Day: July 30, 2016
Schumer Positive on Dem’s Future
We’re going to have a Democratic generation. President Obama helped create it. But it’s just where America’s moving demographically, ideologically and in every way. We’ll have a mandate to get something done.
— Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told Politico he “is feeling good enough about the battle for Senate control to essentially predict he’ll be majority leader next year. Not only that, the veteran New York Democrat believes his party is on the cusp of something much bigger: An era of electoral dominance.”
Clinton Gets Convention Bounce
15 points
The new RABA Research tracking poll shows Hillary Clinton has opened a significant lead over Donald Trump, now leading him 46% to 31%, with Gary Johnson at 7% and Jill Stein sits at 2%. A similar poll conducted the day after the Republican convention showed Clinton ahead by only five points.
Clinton Ahead Nationally As Pollsters Change Questions
41% to 35%
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by six points, 41% to 35%, with another 25% picking “other. … The presidential tracking poll reflects a slight change of wording from previous surveys, replacing the ‘Neither/Other’ option given to respondents with just ‘Other.’ An internal review had found the word ‘Neither’ has, at times, siphoned support away from one or the other candidate.”
Majority of Americans Disagree With Trump’s Russia Call
54%
Of Americans regard Donald Trump’s call for Russia to intervene in an election as inappropriate, while just 30% say that it was appropriate, according to a new YouGov survey. However, that conceals a significant partisan divide: 61% of Republicans thought it was acceptable and 80% of Democrats thought it was unacceptable.
Brooks: Angry at Republicans Who Gave Away Their Party’s ‘Sacred Inheritance’
The Sanders people have 90 percent of the Democratic Party’s passion and 95 percent of the ideas. Most Sanders people are kind- and open-hearted, but there is a core that is corrupted by moral preening, an uncompromising absolutism and a paranoid unwillingness to play by the rules of civic life. … But the extremist fringe that threatens to take over the Democratic Party seems less menacing than the lunatic fringe that has already taken over the Republican one. … This week I left the arena here each night burning with indignation at Mike Pence. I almost don’t blame Trump. He is a morally untethered, spiritually vacuous man who appears haunted by multiple personality disorders. It is the ‘sane’ and ‘reasonable’ Republicans who deserve the shame — the ones who stood silently by, or worse, while Donald Trump gave away their party’s sacred inheritance.
— David Brooks
Flake: Anti-Hillary Chants Didn’t Help GOP Cause
I had a bit of trouble with some of the chants, the ‘lock her up’ and what not. I don’t think that that, while it certainly appeals inside to that room, it doesn’t appeal much on the outside.
— Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), telling WGN-AM that chants of “lock her up” at the Republican National Convention hurt the party’s case against Hillary Clinton.
Trump Wanted to ‘Hit’ Democratic Convention Speakers
You know what I wanted to. I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard. I would have hit them. No, no. I was going to hit them, I was all set and then I got a call from a highly respected governor. … I was gonna hit one guy in particular, a very little guy. I was gonna hit this guy so hard his head would spin and he wouldn’t know what the hell happened.
— Donald Trump, telling ABC News that he wanted to “hit” some of the Democratic convention speakers “so hard” while watching them.
Conventions Have Little Effect on Outcomes
13
Of the presidential elections between 1960 and 2012 (not including this year), “there have been seven where the party whose convention got lower ratings won the election in November. So it’s safe to say that ratings have little to no electoral meaning. … If we look back at the total ratings for every political convention from 1960 to 2012, it’s quickly apparent that the side whose convention receives the most viewers doesn’t necessarily win.” — Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball
Dear Dr. Democrat: Gallup Gives Me Gastritis
Dear Dr. Democrat:
I’ve been reading Gallup polling, and it has me worried, though there seems to be good news and bad news. First, the bad:
The average American’s views of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have converged for the first time in Gallup’s yearlong tracking of the images of the two candidates, with Americans giving each exactly the same favorable and unfavorable ratings. The numbers for both candidates, based on interviewing conducted July 18-25, are 37% favorable and 58% unfavorable. In all previous Gallup updates stretching back to last July, Clinton’s net favorable has been higher than Trump’s.
The current period covers the four days of the Republican convention, but also includes the weekend in which Clinton announced her vice presidential running mate and the first night of the Democratic convention. In fact, when the data from Saturday, Sunday and Monday are isolated, the numbers are even slightly more in Trump’s favor — 37%/58% favorable/unfavorable, compared with Clinton’s 36%/59%.
