Forget who was talking about this the other day, but downtown Portland is definitely a ghost town. At least the parts I've seen on this trip.
Kinda spooky.
Digging a bit more into that NYT/Sienna poll. Besides the top line national number with Trump showing in the lead, there are some very worrisome numbers in here if I am in the Kamala camp...
- 46% of voters have a favorable view of Trump, higher than both 2016 and 2020
- When asked who is trusted to handle the issues most important to you, voters gave Trump a 7 point edge over Harris
- 50% of voters say Trump is "not too far left or right" while only 32% say he is "too conservative". For Harris, 44% of voters say she is "too liberal or progressive" with only 42% saying she is moderate
- 63% of voters say they want the next president to bring "major change" from the Biden administration. 56% of voters say Harris represents "more of the same" while 61% of voters say Trump represents change
- 31% of voters say they need to learn more about Kamala Harris while only 12% say the same about Trump. This represents the possibility that Harris's poll numbers may have room for larger movement than Trump's numbers
- 54% of voters say Trump is a "risky choice" as president; 52% say the same about Kamala. Certainly doesn't align with the prevailing media narrative
- Speaking of narratives, for all the talk of how Trump is a "threat to democracy", Kamala Harris only leads Trump by 5 points when asked who would do a better job to maintain democracy
- Despite recent news stories attempting to suggest otherwise, Trump holds a commanding 16-point lead over Harris on trust to handle economic issues; he holds a 9 point lead over her on immigration; she holds a 15 point lead over him on abortion
- 55% of voters say Kamala Harris shoulders either "a lot of" or "some of" the blame in regards to rising prices; 63% say the same about the border; 49% say the same about the withdraw from Afghanistan
Only because its well established that Trump is a lunatic so it doesn't have to be said every day.
But when you guys are mocking Kamala for hugging a supporter then its worth reminding you of all the absolutely crazy things Trump actually says... in this case just in the last 2 days.
The mental gymnastics required to ignore all that must be incredible. If Kamala was out there talking about the world ending and hannibal lecter and windmills and transgender surgeries being performed at school then I would have no problem calling it out every day. But I don't have a problem with her hugging someone who seemed to be overwhelmed with emotion. That seems like a normal human interaction to me.