LUNCHTIME POLITICS: Prisoners Voting – Blocking Social Media – Impeachment – Political Bookshelf

Your Daily Polling Update for Thursday, May 2, 2019

TRUMP JOB APPROVAL: AVERAGE 44%
Same as yesterday

RON’S COMMENT: Today’s average is based on seven polls, ranging from 39% (Gallup) to 51% (Rasmussen). Without these two extremes, it would be 43%…. President Trump’s disapproval rating averages 53% today (same as yesterday), which is 9 points higher than his approval rating.

ALLOWING PRISONERS TO VOTE
Among voters nationwide

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “All prisoners — including ’terrible people’ like the Boston Marathon bomber — should be allowed to vote.” 
 
Agree: 19%
Disagree: 69%
 
RON’S COMMENT: Voters clearly oppose the idea expressed by Bernie Sanders that all prisoners, including “terrible people” like the Boston Marathon bomber, should be allowed to vote. Only 26% of Democrats agree with this statement. Perhaps this statement is one of the reasons why Sanders’ national poll numbers declined most recently?
 
Do you think a person who is currently serving time in prison for a non-violent felony conviction should or should not be allowed to vote? 
 
Should be allowed to vote: 39%
Should NOT be allowed to vote: 46%
Not sure: 15%
 
RON’S COMMENT: Public support for allowing inmates to vote jumps up from 19% to 39% when the prisoners are non-violent felons.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Among voters nationwide

How important of a priority should … the following be for Congress: Passing an infrastructure spending bill?
 
A top priority: 34%
An important, but lower priority: 39%
Not an important priority: 11%
Should not be done: 2%
 
RON’S COMMENT: 73% of voters say infrastructure should be either a top priority or an important priority. By party: 76% of Democrats, 70% of independents and 73% of Republicans agree. Rarely do we see such high levels of support across party lines.

IMPEACHMENT
Among voters nationwide

Based on what you have read or heard, do you believe that President Trump should be impeached and removed from office, or don’t you feel that way? 
 
Trump should be impeached and removed: 37%
Trump should NOT be impeached and removed: 59%
 
RON’S COMMENT: By party: 69% of Democrats, 30% of independents and 7% of Republicans favor impeachment and removal…. With numbers like these, Democrats would be taking a big political risk by pushing impeachment…. It should be noted that in September 2018, 47% favored impeachment and removal. Now, it’s down to 37%. 

BLOCKING SOCIAL MEDIA ACCESS
Among voters nationwide

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
 
Governments have the right to block access to social media sites if they decide it is in citizens’ best interests to do so. 
Agree: 41%
Disagree: 44%
 
RON’S COMMENT: 44% of Democrats, 36% of independents and 45% of Republicans think governments havethe right to block access to social mediasites.
 
Governments should never block access to social media for any reason because it is a violation of free speech. 
Agree: 51%
Disagree: 36%
 
There are some instances where it makes sense for a government to block citizens’ access to social media. 
Agree: 53%
Disagree: 33%

RON’S COMMENT: As you can see, the public is of multiple minds on this matter.

POLITICAL BOOKSHELF

DINNER IN CAMELOT: The Night America’s Greatest Scientists, Writers and Scholars Partied at the Kennedy White House by Joseph A. Esposito

Continuing their policy of highlighting the arts, music, and the learned fields, President and Mrs. Kennedy honored forty-nine Nobel Prize winners at the White House on April 29, 1962. The largest dinner of the Kennedy era, it included many distinguished Americans. Among them were J. Robert Oppenheimer; Linus Pauling—who picketed JFK outside the White House earlier in the day; Robert Frost, Pearl Buck; William and Rose Styron; James Baldwin; Katherine Anne Porter; John Glenn; Ralph Bunche; and Mary Welsh Hemingway, Ernest’s widow, who challenged Kennedy over his Cuba policy that night. It was a time when intellect and achievement were honored at the White House and civility prevailed. Published by Fore Edge/University Press of New England. 
To purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Camelot-Americas-Greatest-Scientists/dp/1512600121/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=DINNER+AT+CAMELOT&qid=1556656341&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

SOURCES
Presidential job rating average based on recent nationwide polls.
PRISONERS VOTING: The Economist/YouGov, April 27-30
INFRASTRUCTURE, BLOCKING SOCIAL MEDIA ACCESS: Morning Consult, April 28-29
IMPEACHMENT: CNN, April 25-28

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