• House Judiciary Committee Will Consider Bill (Barr)
• Conservatives Furious about SCOTUS
• COVID-19 News, Part I: NSA Robert O'Brien Tests Positive
• COVID-19 News, Part II: Presidential Debate Moved
• COVID-19 News, Part III: Baseball Season Already Going Off the Rails
• VP Candidate Profile: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI)
• Today's Presidential Polls
• Today's Senate Polls
McConnell Unveils HEALS Act
Senate Republicans got on the same page on Monday long enough to unveil their plan for the latest round of COVID-19 relief funding. The name, which presumably required 10 seconds' thought from one of the senators' 5-year-old kids, is the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools Act, or HEALS Act. Creative, it is not. That is not to say that the name of the Democrats' bill, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, or HEROES Act, is any better.
Here are the major elements of the two plans that will now be ground into legislative sausage:
Item | Republicans | Democrats |
Federal unemployment benefits | $200/week | $600/week |
COVID-19 testing and research | $35 billion | $75 billion |
Stimulus payment | Another $1,200 for most adults plus $500 per dependent | Up to another $6,000 per household |
State and local government assistance | No new funding; relaxed rules for previous funding received | $1 trillion |
Educational assistance | $105 billion, partly tied to in-person instruction | $300 billion, no requirement for in-person instruction |
Hazard pay for essential workers | None | $200 billion |
Payroll protection | Tax credits for employers who keep people employed or make new hires; another round of PPP loans (approximately $100 billion in new funding) | Tax credits for employers who keep people employed or make new hires |
Payroll tax cut | None | None |
Lawsuit immunity | Employers would be protected from employees' COVID-19-related suits | No employer immunity |
Employee Health | Tax credit equal to 50% of employer's expenses incurred in protecting employees | COBRA subsidies, special Obamacare enrollment period |
Housing | None | $175 billion to help with rents, mortgages, and utilities |
Food | 100% deduction for business-related meals | 15% increase in SNAP benefits |
Democracy | None | Protections for safe elections, the census, and the postal service |
New FBI building | $1.75 billion | None |
Total Cost | $1 trillion | $3 trillion |
There are a lot of non-starters here for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and their respective caucuses. In particular, the Democrats have made clear they are not interested in slashing unemployment benefits, in leaving state and local governments to fend for themselves, or in immunizing employers against lawsuits.
As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tries to move the blue team off those positions, or at least to find some sort of middle ground, he has the much weaker hand to play, for a number of reasons:
- The Austerity Argument, Part I: There is an argument to be made that voters never support
budget austerity with their votes (even if they do with their rhetoric). They certainly do not support austerity when
the country is in the midst of a national crisis, be it a depression, a war, or a pandemic. McConnell might want to get
out a history book and review which party was preaching austerity in 1931 (hint: the Republicans) and then which party
dominated national politics for the next two decades (hint: the Democrats).
- The Austerity Argument, Part II: The Republicans' austerity argument might be more
palatable if they evinced any interest in repealing the giant tax cut they gave out a couple of years ago. But while the
Democratic bill would dial some of that back, the Republican bill would not. "Poor people need to suck it up, but rich
people do not" is not usually a winning message (at least not with the poor people—and there are more of them than rich people.)
- Unity: The Democrats appear to be unified in their demands, the Republicans do not.
- The President, Part I: Normally, having a president of the same party in the White House
would be an ace in the hole for McConnell. However, Trump's priorities are (1) Donald Trump, (2) Donald Trump, and (3)
Donald Trump. He might well be persuaded that quickly signing off on a plan that emphasizes Democratic priorities is
better for his reelection hopes than a protracted struggle for a bill that emphasizes Republican priorities.
Alternatively, if he digs his heels in and refuses to sign any bill that does not reflect his demands (e.g., a payroll
tax cut), then the Republican Party will get the blame.
