NEWS AND OPINION:
It is a determined and significant event: The Values Voter Summit is now underway in the nation’s capital, drawing some 2,500 socially conservative activists with much on their minds.
Some big names are part of it. Donald Trump and running mate Gov. Mike Pence will both appear — along with 70 other concerned, high-profile folk. They include everyone from actors Jon Voight and Kirk Cameron to Sens. Tim Scott, Tom Cotton and James Lankford. Other high-profile attendees include Allen West, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Oliver North, Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham and Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Also on the list: Reps. Diane Black, Marsha Blackburn, Jim Bridenstine, John Fleming, Louie Gohmert, Jim Jordan, Gov. Mike Bevin, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. C-SPAN is covering the big doings.
There’s a certain urgency in the air at the event, organized by the Family Research Council and now in its 11th year. And no wonder. This political landscape is a dynamic one. Some estimates now place the potential “evangelical voting bloc” at 60 million people, though media coverage often emphasizes how many of these voters sat out the last two elections for one reason or another. Values, however, continue to play a role.
A new Washington Post poll of 72,000 registered voters in all 50 states found that 72 percent agree that “America today reflects their values less than it has in the past.”
Gallup also found that 60 percent of Republican voters pine for a “conservative president, 32 percent favor a moderate and 6 percent a liberal. Almost a quarter of Democrats — 21 percent — preferred a conservative as well, 36 percent favor a liberal, 40 percent a moderate.
Meanwhile, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, whose group is the event’s principal driving force, will conduct a news conference Saturday to underscore the group’s mission and reveal plans for a “Values Bus Tour” which will visit 20 states by election day. The riders intend to mobilize local voters to support “bedrock values” like religious freedom, national security and the sanctity of life. And it is quite the ride. On the first leg of the journey, the bus will stop in all 100 counties in the state of North Carolina.
NEVER FORGET
The memory does not fade, even 15 years later. A new Pew Research Center poll finds that 91 percent of Americans say they remember exactly where they were, or what they were doing at the moment they heard news about the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
“The share of the public that say they have a memory of the moment today is little changed from what it was one year, five years and 10 years after the terrorist attacks,” the pollster reports, adding, “Even among those under 30, who were between the ages of three and 13 at the time, 83 percent today say they know exactly where they were or what they were doing.”
And policy-wise, 49 percent of Americans now say U.S. terrorism anti-terrorism policies have not “gone far enough” to protect the country, something on which 68 percent of Republicans, 40 percent of independents and 46 percent of Democrats agree.
FOXIFIED
SEE ALSO: Joe Biden to GOP: Deal with Zika, guns and Judge Merrick Garland
Those seeking straightforward coverage of the 9/11 anniversary Sunday can look to Fox News, which features daylong coverage of the somber event at beginning at 6 a.m. EDT; the network will observe the moment of silence at 8:46 to mark the moment when the first hijacked aircraft struck the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Of particular note is programming at 9 p.m.: “Timeline of Terror” presents a complete, moment-by-moment recounting of the events — with no host, no narration and no commercial interruptions.
And on an unrelated matter: According to Nielsen Media Research, “On the Record” with Brit Hume debuted Tuesday with a very respectable 2.4 million in total viewers — up 20 percent from numbers on the same day one year ago, when it was hosted by Greta Van Susteren.
WEEKEND CANDIDATE TRACKER
Sunday is a day of rest, more or less, for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Neither will campaign to honor the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — a wise and gracious thing to do.
It has been a very busy week for Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile. Since Monday, she has appeared in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, ending her week in New York City with a swanky fundraiser hosted by Barbra Streisand where the tickets can cost as much as $250,000. Yes, that’s a quarter of a million dollars. Running mate Sen. Tim Kaine will be in the nation’s capital Saturday for a fundraiser happy hour, complete with a DJ. President Obama, and first lady Michelle Obama will campaign for Mrs. Clinton beginning next Tuesday.
Mr. Trump ends his week in the nation’s capital, attending at the aforementioned Value Voters Summit in midafternoon Friday. Then he will skedaddle to Pensacola, Florida, for a jumbo rally in the evening. He follows up Monday with another rally in Asheville, North Carolina. Running mate Gov. Mike Pence also appears at the values summit Saturday, this following an appearance Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
WEEKEND REAL ESTATE
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POLL DU JOUR
• 51 percent of Americans generally disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.”
• 44 percent approve of the law that restructured U.S. health-care system.
• 51 percent say the health care law has had no effect on them or their family.
• 29 percent say the law has had a negative effect; 18 percent say a positive effect.
• 37 percent say in the long run, the law has not made much difference; 36 percent say it will make things worse, 24 percent say it will make things better.
Source: A Gallup poll of 1,015 U.S. adults conducted August 30 to 31.
• Prudent advice, folly to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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