Tag: 2020 election

Trump says ‘angry majority’ supports him against impeachment drive

TUPELO, Miss. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed an “angry majority” of American voters will support him against an impeachment inquiry as he sought to rally his supporters to voice their opposition to the Democratic attempt to oust him.

At a packed arena in Tupelo, Mississippi, Trump aired his grievances at length a day after the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted formally to lay out the rules for the inquiry into Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

“The American people are fed up with Democrat lies, hoaxes and extremism,” said Trump. The Democrats, he said, “have created an angry majority that will vote many do-nothing Democrats out of office in 2020.”

View the complete November 1 article by Steve Holland on the Reuters website here.

Majorities in six battleground states support House impeachment inquiry

AlterNet logoMajorities of voters across six key battleground states support House Democrats’ impeachment investigation into Donald Trump, according to recently released data from a New York Times Upshot/Sienna College survey. By anywhere from 4 to 13 points, registered voters in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin stand behind the inquiry, 51%-44%. By nearly the exact same margin though, voters also oppose actually impeaching and removing Trump from office, with 52% against removal and 44% in favor. Here’s the breakdown in support for the inquiry by state:

  • Arizona: 53% support, 40% oppose; +13
  • Florida: 49% support, 44% oppose; +5
  • Michigan: 50% support, 46% oppose; +4
  • North Carolina: 50% support, 45% oppose; +5
  • Pennsylvania: 53% support, 44% oppose; +9
  • Wisconsin: 51% support, 44% oppose; +7

Those numbers should absolutely panic GOP Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona, who’s up for reelection in 2020. In fact, if you break out how the inquiry registers among “independent/other” voters in each state, Arizona independents favor the inquiry by a whopping 18 points.

  • Arizona: 55% support, 37% oppose; +18
  • Florida: 46% support, 47% oppose; +9
  • Michigan: 51% support, 46% oppose; +5
  • North Carolina: 54% support, 45% oppose; +9
  • Pennsylvania: 54% support, 41% oppose; +13
  • Wisconsin: 54% support, 41% oppose; +13

View the complete November 1 article by Kerry Eleveld from Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.

Trump faces severe suburban slump

The Hill logoPresident Trump is facing a suburban slump among voters who sent him to the White House.

Recent polls show Trump’s numbers have slipped substantially among suburban voters, who Trump carried in 2016 by a 49 percent to 45 percent margin over Hillary Clinton, according to exit polls conducted across the country.

Just 32 percent of all suburban voters now say they would definitely vote to reelect the president, according to a new Grinnell College poll conducted by the Iowa-based pollster Ann Selzer. Another 14 percent said they would consider someone else, and 51 percent said they would definitely vote for a candidate other than Trump.

View the complete October 29 article by Reid Wilson on The Hill website here.

I predicted Trump would win in 2016 — and I’m predicting the same for 2020. Here’s why liberals don’t understand what he represents

NOTE:  It’s important that those who see the authoritarian behavior of our current president and his dismantling of more and more of what makes our country function, his continued hate speech, etc.

AlterNet logoI predicted well before the 2016 presidential election that Donald Trump would be elected. I had felt that way ever since he rode down that golden escalator with his rapist invective. Ever since he was elected, I’ve also believed that he’ll be re-elected, more easily this time.

An illustrative personal anecdote, one of many over the last three years: A creative writing PhD I know with tons of debt, whose wife happens to be an undocumented Filipina, became mightily angered by the promise of student debt cancelation. What about those who have paid their dues by taking out debt, he asked? No doubt he would refuse a blanket amnesty for “illegals” too. His DACA wife, as he sees it, paid her dues.

Columnists at the New York Times are all angry at the possibility of decriminalizing of border crossings, health care for the undocumented and the abolition of private insurance. In fact, they don’t want to do away with Trumpian inhumanity. They want the oppression to continue, but without the transparent rhetoric.

View the complete October 27 article by Anis Shivani from Salon on the AlterNet website here.

DCCC again asks NRCC to pledge not to use hacked materials

Bustos resending a letter first sent to Emmer six months ago

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is renewing a request to its Republican counterpart that both parties pledge not to use hacked materials in the 2020 campaign.

DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois first sent such a letter to National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Tom Emmer in April. Six months later, she’s resending the letter, following House passage — largely along party lines — of an election security bill this week.

“The urgency I conveyed in April has not dissipated. In fact, the importance of this issue has only grown,” Bustos wrote in the letter, which was obtained first by CQ Roll Call.

View the complete October 25 article by Simone Pathé on The Roll Call website here.

What is ‘dark money’? 5 questions answered

With the 2020 campaign season upon us, “dark money” is again in the news.

Maine’s Republican Sen. Susan Collins has decried what she contends is a “dark money” campaign against her. Montana’s Gov. Steve Bullock has made opposition to dark money a centerpiece of his Democratic presidential campaign.

But what exactly is “dark money,” and why is it considered a problem?

View the complete October 25 article by Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia University, on the Conversation website here.

The Path to 270 in 2020

Center for American Progress logoOverview

One year out from the 2020 election, the contours of the eventual vote, both demographically and in the Electoral College, seem clear—but the paths both parties may eventually choose to successfully harness these tangible trends remain in flux.

Introduction and summary

The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 defied many normal rules of presidential political strategy and electoral analysis. Consider the lead-up to the 2016 contest: The Democratic Party under former President Barack Obama had won two consecutive elections by solid margins, with majorities of voters backing the nation’s first African American president in his reelection bid against Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 in both the national vote (51 percent to 47 percent) and in the Electoral College (332 votes to 206 votes). Although suffering significant losses in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, the Obama coalition of young people, African Americans, working-class women, and white college graduates—a growing bloc of voters in recent elections in contrast with the Republican Party’s steadily declining base of mostly white and older voters—was poised to deliver a third consecutive term for the Democrats.1

Even with these midterm losses, many pundits thought 2016 was the Democrats’ race to lose on paper. Trump trailed in almost all national polling throughout the fall 2016 campaign season. And despite winning an electoral majority, Trump ultimately failed to command a national majority, losing the popular vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes and more than 2 percentage points nationwide (48.2 percent to 46.1 percent).

View the complete October 24 article by Roy Teixeira and John Halpin on the Center for American Progress website here.

Facebook takedowns show new Russian activity targeted Biden, praised Trump

Washington Post logoThe company disabled a network of accounts that posed at times as locals in swing states to post on divisive political issues and the upcoming presidential election

Facebook on Monday said it removed a network of Russian-backed accounts that posed as locals weighing in on political issues in swing states, praising President Trump and attacking former vice president Joe Biden — illustrating that the familiar threat of Russian interference looms over the next U.S. presidential race.

Facebook said the network bears the hallmark of the same Kremlin-backed group that interfered in the 2016 election by sowing social discord, seeking to boost Trump and attacking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The new disinformation campaign appears to follow the same playbook.

This time, a coordinated group of Russian accounts that appears to show some links to the Internet Research Agency largely took to Facebook’s photo-sharing app, Instagram, to post content this year about U.S. politics and memes targeting Democratic presidential contenders.

View the complete October 21 article by Tony Romm and Isaac Stanley-Becker on The Washington Post website here.

Trump reelection campaign hiring in Minnesota, New Mexico

The Hill logoPresident Trump’s reelection campaign says it is hiring staff and opening field offices in Minnesota and New Mexico, two traditionally blue states the president’s strategists have identified as having potential to flip in 2020.

Still, the Trump campaign believes that both states are in play this time around.

On a conference call with reporters, a senior official said the campaign is working on a “huge buildout” of paid staffers and a volunteer network in Minnesota that will dwarf their 2016 efforts there.

View the complete October 15 article by Jonathan Easley on The Hill website here.

Polls flash warning signs for Trump on impeachment

The Hill logoNew public opinion surveys show signs of trouble for President Trump in the fast-evolving impeachment inquiry unfolding just 13 months out from Election Day.

Polls out this week show independents and a growing share of Republicans warming to the inquiry or expressing concern about Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

While early shifts in support of impeachment appeared to be driven by Democrats, a Washington Post–Schar School poll released on Tuesday rocked Washington, finding that nearly 30 percent of Republicans support the impeachment investigation and nearly 20 percent support a Senate vote to remove the president if he is impeached in the House.

View the complete October 8 article by Jonathan Easley on The Hill website here.