Rove - Biden "flails" and Trump "hasn't closed"
Gas prices to rise this summer and will impact Electoral College
Karl Rove in WSJ this morning The Shifting Trump-Biden Battlegrounds In these states, small changes in partisan balance could end up swinging the election.
The Biden high command is worried about turnout among black, Hispanic and young voters. It should be. These groups could sink the president if they aren’t revved up for him and his party.
In Arizona, Hispanic voters accounted for 19% of the 2020 electorate and broke for Mr. Biden 61% to 37%. Voters under 30 made up 16% of the electorate and went for him 63% to 32%. A decline of roughly half a percentage point in either group’s share of the electorate could be enough to flip the state red. Similarly, blacks accounted for 29% of Georgia’s electorate in 2020. They broke 88% to 11% for Mr. Biden. A decline of 0.3 percentage point in the black share of the electorate wipes out Mr. Biden’s victory, all else being equal.
A lack of enthusiasm among Democrats is probably why Mr. Biden trails Mr. Trump in six of seven battlegrounds in a new poll from The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Trump falls short of 50% in all of them. While the president flails, his predecessor hasn’t closed the sale.
Mr. Trump has challenges in his own party, too. Nikki Haley won 250,838 votes in the March 5 North Carolina primary, more than three times Mr. Trump’s November 2020 margin in the state. Even after suspending her campaign, Ms. Haley received 77,864 votes a week later in the March 12 Georgia primary and at least 76,000 votes in this Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary. Both results reflect Mr. Trump’s difficulty in attracting college-educated suburbanites.
Watch gas prices. AAA is suggesting $4/gallon gas this summer.
Like the Electoral College, gas math is local.
and Joe knows…
More good reads:
The Wall Street Journal Five Takeaways From the WSJ Swing-State Poll
The new Wall Street Journal poll of seven swing states has plenty of bad news for President Biden, who is trailing in six of the seven most important battlegrounds of the 2024 election. More broadly, it also has one piece of potentially devastating news for the party Biden leads: The pillars that hold up the Democratic coalition are showing fractures.
The Associated Press Yes, we're divided. But new AP-NORC poll shows Americans still agree on most core American values
The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 9 in 10 U.S. adults say the right to vote, the right to equal protection under the law and the right to privacy are extremely important or very important to the United States' identity as a nation. The survey also found that 84% feel the same way about the freedom of religion.
The Washington Post Biden summons Bernie Sanders to help boost drug-price campaign
Polls have shown that most voters are unaware of Democrats' efforts to lower drug prices, prompting a flurry of administration speeches, news releases and officials' trips to swing states — and now Biden's joint speech with Sanders.
The Washington Post Trump and Biden's easy primary wins mask vulnerabilities
'Polls have shown that most voters are unaware of Democrats' efforts to lower drug prices, prompting a flurry of administration speeches, news releases and officials' trips to swing states — and now Biden's joint speech with Sanders,' Dan notes.
The Washington Post RFK Jr. voters span the political spectrum. But they agree on disliking Biden and Trump.
Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, whose surveys have shown similar trend lines, said Kennedy's stances on issues are not well known by the electorate.
New York Post Biden campaign insists Florida is ‘winnable' after state's top court upheld 15-week abortion ban
A March poll conducted by St. Pete Polls showed Trump beating Biden 48% to 42%, a significant margin given polling has the candidates neck-and-neck overall in the general election.
New York Post More than 40K ‘uninstructed' ballots cast in Wisconsin Dem primary in protest of Biden's Gaza response
Only 17.4% of Arab American voters said they would vote for Biden in 2024, according to a John Zogby Strategies poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute last October.
In 2020, the same poll measured Arab American support for Biden at 59%.
New York Post Hunter Biden's ex-business partner calls out Democrats' lies and corruption in new Tucker Carlson documentary
By the end of last year, an AP-NORC poll showed more than two-thirds (68%) of Americans believed Joe had at the very least acted unethically in his handling of his son's overseas business dealings, including a third who thought he did something illegal. Only one-third thought he had done nothing wrong.
New York Post Backlash against Israel spirals after killing of aid workers, as UK urged to stop arms sales
A majority of people in Britain back a ban on arms export to Israel, according to a poll published in The Guardian, which found 56% of respondents supporting the measure, compared to just 17% opposing it.
POLITICO Testing the Menendez spoiler effect
Emerson College released the first public poll that tests how indicted Sen. Bob Menendez would perform if he chooses to run for reelection as an independent.
In a general election test against unnamed Democratic and Republican nominees, the Democrat gets 49 percent support, the Republican 42 percent and Menendez gets 9 percent. The poll found that two important New Jersey Democratic constituencies — Black and Hispanic voters — are more likely to vote for Menendez than white voters, at 17 percent to 6 percent. Twenty-four percent of younger voters also would back Menendez.
Axios Immigration vs. abortion: Biden and Trump battle for home turf
Nearly 7 in 10 voters now disapprove of Biden's handling of the border, according to a March AP-NORC poll, with a growing number also voicing concern about undocumented immigrants committing crimes.
Axios Primary results: How the Biden protest vote fared in Wisconsin, others
Voters in Wisconsin, Connecticut and Rhode Island headed to the polls Tuesday.
Zoom out: Much polling on the two unpopular front-runners has revealed a stunningly close race, with an occasionally bleak outlook for Biden with key Democratic groups.
The Hill Most say Biden ‘likeable,' Trump ‘strong' leader: Survey
Another poll from Gallup released Wednesday found roughly 30 percent of Americans said they didn't believe the current or former president would be a good fit for the role if they win the White House in November.
According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ's national polling average, Trump currently leads Biden by 0.8 percent, at 45.3 percent compared to the current president's 44.5 percent.
