Inside the Beltway: Trump, Biden now tied in Minnesota

NEWS AND OPINION:

Many analysts now speculate that the presidential candidate who wins the battleground states will win the 2020 White House race — which has evolved into a complicated bout indeed. Minnesota is one of those battleground states — in flux, it appears, despite the state’s political history, Minnesotans have voted for Democratic presidential candidates all the way back to 1976.

But things change.

A half dozen Democratic mayors in Minnesota recently declared their allegiance to President Trump — a revelation that made national headlines. Now comes a new poll of local voters that suggests the North Star State is not committed to Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden. He is, in fact, now tied with Mr. Trump.

Let’s go down to excruciating incremental terms: The poll found that 46.9% of the respondents favor Mr. Biden while 46.5% side with Mr. Trump. Another 3.7% favor Libertarian Party hopeful Jo Jorgensen, 1.2% favor another candidate and another 1.7 % are undecided.

One of the most striking findings was that 53% of the much coveted independent vote in Minnesota goes to Mr. Trump while 42% are with Mr. Biden. In addition, a full quarter of the Democratic respondents favor Mr. Trump while 67% are in Mr. Biden’s corner. Black voters are not entirely behind Mr. Biden. The Democrat is polling at 71% among Black voters, but Mr. Trump has also found favor with 18%.

In terms of congressional districts in Minnesota, the poll found Mr. Trump ahead in districts 1, 2, 7 and 8. The president also came within 3 percentage points of Mr. Biden in districts 3 and 5.

Voter emotion also played a role. The poll found that equal numbers of Biden and Trump voters — 49% — agree they are enthusiastic about their candidate. Mr. Trump, however, generates more excitement (59% to 38%) while Mr. Biden produces a greater sense of reluctance among his voters (60% to 26%).

“The poll shows a dead heat between President Trump and Joe Biden in Minnesota of all places. In many of the state’s congressional districts, Trump has a strong lead or is tied with Biden. Given the explosive events of the last few months this is tremendous news,” a source advises.

The poll of 1,141 likely general election voters in Minnesota was conducted by the Georgia-based Trafalgar Group from August 15 to 18 on behalf of Conservative Clergy of Color, a non-profit.

HEADLINE OF THE MOMENT

“Trumpmentum: New polls forecast liberal tears.”

That six-word prediction comes from Townhall.com. Senior editor Matt Vespa compiled the evidence from several pollsters, including Morning Consult, Hill-Harris, Real Clear Politics, Frank Luntz and Zogby Analytics.

’A CULTURE OF RESILIENCE’

President Trump continues to seek out the best of the traditional, can-do American mindset.

“I encourage all Americans to adopt a proactive mindset and take the necessary steps to prepare their families and communities to withstand and recover from unexpected events. We cannot always know when the next crisis will occur, but we can know that we will be prepared by committing ourselves to a culture of resilience,” Mr. Trump said in his proclamation recognizing National Preparedness Month, which is September.

He advises those who need pointers to visit Ready.gov, a practical compendium of ideas from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

STELTER ADMITS TO A CNN MISHAP

Many TV viewers are very sharp these days, and some ask questions worthy of the most professional host or analyst. Such was the case on C-SPAN, when CNN media analyst Brian Stelter appeared on Tuesday to chat up the state of the press. One caller from North Carolina took Mr. Stelter to task over CNN’s recent description of riots, social unrest, arson and even murder in major cities to be “fiery, but mostly peaceful protests.”

The network displayed the description as a recent on-screen graphic. Mr. Stelter noted that for his own CNN show, he reviews such “banner headlines” and is “100% responsible” if the audience objects to them.

And what about that “fiery but peaceful” headline?

“That banner was probably a mistake. I don’t know who wrote it. Probably a young producer who’s trying their best under deadline and a breaking news situation,” Mr. Stelter said. “I think it’s probably the kind of thing that becomes easily criticized and is probably not the right banner to put on screen.”

FOXIFIED PLUS

It has been a very good few months for Fox News. The network closed out the summer as the top-rated network in prime-time television, surpassing all broadcast and cable news networks in total viewers. This means that Fox News also bested the “Big Three” networks — CBS, NBC and CBS — as well as cable rivals CNN and MSNBC.

And some numbers: Fox News drew 3.6 million prime-time viewers throughout the month of August according to Nielsen Media Research. MSNBC garnered 2.1 million while CNN had 1.6 million. In terms of domination, Fox News is now marking 224 consecutive months as the most-watched cable news network — that is over 18.5 years.

One more thing: In August, the network aired 70 of the top 100 cable telecasts for the month, and also produced a dozen telecasts which drew over 5 million viewers.

POLL DU JOUR

• 74% of adults in a global sample of 27 countries would get a COVID-19 vaccination if it were available.

• 26% say they would not get the vaccine.

• 56% of this group say they would decline because they fear side effects.

• 29% of this group decline because they doubt vaccine effectiveness, 19% say they are not at risk for contracting the virus.

• 17% say they are “against vaccines in general,” 16% cite “some other reason,” 3% “don’t have the time.”

Source: An IPSOS poll of 20,000 adults in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland), France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and Turkey conducted July 24-Aug. 7 and released Tuesday.

Kindly follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.