Article snippet: Jim and John McLaughlin occupy a fraught space in Trump World as pollsters for a president who runs on gut instinct and disparages the polling industry that failed to forecast his shocking 2016 election victory. The McLaughlin brothers, both of whom are on the Trump campaign’s 2020 polling team led by Tony Fabrizio, have become trusted confidants for Trump, particularly on the hot-button cultural issues the president uses to highlight rifts between middle America and coastal “elites.” The pollsters have also become visible spokesmen for the campaign through appearances on Fox News, where they’ve discussed the president’s polling strength or what they view as Democratic blind spots. As pollsters for scores of Republican candidates in the House and Senate over the years, as well as for GOP presidential campaigns dating back to businessman Steve Forbes and former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the McLaughlins have bridged the gulf between establishment Republicans and Trump, whose disruptive tendencies have exposed a divide within the GOP. “John McLaughlin is one of the sharpest and most seasoned minds in politics,” said Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary under President George W. Bush. “He’s hard-nosed, realistic and battle-tested, and he knows what to look for in voters who can be moved.” The McLaughlin brothers declined to be interviewed for this story, but those who know them detailed their decades-long political work in the Tri-state area, where they ran i... Link to the full article to read more