“A week before a closely watched U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the issue, public support for gay marriage reached a new high in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, with 61 percent of Americans – more than six in 10 for the first time – saying gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry legally.”
“Identical or similar majorities favor gay marriage on two key issues before the court: Sixty-one percent oppose allowing individual states to prohibit same-sex marriages. And 62 percent support requiring states to recognize gay marriages performed legally in other states.”
National Journal: “One of the biggest political stories of the coming 2016 presidential election happened in Florida last week via an explosion that didn’t happen. President Obama notified Congress that he intended to take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, another step toward normalizing relations with the island nation. One or two decades ago, such an act would have unleashed storms of protest in Miami, with bipartisan outrage among Florida’s elected leaders.”
“The response last week? Almost nothing. No marches on federal buildings. No mass demonstration on Calle Ocho. What was one of the most reliable voting blocs for Republican candidates in Florida is no longer unified on what once had been an organizing principle—Cuban regime change. A Florida International University study last year shows that a majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County are in favor of ending the embargo, with the younger generations overwhelmingly supportive.
Jonathan Bernstein explains “Why Clinton is pushing campaign-money reform” in his Bloomberg syndicated column: “Campaign-finance reform is a safe subject. It’s hard to see how events will make current talking points on it look silly or embarrassing in the future. Restricting money in politics is broadly popular (especially with a lot reporters and their editors), even if it isn’t something that will sway a lot of votes in the general election next year.”
At The NYT Noam Scheiber reports that “Democrats Are Rallying Around $12 Wage Floor.” Scheiber elaborates: “A January 2014 poll by the Pew Research Center showed that 73 percent of Americans, including 53 percent of Republicans, supported raising the minimum wage to $10.10…”In a deeply polarized country, the minimum wage is one of a small handful of issues that gets broad bipartisan support,” wrote Daniel H. Pfeiffer, who until recently was a senior adviser to President Obama, in an email in response to questions. “The Republican problem of opposing the minimum wage grows much worse when paired with their support of tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. The 30-second ad writes itself.”
Harry Enten with another reminder that Chris (Burnt Toast) Christie is not John McCain:
The basic problem with the comparison is that McCain was never as far back in the polls as Christie is now in New Hampshire. Christie is in fourth place in the state, polling at 9 percent and trending downward in the Pollster.com aggregate. His favorable rating in the most recent Franklin Pierce University poll was 43 percent, lower than his unfavorable rating of 46 percent. So not only does Christie have to hop over a bunch of other candidates to take the lead, but a plurality of Republicans dislike him. A negative net-favorable rating can be deadly for a candidate as well-known as Christie.
McCain, on the other hand, never dipped below third place or 15 percent in the New Hampshire polling aggregate. Most importantly, he remained well liked even in his darkest hour. In the summer of 2007, McCain’s favorable rating in the Franklin Pierce College poll was 65 percent, against an unfavorable rating of 28 percent. That is, McCain’s favorable rating was 22 percentage points higher than Christie’s is now. McCain always had a base of Republicans who might be willing to support his campaign, even if they weren’t doing so at the time.