As far as ledes go — the anecdotes that journalists use to compel readers at the outset of a story — few I’ve encountered in my life have been better tailored to my interests than one that Washington Post columnist Marc A. Thiessen used this week.
Thiessen got a chance to interview President Trump in the Oval Office and began his description of that conversation by explaining what the president was doing when Thiessen entered.
“President Trump was going over new polls — some internal, some not — showing him tied or leading Joe Biden in key swing states. ‘Pennsylvania tied. Florida, up one. Wisconsin, up one. Texas, up five. Arizona, Trump 49, Biden 45; North Carolina, Trump up three. And then Montana: Trump up a lot — 52-38,’ he said.”
Over and over, we’ve heard Trump wave away the idea that he’s in trouble in November, citing unspecified polls that show him doing well. And here some are — a couple without attribution and presumably internal, but a number with links helpfully included by Thiessen. The Wisconsin poll is from the Trafalgar Group; the Arizona and North Carolina ones from Gravis Marketing, commissioned by One America News; the Montana poll is from the University of Montana. Continue reading.