CNN: White Anxiety Finds Home at Fox News

PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones was featured in a CNN story on Friday that examined the current relationship Fox News programming has with their viewers, President Donald Trump, and racial anxiety within the United States. The article was written after Fox host Laura Ingraham decried “massive demographic changes” across the United States. Jones explains, “It was exactly these kinds of fears about cultural change, cultural displacement and immigration that were the key drivers of support for President Trump.” Jones goes more in-depth on the topic of cultural change and displacement in his 2016 book, The End of White Christian America.

Americans Not Convinced the Economy is On the Up

On Friday, PRRI Associate Director of Research Robert Griffin was featured in a Voice of America piece about the nation’s perception of its economic performance. VOA examined a recent economic upswing that demonstrated that consumer spending, and business investments are on the rise. Despite positive economic numbers, not all Americans believe the economy is improving. Griffin says, “People have a hard time perceiving what’s going on in the economy. They generally know that it’s going well, but it’s also the case that people’s perceptions of these things tend to be pretty heavily influenced by partisanship.” Griffin continues, “It’s one of those things that any discussion has to start with the fact that we’re living at a very partisan time.”

Omarosa: President Trump Has No Idea What is Going On

During a Monday morning appearance on Today, reality star and former White House adviser Omarosa Manigault-Newman played a recording of a conversation with President Donald Trump that occurred after she was dismissed from her White House post. “Goddamn it,” Trump says to Omarosa after he explains that he had no idea she would be dismissed. According to the former Apprentice headliner, this is bad news for the country. Omarosa says, “John Kelly is running this White House, and Donald Trump has no clue what’s going on. He’s being puppeted, and that’s very dangerous for this nation.” After Omarosa released her recording, President Trump had this to say onTwitter. “I would rarely see her but heard really bad things. Nasty to people & would constantly miss meetings & work.” In the latest PRRI check-in on President Trump’s favorability, 53 percent of respondents said that they had an unfavorable view while 41 percent said they viewed the president favorably.

Colorado Family Fights to Keep Their Daughter from Deportation

Several years after adopting a girl in Peru, a Colorado couple is fighting to keep her on American soil. Amy and Marco Becerra met their child Angela several days after she was born to a developmentally disabled woman. In 2017, a Peruvian court allowed them to legally adopt the girl. Angela made it to the United States in March of this year, after months of legal holdups. The child is in the country under a tourist visa, which expires at the end of August. As the family has weighed the option of moving back to Peru, or raising Angela as an undocumented alien, they have reached out to immigration attorneys without success. They anticipate receiving an explanatory letter from the government soon. Amy Becerra tells KDVR, “It’s inconceivable that a child of two citizen parents would have to live out their life as an undocumented alien in this country.”

Transgender Activists in the UK Adopt New Emoji Symbol

After being denied the creation of a transgender flag emoji by Unicode, a non-profit that helps pick new emojis, a trans-rights group in the UK− Lobsters Against Transphobia, have called on similar groups to help them get their own image. In the meantime, the group will use a lobster emoji that Unicode has previously approved as they continue to seek approval for their pink and blue flag design. According to the group, “Emojis are a way for the world to connect and trans people shouldn’t be left out of the conversation…Unicode granted the lobster emoji proposal, which argued that people suffered ‘frustration and confusion’ at having to use a shrimp or crab emoji instead of a lobster. Imagine if that was your gender. Surely we deserve the same rights you have afforded crustaceans?” “The group is raising awareness of the need for a proper emoji, the lobster, via the #ClawsOutForTrans hashtag.