Tag: public policy polling
Poll: Majority Of Santos' Long Island Constituents Want Him To Resign

Poll: Majority Of Santos' Long Island Constituents Want Him To Resign

A poll released late last week found that a majority of New York Republican Rep. George Santos' constituents want him to resign, following revelations that the freshman lawmaker lied about nearly his entire biography.

The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling, found that 60 percent of voters in New York's Third Congressional District want Santos to resign, including 38 percent of Republicans.

Voters were most concerned about Santos' lies about his religious affiliation and the manner in which his mother died, the poll found. Santos said he was Jewish, which he isn't, and claimed his mother died in the 9/11 terror attack, but she didn't. The poll found 77 percent of voters are concerned about the 9/11 lie, while 72 percent of voters are concerned about his lie about being Jewish.

Since the new Congress convened on January 3, Santos has been seen running from reporters on Capitol Hill who ask him about his litany of lies about his background. These include Santos' claims that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup; graduated from New York University and Baruch College; lost employees in the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016; and was a landlord who owned multiple properties. In reality, none of those things are true.

Lies Santos has told have continued to surface since the New York Times first broke the story of his fabricated background in December. According to a video posted to Twitter on January 11 by The Recount political website, Nassau County Republican Party chair Joseph Cairo said: "[Santos] told me, I remember specifically, 'I'm into sports a little bit,' that he was a star on the Baruch volleyball team and that they won the league championship. What can I tell you?"

The New York Times reported that Cairo said: "He’s disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople. Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I am calling for his immediate resignation."

Santos, however, has been adamant that he will stay in office, telling reporters who were gathered outside his congressional office on Thursday: “I will not resign. I will be continuing to hold my office, elected by the people.”

Santos later told reporters who asked him for his reaction to members of his own party calling for his resignation, "If 142 people ask for me to resign, I'll resign." Reporter Nancy Vu tweeted later that Santos had meant 142,000 and had said: "That’s the vote count I got to get elected. When all 142,000 of them tell me, I’ll go."

The Timesreported that Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, Nick Langworthy, and Brandon Williams, four Republican members of New York's congressional delegation, had said it was time for Santos to go.

They were joined by another New York Republican House member, Mike Lawler, who told reporters: "I think he needs to seriously consider whether or not he can actually do the job effectively. And right now, it's pretty clear he can’t."

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has not called on Santos to resign, and told reporters Thursday: "Well, what I find is that voters have elected George Santos. If there is a concern he will go through ethics. If there is something that is found, he will be dealt with in that manner. But they have a voice in this process."

If Santos were to resign, he would leave open a competitive seat in the Third Congressional District, the loss of which would reduce McCarthy's already thin House majority. President Joe Biden carried the district by eight points in 2020.

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.

New Poll: Scranton Loves Biden, But Queens Despises Trump

New Poll: Scranton Loves Biden, But Queens Despises Trump

Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

When Donald Trump visited Old Forge, Pennsylvania, on a campaign stop last week, he touted the idea that Joe Biden "abandoned" his birthplace—Scranton, which was about 15 miles away. Biden was ten when he moved away from Scranton with his family because his dad had found steady work in Delaware

Trump has repeatedly floated the notion that Biden somehow slighted Scranton by leaving with his family, saying Biden either abandoned or "deserted" the Pennsylvania town known for its blue collar grit. But when Public Policy Polling (PPP) surveyed Scranton voters, they seemed plenty proud to claim Biden as a native son, with 62 percent of respondents saying they're proud Biden is from Scranton.

And per usual, nearly everything Trump says about other people is a projection of his own worst qualities. When PPP surveyed Queens voters about Trump hailing from the New York borough, they were a lot less than thrilled, with just 17 percent saying they're proud the Don is from there. In fact, fully 70 percent of Queens voters said they are ashamed that Trump hails from their neck of the woods.

The same is true of what voters believe about which candidate abandoned their hometown—only 26 percent of Scrantonians think Biden abandoned their city, while 66 percent of voters in Queens think Trump abandoned them.

In terms of being embraced by residents, Biden completely crushes Trump in both cities, with 64 percent of voters in both Scranton and Queens saying Biden cares about people like them. Just 16 percent of voters in Queens thinks Trump cares about people like them, while only 27 percent of voters in Scranton say Trump cares about them.

But New York is going for Biden no matter what. The real question is whether Trump can repeat his narrow victory in the Keystone State, where he edged out Hillary Clinton by less than a point in 2016. Right now, Biden holds a clear advantage of nearly six points, according to the Real Clear Politics average.

So Trump can crow all he wants about Biden supposedly deserting Scranton at the age of ten, when Trump himself, a native New Yorker, formally declared himself a Floridian just last year. Keep talking, Trump—you're just as offensive as you ever were and reminding voters of that just months out from the election is ideal.

