'Visibly shaken' Senate Republicans walloped with bad news in closed-door meeting: report

Senate Republican leaders have delivered grim new warnings to their colleagues: the midterms are shaping up to be a bloodbath beyond what had previously been predicted.

An anti-incumbent wave is sweeping the nation on its 250th anniversary, catching Republicans at their most vulnerable moment. Trump's approval ratings have cratered, and GOP leadership is now privately acknowledging just how dire the situation has become, The Hill is reporting.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) warned Senate GOP colleagues in private about "how bad polling is, currently, for Republicans and how bad the president is losing ground among all groups," according to a senior Republican aide speaking with the Hill's Alexander Bolton.

The picture got worse at a recent Senate Republican lunch, according to the report.

Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) presented polling showing independents fleeing the GOP in "significant numbers" and moving toward Democrats. The data was stark enough that attendees left the meeting "visibly shaken."

According to prominent Republican pollster Whit Ayres, "We know that the party in power tends to lose House seats in a midterm election, but the number of seats lost is highly correlated with the president’s popularity. When presidential job approval is above 50 percent, the average loss of House seats for his party is 14. When it’s below 50 percent, the average loss of House seats for his party is 32.”

"But there are very few people at this point who are predicting that the Democrats will not gain seats in the House," Ayres added.

According to the report, a recent Fox News poll of 1,002 registered voters conducted in mid-June showed only 23 percent of voters approve of Trump's handling of gas prices. Just 31 percent approve of his economic management.

Democratic strategist Tad Devine told The Hill he sees a wave election in the making. "It may be a very big change election in that the Republicans are going to lose the House of Representatives and could lose the Senate as well. And I think the Democrats will gain ground not just in those federal races but I think in governors' races, in legislative races."