- The President, Part II: You might have noticed that line item for a new FBI building,
which seems a strange priority in the midst of a pandemic. It begins to make more sense, however, if we recall that the
FBI headquarters are located across the street from...Trump International Hotel Washington. A new building would mean
more office space, more business being conducted locally, and more need for visitor lodging. And no new building might
mean that the FBI decamps to Virginia, leaving a juicy downtown space for a competing hotel to move into. This might
sound a little conspiratorial, but when McConnell
was asked
about it on Monday, he said he had no idea that money was even in there, and couldn't imagine who put it in
there. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) was similarly unable to answer. Needless to say,
trying to sneak by what looks to be a presidential giveaway is not exactly going to give the Republicans the moral high
ground. Further, Democrats are going to insist that be excised, which will make it that much harder for McConnell to get
Presidential support for the Republican bill.
- PPP is P U: The first wave of PPP funding was nothing short of a
disaster,
somehow blowing through approximately $224,000 for every job saved. Put another way, it ended up being a cash grab,
and mostly for medium- and large-sized businesses, rather than the small businesses and their staffs that it was ostensibly intended for.
Building another round of relief around PPP is...dubious.
- The Elections: At the moment, the Democrats are crushing the Republicans in the polls. That means the Republicans have considerably more need to get something done, and to try to shake up the status quo. If absolutely nothing gets done, the Democrats will not be happy, but they will also be able to say "We were ready to work on this a month ago, while McConnell & Co. were spending all their time approving judges. And now, we are not going to back down on protecting American workers and families, especially since Republicans seem to be primarily concerned with protecting business owners and their lunchtime martinis."
McConnell, Pelosi, and Schumer all have their spin machines already cranked up to 10, so expect things to be pretty ugly for the next week or two. And then, maybe they will get something done. (Z)
House Judiciary Committee Will Consider Bill (Barr)
Bill Barr was supposed to testify before House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and his committee over a year ago. However, somehow, some way, the Attorney General's schedule just never quite worked out. Today, at long last, he will drop in for a chat with Nadler & Co.
The Democrats are going to focus all their energy on the notion that Barr has served less as AG and more as fixer/toady for Donald Trump. "Why did you deliberately distort the Mueller Report when you summarized it for the American people before its release?" and "Why do you take such an interest in reducing the sentences of convicted Trump associates?" will be the sorts of things they ask. The Republicans are going to toss the softest softballs they can come up with. "Would you characterize the President's handling of the troublemakers in Portland as heroic, or as historic?" and "Can you believe the Night Angel won on 'The Masked Singer'? I thought the Frog had it for sure!" will be the general approach.
Barr has already released his opening statement. He knows what's coming, and he's naturally going to adopt a defiant posture. On the Mueller Report:
Ever since I made it clear that I was going to do everything I could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus 'Russiagate' scandal, many of the Democrats on this Committee have attempted to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that I am simply the President's factotum who disposes of criminal cases according to his instructions. Judging from the letter inviting me to this hearing, that appears to be your agenda today.
That does not make him seem to be in the bag for Trump. Nope, not at all. Barr's statement also says that his decisions about Roger Stone and Michael Flynn were his "independent judgment" and that while George Floyd's death was "horrible," things are different today than they were in the era of the Civil Rights Movement, there is no "deep-seated racism" in police departments, and the response to the Floyd killing has been "grossly irresponsible" and not "a worthy response." Undoubtedly, the nation's people of color will be delighted that a wealthy and powerful white man was available to set them straight.
