GOP consultant says contentiousness high, discourse low for presidential election

Frank Luntz likes to joke about the presidential election. But he’s dead serious when he says Americans deserve better discourse.

Luntz, a nationally recognized pollster and Republican political consultant, spoke Monday at a Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce breakfast. About 200 people attended the event at The Orleans.

“It genuinely is horrible,” Luntz said of this year’s presidential choice. “The good news is that one of these candidates has to lose on Election Day. The problem is that one of them has to win.”

Luntz has run focus groups and worked as an analyst for CBS and Fox News and produced messaging for travel and tourism for executives and resort and gaming companies. His clients have included Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adelson, Jim Murren, Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Boyd Gaming Corp.

Luntz is also founder and chairman of Luntz Global, which does consulting, focus groups and corporate messaging. He said Las Vegas is good for polling people to get an understanding of politics from a middle-class or working-class perspective.

At the breakfast, Luntz, a Las Vegas resident, was equally tough on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, pointing out problems with both candidates.

“The problem with Trump is that you never know what he’s going to say,” Luntz said. “The problem with Clinton is you know exactly what she’s going to say. … And voters are looking for something in the middle.”

Luntz told reporters, “It has never been this contentious; it has never been this issueless and I really do think the American people deserve better. I know Nevada deserves better.”

In the United States and particularly in Nevada, a place famous risk-taking, optimism is waning, Luntz said.

“I remember when this is the place that you came for hope and opportunity,” he said of Nevada. “This is the place that you came to either reinvent yourself or to take an idea and really blow it out. All across the country and even here in Nevada, people are no longer as optimistic as they used to be.”

Republicans and Democrats don’t talk to each other anymore, he said, adding that there’s “no cooperation” and “no compromise.” He said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., breaks that mold, and has Democratic colleagues who are also friends.

Luntz said the current low discourse began after the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which ended when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling halted a contested push to recount ballots in Florida. Bush took the presidency, winning the Electoral College, while Gore won the popular vote.

“Many of Al Gore’s people refused to endorse the Bush election after the Supreme Court ruled and it was all over,” Luntz said. “Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and others said the vote was illegitimate and Bush was an illegitimate president. We’ve never had that happen before and that was the beginning of the poison.”

Will the rancor end after Election Day? Luntz doubts it.

“I don’t think this election is the end,” he said. “I think it’s only the beginning. Right now you have millions of Americans who think that democracy doesn’t work. I’m afraid that on election night and beyond, it will become tens of millions.”

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.