Fox News ‘Most Trusted’ By a Third and ‘Least Trusted’ By a Third

35% & 33%

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds 35% of Americans say they trust Fox News more than any other TV news channel, followed by 14% for PBS, 11% for ABC, 10% for CNN, 9% for CBS, 6% each for Comedy Central and MSNBC, and 3% for NBC. Meanwhile, Fox News also leads the “least trusted” list with 33% followed by 19% for MSNBC, 14% for Comedy Central, 11% for CNN, 5% for ABC, 4% for CBS, and 2% each for NBC and PBS.

Jeb Bush Defers Decision on Prez Run Until Late 2014

I’m deferring the decision to the right time which is later this year and the decision will be based on, can I do it joyfully, because I think we need to have candidates lift our spirits. It’s a pretty pessimistic country right now; and, is it right for my family? So I don’t even want to think about that till it’s the right time and that’s later on.

— Jeb Bush, telling CBS Miami he’s not ready to decide on a 2016 presidential bid. Said Bush: “I’m going to think about it later. I don’t wake up each day saying, ‘What am I going to do today to make this decision?'”

Crist Holds Lead Over Scott in Florida Governor Race

46% to 38%

Margin by which Charlie Crist (D) is leading Gov. Rick Scott (R) in the governor’s race, according to a new Quinnipiac poll in Florida. Pollster Peter Brown: “The best number in this poll for Crist — and the biggest problem for Scott — is that a majority of Florida voters say the current governor does not deserve a second term in Tallahassee. Voters also give Crist a higher job approval for when he ran the state than any approval rating Scott has received in his three years on the job.”

In the South, the Immigration Reform Debate Comes Down to Racism

Part of it, I think — and I hate to say this, because these are my people — but I hate to say it, but it’s racial. If you go to town halls people say things like, ‘These people have different cultural customs than we do.’ And that’s code for race.

— A Southern Republican congressman, speaking to BuzzFeed, on immigration reform.

State of the Union Has Jumped the Shark

Blame Woodrow Wilson, who broke a century-old presidential tradition of delivering the State of the Union message only in writing. Blame Harry S. Truman, the first chief executive to make the address on television, or Lyndon B. Johnson, the first to do so in prime time. … Blame Lenny Skutnik, the plucky government office worker who rescued a freezing woman from the Potomac River after a plane crash and then became the first citizen-hero to be saluted by the president in the House gallery when Ronald Reagan honored him in 1982. … Blame the Democrats. Blame the Republicans. Blame social media, members of Congress, the wind or the weather. But the State of the Union — as political event, public theater, real-time town hall or self-help reality show — has jumped the shark.

— Todd Purdum, writing for Politico.

Republicans Still Don’t Understand Women

It’s hard for me to phrase this politely. Sometimes Republicans think that just putting a woman up front means somehow that women are going to feel good about the party. It is not about the messenger. It’s about the message. And until we figure that one out, while it’s nice that we have a woman as a spokesperson, if the message itself doesn’t get changed a bit, it’s not going to work.

— Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), quoted by the Los Angeles Times, on Republicans picking a woman to rebut the State of the Union address.