Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - August 10, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Wednesday's Leading Stories
- At a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Donald Trump commented on Hillary Clinton’s stance on the Second Amendment and the possibility of her filling vacancies on the Supreme Court. Democratic members of Congress, social media users, and some in the press interpreted his comments as a threat of violence against Clinton. Trump said, “Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And if she gets to pick … if she gets to pick her judges: Nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know. But I tell you what, that will be a horrible day.” (Politico)
- The Trump campaign released a statement shortly after the rally saying that the comment about “Second Amendment people” was in reference to the political power of Second Amendment supporters. “It’s called the power of unification. 2nd Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power,” the statement read.
- The Clinton campaign also released a statement, calling Trump’s comments dangerous: “This is simple—what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.”
- Calls from Democrats in Congress and social media users for an investigation into Trump’s comments prompted a brief response from the Secret Service’s Twitter account. “The Secret Service is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon,” read the tweet. (The Hill)
- Paul Ryan said that he hopes Trump “clears up” the comments quicky. “It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly. You should never joke about something like that,” said Ryan. (Politico)
- Hillary Clinton has reportedly spent $52.3 million on television ads for the general election, so far (including past and future spending). More than $13 million of these ads are set to coincide with the Olympics. Donald Trump’s campaign, on the other hand, has spent nothing on television ads, though PACs supporting him have spent $8.2 million. Jill Stein has spent $189,000, and Gary Johnson has spent ($15,000). (Business Insider, AP)
Polls
- A national poll by Bloomberg found Clinton leading Trump among likely voters, 50 to 44 percent. In a four-way match up with Gary Johnson and Jill Stein included, Clinton leads Trump 44 to 40. Johnson came in at nine points and Stein at four. (Bloomberg Politics)
- New polling data from Quinnipiac shows Clinton leading Trump in Ohio and Pennsylvania, 49 to 45 and 52 to 42 respectively. She holds a slim lead over Trump in Florida, 46 to 45. With third party candidates added in, the Florida race tightens even more, with Clinton and Trump at 43 each, while Gary Johnson takes seven percent and Jill Stein takes three. But Clinton maintains her leads in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In Ohio, she polled at 44 to Trump’s 42, with Johnson at eight percent and Stein at three percent. In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads Trump 48 to 39, with Johnson at seven percent and Stein, again, at three. (Quinnipiac)
- Battleground polls in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Iowa conducted by The Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist College produced comparable results to the Quinnipiac polls. In head-to-head match ups, Clinton leads Trump 48 to 37 in Pennsylvania; 43 to 38 in Ohio; and 41 to 37 in Iowa. With third party candidates added in, Clinton still leads in Ohio and Pennsylvania—by four and nine points, respectively—but is tied with Trump in Iowa, 35 to 35. Johnson polls at 12 percent in Iowa and Ohio and at nine percent in Pennsylvania. Stein took six percent in Iowa, four percent in Ohio, and three percent in Pennsylvania. (The Wall Street Journal)
- The Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist College polls also found that the presidential race may, so far, have had little impact on key Senate races in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In Ohio, GOP incumbent Rob Portman leads Democrat Ted Strickland, 48 to 43 percent, despite Trump being down by five points against Clinton. The Wall Street Journal notes that Portman and Strickland were tied at 44 percent a month ago. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Katie McGinty leads GOP incumbent Pat Toomey, 48 to 44 percent. McGinty led by three in an WSJ/NBC/Marist poll in early July. (The Wall Street Journal)
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
- At the Borinquen Medical Center in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton called on members of Congress to return from recess and to pass funding to fight the spread of the Zika virus. Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced shortly before Clinton’s remarks that the 21st case of “locally transmitted Zika” had been confirmed in South Florida. Clinton said, “I am very disappointed that the Congress went on recess before actually agreeing on what they would do to put the resources into this fight, and I really am hoping that they will pay attention. In fact, I would very much urge the leadership of Congress to call people back for a special session and get a bill passed.” (The Atlantic)
