The news from Quinnipiac this week about Donald Trump's lowest ever approval rating on the economy might have impacted the New Jersey gubernatorial election with even greater political force, if not for the GOP's ongoing significant troubles.

Let's look at the facts.

Mikie Sherrill introduced herself as a former military helicopter pilot, which caused more than a few "ho-hum" reactions, especially in this economy.  This is New Jersey, so unless you can dive headfirst into the swamp, people don't want to hear about what you did "over there."

But the GOP misjudged Sherrill.

That was a fatal tactical mistake.

The leader of their party, the President, drives a golfcart - not a helicopter - so when his cronies tried to bum-rush a woman in uniform who served our country for almost a decade, they could never have anticipated the reaction of a genuine warrior.

Bob McHugh told InsiderNJ that Sherrill had to get tough on the debate stage in response.

If she didn't, it was over.

She did.

Did she go too far?

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli thought so.

But Sherrill in the process let doubters and cynics know that this fight matters. In the inimitable words of a Jersey City politician, "I'm a simple man. You punch me. I punch you."

Sherrill's reaction appeared to rattle Ciattarelli.

Ever since, the Sherrill Campaign has looked strong, much stronger than it did in September, with numerous factors simultaneously contributing to a wobbly Ciattarelli world.

Keep in mind, that Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, the second-place finisher in the Democratic Primary, backs Sherrill.

If you doubt that, listen to this.

As for the second-place contestant in the Republican Primary, Bill Spadea, a radio host on 101.5 FM - he not only refuses to endorse his conqueror, but publicly, vituperatively berates Ciattarelli.

What about Jon Bramnick, the third-place finisher?

He never endorsed, either.

Never got a phone call.

For all the handwringing among Democrats - probably an atmosphere that in part prompted state Senator Joe Cryan (D-20) earlier this week to tell people to man up - Republicans have their own dramas.

And hurts.

Chris Christie (he was governor here, remember?) doesn't get along with Trump.

Trump humiliated Jeb Bush, and badmouthed the presidency of "W."

Some people here don't forget that, among them former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman, another Republican who hails from Ciattarelli's home county of Somerset who, by the way, backs Sherrill.

But back to October.

Back to now.

There was the Wildwood rally, which to a lot of people not drinking the MAGA Kool-Aid, namely independents - many of whom are skeptical of extremism - doesn't look cool.

In New Jersey, the aftermath of Trump's MAGA guys storming and desecrating the Capitol on Jan. 6th, 2021, included the death of a police officer who was on duty at the U.S. Capitol on the day in question.

Adding to GOP bedlam here, don't forget about last week, when Trump bragged about killing the Gateway Tunnel Project (Oh, yeah, Republicans who control both houses down there, and the presidency, couldn't prevent a federal government shutdown) in a supposed game of retributive chicken with Chuck Schumer.

His Republican allies are certainly routinely worried about hurting Trump's feelings.

But speaking of hurts, what the President's doing only hurts New Jersey commuters, but workers.

"The Trump administration's threat to cancel this is a huge detriment to New Jersey, and Jack Ciattarelli's decision to support the President on this - it's really a detriment to the economy (more on that in a minute) and the hard-working people of New Jersey," state Senator Paul Sarlo (D-36) told InsiderNJ last night at Biggies.

This week, incidentally, one of Ciattarelli's advisers made a seismically stupid antisemitic comment.

Sherrill and her allies pounced, of course.

And, oh yeah, Sherrill's got Barack Obama coming to town, the former president, whom Trump once accused of not being from America.

Remember that?

Then today, speaking of Trump, since we're on the subject, with the country already trying to suck up the tariffs and their worsening of inflation, that Quinnipiac Poll came out, which shows - surprise! - diminished confidence in Trump's handling of the economy.

From Quinnipiac:

President Trump hit his lowest approval rating on the economy in a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday.

Just 38 percent of respondents said they approve of the president’s handling of the economy, while 57 percent disapproved and 5 percent did not provide an opinion. Trump’s previous low on the economy was a 39 percent approval rating, a mark he hit four times — including last month — since the start of his first term in 2017.

The respondents were split along partisan lines: 88 percent of Republicans and just 2 percent of Democrats approved of the president’s handling of the economy. Only 30 percent of independents backed Trump on the issue.

The survey, conducted Oct. 16-20 via phone, consisted of 1,327 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Not enough for you?

On Monday, U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10) - a colleague of Sherrill's and a former student of Baraka's - charged by Trump's Department of Justice, alighted on the sidewalk in her hometown of Newark after appearing before a judge. “I’m not going to stop holding this administration accountable,” she said, having pled not guilty to the charges. This administration serves a president, by the way, who wants to use our cities as training grounds for the military.

The Congresswoman's charges stem from a May 9th incident when McIver, along with Mayor Baraka, attempted to look into the goings on at Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in her district, in her hometown, amid ongoing reports of ICE agents in masks with guns aggressively arresting people.

From the Associated Press:

A nearly two-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Baraka’s arrest on the other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor.

The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police.”

It is not clear from police bodycam video if the contact was intentional, incidental or the result of jostling in the chaotic scene.

So, for trying to find out what masked men with guns were doing, those masked men with guns tried to intimidate her, and got intimidated, by a woman trying to do her job, unlike Trump's cronies who can't open the government. So much for the seriousness of the GOP's message of law and order, which might have been a way to get the campaign message in line, since they certainly can't talk about the economy, not with this President in the White House.