In the end, there will be nobody in that room today that hasn't ridden in this rodeo before, and so it is unlikely that anybody will slip up and say something off-script. In fact, it could be that the most newsworthy testimony of the day comes not from Barr, but from National Guard Major Adam D. DeMarco, who is going to speak with the House Natural Resources Committee. He is reportedly set to tell them that the protesters who were cleared for Trump's Bible photo-op were behaving peacefully, and that when Barr says otherwise, he is lying. Since DeMarco was there, he knows what he's talking about. On the other hand, he once ran for Congress as a Democrat, so the only people likely to hear him are those who already believed Barr was lying. Consequently, DeMarco's testimony today may not have much more impact than Barr's. (Z)
Conservatives Furious about SCOTUS
In the last month, Chief Justice John Roberts has sided with the four liberals on the Court in several rulings that have enraged conservatives. The latest of these came on Friday, when the Court declined, 5-4, to allow Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in Dayton, NV, to ignore a state rule forbidding gatherings of more than 50 people. Since it was an emergency order, the ruling was unsigned. However, the other four conservatives each applied their signatures to one of two dissents, which means that we know the identity of the five in the majority by default.
Over the weekend, conservatives were all over television and social media, lamenting that they did not get what they paid for when they packed the Court with conservative jurists. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), for example, declared that "John Roberts has abandoned his oath." Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said Roberts is guilty of "discriminating against religion," because the 50-person limit is waived for casinos and restaurants, but not for religious gatherings. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk called the Chief a "national disgrace" and fellow activist Steve Deace declared that Roberts "should be impeached," and even implied that Congress should go back and also impeach George W. Bush for good measure, since Bush nominated Roberts to the Court. Conservative columnist Henry Olsen wrote that the decision is "dangerously wrong" and that it may be the product of a "pandemic-induced frenzy."
Donald Trump has, for weeks, tried to capitalize on Roberts' alleged apostasy by putting together a list of conservative justices he would consider appointing should he get a second term, and should a seat come open. Say, for example, a seat currently occupied by an 87-year-old with a history of health problems and a cancer diagnosis. However, the names he's circulated have met with resistance among some conservatives, who look at the recent rulings from Roberts, and the high-profile defection from Neil Gorsuch in the LBGTQ cases, and think that the justices they're putting on the Court just aren't conservative enough. They demand a better process for identifying "true" conservatives, although nobody seems to know what that might be.
Conservatives really aren't paying good attention to Roberts. He knows what is important and what is not. He knows that LGBTQ rights and religion get lots of media coverage, but what really matters to him is keeping Republicans in power via gerrymandering, voter suppression etc. On the latter kind of cases, he is an unwavering supporter of the Republican Party. To mask that, he votes with the four liberals from time to time in the hopes that everyone is distracted by bright shiny objects and fails to notice that what he really cares about is keeping Republicans in power. With this mix of rulings, he can claim he is just calling balls and strikes (even if baseball itself is in trouble, as described below). Conservatives seem to be unable to comprehend that he is on their side on the stuff that really matters long term.
We do not know how this might play out in November, or if it will affect the election at all. However, it certainly appears that disillusionment is rising when it comes to the conservative judicial project. And generally, disillusionment causes at least some people to stay home on Election Day, particularly if they think their vote doesn't much matter. This is the primary reason that Barack Obama collected fewer votes in 2012 than in 2008; some Democrats felt he didn't live up to the promises of his campaign. Point is, if we had to guess, we would guess that recent developments on the Supreme Court do more to deflate Republicans than to motivate them. (Z)
COVID-19 News, Part I: NSA Robert O'Brien Tests Positive
Donald Trump has, at least for the moment, abandoned his COVID-19 denial, and admitted that the U.S. really does have an honest-to-goodness pandemic on its hands. On Monday, he got a particularly up close and personal reminder of that fact, as NSA Robert O'Brien has now tested positive for COVID-19. He is the highest-ranking federal official to announce a positive diagnosis.
