Democrats Hurting for National Security Voters

Threats from Islamic extremists have put national security at the forefront of the 2016 election — and that could be potentially devastating for House Democrats, a senior lawmaker has warned colleagues.

Rep. Steve Israel, the New York lawmaker charged with campaign messaging for House Democrats, told colleagues during a closed-door briefing last week that Democrats poll significantly behind Republicans on national security — by as much as 23 percentage points.

That poll analyzing the gap between Democrats and Republicans is from Gallup in 2014 — during the height of the Ebola scare — but Israel said during an interview here that he believes it would be equally bad for his party now, in the wake of the Paris and Southern California terrorist attacks.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/house-democrats-national-security-218411#ixzz3yxC038xP

Photo: AP. California Rep. Adam Schiff says Democrats need to find a better way to project a message of strength.