2.6.19 Possible Republican Challengers for President Trump in 2020
| Possible Republican Challengers for President Trump in 2020 A new analysis in the Vassar Political Review (VPR) looks at possible candidates who could challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2020. VPR reporter Teddy David identifies former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R), and Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) as potential challengers and uses PRRI data to illuminate the type of candidate who could win. David writes, “Given that Trump’s support is essentially limited to staunch Republicans, it’s important to look at the evidence for who not only self-identified Republicans want on the ballot, but also who Republican-leaning independents want. On this score, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that a full third of these voters want someone other than Trump at the head of the Republican ticket in 2020.” |
| Grassley: Mueller Report Coming Within a Month In a recent radio appearance, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he expects special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on potential coordination between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign “within a month.” Grassley goes on to allege that the investigation has cost the country millions of dollars. “The public ought to know what their 25 million or 35 million bought,” he says. Grassley’s statements came one day after federal prosecutors in New York, who are working separately from the Mueller investigation, subpoenaed the Trump inaugural committee for information related to donors and vendors. “The broad demand for documents suggests that Trump and entities connected to him may face continued scrutiny by federal prosecutors, particularly in New York, even if special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe winds down. ABC News first reported that the US attorney’s office was prepared to issue a subpoena to the committee,” CNN reports. According to a PRRI survey, nearly four in ten (39 percent) Americans say they have a favorable opinion of Mueller, compared to 45 percent who say they have an unfavorable opinion and 14 percent who say they have not heard of Mueller. Across partisan lines, the differences are starker: Nearly six in ten (59 percent) Democrats, compared to only 17 percent of Republicans, say their opinion of Mueller is positive overall. |
| The Tri-Generational House is Becoming More Common Natasha Pilkauskus, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, recently released a study that examined housing trends throughout the U.S. Pilkauskus’ research indicates that the number of three-generation households—where children, parents, and grandparents all live together—are becoming more and more common. According to Pilkauskus, the majority of these families are from diverse backgrounds. “Every group besides white folks has much higher rates of co-residence,” she tells Hour Detroit, “perhaps it’s either culturally relative or culturally normative.” Pilkauskus also refers to previous studies that show that the majority of Americans will identify as nonwhite by 2045. Per PRRI’s 2018 American Values Survey, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans say that the U.S. becoming a majority-nonwhite nation by 2045 will be a mostly positive change, and one-third (33 percent) say that the impact of this demographic shift will be mostly negative. While about eight in ten Hispanic (80 percent) and black (79 percent) Americans say that the impact of the U.S. becoming a majority-nonwhite country will be mostly positive, significantly fewer (55 percent) white Americans hold this view. |
| Democrats Bring Transgender People Who Served to State of the Union To protest Trump’s ban on most transgender troops, congressional Democrats broughttransgender people who have served in the military to this year’s State of the Union address. “According to Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson, at least four members of Congress are taking part in the quiet protests: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is inviting Navy Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) is inviting Air Force Staff Sergeant Logan Ireland, Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) is inviting Navy Petty Officer Second Class Megan Winters, and Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) is inviting Navy veteran Tavion Dignard,” German Lopez of Vox writes. The president, who re-instituted a ban on transgender people serving in the military in 2017, received a judicial win recently when the U.S. Supreme Court placed a hold on several lower court injunctions against the ban. According to a 2017 PRRI poll, Americans overall strongly support allowing transgender people to serve in the U.S. military.Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans (83 percent vs. 37 percent, respectively) to say that transgender people ought to be allowed to serve in the armed forces. A majority (57 percent) of Republicans say transgender people should not be allowed to serve in the military. Two-thirds (67 percent) of independents favor allowing transgender people to serve. |