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Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - August 2, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Tuesday's Leading Stories
- U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) became the first member of Congress to publicly declare he will cross party lines and vote for Hillary Clinton in November. He wrote in an op-ed, "In his latest foray of insults, Mr. Trump has attacked the parents of a slain U.S. soldier. Where do we draw the line? I thought it would have been when he alleged that U.S. Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was caught. Or the countless other insults he's proudly lobbed from behind the Republican presidential podium. For me, it is not enough to simply denounce his comments: He is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country." Hanna previously announced in December that he was retiring after serving three terms in the House. (Syracuse.com)
- The public feud between Donald Trump and Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of a soldier killed in Iraq in 2004, continued on Monday with Trump criticizing the number of interviews the Khans were participating in. He tweeted, “Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!” Khan responded, "I spoke what was appropriate, and if he is watching, just imagine, there was no need to comment the way he commented. That initiated this conversation. I again say, we want to maintain our dignity. We want to maintain my family's dignity, my son's dignity and sacrifice. And he should listen to America, what America and the world is telling about the remarks, about the lack of empathy, and that's all I wish to convey to him." (CNN)
- On Monday, the Veterans of Foreign Wars denounced Trump. The organization’s leader, Brian Duffy, said in a statement, “There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.” The families of 17 military members who died in service also wrote an open letter to Donald Trump requesting that he apologize to the Khan family and all Gold Star families. They wrote, “You are not just attacking us, you are cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost. You are minimizing the risk our service members make for all of us. This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as ‘political correctness.’” (Politico, VoteVets, NBC News)
- U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) released a statement on Monday condemning Trump’s response to the Khan family. “I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates. … While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us,” he wrote. (Business Insider)
Polls
- In a CNN/ORC poll released on Monday, Hillary Clinton expanded her lead over Donald Trump to 9 points, 52 percent to 43 percent. “Further, a majority of Clinton's backers now say their vote is more to show support for her than to oppose Trump, a sharp shift since early May. Back then, 48% said their vote was one of support for the former secretary of state, 58% say so now,” the poll also found. (CNN)
- An NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released on Tuesday found Clinton ahead by a similar margin, 50 percent to 42 percent. (NBC News)
- Two Georgia polls were released on Monday finding Trump tied with or ahead of Clinton. In a four-way race, Trump had 46 percent, Clinton 42, Johnson 5, and Stein 2, according to WXIA-TV. Trump and Clinton each had 45 percent in a poll from WSB-TV. (WXIA-TV, WSB-TV)
- In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads Trump by four points, 45 percent to 41 percent, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling. (Public Policy Polling)
Democrats
- Clinton campaign chair John Podesta said in an interview with The Huffington Post last week that they were looking for someone progressive to chair the Democratic National Committee. “We want a person at the head of the party that represents the progressive platform that the party adopted and that represents that spirit of reform and integration of the grassroots into the party,” he said. (The Huffington Post)
Hillary Clinton
- Both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times released articles on Monday focused on the Clinton campaign’s efforts to appeal to white men, a demographic Clinton is losing to Trump almost two-to-one. “The campaign is generally underperforming relative to Mr. Obama’s 2012 numbers with white men, leading aides to believe there are still minds to be changed. But she is outperforming Mr. Obama with white women. In particular, the campaign is targeting college-educated whites, a group that Mitt Romney won handily four years ago,” The New York Times noted. (The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times)
- Moody’s Analytics recently released its report on Clinton’s economic policies, finding that they “will result in a somewhat stronger U.S. economy. Near-term growth is supported by the stimulus provided by her spending plans in combination with much stronger foreign immigration." (CNBC)
- Clinton and Tim Kaine will host a group session on Quora next Monday where they will answer questions posed by users. (Quora)
- The Hill compiled a list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees for Clinton which includes Sri Srinivasan of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Jane Kelly of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. (The Hill)
- Clinton’s campaign and joint fundraising operation with national and state Democratic parties together raised nearly $90 million in July. “The campaign began August with more than $58 million on hand, with the average July donation coming in at $44 and 54 percent of the last month's contributions coming from new donors,” Politico noted. (Politico)
Republicans
- Sally Bradshaw, a senior adviser to Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign, said in an interview on Monday that she had switched her party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated. "I've been considering the switch for months. Ultimately, I could not abide the hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump and his complete lack of principles and conservative philosophy. I didn't make this decision lightly -- I have worked hard to make our party a place where all would feel welcome. But Trump has taken the GOP in another direction, and too many Republicans are standing by and looking the other way,” she said. Bradshaw added that if the election is close in Florida, she will vote for Hillary Clinton to oppose Trump’s candidacy. (CNN)
Donald Trump
- During a gathering of more than 400 large donors in Colorado over the weekend, billionaire Charles Koch said he and his political network would not support Donald Trump. (ABC News)
- During a rally in Ohio on Monday, Trump said the Democratic primary was rigged. “And I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest,” he continued. Trump also suggested that he might revoke the press credentials for The New York Times because it was “very dishonest” in its coverage of him. (The Huffington Post, Politico)
- Trump also announced at the rally that the average fundraising contribution from his donors was $69 in July. "We have raised with the small donor $35.8 million, think of that, I believe it’s 517,000 donors. Think of that. That’s in a month. So we raised $35.8 million, even a little more than that," said Trump. (Politico)
- Ed Brookover, a senior adviser acting as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, was fired on Monday. According to Politico, Brookover's firing was part of a "campaign shakeup," and two other Trump aides, William McGinley and Mike McSherry, are set to take on expanded roles in the campaign. (Politico)
- On Monday night, Trump thanked House Speaker Paul Ryan’s primary challenger, Paul Nehlen, for criticizing Ryan’s “constant knee-jerk reactions to anything controversial Donald Trump might say without completely understanding the issue.” He tweeted, “Thanks to @pnehlen for your kind words, very much appreciated.” (The Hill)
Third Party Candidates
Jill Stein (Green Party)
- Jill Stein announced on Monday that she had selected human rights activist Ajamu Baraka to be her running mate. She described him as an "activist, writer, intellectual and organizer with a powerful voice, vision, and lifelong commitment to building true political revolution." (TIME)
- A video recorded earlier this year of Stein discussing technology and education gained renewed attention on Monday because of comments she made about the safety of wireless technology. “We should not be subjecting kids’ brains especially to that. And we don’t follow that issue in this country, but in Europe where they do, they have good precautions around wireless—maybe not good enough, because it’s very hard to study this stuff. We make guinea pigs out of whole populations and then we discover how many die. And this is like the paradigm for how public health works in this country and it’s outrageous, you know,” she said. (Gizmodo)
Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party)
- CNN will host its second Libertarian town hall on Wednesday featuring Gary Johnson and Bill Weld. Anderson Cooper will moderate the event in New York City. (CNN)
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
