The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins sat in on a series of Zoom focus groups run by GOP consultant Sarah Longwell where she asked primary voters what they thought of former Vice President Mike Pence, and they sure (verbally) lynched the guy for being either too close or not close enough to Trump.
“My goal was to see if I could find at least one Pence supporter. Instead, these were some of the quotes I jotted down,” Coppins writes. “He’s only gonna get the vote from his family, and I’m not even sure if they like him,” said one Republican voter in the focus group. “He has alienated every Republican and Democrat… It’s over. It’s retirement time,” said another.
“I’m so mad at Pence that I would never vote for him,” said one participant named Matt. “He would be a horrible president… I just don’t think he has the leadership qualities.” A woman named Christine agreed eagerly, saying “That’s exactly it. He didn’t have the leadership qualities to do what everyone wanted him to do on January 6. He just doesn’t have that spine.” A third one complained that Pence “just chose to go along with all the other RINOs and Democrats, not to upset the applecart.”
The best part might’ve been a response to a request for comment from a Pence spokesperson who seemed eager to blame Longwell for the abysmal support: “Mike Pence has spent the last two years traveling to more than 30 states, campaigning for dozens of candidates, and listening to potential voters. Those interactions have been incredibly positive and encouraging, and we place more value in those experiences than of a focus group conducted by disgruntled former Republicans like Sarah Longwell and paid for by some shadow organization that The Atlantic won’t disclose”