It is true that the President is tested regularly, and that those around him go through screening before they gain access. However, it is also true that he is careless about things like masks and social distancing, that he interacts with a lot of people, and that the disease is often asymptomatic until it is too late. If we make it to Election Day and Trump hasn't contracted COVID-19, we can only think of three possible explanations: (1) He was really, really lucky; (2) He has an amazing immune system; or (3) He's lying, and he actually did contract the disease and hid it. Grover Cleveland famously hid surgery for, and recovery from, a cancerous tumor in his mouth, and in a time when all surgery was both major and life-threatening. So, option #3 is certainly possible. (Z)
COVID-19 News, Part II: Presidential Debate Moved
The second presidential debate this cycle was supposed to be held on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. Not anymore, though. On Monday, the Fighting Irish decided they weren't interested in fighting off a spike in COVID-19 cases, so they dropped out. A new location has already been announced; the debate is now set to take place on the Health Education Campus, which is a joint project between Case Western and the Cleveland Clinic. It would appear the thinking is that anyone who gets sick will at least be in the right place.
This isn't the only debate to be relocated. The first debate was supposed to be hosted by the University of Michigan. However, they decided that a Wolverine is no match for COVID-19, and so they also dropped out, with the University of Miami taking their place. Thus far debate host #3, Belmont University in Tennessee, is holding firm, but check back next week. All three of the venues say they are working on strict protocols to keep everyone safe, and in particular that they might go with very small, socially distanced audiences, or maybe no audiences at all.
Can anybody really believe, however, that all three debates will go off exactly as scheduled? Particularly the one set to take place in...Miami? Neither candidate is highly motivated to debate, Donald Trump because he doesn't like it, and Joe Biden because he's the frontrunner. It's entirely plausible, given the risks and the candidates' feelings, that one or more debates might be canceled. Some sort of remote setup, with Trump somewhere in the White House, and Biden in his basement, is also plausible. Obviously, it will depend a lot on where the pandemic stands as the time draws nearer. The first debate is set for Sept. 29, so there's about 9 weeks left before the rubber hits the debate stage. (Z)
COVID-19 News, Part III: Baseball Season Already Going Off the Rails
Continuing on the COVID-19 theme, as of last Thursday, Major League Baseball is back. At least, it's back for now. Before the resumption of the season, there was much bickering between players and management about safety protocols. And it appeared that the league had put stringent, but workable, rules in place, including frequent testing, social distancing, mask wearing, no high-fiving, no spitting, and the like.
Not so much, as it turns out. Anyone who has watched any major league games this season cannot help but notice, first of all, that while the (older) coaches and managers are pretty good about following protocols, the (younger) players are not. Among the players, social distancing is observed irregularly, and mask wearing almost not at all. There is much spitting, fist bumping, and high fiving. Further, things tend to degrade over the course of the game. On Friday, when Matt Olson hit a walk off grand slam to defeat the league's finest team, the Los Angeles Angels, he was mobbed by his teammates. You can see it for yourself here, if you wish:
The Gatorade shower at the end seems particularly gratuitous, and particularly unwise.
In any event, things took a turn for the worse on Sunday, thanks to the team from...wait for it...Miami. Four Marlins players tested positive for COVID-19 before Sunday's game. Nonetheless, the rest of the team decided—via a group text message—to play on. Management chose not to get involved in the decision and, on top of that, the players on the other team (the Philadelphia Phillies) were not warned, nor were the support staff at the stadium (umpires, broadcasters, etc.). As it turns out, there were another nine players and/or coaches who tested positive, bringing the total for the Marlins to 13. Miami's players are now quarantined in Philadelphia, as they await further test results and (possibly) figure out how to carry on without half their team. The Philadelphia players are also quarantined, and are also awaiting test results. Monday's Miami-Baltimore and Philadelphia-NY Yankees games were postponed.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred sat for an interview with the MLB Network (a.k.a., state-run media) on Monday, and said that he's not concerned, and that this is not a "nightmare" scenario. Given that he was speaking to a very friendly audience, whose paychecks he happens to sign, he wasn't pressed on this declaration. However, assuming he's being truthful (dubious) he is the only one who is unconcerned. The League didn't even make it through a weekend without having a major outbreak. And until Monday's test results are back, who knows how bad the Marlins' outbreak really is?
