- Social:
New York University
Assistant professor of politics and public policyat New York University, specializing in public opinion, political institutions; author of Partisan Priorities: How Issue Ownership Drives and Distorts American Politics
PROFILE
Patrick Egan
Guest
FROM Patrick Egan
To the Point
Are Polls Trumping Political Reality? In a speech in South Carolina today, Donald Trump gave out the personal cell phone of Lindsay Graham, that state's US Senator and a fellow candidate for President. Trump also called Graham a "lightweight" and "an idiot." The Des Moines Register's editorial board has called Trump a "feckless blowhard" and asked him to drop out of the presidential primary. Today's Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Trump leading the field of 16 candidates—with 24%, the biggest showing any candidate has made so far this year. Yet the same survey shows that Republicans don't share Trump's views — even on immigration — and 54% say he doesn't reflect Republican values. Other surveys show the same contradiction. Is it all about saturation news coverage, or is something wrong with the polls? The question's especially important this year when the first debate will include only the ten candidates with the biggest numbers.
Which Way, L.A.?
The Prop 8 Arguments Are Over, Now It's Up to the Judge California voters passed Proposition 8 by a 52% majority in 2008, limiting marriage to one man and one woman, and effectively banning same-sex marriage. In 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8 , but allowed existing same-sex marriages to stand. In the most recent Constitutional challenge , for two weeks in January, Federal Judge Vaughn Walker heard testimony for and against. Today he heard four hours of closing arguments. In California's 100-year-old initiative process, how often has "the will of the people" been overturned by a judge? Will this case go before the Supreme Court?
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To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.