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63%
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that 63% of American voters say the nation’s economy is “excellent” or “good,” while 34% say it is “not so good” or “poor.” More think President Obama is mostly responsible for the state of the economy, 45% of voters, than President Trump, 43% of voters. In fact, voters disapprove 51% to 44% of the way Trump is handling the economy.
55%
A new CNN poll finds opposition to the Republican tax bill has grown 10 points since early November, and 55% now oppose it. Just 33% say they favor the GOP’s proposal. Meanwhile, President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 35%, his worst mark yet in CNN polling.
14%
Bloomberg: “Trump mentions the stock market almost daily in tweets or public remarks, taking direct credit for record highs by the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other indices. But only about 14 percent of U.S. families directly own stocks, an asset class dominated by the country’s top earners, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, the president has also rolled back efforts to expand retirement savings options to more middle-class and low-income workers.”
“Our tax system is punishing all those qualities that make America great.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan, in a video celebrating the GOP tax bill, when he was a 28-year old congressman.
“Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted ‘I’ would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well!”
— President Trump, on Twitter.
47% to 26%
A new Monmouth poll finds Americans disapprove of the tax reform plan currently making its way through Congress by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, 47% to 26%. It is worth noting that strong disapproval (35%) of the proposal far outweighs strong approval (13%). Key finding: “Half the public believe their own taxes would go up under this plan and a plurality would like to see Congress scrap the current effort and start fresh in 2018.”
50% to 39%
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Democrats leading Republicans in the generic congressional ballot by 11-points, 50% to 39%. NBC News: “The last time Democrats both held a double-digit lead and hit 50 percent on this question in the NBC/WSJ poll was September 2008, right before the party won the White House and picked up a substantial number of House and Senate seats.”
“Republican House members on our committee… are taking steps to shut us down.”
— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), on MSNBC, accusing House Republicans of preparing to close down the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation.
If the Republican tax plan passes Congress, it will mark a watershed for the United States. The medium- and long-term effects of the plan will be a massive drop in public investment, which will come on the heels of decades of declining spending (as a percentage of gross domestic product) on infrastructure, scientific research, skills training and core government agencies. The United States can’t coast on past investments forever, and with this legislation, we are ushering in a bleak future.”
26%
New York Times: “Last year’s contentious presidential election gave oxygen to hate. An analysis of F.B.I. crime data by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found a 26 percent increase in bias incidents in the last quarter of 2016 — the heart of the election season — compared with the same period the previous year. The trend has continued into 2017, with the latest partial data for the nation’s five most populous cities showing a 12 percent increase.”
