Trump Tops Walker, Bush in NBC/WSJ Poll

 

Chalk up another poll win for Donald Trump over his GOP opponents.
Trump continued to rise above his GOP rivals, leading in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday morning.
According to the poll of Republican primary voters, Trump leads with 19 percent, followed by 15 percent for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and 14 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
The poll was conducted July 36-30, after Trump's public feud with Sen John McCain. Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio led the last NBC/WSJ poll, taken in June.
Here are the poll results:

• Donald Trump - 19 percent
• Scott Walker - 15 percent
• Jeb Bush - 14 percent
• Ben Carson - 10 percent
• Ted Cruz - 9 percent
• Mike Huckabee - 6 percent
• Rand Paul - 6 percent
• Marco Rubio - 5 percent
• Chris Christie - 3 percent
• John Kasich - 3 percent
• Rick Perry - 3 percent
• Bobby Jindal - 1 percent
• Rick Santorum - 1 percent
• Less than 1 percent: Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Jim Gilmore

The NBC/WSJ poll could help determine who will be on the state Thursday during the first GOP debate.

 

Under rules laid down by debate host Fox News and backed by the Republican National Committee, only the 10 top-polling candidates will share the prime-time stage. But which polls Fox News executives will use is unclear.
NBC News projects that of the three candidates – Christie, Perry and Kasich -- tied for the 10th spot, Perry will miss the cut.
Trump's lead in the NBC/WSJ poll is the latest in a series of poll wins for the billionaire developer.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week, Trump had a commanding lead with the support of 25 percent, a double-digit advantage over Bush with 12 percent.

Trump leads polls in Arizona and New Hampshire and places second to Walker in Iowa.
Fox News relaxed one criteria this week, removing a requirement that its debate for the low-pollers have at least 1 percent support in polling. This will allow all the announced candidates to participate.

A Fox spokeswoman had no comment on the selection process.

RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion article this week that the "Republican Party suffers from an abundance of riches" and that a way has been found for all to get some debate time.

"Is the arrangement perfect? No. It is, however, the most inclusive setup in history," he wrote.

Fox News has yet to identify the five polls to be considered in choosing the top 10. A flood of new polls are expected in coming days as news organizations and polling organizations seek to have a say in the process.

The identities of the top 10 are to be released publicly late on Tuesday afternoon.

Fiorina said whatever happens, she will fight on. She noted that previous presidents like Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had been written off at early stages of their candidacies.

Those in danger of being cut are trying to raise their visibility enough to push their poll numbers higher. Many are doing TV interviews to make their case.

"You only need a bump of a couple of points and you get in. That's the absurdity of this thing," said Larry Sabato, political analyst at the University of Virginia.
Material from Reuters was used in this report.

Trump Tops Walker, Bush in NBC/WSJ Poll

Conservative donor Koch urges end to 'corporate cronyism' - Yahoo News

 

DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — Billionaire industrialist and conservative political donor Charles Koch welcomed a group of roughly 450 like-minded fundraisers to one of his twice-annual conferences Saturday by challenging them to advocate for ending "corporate cronyism" - even if those policies help their businesses.

 

Koch, who along with brother David has long pressed for a federal government that collects fewer taxes and issues fewer regulation, said cutting back special treatment for business is the first step to ending a "two-tiered society" and encouraging "principled entrepreneurship"

"Where I believe we need to start in reforming welfare is eliminating welfare for the wealthy," Koch said. "This means stopping the subsidies, mandates and preferences for business that enrich the haves at the expense of the have nots."

Most recently, the Kochs have been strong advocates of the shutting down the federal Export-Import Bank, and their groups have spent money on advertisements and outreach to win senators and representatives over to their side on the issue.

The bank is a federal agency that helps U.S. companies sell products overseas by underwriting loans to foreign customers. Small-government activists have said it wastes taxpayer dollars to enrich the country's biggest companies.

The Koch brothers and their network of donors, many in attendance at the weekend event at a luxury resort south of Los Angeles, are preparing to spend $889 million to influence elections next year — much of it aimed at ushering a Republican to the White House. As such, among those in attendance were several of the GOP candidates for president, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former technology executive Carly Fiorina.

Walker compared the Koch donor conference with the tea party rallies of five years ago, saying both groups of people are motivated by the same frustration with politics and desire to see the country improved.

"I wish the whole world could see what goes on here," he told the donors, adding that he believes they're not giving to political candidates out of personal financial interests. "You're here because you love America."

Democrats would disagree, and have done so vehemently. The party has routinely portrayed the brothers — their Koch Industries is one of the largest private companies in the country — as greedy corporate tycoons whose work in politics is an end to padding their bank accounts. The brothers, who are billionaires many times over and rank among the wealthiest people in the world, dismiss the criticisms.

"We're doing all this to make more money? I mean, that is so ludicrous," Charles Koch said of his political involvement during a rare interview in April with USA Today.

Other GOP presidential candidates — Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz — were scheduled to address the group Sunday. Each is being interviewed separately by Mike Allen, a journalist at the Washington publication Politico. Other Republicans mingling with donors over cocktails on a lawn ringed with palm trees and decorative columns that overlooks the Pacific Ocean included Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Asked about some of his Cabinet choices, should he be chosen as GOP nominee and elected next November, Walker named fellow hopefuls Fiorina and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, as well as former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was also in attendance.

