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BOTH BIDEN AND TRUMP ARE ‘INCREDIBLY UNPOPULAR’
By Laura Santhanam, @LauraSanthanam ([link removed])
Health Reporter & Coordinating Producer for Polling

Political fortunes can turn on a dime.

That is no less true for President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who each are languishing in the court of public opinion. Let’s take a closer look at the polling data.

Biden’s approval rating

Roughly a third of U.S. adults approve of what Biden’s doing as president, according to the latest poll ([link removed]) from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist ([link removed]) . Biden’s current approval rating now is among the worst in modern U.S. presidential history, according to recent analysis from FiveThirtyEight ([link removed]) .
Image by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour

Since July 2021, support for Biden has slid by 20 percentage points among independent voters and 14 percentage points among Democrats.

Three-quarters of Biden’s own party approve of the job he’s doing as president, standing by him amid economic uncertainty and inflation, competing public health crises, mass shootings and the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. At a similar point in Trump’s presidency, 84 percent of Republicans approved of his performance.

Trump is still unpopular, but support within GOP remains strong

More than a year and a half after Trump left office, a majority of Americans – 58 percent – still view him unfavorably, including 89 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents. In contrast, 83 percent of Republicans still regard Trump favorably, along with 38 percent of Americans overall.

In his view, Whit Ayres, a GOP strategist and conservative pollster, said the current GOP is not monolithic. Roughly three out of 10 Republicans would “walk through a wall of flame” for Trump, he said, while one out of 10 Republicans “are ‘Never Trump’ people.” A majority of Republicans – six out of 10 – would again vote for Trump if that meant booting Biden from office, Ayres said, but they “are also open to having a new candidate who carries less baggage than they believe Trump carries as their nominee in 2024.”

Who else do Republicans support?
* Sixty-two percent of Republicans hold a favorable view of former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to leave the Capitol before the Electoral College votes were counted, even as a mob chanted for his hanging ([link removed]) .
* Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, has more support among Democrats than Republicans. Her own party stripped her of her leadership role when she refused to support Trump and his false voter fraud claims in the 2020 election. Overall, 34 percent of Americans viewed Cheney favorably, along with 60 percent of Democrats and just 13 percent of Republicans.
* Sixty-three percent of Republicans hold a favorable view of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose political style and substance have invited comparison to Trump.

One thing is clear: Few Americans are eager to rehash old political fights, said Jessica Taylor, Senate and governors editor for the Cook Political Report.

“Both Biden and Trump remain incredibly unpopular, and that's why you see growing voices within both parties for someone different and not a rerun of the 2020 election,” she said.

MORE THINGS TRUMP DIDN’T SAY
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage ([link removed])
Senior Editor, Digital

The Jan. 6 committee’s planned public hearings may have ended for now – more are expected in September – but its members have continued to release additional material.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., who co-led last week’s prime-time hearing, tweeted a 3:40-minute video ([link removed]) that underscored former President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to condemn the mob ([link removed]) behind the violence of the U.S. Capitol attack.

In the video, former White House aides discuss the script for Trump’s speech on Jan. 7, a day after the insurrection – but some parts of the speech were crossed out in black, as seen in the video released by the committee:
A screenshot of the Jan. 7 speech script prepared for Trump, from a video released by the Jan. 6 committee.
* A line that directed the Justice Department to “ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
* A following part that said, “We must send a clear message not with mercy but with JUSTICE. Legal consequences must be swift and firm.”
* A line that says the rioters “do not represent me.”

In recorded testimony included in the clip, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, confirmed that the writing on the document “looks like my father’s handwriting.”

What else has happened after the eighth hearing?

On Monday, Marc Short, the former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, confirmed that he testified before a federal grand jury ([link removed]) investigating the Capitol attack.

While the Justice Department has widened its probe into the Jan. 6 attack, it’s not immediately clear if federal prosecutors will bring criminal charges against Trump. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters ([link removed]) that the DOJ probe into the events surrounding the insurrection is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation” the department has ever done.

"We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election," he said.

A jury found Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist, guilty of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena ([link removed]) from the committee.

What’s next for the Jan. 6 committee?

Public hearings are expected to resume in the fall. Before then, the panel is looking to interview more of Trump’s former Cabinet members.

The committee is also expected to issue a final report by the end of the year.

It remains to be seen whether the nine-member panel will officially invite Trump or Pence to testify, although in the eight hearings so far, many of their aides, via recorded testimony, grand jury or in the eight hearings themselves, have provided first-hand accounts.

As always – and as we’ve seen – things are subject to change. For the latest and greatest on the Jan. 6 investigation and its hearing schedule, check out this page ([link removed]) . We’re updating as we learn more.
More on the Jan. 6 hearings from our coverage:
* Watch: The most recent hearing focused on Trump’s actions – or lack thereof ([link removed]) – for a crucial 187 minutes as the mob attacked the Capitol. At the center were testimonies from two Republicans who had first-hand accounts ([link removed]) of that day inside the White House.
* One Big Question: After a summer of hearings, what does success look like for the Jan. 6 committee? Former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, and former Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Republican, discuss ([link removed]) .
* Perspectives: How have voters’ minds changed around Trump and Jan. 6? NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report weigh in ([link removed]) .

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage ([link removed])
Senior Editor, Digital

Matt Loffman, @mattloff ([link removed])
Politics Producer

On this day about 247 years ago, the Second Continental Congress established the U.S. postal system.

Our question: Who was appointed as the first postmaster general in 1775?

Send your answers to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.

Last week, we asked: How many Republican representatives co-sponsored the Respect for Marriage Act during the 114th Congress?

The answer: Four ([link removed]) . They were: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Richard Hanna, Robert Dold, and Carlos Curbelo. None of them are in Congress anymore.

Congratulations to our winners: Steve Greek and Barry Weinstein!

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.
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