The Hill Florida Democrats see ray of hope for Senate race after abortion rulings
'The rulings ensure that abortion rights will be front and center on the minds of Floridians as they head to the polls this November, and Rick Scott's support for both a national abortion ban and Florida's cruel and extreme abortion ban are an existential threat to his reelection bid,' the memo read.
A poll from the University of North Florida released last year found that over 60 percent of Florida voters say they would support the amendment that enshrines abortion rights into the state's constitution. The measure would need a 60-percent approval to pass.
A majority of Jewish parents of college applicants this year say their child has cut at least one school from their list due to rising antisemitism after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to a new poll from Hillel International.
Axios Understanding the slow and messy switch to electric cars
Reality check: The EV slowdown is real — their first-quarter growth rate was a tepid 2.7% vs. last year's torrid 47% — while hybrids are becoming more popular.
The New York Times Tesla's Sales Drop, a Sign That Its Grip on the E.V. Market Is Slipping
Tesla, which sells cars online and does not have many showrooms, is often the target of complaints about poor service. That may provide an advantage to established carmakers, such as Ford and General Motors, that have extensive dealer networks and are ramping up production of electric vehicles.
The Associated Press Biden administration approves the nation's eighth large offshore wind project
The Interior Department has approved more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind projects in less than three years, enough to power nearly 4 million homes. The nation's seventh large offshore wind project, Sunrise Wind, east of Montauk, New York, was approved just last week
The Associated Press US first-quarter auto sales grew nearly 5% despite high interest rates, but EV growth slows further
Sales of electric vehicles grew only 2.7% to just over 268,000 during the quarter, far below the 47% growth that fueled record sales and a 7.6% market share last year. The slowdown, led by Tesla, confirms automakers' fears that they moved too quickly to pursue EV buyers.
The Wall Street Journal Ford Electric Vehicle Sales Surge Amid Mixed Results Among Automakers
Ford Motor reported sales across its electric vehicles surged to start the year, a bright spot as the broader EV sector faces lingering challenges.
CNN Biden and Xi speak for first time since November summit amid global tensions
Xi, for his part, called for the two sides to value peace, prioritize stability and honor their commitments to each other - an apparent reference to Chinese officials' concerns about American tech and trade restrictions on China that they see as at odds with Washington's assurances that it does not want to decouple the two nations' economies.
CNN Europe opens competition probes covering Chinese solar panel makers over subsidies
Last month, Premier Li Qiang told the country's parliament that China would focus on exporting more of its 'new trio' of products, namely electric vehicles, solar panels and lithium batteries.
CNN Tesla has a big competitor. And it is Chinese
And in the last quarter of 2023, BYD hit a major milestone: selling more battery electric vehicles (BEVs) than Musk's company did globally, due in part to a slowdown for Tesla in one of its biggest markets, China, and to a general deceleration in demand for EVs.
The Daily Progress Uranium is being mined near the Grand Canyon as prices soar and the US pushes for more nuclear power
Wind provided 4,323.3 megawatts and while hydroelectric sources added 510 megawatts. States are ranked by the percentage of clean energy sources used to generate the total net summer electricity production capacity. Clean energy sources include wind, solar and photovoltaic, nuclear, geothermal and hydroelectric. Total electric power industry includes industrial, commercial, and residential power.
Loudoun Times-Mirror Dominion gets approval for solar projects; regulators discuss
Ed Baine, President of Dominion Energy Virginia, said in a statement the projects reflect the utility's promise to deliver 'reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy for our customers,' noting that Dominion's investments in offshore wind, battery storage and solar contribute to the state's 'progress on its clean energy transition.'
Raleigh News & Observer What does clean energy economic development mean in NC? Billions, says new report.
Clean energy businesses opening up factories and other investments in North Carolina are expected to contribute billions of dollars to state and local economies while they're being built and hundreds of millions after, according to a new analysis.
The Washington Times Fed Chairman Powell Is too eager to cut interest rates
The president is making historic investments in manufacturing — for electric vehicles and batteries and semiconductors — and these are fueling a boom in factory construction that challenges our capacity to build.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution PG A.M.: Gas lobby's Georgia ad hammers EVs — a key Kemp agenda
Former President Donald Trump's politics have put electric vehicles squarely in the middle of ongoing culture wars. And Georgia's emerging economy as a green energy hub, which is being driven by Gov. Brian Kemp, is a focus of the fight.
ABC News Collapse of NBA, NHL arena deal prompts recriminations, allegations of impropriety in Virginia
Leonsis' handshake deal with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to relocate the teams to a taxpayer-backed arena in Alexandria collapsed Wednesday, weeks after a bumpy slog of a defeat in the Virginia General Assembly.
Without offering proof, he also suggested the outcome was influenced by "special interests and potential pay-to-play influences within the Virginia legislature."
WTOP DC Council unanimously approves hundreds of millions in funding for Capital One Arena renovations
State Sen. Sen. L. Louise Lucas, who chairs the Senate's budget-writing committee, spearheaded opposition to the Virginia deal.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Kaine, in Richmond, formally launches 2024 reelection bid
In Northern Virginia's 7th District, based in Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties, eight Republicans and six Democrats are seeking the seat of Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, who is forgoing a re-election bid in order to run for governor in 2025.
CBS 6 News Richmond WTVR Virginia lawmakers pushing for legislation that addresses Black maternal mortality: 'Real lives are at risk'
Virginia State Senator Lashresce Aird 'We say that we're all created equally, but the systems and institutions, unfortunately, don't see us equally," said Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
Richmond Times-Dispatch Youngkin vetoes four more bills, signs a hate crime measure
The governor has now vetoed 91 bills the Democratic majorities in the House of Delegates and state Senate sent him this year, bringing the total for his term, so far, to a record 132.