A CBS News/YouGov poll finds 46% of Republican voters believe former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was wrongly convicted of murdering George Floyd.
Associated Press: “Once solidly conservative places such as Texas have seen increasingly large islands of liberalism sprout in their cities, driven by the migration of younger adults, who lean Democratic. Since 2010, the 20-34-year-old population has increased by 24% in San Antonio, 22% in Austin and 19% in Houston… In November’s election, two states that also saw sharp growth in young people in their largest cities — Arizona and Georgia — flipped Democratic in the presidential contest.”
“As mostly college-educated transplants have relocated to Denver and its satellite communities, Colorado has gone from being a solidly Republican state to a competitive swing state to a solidly Democratic one. It’s a pattern that some political experts expect could be replicated in other states importing loads of young people, even traditionally conservative Texas.”
The Los Angeles Times says President Biden “has an ability to put forward progressive ideas in a way that strikes centrist voters as nonthreatening.”
Said Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher: “You cannot underestimate how comfortable Uncle Joe is for a lot of people. They give an old, white guy the benefit of the doubt.”
“Even as Biden has pushed activist policy, he’s succeeded in lowering the temperature of Washington’s political debates. That reduced partisan intensity has helped him, strategists in both parties say. But it could create a problem down the road, depriving Biden of the fervent support that can sustain a president in bad times.”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), a rising party star and possible 2024 presidential candidate, “was a natural get as a headline speaker for last night’s Kansas GOP fundraising dinner,” the Kansas City Star reports.
“Then, last month, she vetoed a priority item on the Republican culture war agenda — banning transgender athletes from girls sports.”
“In district and party meetings ahead of the dinner, the name of the headline speaker went unmentioned. Some said her veto had caused them to question a politician they previously viewed as a strong voice.”
In previously unreported deposition documents obtained by the New York Daily News, Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who has micromanaged the organization’s finances for decades, shrugged off interest in or knowledge of the legalities of Trump’s till.
Said Weisselberg: “That’s not my thing.”
In many of the battles the Republican Party has fought during President Biden’s early days in office, there’s one person the GOP has largely ignored: Biden himself, NBC News reports.
Said a GOP Senate aide: “It’s not really a unified front against him. He sort of gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.”
“Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed Sunday that she was the last person in the room before President Joe Biden made the decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan,” Politico reports.
Harris said that Biden “is acutely aware that it may not be politically popular, or advantageous for him personally; it’s really something to see.”
She added: “I have seen him over and over again make decisions based exactly on what he believes is right.”
New York Times: “A suite of legislative responses, like requiring the release of presidential tax returns and barring presidents from channeling government money to their private businesses, is now hostage in the Senate to a more public fight over voting rights. And competing priorities of President Biden’s may ensure that the moment to fortify constitutional guardrails that Trump plowed through may already have passed.”
“Solid Republican opposition to S. 1’s voter access proposals threatens less debated elements in the measure, part of what was envisioned to be the most comprehensive ethics overhaul since Watergate.”
More than 5 million people have skipped their second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, the New York Times reports.
“The reasons vary for why people are missing their second shots. In interviews, some said they feared the side effects, which can include flulike symptoms. Others said they felt that they were sufficiently protected with a single shot.”
“I would say my goal is to not be a hypocrite.”
— Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), quoted by Politico.
Associated Press: “For any new leader, a lingering pandemic that has killed more than a half-million citizens would be plenty for a first 100 days. But it has been far from the sole preoccupation for the now 78-year-old Biden.”
“The oldest person ever elected president is tugging the United States in many new directions at once, right down to its literal foundations — the concrete of its neglected bridges — as well as the racial inequities and partisan poisons tearing at the civil society. Add to that list: a call for dramatic action to combat climate change.”
“He’s doing it without the abrasive noise of the last president or the charisma of the last two. Biden’s spontaneity, once a hallmark and sometimes a headache, is rarely seen. Some say he is a leader for this time: more action, less talk and something for the history books.”
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds 52% of adults say they approve of the job President Biden is doing, compared with 42% who disapprove.
At this point in his presidency four years ago, Trump’s rating was nearly the reverse, with approval at 42% and disapproval at 53%.
Overall, 34% of Americans say they strongly approve of Biden’s performance, compared with 35% who strongly disapprove.
A new NBC News poll shows Biden’s approval at 53% to 39%.
Coming soon: The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis.
“For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about.”
A busy section of Donald Trump’s southern border wall — which cost $27 million a mile to build — is being foiled by inexpensive ladders, the Texas Monthly reports.
“Troy Carter fulfilled a long-held ambition Saturday when voters elected him to represent the 2nd Congressional District, triumphing over Karen Carter Peterson after a bruising campaign between two Democratic state senators from New Orleans who agreed on issues more often than not,” the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.
“By all accounts, Carter will be a reliable supporter of President Joe Biden and the Democratic agenda in Washington, and he will likely work well with the other seven members of the state’s congressional delegation — all Republicans — for Louisiana spending projects.”
The keynote speaker at a Minnesota county Republican Party’s event told members that George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police was “planned since 2016,” the Bemidji Pioneer reports.
He also said more than a hundred Democratic members of Congress deserve to be investigated for espionage for “working with foreign governments and the communist and Islamic movements.”
“The White House is preparing to unveil a roughly $1.8 trillion spending and tax plan this coming week that includes many of President Biden’s campaign promises but also reflects the daunting challenges facing the administration as it tries to transform the U.S. economy,” the Washington Post reports.
“The American Families Plan, set to be released ahead of the president’s joint address to Congress on Wednesday, calls for devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to national child care, prekindergarten, paid family leave and tuition-free community college, among other domestic priorities. It will be at least partially funded by about a half-dozen tax hikes on high-income Americans and investors, proposed changes that are already provoking fierce opposition in Congress and on Wall Street.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.