A new Gallup poll finds President Trump’s approval rate dropping from 49% to 39% in just a month.
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll also shows Trump’s approval at 39%.
A new Data for Progress poll finds Joe Biden leading Donald Trump nationally in the presidential race, 54% to 40%.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds Biden ahead by 46% to 38%.
Politico: “Iowa, once a model swing state, fell so hard for Donald Trump four years ago that 2020 seemed like a forgone conclusion. But in a sign of how Trump’s reelection prospects have weakened across the country, even the heartland may be having second thoughts.”
“Since the start of the year, Democrats in Iowa have added about twice as many active voters to their rolls as Republicans, nudging ahead in total registration for the first time in years. The farm economy has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. And though Trump still holds a small lead in the state, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average, he’s now airing TV advertisements there – a tacit acknowledgment that the campaign anticipates a contest.”
Only 27% of registered voters in a new Politico/Morning Consult poll said they somewhat or strongly agree that President Trump himself is religious, while 55% somewhat or strongly disagree.
President Trump’s campaign is demanding CNN retract and apologize for a recent poll that showed him well behind Joe Biden, CNN reports.
The demand, coming in the form of a cease and desist letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker, was immediately rejected by the network.
A Washington Post story included this aside: “Trump has become obsessed with polling and lashes out at those who say he is losing to Biden, according to two White House officials and a longtime Trump ally.”
Jonathan Chait: “The reporters, perhaps because their sensitivities have been dulled by years of daily exposure to this kind of madness, immediately moved on to other points, rather than linger over the sheer irrationality revealed by this line. It is quite a conundrum for the president’s staff. He is obsessed with polls, but he becomes enraged upon being informed he’s losing to Biden. Given that every poll shows him losing to Biden, his advisers don’t seem to have a lot of good options.”
ABC News: “The campaign’s internal poll numbers showed the president down in swing states, and down with key demographics of voters including women and independents.”
“The messaging from the White House on the coronavirus pandemic and the growing anger about the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was fueling a drop in his numbers. Top aides warned that former Vice President Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, was positioned to defeat the president by a significant number of electoral votes based on the campaign’s analysis.”
“The president, who is known to call multiple advisers and friends outside the White House in addition to speaking to White House and campaign aides daily, is also listening to the advice of most everyone who gets in his ear, sources said. But that includes advisers who some aides view as problematic.
“Several sources particularly pointed to Jenna Ellis, the president’s campaign legal adviser who’s repeatedly sparked controversy over comments she’s made on social media, including last month specifically attacking female White House reporters of color on Twitter for asking what she called ‘stupid questions’ at press briefings. “Ellis also mocked Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading member of the White House coronavirus task force, tweeting that she trusted ‘the local weather forecast’ more than the nation’s leading infectious disease expert. … When reached by ABC News, Ellis declined to comment on what counsel she provides the president beyond saying her conversations with him are privileged.”
Washington Post: “Seeking a city willing to allow a large-scale event amid the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans have tentatively settled on Jacksonville, Fla., as the new destination for the premier festivities of the Republican National Convention in August.”
“The details of the arrangement are still in flux and RNC aides are scrambling to determine whether the northern Florida city has enough hotel rooms to accommodate the quadrennial event, which typically kicks off the final stretch of the presidential campaign. Republican officials were in Jacksonville on Monday looking at the city and the surrounding areas.”
Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Jon Ossoff built a commanding lead in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday as polls began to close after a day of voting marred by long lines and faulty equipment[.]” Ossoff seems to have clinched an outright win in Georgia’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate without the need for a runoff, the AP reports.
“Georgia’s primary quickly turned into an ordeal for voters who waited for hours Tuesday when it became clear officials were unprepared for an election on new voting computers during the coronavirus pandemic,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“Poll workers couldn’t get voting machines to work. Precincts opened late. Social-distancing requirements created long lines. Some voters gave up and went home.”
“The primary was a major test of Georgia’s ability to run a highly anticipated election in a potential battleground state ahead of November’s presidential election, when more than twice as many voters are expected. Elections officials fell short.”
New York Times: Georgia’s election descends into chaos.
Daily Beast: “QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has frequently posted messages about the bizarre pro-Trump conspiracy theory on social media, handily leads the primary field of Republicans in Georgia’s heavily Republican 14th district. Greene, who beat her closest opponent by more than 20%, will head to an August run-off after receiving 41% of the primary vote.”
“Greene is an outspoken supporter of QAnon, a conspiracy theory based on a series of anonymous messages posted online by a mystery figure named ‘Q.’ QAnon believers think that Donald Trump is engaged in a shadowy war against a cabal of global elites, including the Democratic Party, and will soon arrest or even execute top Democrats in an event they know as ‘The Storm.’”