The Phillies' situation may be even more problematic. Given the tendency of COVID-19 to be asymptomatic in the early going, they may pass their COVID-19 tests with flying colors, pass the disease on to the Yankees, and then test positive later in the week. Oh, and the Baltimore Orioles had already arrived in Miami, a COVID-19 hotspot, for their postponed game with the Marlins. Now, they are just twiddling their thumbs while they wait. They could easily become carriers, too, and spread the disease to their next opponent (the Tampa Bay Rays). And all of this is before we talk about the fact that baseball is having trouble getting its tests turned around in time. It doesn't do much good if the test you took on Tuesday morning comes back positive...on Thursday night.
We bring this up because it's not hard to see all of this as a test run for what will happen at schools that resume in-person instruction in about a month. Imprecise and poorly enforced guidelines, teachers masking and social distancing like the coaches, students largely doing whatever they want, like the players. On top of that, testing turnaround times that are too long, coupled with a reluctance to cancel, even when canceling is the only reasonable option. Plus, the man at the top declaring that "all is well!" during interviews with very friendly media outlets. One can only hope the powers that be, across America's educational infrastructure, draw some useful insight from MLB's disastrous launch. (Z)
VP Candidate Profile: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI)
We resume the VP profiles. Here is the list of candidates that we will profile, and the order in which we will profile them:
- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) [Score: 27.5]
- Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) [Score: 26]
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) [Score: 20]
- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
- Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA)
- Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D-Atlanta)
- Stacey Abrams
- Former NSA Susan Rice
- Gov. Gina Raimondo (D-RI)
- Rep. Val Demings (D-FL)
- Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
As a reminder, we're awarding up to 10 points across five different areas of concern: How ready the candidate is to assume the presidency, if needed; what kind of coattails the candidate might have in terms of helping the Democratic ticket in their state/region; what the candidate brings to the table in terms of "nuts and bolts" political skills like fundraising and debating; the depth of the candidate's relationship with Biden (to the extent that information is publicly known); and how well the candidate balances out Biden. So, the perfect running mate would score a 50, while Spiro Agnew would score a 0.
- Full Name: Gretchen Esther Whitmer
- Age on January 20, 2021: 49
- Background: Whitmer is a lifelong Michigander, having been born in Lansing and spent many
of her formative years in Grand Rapids. Her parents were both attorneys, and both jumped back and forth between private
and public sectors, with mother Sherry Reisig working under former Michigan AG Frank J. Kelley (D) and father Richard
Whitmer serving in the administration of former Michigan governor William Milliken (R). Whitmer's bachelor's degree, in
communications, and her J.D. were both awarded by Michigan State University. Following law school, she practiced
corporate law for the firm of Dickinson Wright for a couple of years, and then commenced her political career.
- Political Experience: Actually, to be entirely correct, Whitmer first ran for office while
she was still in law school, though she did poorly at the ballot box. Her first successful run came in 2000, two
years after she earned her law degree, when she was elected to the Michigan State House. She served three terms there,
and then won a special election for a vacant seat in the Michigan State Senate. She won two further terms there, serving
a total of nearly nine years, the last four as minority leader. In 2013, during her Senate term, she made national
headlines. Speaking out against an anti-abortion bill from the floor of the State Senate, she (evidently spontaneously)
decided
to share that she is a rape survivor:
I'm about to tell you something that I've not shared with many people in my life. But over 20 years ago I was a victim of rape. And thank God it didn't result in a pregnancy, because I can't imagine going through what I went through and then having to consider what to do about an unwanted pregnancy from an attacker. And as a mother with two girls, the thought that they would ever go through something like I did keeps me up at night.
The Republicans in the room were apparently unmoved, as they all voted for the bill nonetheless.
I thought this was all behind me. You know how tough I can be. The thought and the memory of that still haunts me. If this were law then and I had become pregnant I would not be able to have coverage because of this. How extreme, how extreme does this measure need to be? I'm not the only woman in our state that has faced that horrible circumstance. I am not enjoying talking about it. It's something I've hidden for a long time. But I think you need to see the face of the women that you are impacting by this vote today. I think you need to think of the girls that we're raising and what kind of a state we want to be where you would put your approval on something this extreme.
After leaving the State Senate due to term limits, Whitmer spent six months helping to clean up the Ingham County prosecutor's office after Stuart Dunnings III was busted for procuring prostitutes and dereliction of duty. Thereafter, she got to work on her gubernatorial bid, running a spirited campaign that saw her visit each of Michigan's 83 counties. She easily dispatched Republican Bill Schuette, 53.3% to 43.8%, and has been serving in that post since her inauguration on January 1, 2019. - Signature Issue(s): For people in Michigan, the issue she is most associated with is
infrastructure, having taken dramatic action to secure funds for rebuilding the state's decaying roadways. If she joins
the Biden ticket, however, the issue she will spend most of her time talking about is COVID-19, comparing her
leadership on that issue with that of Donald Trump.
- Instructive Quote: "Now is not the time to live by the Constitution, it's time to put that
damn thing in a shredder," (Apr. 13, 2020). We already gave you a quote from Whitmer, and it's pretty powerful stuff. So
instead of giving you a second real quote, we give you a fake one that has been attributed to her, but that
she never said.
As a general rule, when people start making up lies about you, it means you've got them scared.
- Recent News: As noted, she would be the Biden campaign's COVID-19 person, as she has implemented
strong measures to combat the pandemic (masks required in public, school/restaurant closings, etc.). All the recent news about her
is on that basic subject. That includes a
recent poll
revealing that Michiganders approve of her COVID-19 leadership by a margin of more than 2-to-1 (63% to 31%).
- Ready for the Big Chair?: She's got zero experience in Washington, and just over a year
running a medium-sized state. That's better than, say, Sarah Palin, but it's hard to argue that Whitmer would truly be
ready to assume the presidency tomorrow. (2/10)
- Coattails: Michigan is nominally a swing state, and has a nominally competitive Senate
race as well. And Whitmer is pretty popular back home. However, the odds are very good that the Democrats win both the
EVs and the Senate seat without her help. So, we can't ascribe too much value to her coattails. (2/10)
- Nuts and Bolts Skills: Whitmer is a heck of a campaigner, and a very fine public speaker.
She was chosen to give the
Democratic response
to the 2020 State of the Union address, and did quite well with it. (7/10)
- Relationship with Biden: She and Biden have known each other for at least a decade,
although they've never worked together in a professional capacity. (3/10)
- Balance: Whitmer brings youth to the ticket, but that's about the only way she balances
it. She's sneaky progressive, but not so lefty it will thrill the Bernie Bros. She's not a person of color, obviously,
and she doesn't bring any sort of professional experience (like military service) that Biden doesn't have. (3/10)
- Betting Odds: She's getting 33/1 at some books, 25/1 at others, which implies a 3-4%
chance of being selected.
- Completely Trivial Fact: Only two people have been elected to the vice presidency in the
last century without having served in elective or appointed office in Washington: Spiro Agnew and Calvin
Coolidge.
- The Bottom Line: Adding up the scores gives a 17/50, which means she is the weakest candidate we've profiled so far. She has enough selling points that it wouldn't be a total surprise if she were picked, but she doesn't seem a great fit with Biden this year. Given her young age and lack of executive experience, it is likely that her time in the national spotlight is in the future, and not in 2020. She could serve out two terms, at which time Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will be pushing 80 and might be ready to retire.