- Harry Sloan, a former CEO of MGM, has announced his support for Hillary Clinton. In the past two presidential election cycles, Sloan was a major donor for Republican candidates, and he backed John Kasich throughout the 2016 Republican primary season. In a statement, he said that Trump “does not embody the values that have made me a lifelong Republican. He is unprepared and temperamentally unfit to be our President. Most of my Republican friends feel the same way. As a businessman, a father, and a conservative it is clear to me that Hillary Clinton is the right choice in this election.” (Politico)
- While campaigning in Florida, Clinton voiced her support for former DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is running for reelection in Florida’s 23rd congressional district. “I can't think of anyone who [more] deserves your support for re-election, starting with the primary on August 30th, than my friend Debbie. And I am committed to doing whatever I can to support her as she returns to the Congress with your support,” said Clinton. Wasserman Schultz’s opponent, Tim Canova, was endorsed by Clinton’s former Democratic primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Sun Sentinel)
Republicans
- Paul Ryan overcame a primary challenge from Paul Nehlen in Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district. Though Republican Donald Trump endorsed Ryan last Friday, days earlier he had declined to do so, saying, "I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country. We need very strong leadership. We need very, very strong leadership. And I’m just not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet." Trump had also thanked Nehlen for his support on Twitter. Unofficial results had Ryan defeating Nehlen, 85 to 15 percent. (Ballotpedia)
Donald Trump
- In an interview with Time magazine, Trump said that he planned to participate in the three presidential debates scheduled for September and October but hinted that he might first seek to negotiate the terms of the debates. Trump said, “I will absolutely do three debates. I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions. …I renegotiated the debates in the primaries, remember? They were making a fortune on them and they had us in for three and a half hours and I said that’s ridiculous. I’m sure they’ll be open to any suggestions I have, because I think they’ll be very fair suggestions. … I’ll have to see who the moderators are. Yeah, I would say that certain moderators would be unacceptable, absolutely. I did very well in the debates on the primaries. According to the polls, I won all of them. So I look forward to the debates. But, yeah, I want to have fair moderators … I will demand fair moderators.” (Time)
- Trump stated his support for a voter ID law in North Carolina that a federal appeals court struck down last month. The court argued that the law was “passed with racially discriminatory intent.” Regarding North Carolina’s voter ID law and other like it elsewhere, Trump stated, “Voter ID. What’s with that? What’s with voter ID? Why aren’t we having voter ID. In other words, I want to vote, here’s my identification. I want to vote. As opposed to somebody coming up and voting 15 times for Hillary. And I will not tell you to vote 15 times. I will not tell you to do that. You won’t vote 15 times, but people will. They’ll vote many times, and how that could have happened is unbelievable.” (Wall Street Journal, Politico)
Third Party Candidates
- The Commission on Presidential Debates has directed hosts for presidential debates in September and October to prepare for the possibility of a third party candidate on the stage. Commission co-chair Mike McCurry explained to Politico, “With [former Gov.] Gary Johnson polling in some places more than double digits, they might have, some of our production people may have said, ‘Just in case, you need to plan out what that might look like.” (Politico)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- Gary Johnson’s campaign filed paperwork to get on the ballot in Ohio on Monday but did not include Johnson’s name. Instead, the Libertarian Party of Ohio used a placeholder candidate (Charlie Earl, an Ohio businessman and former state representative) in order to begin gathering the signatures needed to get on the ballot. Their plan was to swap out Johnson’s name after submitting the necessary signatures. A spokesperson for the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, however, noted that he “not aware of any time in Ohio history where a candidate has filed petitions to run for president and asked for another name to be put on the ballot. Our legal team will need to review the revised code to find out if that is legally possible.” (Cincinnati.com)
See also
- Presidential election, 2016
- Presidential candidates, 2016
- Presidential debates (2015-2016)
- Important dates in the 2016 presidential race
- Polls and Straw polls
- 2016 presidential candidate ratings and scorecards