“The NBA superstar LeBron James and a group of other prominent black athletes and entertainers are starting a new group aimed at protecting African-Americans’ voting rights, seizing on the widespread fury against racial injustice that has fueled worldwide protests to amplify their voices in this fall’s presidential election,” the New York Times reports.
Said James: “Because of everything that’s going on, people are finally starting to listen to us — we feel like we’re finally getting a foot in the door. How long is up to us. We don’t know. But we feel like we’re getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference.”
“I’m a 7th generation Mississippian. I’ve helped elect Governors and Senators in MS, AL, GA, TX, OK, NC and FL. Trump will lose more white voters with his Confederate defense than gain. Majority very much want to move past Civil War and hatred, not relive it. NASCAR gets it. Trump doesn’t.” — GOP strategist Stuart Stevens, on Twitter.
President Trump will return to the campaign trail on June 19 with a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the New York Times reports. “Trump campaign officials are unlikely to put into place any social distancing measures for rally attendees, or require them to wear face masks… adding that it would be unnecessary because the state is so far along in its reopening.”
Trump plans to announce a plan for “holistic revitalization and recovery” during a trip to Dallas today built around a high-dollar fundraising dinner expected to bring in $10 million, the Dallas Morning News reports.
It’s his first campaign foray since the coronavirus pandemic began three months ago.
Mark McKinnon: “The fact that the polling is even close in Texas should be a four-alarm fire for Team Trump. The electoral map makes it plain as day: If they’ve got even a hint of trouble in Texas, then they’ve got way bigger problems in a lot of other states that are even more telling as presidential bellwethers. If Trump loses Texas and its seismic 38 electoral votes—a state he won by a hefty nine points in 2016—then it’s all over, Baby Blue.”
“But here’s the key for Team Biden. Don’t get distracted by the big, shiny object of Texas. Don’t waste valuable time and resources there. It’s big. It’s expensive. It’s a place where Democrats’ dreams have been dashed for decades… Democrats in 2020 instead need to keep the focus on Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Ohio, Iowa, and Maine wouldn’t hurt either. And let’s not forget Minnesota and, yes, even Georgia…”
“The bottom line is that if Texas were to truly be in play in November—a very big if—then Biden wouldn’t even need Texas because he’d be winning by, oh, 400-plus electoral votes. In other words: by a landslide. So for goodness’ sake, don’t mess with Texas.”
Nate Cohn: “Over the last two weeks, support for Black Lives Matter increased by nearly as much as it had over the previous two years, according to data from Civiqs, an online survey research firm. By a 28-point margin, Civiqs finds that a majority of Americans support the movement, up from a 17-point margin before the most recent wave of protests began.”
Politico: George Floyd’s killing has transformed views on race.
New York Times: “Even as Lindsey Graham faces a determined and well-financed challenger, his strategy may pay off. In ruby-red South Carolina, he has stuck close to the Republican president, who is likely to win the state in the general election…”
“Privately, some Democratic officials admit that while Mr. Graham’s conservative turn may be off-putting in some parts of South Carolina, it’s smart politics in a statewide race. Early public polling indicates that Jaime Harrison still has an uphill climb, and Mr. Graham has a slight advantage.”
Washington Post: “But there is no sign yet of a mass exodus from the runaway Trump train. If anything, most elected Republicans see themselves as prisoners onboard, calculating that jumping off would lead to almost certain defeat.”
“Conversations at the highest ranks of the party have reached what one veteran operative called the ‘acceptance phase of grieving,’ where ‘there is an understanding that he’s president until at least November, and there is not much we can do about it.’ … Strategists over the past week have suggested myriad ways embattled incumbents could tiptoe around Trump’s rolling controversies, as opposed to embracing them.”
Associated Press: “It raised the specter of a worst-case November scenario: a decisive state, like Florida and its ‘hanging chads’ and ‘butterfly ballots’ in 2000, remaining in dispute long after polls close. Meanwhile, Trump, Biden and their supporters could offer competing claims of victory or question the election’s legitimacy, inflaming an already boiling electorate.”
A new Salt Lake Tribune/Suffolk poll in Utah shows Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) edging former Gov. Jon Hunstman (R) in the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, 32% to 30%.
Fourteen percent said they’d get behind former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes (R), while 8% went for former Utah Republican Party Chairman Thomas Wright (R). Seventeen percent hadn’t made up their minds.
Meanwhile, Huntsman announced he tested positive for the coronavirus.
Joe Biden, writing in USA Today: “We know the nation we want to be. Now we have to deliver on this moment to achieve fundamental changes that address racial inequalities and white supremacy in our country.”
“President Donald Trump’s hate-filled, conspiracy-laden rhetoric is inflaming the racial divides in our country, but just fixing the way the president talks won’t cut it. We need to root out systemic racism across our laws and institutions, and we need to make sure black Americans have a real shot to get ahead.”
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