We've examined the exit polling data and it all points in the same direction, which was aptly summarized in this headline from ABC News:
Here are some of the poll results that amplify this message:
First, two-thirds of voters rate the economy fair or poor. That number hasn't budged much in the last three years.
Second, voters were about twice as likely to rate their current financial situation as worse, not better than four years ago.
Third, twice as many voters rated the economy as their number one issue than voters who rated abortion as their number one issue.
Fourth, inflation was an issue of concern for three of four voters.
In other news, Joe Biden boasted yesterday that the country should be thankful for his "historic" presidency because he created "the strongest economy in the world."
UP senior fellow and economist extraordinaire EJ Antoni writes:
We reported on the Bessent memo back in February, when the media was mocking Trump's argument that stocks were rallying along with his rising polls. This was Bessent's exhibit A. It shows that stocks were inversely related to Democrats' chances of winning the White House.
When the Democrats swapped Kamala in for Joe and she initially soared in the polls, stocks swooned.
And this was all verified by the massive gain in stocks when Trump was announced the winner on Tuesday night. Bessent's defense of Trump's claim that he was good news was right.
This kind of memo went out in blue districts across the country where kids are not being trained from kindergarten on to be "resilient," but snowflakes who need to be cloistered in their safe spaces.
What "emotional toll" are the education blob officials talking about? Maybe the lesson here is that educators should be doing less indoctrinating and more educating.
4) Great Ideas for the Second Trump Administration from HOTLINE Readers
We always boast that we have the smartest readers of any publication in America (and we really do). So we value your advice and ideas. Here are some of the best ones we have received in recent days. Keep 'em coming and we will get them to the DJT transition team.
Biden signed an EO putting DEI directors in every government agency. This EO needs to be reversed.
Congress should begin knocking down regulations by use of the Congressional Review Act.
The Fed needs to be abolished.
5% cut across the board, excluding SS, including Defense. Followed by a 9-month Zero Based Budgeting exercise. Let these bureaucrats defend their jobs.
Use mandatory E-Verify, close down the Dept of Education, cut the EPA to reflect the fact that most states have state-level EPAs.
Freeze all federal hiring!
Defund NPR, NEA, and PBS.
No bailout of debt-laden states like Illinois!
Defund sanctuary cities & states.
Move government agencies out of the DC area. EPA to Flint, Michigan. Dept of Ed closed. Dept of Energy to Pittsburgh. Drain the swamp and make the various depths see the real world... Great way to get federal employees to quit.
On spending, look at Medicare overcharges/overpayments.
Fire those 30,000 extra IRS agents.
Pull America back out of the Paris Climate Accord.
5) Ballot Measures: Voters Mostly Exercised Common Sense
Voters decided the fate of more than 150 ballot measures this week. Ballots are still being counted in many states, but here is a summary of the results for the ones the Hotline highlighted:
Washington State was perhaps the only state where Harris outperformed Biden (Utah is flirting with the line) and the liberal undertow hurt three conservative ballot initiatives. One initiative that did pass prohibits state and local governments from restricting access to clean natural gas. But measures to end a carbon tax credit program, allow people to opt out of paying an existing tax that pays for long-term health care, and repeal the state's new excise tax on capital gains over $250,000 failed.
Washington state has been dominated by progressives for so long we fear it is on track to eventually become the next Illinois - a state that stagnates, fails to attract new residents and sees its most innovative companies stop growing.
Amazingly, California voters not only voted against raising the state's minimum wage to $18 per hour it also voted to continue blocking its cities from passing rent control laws.
Voters in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington all rejected ranked-choice voting, a scheme that complicates elections and disenfranchises some voters. Alaskans also narrowly repealed their existing ranked-choice system. The only place to pass ranked-choice? Washington D.C - the home of bureaucrats who love schemes that never work.
Voters in eight states banned non-citizen voting in elections. They are Wisconsin, Iowa, Idaho, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. The League of Women Voters and 33 left-wing groups actively opposed the measures but were ignored by voters.
