Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) writes in the Washington Post that she will not vote for Donald Trump:

“With the passage of time, I have become increasingly dismayed by his constant stream of cruel comments and his inability to admit error or apologize. But it was his attacks directed at people who could not respond on an equal footing — either because they do not share his power or stature or because professional responsibility precluded them from engaging at such a level — that revealed Mr. Trump as unworthy of being our president.”

“My conclusion about Mr. Trump’s unsuitability for office is based on his disregard for the precept of treating others with respect, an idea that should transcend politics. Instead, he opts to mock the vulnerable and inflame prejudices by attacking ethnic and religious minorities. Three incidents in particular have led me to the inescapable conclusion that Mr. Trump lacks the temperament, self-discipline and judgment required to be president.”

John Cassidy: “Given the fundamentals—the state of the economy, the President’s approval ratings, and the fact that the Democrats are seeking to win a third term in the Oval Office—history suggests that this should be a close election. But Trump’s self-destructive antics, coming on top of what was a pretty effective demolition job on him at the Democratic Convention, have, for now at least, taken the pressure off Clinton.”

“While one hesitates to cite Newt Gingrich as an authority on anything other than zoos and his next book contract, there was a good deal of truth in what he said to the Washington Post a few days ago about Trump and Clinton: ‘The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now neither of them is acceptable. Trump is helping her to win the election by proving he is more unacceptable than she is.'”

“Theoretically, at least, Trump still has time to reboot, embrace self-discipline, and prepare for the television debates, all the while hoping that another Clinton scandal or a ghastly news event helps him out. But he’ll have to confront a potential mutiny among his fellow-Republicans, a gaping disadvantage in field organization, and the widespread belief that he isn’t qualified to be President.”

A new Monmouth poll shows that Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead over Donald Trump in the presidential race to 12 points among likely voters, 50% to 37%, with 7% supporting Libertarian Gary Johnson and 2% backing Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:

Georgia: Clinton 44%, Trump 37%, Johnson 7%, Stein 1% (JMC Analytics)

Pennsylvania: Clinton 47%, Trump 37% (Susquehanna)

Utah: Trump 37%, Clinton 25%, Johnson 16% (Dan Jones & Associates)

Rick Klein: “It’s not just that Donald Trump needs to pivot – it’s that he needs to pivot away from being what’s made him Donald Trump. That means traditional-candidate Trump, maybe even boring-candidate Trump, reading from notes or TelePrompTers, and staying away from interviews and Twitter for a while. (Not coincidentally, Hillary Clinton is quite good at all of that.)”

“Monday’s speech on the economy, where Trump is expected to lay out his plans for tax cuts and make the case against Hillary Clinton’s plans, will stand as proof (or not) that he gets the message. But the damage already done is severe…”

“He can put that, along with his intra-party fight with Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Kelly Ayotte, behind him now but doing something he’s not that good at: not making news. Remember, with Trump, dominating news cycles is not his problem. It’s dominating them with a message his party can rally behind that has proved vexing.”

First Read digs into the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll and offers five observations that are good news for Democrats:

• President Obama’s job-approval rating now stands at 52%, up one point from last month. It’s his highest rating since his second inauguration in Jan. 2013.
• Just 32% think the country is headed in the right direction, but that’s up 14 points in the past month (the July poll was taken in the aftermath of the violence in Dallas, Louisiana and Minnesota).
• Democrats hold a four-point advantage in congressional preference, with 47% of voters wanting a Democratic-controlled Congress and 43% wanting a GOP-controlled one. It was 46%-46% in July’s poll.
• 60% of Democrats say they’re satisfied with Clinton as their nominee, versus 45% of Republicans who say that about Trump.
• There are signs the nation is more optimistic and wants more continuity than the conventional wisdom suggests: 54% say they are mainly hopeful and optimistic about the country’s future, and 50% believe the nation should continue with Democrats in the White House, versus 48% who say it’s time for change.

“With three months until Election Day, Clinton’s campaign is focused on capturing the battleground states that have decided the most recent presidential elections, not so much on expanding the map,” the AP reports.

“Clinton’s team doesn’t rule out an effort at Arizona, a state with a booming population of Latino voters that polls find are loath to support Trump. And Georgia, a bastion of the Deep South, echoes recent population trends in other Southeastern states where Clinton is competing aggressively.”

“But neither is among the 11 battleground states that Clinton’s television advertising plans and her travel schedule point to as her focus. Those states are the perennial top-tier targets Florida and Ohio, plus Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. President Barack Obama carried them all in 2008, and missed out on only North Carolina during his 2012 re-election campaign.”

For members: Trump Is Remaking the Map, But Not As He Hoped

Byron York: “What has Hillary Clinton been doing while Donald Trump has been careening from one controversy to the next? She’s been traveling the country giving speeches about jobs, hammering Trump on the economy, and mostly avoiding press contact that could bring attention to her email scandal, the Clinton Foundation, or her record as Secretary of State. And then she talks more about jobs.”

“Clinton’s speeches are boring. They don’t make much news. But they’re in line with voter concerns three months away from the presidential election.”

Politico: “Taken aback by the size of Donald Trump’s July fundraising haul, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is quickly working to beef up its efforts to raise campaign cash before the fall — sending the candidate, running mate Tim Kaine, and former President Bill Clinton on an all-out financial sprint through August while explicitly warning top fundraisers this week that they need to pick up the pace.”

First Read: “There’s one little problem with this kind of strategy: There usually aren’t enough parachutes to go around for a party that loses a presidential contest, especially when it comes to Senate races. Since 2004, 80% of the Senate races that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report designated as a Toss Up before Election Day (20 out of 25) broke the same way the presidential race did in that particular state. So for every Dean Heller who won Nevada’s Senate race in 2012 despite Barack Obama’s victory in the state in the presidential election, there are four Norm Colemans (who lost his Senate seat in Minnesota in ’08) or Scott Browns (who lost in Massachusetts in ’12). And that history is particularly important this election season, when the Cook Report says there are five presidential battleground states — Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — also holding Toss Up Senate races.”

“But there is one notable exception to this trend, and it happened the last time a Clinton was on the presidential ballot in the general election. In 1996, despite Bill Clinton’s eight-point victory over Bob Dole, Republicans actually PICKED UP Senate seats. Of course, you could argue that the country today is much more polarized — and less likely to ticket-split — than it was 20 years ago.”