Think your town could house migrants? That may depend as much on your politics as where you live.

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What shapes Americans’ views on migrants from the border and southern states coming to their towns? It’s not always where they live, but may depend on their politics. Democrats, including those in both cities and suburbs, are overwhelmingly receptive to the idea of temporarily accepting migrants in their locales.

But the principle often collides with the practical: they’re not always sure there’s space. The number of Americans who think there is room in their town — in the form of facilities or public housing — is lower than the number willing to accept people. …

The president’s handling of the border situation gets negative approval overall. Republicans in Congress aren’t spared the public’s ire either. And there’s plenty of dissatisfaction within each party’s ranks. CONTINUED

CBS News

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Guns as a public health threat

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Earlier this month, after experiencing a set of rare, back-to-back mass shootings, authorities in Serbia moved quickly to announce “an almost complete disarming of Serbia,” which included mass gun surrendering, tighter restrictions on gun ownership, and harsher penalties for illegal gun ownership.

Gun control measures move much slower in the U.S., a country that stands out as a global outlier when it comes to gun violence and mass shootings. Amid the persistent rise of gun violence as a cause of death in the U.S., Americans have taken note of the sluggishness of anti-gun violence legislation.

Below are five charts documenting the rise of gun violence as a public health threat, how Americans feel about the threat of guns, and how gun control may factor into the 2024 presidential race. CONTINUED

Clifford Young, Bernard Mendez & Sarah Feldman, Ipsos

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The Most Jarring — And Revealing — Moment from Trump’s CNN Town Hall

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In CNN’s tumultuous town hall last week with Donald Trump, the most jarring moment was the most revealing. For many viewers, an especially discordant exchange came when some of the New Hampshire Republicans in the studio audience laughed and cheered as the former president disparaged E. Jean Carroll, the woman who, just a day earlier, had won a $5 million civil jury verdict against him for sexual abuse and defamation. …

The stunning laughter when Trump belittled Carroll underlined how for many Republican voters, skepticism about women’s claims of unfair or improper treatment now intertwines with hostility to other forms of cultural change, including growing racial diversity and demands for equal treatment from the LGBTQ community. “We’re in the middle of a backlash to racial and gender progress, in which Trump has normalized the expression of racist and sexist beliefs,” Tresa Undem, a pollster for progressive organizations who specializes in attitudes about gender and race, told me. “He’s constantly tapping into these beliefs.”

Even before Trump became a national figure in 2016, attitudes about cultural and racial change were emerging as the central fault line between the two party coalitions. But Trump widened that divide. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic

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What Happened in 2022

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The 2022 election defied conventional wisdom and historical trends. In a typical midterm election year with one-party control of the presidency, House and Senate, the incumbent party would expect major losses. Instead, Democrats re-elected every incumbent senator and expanded their Senate majority by a seat, won the overwhelming majority of heavily contested gubernatorial elections, gained control of 4 state legislative chambers, and only narrowly lost the U.S. House.

Democrats won in the majority of heavily contested races, with electorates in these contests looking more like the 2020 and 2018 electorates than a typical midterm. Unlike recent midterms, which were wave elections with across-the-board, national swings, there was less of a national trend in the 2022 midterm. In this analysis we will present national results based on the U.S. House vote, where Republicans outperformed Democrats, as well as analysis from states that had highly contested races, according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report, where Democrats outperformed Republicans. Unlike other recent midterm years, our analysis shows a stark contrast between the electorate in areas with one or more highly contested House, Senate or gubernatorial races versus those with less contested races. CONTINUED

Hillary Anderson, Yair Ghitza, Haris Aqeel & Aaron Huertas, et al, Catalist

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Will 2024 be a personality contest or a policy debate?

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Here are a few thoughts this week as we await the outcome of the debt ceiling battle.

What will the 2024 election be about? It may seem obvious to ask this most basic of questions about the next election, but the answer will likely decide its outcome. So, perhaps, a better way to assess both the primary and general elections is by asking: “Will this be an election driven by personality or by policy?” …

If the general election campaign is about policy rather than personality, that poses a real challenge for Team Biden, particularly if economic concerns remain front and center. But then, the age issue is a problem for them, too.

To win, Republicans have to improve their standing with the political center by reaching out to independents with solutions to bring down inflation, their top issue. This is where Republicans enjoy a political advantage. Independents tend to be economic voters and are center-right on fiscal policies, which aligns their views more toward Republicans. Another reason for Republicans to focus on policy not personality.

That’s what this election should be about. CONTINUED

David Winston (Winston Group), Roll Call

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Public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court is at its lowest since 1973

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Confidence in the Supreme Court has significantly decreased, particularly among Democrats and pro-choice adults, according to an analysis of the 2022 General Social Survey (GSS) by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey, fielded mostly in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, finds confidence in the Supreme Court is at its lowest since the GSS began.

The public demonstrated waning confidence in the Supreme Court in 2021 and 2022. Just 26% reported a great deal of confidence in 2021, falling to 18% in 2022 — an all time low since the GSS began recording this data in 1973. Further, 36% had hardly any confidence in the Supreme Court – the highest recorded since the GSS began. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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