Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa Michael Franken asserted that the American electorate is comprised of three groups: “the apathetic, the fearful, and the unknowing accomplices to the treasonous.”
Franken, a retired Navy admiral who faces a near double-digit deficit in polling to Conservative titan Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), made the comments in a tweet Friday morning and was met with significant pushback from the Grassley campaign.
We have a nation segmented in thirds–the apathetic, the fearful, and the unknowing accomplices to the treasonous. The task at hand is to alert, organize, confront, and vote.
— Admiral Mike Franken (@FrankenforIowa) July 22, 2022
“We have a nation segmented in thirds–the apathetic, the fearful, and the unknowing accomplices to the treasonous,” he wrote. “The task at hand is to alert, organize, confront, and vote.”
In response, Michaela Sundermann, the communications director for the Grassley Campaign, tweeted that “Iowans want to know which one are you: fearful, treasonous, or apathetic?”
So Iowans want to know which one are you: fearful, treasonous, or apathetic? https://t.co/k3Iyu0jJvi
— Michaela Sundermann (@masunderm) July 22, 2022
“Interesting campaign strategy from @FrankenforIowa,” wrote Michael Zona, former chief spokesman for the Grassley campaign. “Why do Democrats insist on trashing the same people whose vote they need?”
Interesting campaign strategy from @FrankenforIowa. Why do Democrats insist on trashing the same people whose vote they need? #iapolitics #iasen pic.twitter.com/ILPO4jbS4A
— Michael Zona (@mjzona) July 22, 2022
So Iowans want to know which one are you: fearful, treasonous, or apathetic? https://t.co/k3Iyu0jJvi
— Michaela Sundermann (@masunderm) July 22, 2022
In a subsequent tweet, Franken asserted a previous commander-in-chief had never served his country and alluded to the former president undergoing a military tribunal.
We have a former President whose entire family history is devoid of service to others… who have now conspired to destroy the very nation that provided them ill-gotten wealth. Standing before a military tribunal, he'd leave the room under an unkind MP escort.
— Admiral Mike Franken (@FrankenforIowa) July 22, 2022
Matthew Rector, the regional director for the Grassley campaign, fired back in a tweet.
“We have a former Navy officer who is solely focused on making outlandish statements and fictional storytelling of people and events he has no knowledge of,” he wrote, adding “Interesting ‘strategy.'”
This is how little Mike Franken thinks of Iowans. (I got the receipts Mike even though you blocked me) #IASen pic.twitter.com/ED2X7iHJck
— Matt Dailer (@DDay86) July 22, 2022
The latest polling out of Iowa, from Cygnal, shows Grassley with a comfortable 8.2 percentage point lead among likely voters over the former admiral, at 51.6 percent and 43.4 percent, respectively, as Breitbart News reported:
Grassley carries a higher favorability than the Democrat in the poll, as 48.6 percent find her favorable, 46.9 percent find her unfavorable, 3.9 percent have no opinion, and less than one percent have never heard of the long-time incumbent senator.
In comparison, Franken only has a 30.4 percent favorability, and 17.4 percent have a negative view of him. However, 22. 7 percent said they have no opinion of him, and 29.5 percent said they have never heard of the candidate.
A Des Moines Register poll released on July 16 found a similar margin, with Grassley garnering 47 percent of the response, with a nearly double-digit lead over Franken at 39 percent.
The Cygnal poll, conducted from July 13-14 for the Tax Relief Foundation, sampled 600 likely general election voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.95 percent. Last weekend’s poll was carried out by Selzer & Co. on behalf of the Des Moines Register and surveyed 811 Iowans from July 10-13. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
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