Ballotpedia's Daily Presidential News Briefing - May 6, 2016
From Ballotpedia
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Friday's Leading Stories
- In an interview on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said that he could not yet support Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee. “I think conservatives want to know does he share our values and our principles on limited government, the proper role of the executive, adherence to the Constitution,” Paul said. He continued, “There are lots of questions that conservatives, I think, are gonna want answers to, myself included. I want to be a part of this unifying process. I want to help to unify this party.” Trump responded in a statement, “I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan's agenda. Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people. They have been treated so badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first!" (CNN, Politico)
- Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will compete for seven pledged delegates from Guam on Saturday. They have respectively reserved $22,000 and $10,000 in radio advertising there this week. According to The Guam Daily Post, three of Guam’s five superdelegates have indicated that they will support Clinton. The other two remain uncommitted. (Politico, Ballotpedia, The Guam Daily Post)
Polls
- According to a Monmouth University poll released on Thursday, Donald Trump dominates in New Jersey with 70 percent support. Nearly all of the polling was conducted prior to Ted Cruz’s announcement on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the presidential race. A plurality of respondents, 41 percent, also said that they believed Chris Christie would harm Trump’s campaign if he were selected as Trump’s running mate. (Monmouth University)
- In a Pew Research Center national poll released on Thursday, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders, 54 percent to 42 percent. (Pew Research Center)
Democrats
- The Pew Research Center released an ethnic, gender, and political profile of the Democratic superdelegates on Thursday. (The Pew Research Center)
- In a radio interview recorded earlier this week, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that she preferred primaries to caucuses because they were “simpler” and “more democratic.” She added that she opposed open primaries. “It’s our job, once we have a nominee, to sell [independents] on our party’s candidate, but if you have chosen not to be a member of our party, then to me, you are not entitled and should not be entitled to help decide who our party’s nominee is,” Wasserman Schultz said. (BuzzFeed)
- On Saturday, officials at the Maine Democratic State Convention will vote on whether to eliminate superdelegates and assign them proportionally based on the results of Maine’s caucuses. (RT)
Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton expressed support on Thursday for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s newly announced plan to ban mandatory arbitration provisions in credit card and bank contracts. She said, “With today’s proposal, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes aim at yet another unfair practice on Wall Street. Mandatory arbitration clauses buried deep in contracts for credit cards, student loans, and more prevent American consumers from having their day in court when they’ve been harmed.” (TIME)
- Several of Clinton’s top aides, including vice chair of her presidential campaign Huma Abedin, have been interviewed “in the past few months” by the FBI regarding Clinton’s private email server. According to CNN, “The investigation is still ongoing, but so far investigators haven't found evidence to prove that Clinton willfully violated the law the U.S. officials say.” (NBC News, CNN)
- When asked during an interview with the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times what her first actions would be if she were elected president, Clinton said, “We’ve got to move on the economy. There’s a package of actions there. Everything from raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to passing the Paycheck Fairness Act that would give more weight to women’s quests for equal pay, to taking a hard look at what we can do to try to get a national infrastructure bank set up, and a lot of other things I have laid out. At the same time I intend to introduce, or to work with Congress to introduce, comprehensive immigration reform in those first weeks because I think we’ve got to start dealing with it early.” (The Los Angeles Times)
- Politico reported on Thursday that Clinton supporters were reaching out to Bush family donors to convince them that Clinton aligned with their values more than Donald Trump. Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for Clinton, said, “There's no official outreach from the campaign but I would not be at all surprised if our supporters are doing it on their own.” (Politico)
Bernie Sanders
- While campaigning in West Virginia on Thursday, Bernie Sanders said that he would work to assist coal-dependent communities impacted by his environmental policies. “While I strongly believe we need to combat climate change to make our planet habitable for our children and our grandchildren, let me be clear: We cannot abandon communities that have been dependent on coal and other fossil fuels. In my view, we have got to invest $41 billion rebuilding coal mining communities and making sure that Americans in McDowell County and all over this country receive the job training they need for the clean energy jobs of the future,” he said. (The New York Times)
- The New York Times published a profile of Sanders’ digital supporters on Thursday. It noted, “According to Personal Democracy Media, which studies the intersection of politics and technology, roughly nine million Sanders supporters have organized through hundreds of Facebook pages, Reddit forums and Slack channels. And Mr. Sanders’s digital corps is not some loose network of supporters informally sharing articles and videos. It is a driving force behind his campaign, soliciting tens of millions of dollars in donations an average of $27 at a time, routinely mobilizing volunteers to perform impressive feats of organizing, and developing cutting-edge technology to aid Mr. Sanders’s run.” Although some of these volunteers have developed new digital channels to promote progressive candidates in other races, the question remains whether and how many will rally around Clinton if she wins the Democratic nomination. (The New York Times)
Republicans
- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) announced on Thursday that he would not attend the Republican National Convention in July. With former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also declining to attend the event, the only former Republican presidential nominee to attend will be Bob Dole. (CNN)
- The New York Times reported on Thursday that “staff members at the Republican National Committee (RNC) were told Wednesday that if they were unable to get behind the nominee [Donald Trump], they should leave by the end of the week.” RNC communications director Sean Spicer denied the story, tweeting that it was “100% not true.” (The New York Times, The Hill)
Donald Trump
- Steven Mnuchin, the chief executive of Dune Capital Management LP, has joined Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as his national finance chairman. According to Mnuchin, the campaign “in the very near future” will sign a joint fundraising agreement with the RNC. (Bloomberg)
- Former presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Thursday that he was not interested in serving as Trump’s vice president. “I don’t want to be a distraction. I’m sure you remember how crazy the media was about me, I don’t want to be a distraction, it’s too important a time in our life,” he said. Carson added that a Democrat could be considered for the post, noting they were looking for “people who are Americans and who put America first.” (The Wall Street Journal)
- On Thursday, Trump said that he might release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees that were “conservative, good, solid, brilliant judges in the form of [Antonin Scalia]” before the Republican National Convention in July. "I'm going to actually lay them out. I'm going to discuss people ... I think before the convention. I want to put 10, 12, 15 names of the type of people that we'd like," he said. (Business Insider)
- Trump said on Thursday that he supported Britain leaving the European Union (EU). “I think the migration has been a horrible thing for Europe. A lot of that was pushed by the EU. I would say that they’re better off without it, personally, but I’m not making that as a recommendation. Just my feeling,” he said. (The Guardian)
- Trump said that he would “most likely” replace Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen when her term expired because “she is not a Republican.” He added, however, that he agreed with Yellen’s policy to maintain low interest rates. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) endorsed Trump on Thursday, saying, “"He wasn't my first choice, wasn't my second choice, but he is the people's choice.” He added, “He is not a perfect man. But what I do believe is that he loves this country and he will surround himself with capable, experienced people and he will listen to them.” Commenting on whether he would be willing to serve on a Trump ticket, Perry said, "I am going to be open to any way I can help. I am not going to say no.” (CNN)
- Indiana Gov. Rick Pence (R) also endorsed Trump. “I’m going to campaign hard for the Republican nominee because Indiana needs a partner in the White House,” he said. (The Tribune-Star)
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