Leaders of two of the largest Koch-backed political entities, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, have said they will not spend money to influence the Republican presidential primary, instead holding back their resources to spend on defeating the Democratic nominee in November 2016.

Still, many of the men and women at the donor conference, including the Kochs themselves, have the ability to spend millions of dollars backing their preferred candidate. David Koch has said several times in recent months that Walker would make a great president, while asserting that he is not planning to formally endorse anyone.

The Koch brothers have hosted such gatherings of donors and politicians for years, but always in private. For the first time, this weekend's event includes a small number of reporters who were invited to hear the 2016 candidates and attend some other forums. As a condition of attending, reporters were not permitted to identify any of the donors in attendance.

The Kochs are protective of their fellow donors in other ways. Most of their contributions remain out of public view, as all but a few entities in the Koch network aren't legally required to name their contributors — even though they can spend money to influence politics, such as through issues advocacy ads. The groups may even promote specific candidates in limited ways.

Fundraising reports filed Friday with federal regulators show how important deep-pocketed donors have become.

About 60 donations of $1 million or more accounted for about one-third of the more than $380 million brought in so far for the 2016 presidential election, an Associated Press analysis found. The review included contributions to the official campaigns and the far larger gifts to outside groups called super PACs.

Conservative donor Koch urges end to 'corporate cronyism' - Yahoo News

Social Media Users Press For Governor's Recall With Petitions | WUIS 91.9

By Jacqualine Simone Williams • Aug 1, 2015

A number of recall petitions from people dissatisfied with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner are circulating on social media platforms, but these efforts do not meet the legal requirements for recall in the state.

As of press time, the petition with the most support, posted on thepetitionsite.com, has more than 9,000 signatures with a goal set at 600,000.

Merrill Cole, an English and literature professor at Western Illinois University, added his name to the petition. Cole says he is against the governor’s “entire agenda.” Rauner’s office declined to comment on the petitions.

“I’m really opposed to Rauner’s philosophical position and the kinds of things he’s trying to say. It’s not just that it affects me and the place where I work, and people I work with. It’s also a way of governing which I think is wrong,” Cole says.

However, political experts say such online petitions can do little more than show discontent.

“To the extent this is some kind of a movement by the people, [a few thousand] signatures online where you don’t know who they are or how many times people have signed it — I mean, that’s not exactly a groundswell,” says Chris Mooney, director of the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “But, I think it is a reflection of the frustration that people are feeling. Not only with the governor, but with the budget impasses.”

Another expert agrees. “It’s a pretty stiff bar to cross,” says Ron Michaelson, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield. “The likelihood of recalling the governor between now and 2018 would be no better than 1 percent.” Michaelson is a former director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, which oversees the recall process.

Voters approved the recall amendment to the Illinois Constitution in the 2010 general election. While the concept has had its supporters over the years, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal from office in 2009 catalyzed the push for recall in the state. Before voters approved the amendment, impeachment was the only option to get rid of a sitting governor.

“We’re charting new territory,” Michaelson says. He says gathering signatures is an uphill battle for voters. He estimates that for the upcoming 2016 general election, over half a million signatures would be needed. Also, the governor has the right to challenge signatures.

The process is complicated. For Rauner to get the boot, an affidavit with a notice of intent to circulate a petition has to be approved by the State Board of Elections. But, that affidavit has to first carry signatures of at least 20 members of the House and 10 members of the Senate to throw a recall effort into motion. And it doesn’t get any easier for those who might seek to recall Rauner — under the current legislature, half of the signatures in each chamber would have to come from Republicans. If petitioners passed that hurdle, they would be required to get a minimum of 100 eligible voters from at least 25 different counties across the state to sign their petitions, along with hundreds of thousands of other Illinoisans.

Only official petition forms issued by the State Board of Elections are valid. Although Cole supports current online recall efforts, he acknowledges their limitations. “Sometimes [online] petitions have greater symbolic force than actual legal force,” Cole says. “Recall would be one way, perhaps, of putting an end to it. But, I’m not putting all my eggs into that particular basket.”

That may be a wise choice when one considers how a well-funded recall campaign played out in one of Illinois’ neighboring states.

“It’s very difficult to get a recall on the ballot. But it’s more difficult to get people to vote for it,” Mooney says. As was the case three years ago, when Wisconsin voters gathered nearly a million signatures to put Gov. Scott Walker on the chopping block. However, Mooney says, Wisconsin’s recall process is simpler than Illinois’ because it bypasses lawmakers and goes straight to the public. “In that case, if you get enough people mad at you and they’re organized enough, as with Walker and organized labor, they were able to get it on the ballot,” Mooney says.

Even with a large number of people signing petitions, the recall attempt was unsuccessful at the election.

He says the buzz surrounding a potential recall could also backfire on Rauner’s detractors and instead boost the governor’s popularity. To some, Walker’s successful fight against a recall attempt backed by labor unions is a plus on his political resume as he runs for president, Mooney says.

Cole says he hopes that more calls for change would at least get the governor’s attention. “Maybe he will back away from some of the crazier ideas he’s floated and work some sort of compromise. I don’t know. But, I think if he pushed it too far, then a recall becomes a real possibility.”

Social Media Users Press For Governor's Recall With Petitions | WUIS 91.9