Voters were nearly four times as likely to say they were thinking “a lot” about Trump than Pelosi, 51 percent to 13 percent, when it came to their midterm vote, according to Morning Consult/Politico polling. Independents were twice as likely (60 percent to 29 percent) to say Trump was atop their minds, compared with Pelosi, and even 53 percent of Republicans said they weren’t thinking about her at all.

One Republican strategist, privately discussing party strategy, called the midterm campaign’s attacks on Pelosi a necessary “diversion” for candidates to attempt to counter the downside from Trump, who is nationally unpopular.

Emmer would not directly blame the president for the party’s messaging problem in the midterms, but he did say that a focus on immigration – Trump’s top message that was also embraced by many Republican candidates – was “clearly” not the way to appeal to independents.

Morning Consult polling in July that focused on independents found that a quarter of voters who don’t identify with either major party cared about economic issues, while 14 percent picked health care, above opposition to Trump or security issues.

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