Haley leads the talk about who should be GOP’s vice presidential candidate

NEWS AND OPINION:

Pollsters and news organizations are already fixated on the 2024 presidential election, examining the public’s preference for president. But who could end up second in command?

“If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination for president, most voters want him to pick Nikki Haley as his running mate,” said a Deseret News/HarrisX poll analysis released Tuesday.

“Registered voters were asked who they want Trump to pick as his vice president, if he is the GOP nominee. Among registered voters, 19% of all voters, and 20% of Republicans, chose Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,” the poll analysis said.

The second option was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at 15% overall, and 18% of Republican support, followed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, with 9% overall and 4% of Republicans, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, chosen by 8% overall and 13% of Republicans.

The poll also charted the standing of a slew of potential vice presidential candidates and their overall standings with voters.

They include former Vice President Mike Pence with 7% support, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah (6%), Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina (5%), political commentator Tucker Carlson (5%), Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia (5%), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (4%), Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake (3%), Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (1%), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (1%), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (1%), Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida (1%) and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York (1%). Another 11% of voters overall and 6% of Republicans chose “someone else.”

The poll of 1,012 registered U.S. voters was conducted Nov. 21-22 and released Tuesday.

WHERE’S THE PRESIDENT?

Here’s a simple answer to that question. He went to a fundraiser in Massachusetts on Tuesday, with another event on Wednesday in the nation’s capital followed by a big whoop-dee-doo in Los Angeles, complete with famous actors and other celebrities.

“President Biden is prioritizing campaign fundraisers over the American people — again,” said Tommy Pigott, director of strategic communication for the Republican National Committee.

“As crises grow and the American people are forgotten, it’s worth asking, what is he fundraising on? A world in chaos? American troops in danger? Communities forgotten? A wide open border? Surging prices and falling real wages? Biden is a failure, and in 2024 he will lose,” he said in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

Mr. Piggott offered half a dozen examples of “crises” that are being neglected, including conditions at the southern U.S. border, high inflation, and one more situation that needs tending.

“East Palestine, Ohio has been waiting for Biden to visit for months. It has been 305 days since the toxic train derailment, 278 days since Biden promised to visit, and 94 days since Biden claimed he hadn’t yet ‘had the occasion’ to pay a call on the town,” Mr. Pigott said.

THE DEBATE PRESS

Candidate debates can serve as a kind of trail marker on the 2024 campaign trail.

The Republican debates are down to four hopefuls who have met the qualifications and are ready to rumble on a stage Wednesday at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, though former President Donald Trump will again not be there.

Here are a few headlines from the last 24 hours.

“As grumbles over Trump-free debates grow, Republicans weigh looser rules” (The New York Times); “GOP debate stage shrinks to four candidates” (NBC News); “The fourth GOP debate will be a key moment for the young NewsNation cable network” (The Associated Press); “What the fourth Republican debate stage looks like” (Axios); “GOP debate now down to four as field winnows and Trump boycotts” (Bloomberg); and “Trump will attend super PAC fundraiser instead of 4th GOP primary debate” (CNN).

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

And now, a brief notice from President Biden’s reelection campaign.

“On Wednesday, Biden-Harris 2024 Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks, former U.S. Senator for Alabama Doug Jones, and Alabama state Representative Barbara Drummond will participate in a press conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, ahead of the fourth Republican primary debate. The speakers will highlight how Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans’ agenda is on display in Alabama and the stakes of the 2024 election,” a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway said.

Imagine. All this — and Mr. Trump will not be on the stage.

IVY-COVERED HALLS

“Nearly 80% of Yale University grades were A’s,” reports the College Fix, a student-written university watchdog.

A “supermajority” of undergraduate grades given out at Yale University were an A or A-minus, according to a new report from the student newspaper.

The Yale Daily News obtained a copy of the 2022-23 grades report from an economics professor at the Ivy League university, according to the report.

“The dean of Yale College, the undergraduate branch of the university, acknowledged that professors are not properly grading students. The report shows 78.9% of grades given out in the 2022-23 school year were an A or A-minus,” the report said.

“As you can see, a large majority of grades in Yale College are in the A range,” Pericles Lewis, dean of Yale College, told the student newspaper.

“This results in compression, making it difficult for instructors to use grades for their intended purpose of helping students understand areas of strength and others that need attention,” Mr. Lewis said.

Ray Fair, a professor of economics at Yale, provided the report to the student newspaper, and believes that the inflated grades emerged during the COVID-19 era. The grading phenomenon, he said, seems entrenched.

“Some thought it would be temporary, but it has more or less persisted. It’s probably the faculty going easier on students because COVID was a pain,” Mr. Fair told the newspaper.

POLL DU JOUR

• 51% of U.S. adults think the nation should be talking about the 2024 presidential election now, even though it is almost a year away.

• 60% of Republicans, 42% of independents and 54% of Democrats agree.

• 30% overall think the nation should wait until later to talk about the election.

• 25% of Republicans, 31% of independents and 32% of Democrats agree.

• 19% overall are not sure about the issue.

• 14% of Republicans, 27% of independents and 14% of Democrats agree.

SOURCE: An Economist/YouGov poll of 1,500 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 25-27.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin.