NEWS AND OPINION:
Let’s just cut to the chase. A new Associated Press survey has some disconcerting news for the White House. Numbers tell all — so without further ado, here they are:
• 78% of U.S. adults say “things in this country” are heading in the wrong direction.
• 76% say the state of the U.S. economy is “poor.”
• 67% disapprove of the way President Biden is handling gun policy.
• 67% disapprove of the way Mr. Biden is handling immigration.
• 66% disapprove of the way Mr. Biden is handling the economy.
• 59% disapprove of the way Mr. Biden is handling his job as president.
• 55% disapprove of the way Mr. Biden is handling student debt.
The source is an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll of 1,680 U.S. adults, which was conducted May 11-15 and released Monday.
DeSANTIS, HALEY AND FAITH
The Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority Policy Conference is one month away.
This event is set for June 22-24 at a classic hotel in the nation’s capital and will feature over 70 speakers this year. Some 3,000 attendees are expected to attend the conference — deemed “the largest public policy gathering of conservative and Christian activists in the nation” by the organizers.
The coalition itself is a national grassroots movement of more than 2 million conservatives and people of faith who support “time-honored values, stronger families, and individual freedom,” according to a mission statement.
They group has also revealed to Inside the Beltway that presidential hopeful and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will deliver a keynote address. She has company, though. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will also deliver what’s billed as a keynote address.
“The purpose of the conference is to empower conservative activists to fight for their values at the polls and in the public arena and to equip attendees with the knowledge and connections they need to drive engagement and voter turnout,” the host organization said in a statement.
Curious? Visit FFcoalition.com for updates and information.
THE SHEER VOLUME
“In just a few months, the U.S. received more than 1.5 million requests from individuals hoping to sponsor the entry of migrants from four countries, an extraordinary number that could jeopardize the Biden administration’s objective of reducing border crossings,” according to a CBS News report based on internal documents from the Department of Homeland Security.
As of the end of April, the agency was receiving an average of nearly 12,000 applications per day from those seeking to sponsor Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans — a number deemed “overwhelming” by the agency itself.
Yes, 12,000 applications a day.
“The flurry of hundreds of thousands of sponsorship applications on behalf of would-be migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela has overwhelmed caseworkers in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which can approve no more than 30,000 arrivals under the program each month,” the CBS report said.
The documents noted that less than three days’ worth of applications were processed per month due to the 30,000 monthly cutoff, the report advised.
And there are more numbers to consider.
“More than 100,000 migrants have arrived in the U.S. under the sponsorship initiative. But the government was overseeing more than 580,000 pending cases for Haitians, more than 380,000 for Cubans, nearly 120,000 for Venezuelans and more than 20,000 for Nicaraguans at the end of April. Other cases were being reviewed or had been approved,” the report said.
TIM’S TAKEAWAY MESSAGE
Sen. Tim Scott’s campaign for president is underway, launched Monday with a high-energy rally followed by the release of an inaugural campaign spot.
The South Carolina Republican has a specific message for liberals and for voters who support President Biden — and here it is:
“I am living proof that America is the land of opportunity. I was raised by a single mother in poverty. She taught me to have stubborn faith, faith in God, faith in ourselves, and faith in America. I rose from a child of poverty to a candidate for president of the United States because we chose patriotism over pity, and to be victors, not victims,” Mr. Scott says in the new outreach.
“Made in America — that’s my story. That’s why it pains my soul to see the Biden liberals attacking every rung of the ladder that helped me climb. Indoctrination in our schools, inflation in our economy, crime in our neighborhoods, victimhood in our culture. To the radical left that says we’re an evil, declining country, I say the truth of my life disproves your lies,” he concludes in the new spot.
In a statement, Mr. Scott’s campaign said this spot “is part of a $6 million ad buy that will air statewide starting Wednesday in Iowa and New Hampshire. This first buy also includes a substantial digital ad campaign. Tim entered the race for president with $22 million cash on hand, the most of any presidential candidate in American history.”
See the spot at Mr. Scott’s website, VoteTimScott.com — look under the “News” heading.
His campaign continues in the meantime. The candidate will be in Sioux City, Iowa, on Wednesday. Then it’s on to Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday.
POLL DU JOUR
• 74% of U.S. adults say they follow or watch a particular “public individual” for news and information because that person offers a perspective they can’t find in other news outlets.
• 66% say they follow or watch that public individual because the person represents “people like me.”
• 65% say they follow or watch the person because of beliefs and opinions that align with their own.
• 50% say they follow because the person works for a company or organization that they trust.
SOURCE: A Gallup/Knight Foundation poll of 3,821 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 17-28 and released Tuesday.
• Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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