NEWS AND OPINION:
One of the mainstream news media’s favorite myths is that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is not popular with women. A new study from the Center for Responsive Politics has some research which would suggest otherwise: “Trump is doing surprisingly well with women donors,” reports Alec Goodwin, an analyst for the nonprofit watchdog, who recalls that Mr. Trump recently stated that he’s faring “pretty well” among female voters.
“In the case of women donors, he seems to be right. Contrary to what some might expect, women make up nearly the same share of Trump’s large donors — those who gave more than $200 to his campaign committee — as they did for the past two Republican presidential nominees,” writes Mr. Goodwin.
“Women accounted for 27.2 percent of Trump’s large donors as of June 30, just a little lower than 2012 nominee Mitt Romney’s 28.3 percent and 2008 nominee John McCain’s 28 percent,” he notes.
THE PERSISTENT DOUBLE STANDARD
“During the first two days of the Democratic convention, various speakers called Donald Trump a con man, a fraud, a bigot, and a racist,” reports Rich Noyes, director for research for the Media Research Center, a conservative press watchdog which pored over much of the coverage of both the Republican and Democratic national conventions on ABC, CBS, MSNBC and NBC.
“While the media routinely attacked the Republicans during the GOP convention for negative attacks on Hillary Clinton, the Democrats’ attacks on Trump were given a pass,” Mr. Noyes continues. “During the GOP convention, journalists scolded the Republicans for negativity 63 times; for the same time period during the Democratic convention, viewers heard only five such comments from reporters, a more than 12-to-1 disparity.”
SEE ALSO: Warren Buffet demands Donald Trump release tax returns
IT’S CANNABIS FOR CLINTON
The legal cannabis industry has a clear favorite in the 2016 presidential election, at least according to a survey of over 700 people who work in the medical and recreational marijuana business in states where the substance is legal.
“Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide, with 43 percent of marijuana executives and professionals saying they would vote for her at this point vs. just 26 percent who prefer Donald Trump,” states a survey conducted by Marijuana Business Daily, an industry publication which also says that the new field now employs 150,000 workers and generates $4.3 billion a year.
Surprisingly, only 15 percent of the respondents said they would vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson, who has long been an advocate for legalizing marijuana nationwide.
“Democrats have historically been more sympathetic to marijuana legalization initiatives than their Republican counterparts, and Clinton herself has come out in support of medical marijuana,” the analysis noted. “She’s also on the record as saying she would move marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II drug to advance research of the plant, while earlier this month the Democratic Party officially adopted a ’reasoned path’ to future legalization.”
Mr. Trump, the analysis said, “does not have an official policy position on marijuana and it’s often hard to tell where he stands on issues.”
FOR THE LEXICON
“Drug Warriors”
— New designation for organizations raising money to fight the legalization of marijuana, the term coined by Scott Shackford, a writer for Reason. He particularly cites Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an organization founded by former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Atlantic editor David Frum and Kevin Sabet, former drug policy adviser to President Obama. The group has raised $2 million for the anti-legalization efforts in several states this year.
’FAILED POLICIES AND PASSIVITY’
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul has released yet another “terror snapshot,” assessing the monthly threat to the U.S. and its allies.
The Texas Republican says nine Islamic State-linked individuals were arrested on American soil in the past month and that his committee is currently tracking 103 terrorist plots linked to the Islamic State — 46 in Europe, 30 in the U.S. and another 27 in other nations.
“These jihadists have set deep roots in key sanctuaries across the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa, while extending their deadly reach across the globe using their operatives and supporters,” says Mr. McCaul. “Our enemies — whether ISIS, al Qaeda, or the world’s primary state sponsor of terror in Iran — have clearly capitalized on several years of failed policies and passivity. Reversing this disastrous course is an urgent national security imperative for the United States and our allies.”
A TAXING MOMENT
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton claims that upper income earners do not pay a “fair share” of federal taxes and should pay more.
Is she right? Not according to Congressional Budget Office numbers cited by Americans for Tax Reform. The grass-roots watchdog points to these findings, noting that the tax code is already “steeply progressive”:
The average tax rate for the top 1 percent of U.S. households for income tax is 23.6 percent; for all federal taxes it is 34 percent.
The average tax rate for the top 20 percent for income tax is 15.5 percent; for all federal taxes it is 26.3 percent.
The average tax rate for the “middle quintile” — essentially the middle class — for income tax is 2.6 percent; for all federal taxes it is 12.8 percent.
“A Clinton ’Buffett Rule’ tax increase or similar gimmick is a solution in search of a problem,” the organization notes.
POLL DU JOUR
• 75 percent of registered U.S. voters say unemployed American workers should get preference for a U.S. job rather than a foreign worker.
• 63 percent believe that the level of immigration to the U.S. should be decreased.
• 61 percent say politicians who would rather give jobs to foreign workers are “unfit to hold office.”
• 55 percent disagree with Hillary Clinton’s call to released immigrants at the U.S. borders and allow them to apply for asylum.
• 53 percent agree that “record amounts of immigration” have strained both school resources and disadvantaged U.S. children.
Source: A Breitbart News/Gravis poll of 2,010 registered U.S. voters conducted July 25 to 26.
• Bold assertions, quiet asides to jharper@washingtontimes.com
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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