced Trump either.

After he ran that ad, Colorado's 9NEWS called him up to get clarification.

9NEWS: "Would you rule out supporting Donald Trump for president?"

COFFMAN: "No."

“It’s hard for me to see at this point in time that Trump could change to the extent that I would lend my name to his campaign,” Coffman added. “If [Trump] continues down the path that he continues, I’m not going to support him, I don’t think there’s a question about that.”