• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Donate
  • About
  • Contact

The Ballenger Report

Bill Ballenger: #1 Political Pundit in Michigan
All the Truth, All the Time
Michigan's Only "No Spin Zone"
Who is Running for What? Who Will Win?
Can Democrats Seize Total Control of Michigan Government in 2022?
Flint Water Crisis: What's Really Going On!
Politicians
Politicians
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Pollster Steve Mitchell Makes Provocative Predictions on Talk Radio

Pollster Steve Mitchell Makes Provocative Predictions on Talk Radio

July 6, 2018 by tbreport 1 Comment

Longtime Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell went out on a limb several times Friday, predicting that President Donald Trump will nominate federal appellate judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday and then, next fall, shut down the U.S. government in a budget battle with Congress.

Mitchell, who is president of Mitchell Research & Communications, said he thinks the high court pick will come down to Kavanaugh and another appeals court judge, Michigan’s Raymond Kethledge, but that Kavanaugh will get the nod. Indiana’s Amy Barrett and Michigan’s Joan Larsen won’t make the final cut, he said, even though it would be a smart political move for Trump to appoint a woman.

Mitchell says he thinks the president — any president — always wins in a government shutdown battle with Congress, and that this is one way for Trump to finally get the support from Congress he needs to build a wall across the U.S. southern border, thereby firing up the conservative base that Republicans need to turn out at the polls in the Nov. 6 general election.

Talking on “The Political Insider” syndicated radio network that will be aired this week-end on at least 10 stations throughout Michigan, Mitchell said he thinks Attorney General Bill Schuette will hold off Lt. Gov. Brian Calley for the Republican nomination for Governor in the Aug. 7 primary, and that former state Senator Gretchen Whitmer will win the Democratic nod on the same day.

Mitchell says he finds it hard to believe businessman/Iraq war veteran John James can overcome the huge financial advantage that multi-millionaire Sandy Pensler has enjoyed with his prolific TV ads for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. And even if incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow starts out with a big edge over the GOP Senate nominee, the presence of Super PACs and various independent issue-oriented spending groups means that she can’t take anything for granted — the Republican nominee may well be able to match her dollar-for-dollar in a chaotic, unpredictable political climate.

Because she enjoys the same kind of advantage in campaign spending in the 11th Congressional District that Pensler enjoys in his race for the U.S. Senate, Lena Epstein should win the Republican nomination in that CD, says Mitchell. He also believes Suneel Gupta is the likely winner of the Democratic primary in the same district, for the same reason.

There is no question Democrats “are really fired up” this year and will turn out in November if it’s for no other reason than to “send a message” to Trump, Mitchell said. “The question is whether the Republicans will turn out with equal intensity.”

“The Political Insider” is carried by WFLN (1480 AM) in Flint; WJIM (1240 AM) in Lansing; WJRW (1340 AM) in Grand Rapids; WYPV (94.5 FM) in Mackinac City; WKLQ (1490 AM) in Muskegon; WWMN (106.3 FM) in Thompsonville; WJML (1110 AM) in Petoskey; WJNL (1210 AM) and WJML (101.1 FM) in Traverse City); and WHAK (960 AM) in Alpena/Rogers City.

**************************************************

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bill Atkinson says

    August 2, 2018 at 12:59 am

    Trump was kind of iffy on the shut down today on Rush. James will win the Senate He is Debbie’s biggest nightmare. Young and well spoken. A minority business leader in Detroit. They will pound her 43 year record of doing nothing.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Newsletter Sign-up

Receive The Ballenger Report in your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow on twitter

Tweets by @Bill_Ballenger
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Upcoming Ballenger Events

  • No events
  • © 2023 · The Ballenger Report · Login · Sitemap

    Support The Ballenger Report - Contribute Today!

    Thank you for visiting! You have let us know that what we produce about Michigan politics and government matters to you. More people than ever are reading and listening to what we put on our news site, and the 2022 election was especially momentous. Your support makes all the difference.

    As you know, unlike many news websites, we haven’t put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism as open as we can, but we need to ask for your help. We are editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism remains truly free from commercial influence or bias. We are not subsidized. We don’t put up paid advertisements. No one edits our Editor. No one steers our opinion.

    But The Ballenger Report (TBR) takes time, money and hard work to produce. If everyone who reads or listens to our material — and likes it! — helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.

    Whatever you might want to contribute will help TBR continue. Thank you.

    Contribute to The Ballenger Report