Elizabeth Warren, you're up tomorrow. (Z)
Today's Presidential Polls
Lots of good news for Joe Biden. The must-have states are almost all blue to deep blue, and the insurance policy states are all coin flips. Minnesota is surprisingly close, but that's probably a fluke, and is balanced out by the fact that Arizona isn't (the former has 10 EVs, the latter 11). The best news for Trump, such as it is, is that he's up three in the must-have state of Ohio, though that too is balanced out by the fact that he's down three in the must-have state of Florida. (Z)
State | Biden | Trump | Start | End | Pollster |
Arizona | 49% | 42% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Colorado | 52% | 39% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Florida | 49% | 46% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Georgia | 47% | 46% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Michigan | 52% | 42% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Minnesota | 47% | 44% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
North Carolina | 47% | 47% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
North Carolina | 51% | 44% | Jul 14 | Jul 22 | Marist Coll. |
Ohio | 45% | 48% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Pennsylvania | 50% | 42% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Texas | 47% | 45% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Virginia | 52% | 41% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Wisconsin | 50% | 43% | Jul 17 | Jul 26 | Morning Consult |
Today's Senate Polls
There have been many polls of this race already, and they fall into two categories: Close ones, and ones where Cunningham is comfortably in the lead. There's no question that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has assumed underdog status; the only question is how far under. (Z)
State | Democrat | D % | Republican | R % | Start | End | Pollster |
North Carolina | Cal Cunningham | 50% | Thom Tillis* | 41% | Jul 14 | Jul 22 | Marist Coll. |
* Denotes incumbent
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Jul27 The Bill Is Due
Jul27 Poll: The Pandemic is Not Over and the Worst Is Yet to Come
Jul27 Poll: Country Is Headed in the Wrong Direction
Jul27 John Lewis Crosses the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the Last Time
Jul27 Could the Election Be a Disaster?
Jul27 Cohen Sent Home
Jul27 Democrats See Path to Senate Majority
Jul27 Rupert Murdoch's Son Gives $2 Million to the Democrats
Jul27 House Republicans Are Begging the RNC for Money
Jul27 Today's Presidential Polls
Jul27 Today's Senate Polls
Jul26 COVID-19 Diaries: Back to School?
Jul26 Sunday Mailbag
Jul25 Saturday Q&A
Jul25 Today's Senate Polls
Jul24 Unconventional: Trump Abandons Jacksonville Plans
Jul24 However, He's Still Pressing for Schools to Reopen
Jul24 Trump Campaign Doubles Down on Suburban Strategy
Jul24 Trump Fundraising in Disarray?
Jul24 Republicans' Aid Plan Will Wait until Next Week Due to Infighting
Jul24 Republicans Try to De-Ratf**k the Kansas Senate Race
Jul24 VP Candidate Profile: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
Jul24 Today's Presidential Polls
Jul24 Today's Senate Polls
Jul23 Undecided Voters Are Leaning Toward Biden
Jul23 Trump Raises $20 Million at a Virtual Fundraiser
Jul23 Three-Quarters of Voters Can Vote by Mail in November
Jul23 Three Coronavirus Scenarios of What Happens Next
Jul23 Texas Voters Think That the Coronavirus is Out of Control in Texas
Jul23 Democratic and Republican Lawmakers Disagree on the Next Relief Package
Jul23 Trump Wants to Start a War between the States--and the Cities
Jul23 Four States Have the Ingredients for a Catastrophe
Jul23 Trump Tried to Pressure U.K. into Holding the British Open at His Golf Club in Scotland
Jul23 Senate May Not Pass Appropriations Bills on Time
Jul23 Barr Could Be Disbarred
Jul23 Today's Presidential Polls
Jul23 Today's Senate Polls
Jul22 Hail Mary, Part I: Apportionment
Jul22 Hail Mary, Part II: COVID-180
Jul22 Fauci's Got Balls
Jul22 Jacksonville Officials Remain Skittish about RNC
Jul22 Cell Phone Companies Reject Trump Spam...er, Texts
Jul22 Lincoln Project Isn't Missing a Beat
Jul22 VP Candidate Profile: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)
Jul22 Today's Presidential Polls
Jul21 (Martial?) Law and Order
Jul21 Wearing Masks Is Now Patriotic
Jul21 S.O.S. (Save Our Senate!)
Jul21 Senate Leadership Will Move to Fill Any Supreme Court Seat That Opens This Year