NEWS AND OPINION:
It’s close, but an average of 21 national polls now finds that former President Donald Trump remains ahead of President Biden in the 2024 race for the White House.
The precise results, according to the Cook Political Report survey of recent polls, have Mr. Trump at 46.9% support, Mr. Biden with 44.3%.
“Our moving average includes 12 more traditional polls that incorporate live interviews (ABC News/Wash Post, CNBC, CNN, FOX News, Grinnell/Selzer, Marquette Law School, NBC News, NPR/PBS/Marist, NYTimes/Siena, Quinnipiac, Suffolk/USAToday and Wall Street Journal) and nine online/large panel polls (ABC News/Ipsos, CBS News, Economist/YouGov, Harvard/Harris, Morning Consult, Pew Research Center, Reuters/Ipsos, SurveyUSA and Yahoo News),” analyst David Wasserman wrote in a report released Thursday.
“The rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump has been so static for much of 2024 that it’s felt as if it were due for something seismic to happen. At this writing, there’s still a substantially greater-than-zero chance that a different Democrat could end up appearing atop the November ballot. But every day Biden continues to defy calls from his own party to withdraw from the race in the wake of a disastrous debate performance, the odds of an earthquake on the Democratic side diminish,” Mr. Wasserman said.
SOMETHING FOR UKRAINE
The Defense Department issued a formal “Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine” on Thursday, noting that the U.S. has committed more than $54.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine “since the beginning of the Biden administration.”
Here are a few particulars included on the latest round of supplies and equipment, valued at $225 million, in no particular order: 18 armored bridging systems, 100,000 sets of body armor and helmets, 58 water trailers, 300 armored medical treatment vehicles, 400 million rounds of small-arms ammunition and grenades, 1.8 million rounds of 25 mm ammunition, 200 155 mm howitzers, 3 million 155 mm artillery rounds, 9,000 Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles and 80 coastal and riverine patrol boats.
“The United States also continues to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with additional capabilities to defend itself,” the fact sheet said.
“This is the eighth security assistance package the President has authorized to help Ukraine since signing the national security supplemental appropriations act. We will deploy this new assistance as quickly as possible to bolster Ukraine’s defense of its territory and its people. As President Biden has made clear, the United States and the international coalition we have assembled will continue to stand with Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a written statement.
NOT BUYING IT
One anti-abortion organization is keeping a sharp eye on Capitol Hill these days.
“March for Life Action strongly opposes the so-called Reproductive Freedom for Women Act,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life Action — an organization that nurtures “a legislative culture” at the federal and state levels where pro-life concerns are addressed and pro-life legislation passed.
“This extreme legislation sends a clear message — abortion expansion is the priority. Pro-abortion Senate Democrats are seeking to pass this bill to signal their intent to enshrine a right to abortion into federal law, with the goal of dismantling the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision,” Ms. Mancini said in a written statement.
“It also does not mention support for any limits on abortion and communicates an intent to both eliminate and undo a state’s ability to pass pro-life laws that benefit women and their babies. Our senators should be supporting legislation that is pro-woman and pro-child instead of pushing radical extremism across the country,” Ms. Mancini said.
Find the group at MarchforLifeAction.org.
IVY-COVERED HALLS
Our colleges and universities appear to have an image problem, according to a new Gallup Poll.
“An increasing proportion of U.S. adults say they have little or no confidence in higher education. As a result, Americans are now nearly equally divided among those who have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence (36%), some confidence (32%), or little or no confidence (32%) in higher education. When Gallup first measured confidence in higher education in 2015, 57% had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence and 10% had little or none,” reports Jeffrey M. Jones, an analyst for Gallup.
“A review of the historical trends shows that confidence has dropped among all key subgroups in the U.S. population over the past two decades, but more so among Republicans. Americans who lack confidence in higher education today say their concerns lie in colleges pushing political agendas, not teaching relevant skills, and being overly expensive,” Mr. Jones said.
Gallup surveyed 1,005 U.S. adults by telephone from June 3 to June 23.
WEEKEND REAL ESTATE
For sale: Taylor Landing Vineyard, established in 1900 in Girdletree, Maryland, on 7 acres a quarter-mile from Chincoteague Bay. Includes Federal-style home with three bedrooms, two baths, chef’s kitchen, living and dining rooms, two fireplaces; custom features include unique paint and wall treatments, archways and built-ins. Property includes a working vineyard with French Semillon vines grafted to American grape stock plus a trellis system, plus barn, two-car garage, workshop and putting green. Priced at $799,000 through Sothebysrealty.com; enter MLS number MDWO2010848 in the search function.
POLL DU JOUR
• 36% of U.S. adults say they have a “side hustle” — or working outside their main employment for extra income.
• 37% of this group use the extra income to fund discretionary purchases.
• 36% use the income for regular living expenses such as housing and food.
• 32% say they will always need a side hustle to make ends meet.
• 31% say they save some of their side-hustle income.
• 20% use their side-hustle income to pay down debt.
• 16% want their side hustle to develop into their main source of income.
• 6% say that “none of these” conditions apply to them.
SOURCE: A Bankrate/YouGov survey of 2,332 U.S. adults conducted June 10-12 and released Wednesday.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @HarperBulletin.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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