Scott Walker says Trump will win Wisconsin in 2020 'nail-biter'

Former Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) predicted that President Trump will win Wisconsin again in the 2020 election, but it will be a "nail-biter."

"I know a lot about Wisconsin, and I think in the end it’s going to be incredibly close," Walker told Just the News at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "But I think if the path he's on and the candidates are on stay the way that is, I think it'll be a nail-biter, but we'll carry the state of Wisconsin again."

Walker is less sanguine about two Rust Belt swing states in which Trump eked out surprise wins in 2016. "I think it's tougher in Michigan, but it's doable," he said. "I think it's really tough in Pennsylvania, but a lot of it will depend on the economy."

To hold Wisconsin, Walker said Trump has to make the race a "contrast between results versus partisanship" to win over more practically-minded independents.

"Lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, we consistently see at or below the lowest ever in Wisconsin, we see wages up, we see families doing better, household income up," said Walker. "Contrast that with the obsession that Democrats have had for the past two years, three years almost, on impeachment and really not getting anything done. And I think that's a stark contrast that will wave and push independents towards the president's reelection."

Walker was asked what he thought of the argument some Democrats make that the economy is not working for all and that average Americans haven't benefitted from what had been (until the recent correction) record stock market gains.

"When you look at actual take-home pay, with wages going up and less money coming out of their pocket in terms of federal taxes, that runs contrary," he said. "But I also think the other question people have is, even if someone is saying, 'Well, I'm not making the kind of wages I want to make,' is the answer to have the government take over more of that?" 

Living standards can erode rapidly under socialist economic policies, Walker warns. "What we've seen in places like Venezuela, a country that was once doing quite well, just a short decade and a half ago, 9 out of 10 people in that country are now living in extreme poverty," he said. "We don't want that in America. We don't want that anywhere in the world, but we particularly don't want that in America, and that's where Bernie Sanders' policies would take us." 

Walker was asked what he would tell independent voters who might support some of Trump's economic policies but oppose his use of Twitter and his overall leadership style.

"I don't agree with every tweet or comment the president makes, but this city, Washington D.C., is filled with politicians who say all the right things and don't do squat," he replied. "This president may not always talk or tweet the way that I or others in the Midwest in particular do, but in the end he actually gets things done that have been of tremendous value to families in Wisconsin and all across the country. And I'd rather take someone who does things. I think actions speak louder than words."