NEWS AND OPINION:
Republicans continue to support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential bout — already rumbling to life thanks to early-bird news coverage and polls.
“Trump continues to be the favorite for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, with 57% of potential GOP primary voters supporting his candidacy. But for the first time since tracking began in December, Trump also leads President Biden by 3 percentage points in a hypothetical general-election matchup, outside the surveys’ margins of error,” reports Eli Yokley, an analyst for Morning Consult, a global pollster.
The survey of 5,000 registered U.S. voters was conducted June 23-25.
There’s another survey to consider, this one charting the options of Republican voters only.
“The bulk of the GOP’s electorate (57%) would back former President Trump if the primary or caucus were held in their state today, compared with 19% who would support [Ron] DeSantis,” Mr. Yokley wrote.
“Former Vice President Mike Pence is supported by 7% of the party’s voters, followed by [Vivek] Ramaswamy with 6%, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott with 3%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 2% and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson with 1%,” he said.
One hopeful warranted extra attention in a Morning Consult survey of 3,650 “potential” Republican primary voters, also conducted June 23-25.
“Ramaswamy gets a bump. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is backed by 6% of potential GOP primary voters, his best showing in Morning Consult surveys so far following a steady improvement over the past week. Ramaswamy has seen a recent uptick in our buzz metric: 46% of potential GOP primary voters reported hearing something about him over the past week, up from 33% the week before,” Mr. Yokley wrote.
FOXIFIED
Fox News finished the second quarter of 2023 — April, May and June — as cable TV’s most-watched network during the day, according to Nielsen Media Research. In prime time, TNT was in the top spot, driven by its NBA playoff coverage.
Fox News bested its cable news rivals in prime time, however — drawing an average 1.7 million daily viewers, compared with MSNBC with 1.3 million viewers and CNN with 573,000. This marks the 86th quarter in a row that Fox News topped its cable news competition. In addition, Fox News delivered 91 of the top 100 cable-news telecasts in April, May and June.
Among the standout programming in the three-month period: “The Five” continued to attract a large audience, averaging 2.8 million viewers, followed by “Jesse Watters Primetime” with 2.3 million viewers, “Hannity” with 2.2 million, “Special Report With Bret Baier” with an audience of 2 million and “The Ingraham Angle” with 1.8 million.
That number, by the way, earned host Laura Ingraham the title of “the most-watched woman in cable news,” according to the network.
And one more set of numbers: For the week of June 19-25, Fox News had 1.5 million daily prime-time viewers and 1.1 million in the daytime hours, according to Nielsen. The standout program during the week was Mr. Baier’s two-part interview with former President Donald Trump, which drew an audience of 2.3 million.
TIM SCOTT HAS A SAY
Sen. Tim Scott has released a 90-second campaign video in which the South Carolina Republican and presidential hopeful reveals a series of his experiences during his first month on the campaign trail.
They have been varied — an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” a town-hall meeting with Fox News host Sean Hannity, and a multitude of public events.
Though the 2024 presidential election is some 17 months away, the candidate has detected a certain sentiment emerging among voters.
“As I continue to campaign, I see voters are starving for a message filled with optimism and anchored in faith in America,” Mr. Scott said in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.
“I feel the momentum growing as I connect with more voters — the size of my audience, the enthusiasm continues to go higher. People are responding to the message of restoring hope and creating opportunity for all Americans, and that’s why I am the candidate that the Left fears the most,” he advised.
WEARY OF ‘DISASTER’
One news organization is speaking out against shrill warnings from news organizations, activists and other sources that planet Earth will succumb to climate-related calamities.
“For how long will the foolishness continue?” an editorial published by Issues & Insights asks.
“We’ve had 35 years of warnings, hectoring and shrieking, yet we’re no nearer a climate disaster than we were when NASA’s James Hansen swore before the Senate in 1988 that ‘global warming has begun,’” the editorial advises.
“Sure, there’s been rough weather. But that’s the planet we live on. Nothing has happened that would be considered outside the natural variations of the planet or irrefutably caused by man. We are safer than ever from the weather. That’s a fact. Doubters are free to look it up,” it said.
“In response to our own question, the answer is as long as there are grifters; status seekers; free market eliminationists; anti-capitalists; socialists; Marxists; busybodies; virtue signalers; and elites who believe resources are running out and they want to reserve what’s left for themselves, the global warming fanaticism will run hot. Yet we hope it’s reaching its peak, because we’re weary of all the craziness out there,” the editorial concluded.
POLL DU JOUR
• 42% of U.S. adults have bought something on sale and then later regretted it.
• 62% of this group regretted the purchase because they didn’t “really need it.”
• 42% regretted it because they “have too much stuff already.”
• 19% regretted it because they later found the item at a lower price
• 17% regretted it because they didn’t do “proper research” on the product.
• 13% regretted it because they didn’t compare prices from other stores.
• 3% cited some other reason.
• 2% found out later that they already owned the item.
• 1% “felt guilty” for not shopping at a store that aligns with their personal values.
SOURCE: A Google/Ipsos poll of 1,358 U.S. adults conducted May 12-14 and released Tuesday. Respondents could provide more than one reason for their regret.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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