March 22, 2024
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Elon Musk says we are in a ‘battle to the death’ against woke to protect free speech. He’s right, and we’re losing.
By Robert Romano
Elon Musk on March 21 in a post on the X platform outlined what he called “centrist” positions on issues like securing the border, protecting American cities, reducing federal spending, ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) reverse discrimination policies, ending youth transgender surgeries and protecting freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution, saying these are not “right-wing” positions.
Musk wrote, “This is a battle to the death with the anti-civilizational woke mind virus. My positions are centrist: … Secure borders … Safe & clean cities … Don’t bankrupt America with spending … Racism against any race is wrong … No sterilization below age of consent … Is this right-wing?” In a second post in the thread, he added, “And, although it shouldn’t need to said, I believe in the Constitution and freedom of speech.”
Public opinion polls seem to bear out Musk’s contention that his positions on these policy issues are indeed middle of the road. For example, in a Feb. 2024 poll from Monmouth University, 58 percent of independents favor building a wall on the southern border, and 58 percent also believe illegal immigration is a serious problem.
In a Gallup survey in Oct. 2023, a full 78 percent of independents said that crime was increasing in America and 60 percent who said it was extremely or very serious. Even Democrats agreed, with 58 percent saying crime was increasing and 51 percent who said it was extremely or very serious. 92 percent of Republicans agreed it crime was increasing and 78 percent it was extremely or very serious.
A May 2023 Pew survey found a full 57 percent of Americans, including 71 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of Democrats, believe reducing the budget deficit should be a top priority for the President and Congress.
A Jan. 2024 survey from CRC Research found a full 66 percent of Americans oppose race-based, gender-based and sexual preference-based hiring by employers, with only 22 percent supporting it. That included 71 percent of independents, 76 percent of Republicans and even 54 percent of Democrats who said they were opposed.
A Dec. 2022 survey by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation found 68 percent of Americans oppose the use of puberty blocking medications on minors aged 10 to 14 and 58 percent who opposed hormonal treatments for minors aged 15 to 17.
And a Sept. 2023 survey by RealClear Opinion Research found 59 percent who believed that users on social media should be able to post what they want that they feel is of national interest, and only 40 percent who thought the government should be able to censor users’ content. Only Democrats thought, with 52 percent, that the government should be allowed to censor social media.
Therefore, Musk is right, the positions he is taking on these issues, whether securing the border or protecting free speech on social media, are supported by fairly broad majorities of Americans who are fair-minded.
And yet, when these issues are approached by Congress and the President, almost exactly the opposite happens, for example in the most recent omnibus spending bills agreed to by President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), there was no border wall funding, no serious efforts to reduce the uptick in violent crime being seen in American cities, no prohibitions on the use of funds for discriminatory DEI hiring practices, no prohibitions on transgender youth surgeries and all prohibitions on government censorship of social media were stripped out.
To be fair, House Republicans had put all of these things put in their own appropriations bills they passed, but despite significant majorities of Americans supporting those policies, they were not included in the bipartisan bills that were ultimately agreed upon by both chambers.
And so, it is not Elon Musk who is out of step with the vast majorities of Americans, but the entrenched establishment in Washington, D.C. who refuses to listen to the people. Musk is right, we are in a “battle to the death” against woke — and the American people are losing.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2024/03/elon-musk-says-we-are-in-a-battle-to-the-death-against-woke-to-protect-free-speech-hes-right-and-were-losing/
Only A Third of Young People Plan to Vote for Biden? Blistering New Poll Shows Young Voters are Fed Up
By Manzanita Miller
A new nationwide poll from Florida Atlantic University/Mainstreet Research shows former President Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden locked in a dead heat with both candidates earning 44 percent of the vote and another 12 percent of the vote undecided or planning to support a third party.
What stands out is the incredibly small share of voters under age 35 – a group that consists of Gen Z and younger Millennials – who plan to vote for Biden despite supporting him by wide-double digits in 2020. According to the poll, just 33.9 percent of young voters plan to support Joe Biden in November, the lowest level of support for Biden among any age bracket.
Trump is earning his highest level of support from voters under 35 as well. The poll shows Trump beating Biden by over 16 points – 50.1 percent to 33.9 percent – among younger voters. This is the widest margin for Trump among any age bracket according to the poll.
Trump’s margin over Biden rises even further when looking at likely voters who are most inclined to vote in November. Among likely voters under 35, Trump is shown beating Biden by close to 18 points, 54.4 percent to 36.6 percent.
Biden’s age is not a significant contributing factor to younger voters saying they would not support him for president, instead, most voters cite Biden’s performance (37 percent) for the reason they refuse to vote for him in November.
Unfortunately for Biden, his recent State of the Union address did nothing to drum up support and caused a particularly sharp decline in support among younger voters. Voters said by a margin of 37 percent to 29 percent that Biden’s State of the Union speech made them believe he is even less fit for office. Almost half – 47.8 percent – of voters under 35 said Biden’s address to the nation made them believe he is even less fit for office than they originally believed, the largest of any age group. Conversely, only 21 percent of younger voters said the speech improved their confidence in Biden.
The Florida Atlantic University poll is far from the only poll to show Biden suffering double-digit losses with younger voters compared to 2020.
A January USA Today/Suffolk University poll showed Trump leading Biden with voters under 35 – 37% to 33% – after losing younger voters by twenty-four points in 2020.
A battleground state poll from the New York Times in November also showed Biden on the precipice of losing double digits with younger voters, with that poll showing Biden leading Trump by a single percentage-point among voters under 30, 47% to 46%. This is a far cry from the 2020 election, when Biden won voters under thirty 60% to 36%, and represents a ten-point shift toward Trump among young voters.
The exodus of younger voters from Democrats began as a trickle with the departure of Barack Obama from office. Since the 2016 election younger voters have been shifting away from Democrats at the margins, with many refusing to support mainstream Democrats. Biden’s neglect of the working-class, inaction on salient domestic issues like the border crisis, and foreign policy blunders particularly on the Russia-Ukraine conflict have all rapidly accelerated the exodus of younger voters from the left.
Manzanita Miller is an associate analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2024/03/only-a-third-of-young-people-plan-to-vote-for-biden-blistering-new-poll-shows-young-voters-are-fed-up/