New Polls: Hillary Clinton Way Ahead In Super Tuesday States

New Polls: Hillary Clinton Way Ahead In Super Tuesday States

Hillary Clinton has had a tightly-fought race in February against Bernie Sanders, but she could soon be in for a raft of victories in the Super Tuesday contests on March 1.

A new set of polls released by Democratic-aligned firm Public Policy Polling finds Clinton leading in 10 out of 12 primaries to be held that day, with Clinton especially benefitting from the support of minority voters.

From the pollster’s analysis: “Clinton is benefiting in these states from overwhelming African American support. She leads by anywhere from 40-62 points among black voters in the nine of these states that have more black voters than the national average.”

The listing of polled states is as follows:

  • Alabama: Clinton 59 percent, Sanders 31 percent
  • Arkansas: Clinton 57 percent, Sanders 32 percent
  • Georgia: Clinton 60 percent, Sanders 26 percent
  • Louisiana: Clinton 60 percent, Sanders 29 percent
  • Massachusetts: Sanders 49 percent, Clinton 42 percent
  • Michigan: Clinton 50 percent, Sanders 40 percent
  • Mississippi: Clinton 60 percent, Sanders 26 percent
  • Oklahoma: Clinton 46 percent, Sanders 44 percent
  • Tennessee: Clinton 58 percent, Sanders 32 percent
  • Texas: Clinton 57 percent, Sanders 34 percent
  • Virginia: Clinton 56 percent, Sanders 34 percent
  • Vermont: Sanders 86 percent, Clinton 10 percent

Caveat: Two additional states that are voting on March 1, Colorado and Minnesota, were not included in this round of polling. PPP confirmed to The National Memo that this was because those states are holding caucuses rather than primaries, and are much more difficult to poll reliably.

For a variety of reasons, though, it might seem to an outside observer that Bernie Sanders could do quite well in both contests, given the nature caucus structures as well as the very progressive tendencies of those states’ Democratic voters.

Photo: Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets with civil rights leaders at the National Urban League in the Manhattan borough of New York City, February 16, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

This Week In Polls: Should We Bomb Agrabah?

This Week In Polls: Should We Bomb Agrabah?

Political bloggers have never had a friend like Democratic-aligned firm Public Policy Polling, who are getting a lot of giggles from their latest survey gauging the attitudes toward military intervention among grassroots voters in each party.

The poll asked: “Would you support or oppose bombing Agrabah?” The result among Republican primary voters was 30 percent in favor, to 13 percent against, and 57 percent not sure; and among Democratic primary voters, only 19 percent were in favor, 36 percent against, and 45 percent not sure.

However, the country of “Agrabah” does not exist — it was the fictional Middle Eastern kingdom in Disney’s Aladdin, released back in the 1992 holiday season. This does lead us to wonder: Which response to this poll would actually have been most accurate for a respondent who recognized that name? Would a “No” answer still give the impression that the person thought Agrabah was a real country, and would “Not sure” also fail to get across a true understanding?

Bill Kristol, the arch-neocon and champion of the Iraq War, even got in a decent laugh at the poll result:

In the Republican presidential horse race, PPP showed Donald Trump ahead nationally with 34 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 18 percent, Marco Rubio 13 percent, Jeb Bush at 7 percent, and Ben Carson with 6 percent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Donald’s supporters are most strongly in favor of bombing Agrabah, with 41 percent in favor, 9 percent again, and 51 percent not sure. (The numbers can add up to more than 100 percent, due to rounding.)

Also note: This poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday — entirely afterthis week’s Republican debate Tuesday, which focussed on terrorism and national security.

Also late Friday, the new Fox News poll, Trump has a whopping 39 percent, Cruz 18 percent, Rubio 11 percent, Carson 9 percent — and Jeb at 3 percent. This poll was also conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, after the debate.

Earlier in the week, two national polls that were released before the debate also showed Trump way ahead. The ABC News/Washington Post poll had Trump ahead with 38 percent, then Cruz at 15 parent, Rubio 12 percent, Carson 12 percent, and Bush 5 percent. In addition, Monmouth University had Trump at 41 percent, Cruz 13 percent, Rubio 10 percent, Carson 9 percent — and poor old Jeb at only 3 percent.

On the Democratic side, those same four national horse race polls all show Hillary Clinton way ahead, with results ranging from 56 percent to 59 percent, Bernie Sanders ranging mostly from 26 percent to 28 percent (but a high of 34 percent in the Fox poll), and Martin O’Malley from 2 percent to 9 percent.

So have a happy weekend everybody — and be wary of any presidential candidate who (perhaps in the fashion of Chris Christie and “King Hussein of Jordan”) says they’ll form an alliance with the noble Prince Ali Ababwa.

Photo: Jafar, villain of Disney’s Aladdin, via Wikimedia Commons.