Donald Trump’s campaign manager expressed disappointment Friday over a New Hampshire Senate ad that all but says Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States.
Kellyanne Conway’s comments to CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” come as Trump’s poll numbers have dwindled and Hill Republicans in tough re-election fights have sought to distance themselves from their party’s standard-bearer.
“That’s a little disappointing and we feel like running on a ticket with (New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte) is the strongest possible way to accomplishing what many voters want, which is taking the country a new and different direction,” Conway said. “And how would that be? We already have divided government. And look what’s happening, Erin. People are not satisfied with that.”
Conway was referring to an ad from the US Chamber of Commerce that calls on New Hampshire voters to re-elect Ayotte on the premise that a Republican-controlled Congress could serve as a check on a Clinton presidency.
Conway said that the campaign is working toward helping elect Republicans in the House and Senate.
“I get why some interest groups want to do this, but from our perspective in the Trump campaign, we want a Republican House and a Republican Senate so that we don’t have the kind of divided government that you see that gets absolutely nothing done,” Conway said.
Many Republicans have abandoned Trump since the surfacing of a 2005 conversation in which he bragged about being able to grope women and get away with it. Ayotte — who earlier this month walked back comments calling Trump a “role model” for children — said she wouldn’t vote for the GOP nominee in the wake of the video.
Trump has angrily pushed back against Republicans who withdrew their support.
Burnett also asked Conway about Trump’s performance in the polls.
“We feel that when voters see that this is a competitive race … I think it’s worth a couple extra points here and they’re among people who have decided, ‘I don’t want Hillary Clinton. I do know her well,'” she said. “There’s something holding them back. And we need to reach out and grab those voters and give them the reason to vote for Donald Trump.”
Conway also said that “the polls all over the place” and that next week the Republican nominee has a “surprise for women” in North Carolina to appeal to female voters.
“We have work to do and I’m always the first to admit it,” she said. “I think these last couple of weeks he wants to reach out … We’re going to talk about Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump’s ideas about child care and elder care that would benefit all Americans and next week in North Carolina we have a really nice surprise for women in America and I would encourage them and I’m sure CNN will tune is as well.”
