Why are so many Americans unhappy with the state of the US today? Here’s what they said in CNN’s latest poll

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It’s one of the most commonly asked poll questions: How do Americans feel about the state of the nation? And recently, the answer has usually been a negative one.

But figuring out why people are unhappy is complicated. CNN’s latest polling asked Americans whether things in the country were going well or badly – and then, to explain in their own words, why they felt that way.

Among the 69% who said things were going either pretty or very badly, dim views of the nation’s economic conditions were a top driver. The smaller share who were more positive often cited their own, rosier takes on the economy. CONTINUED

Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN

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Trump Could Definitely Beat Biden

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Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 Republican primary is not certain. But it now looks more than merely likely. …

Without question, Trump is an exceptionally weak general-election candidate. To no small extent, his personal odiousness does much of the Democratic Party’s persuasion-and-mobilization work for it. … But that doesn’t mean Trump’s coronation would ensure Biden’s reelection. To the contrary, there is reason to believe Trump’s odds of victory in 2024 would be at least as good as his odds in 2020, when he came within 45,000 well-placed votes of winning.

It is easy to miss just how narrowly Trump lost his matchup against Biden. The Democrat won the popular vote by 4.5 percentage points and secured 36 more Electoral College votes than the 270 necessary. But his margins in the pivotal swing states were tiny. In the tipping-point state of Wisconsin, just 20,682 votes separated Biden from Trump. If Biden had won the popular vote by “only” 4 points, Trump likely would have won reelection. CONTINUED

Eric Levitz, New York Magazine

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Will the 2024 presidential election be 2020 all over again?

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With President Joe Biden announcing his 2024 presidential campaign earlier this week, Americans are facing a similar sight: Biden and former President Donald Trump appear to be the most likely options to be the Democratic and Republican candidates, respectively, according to early polling.

Of course, it’s far too early to tell how the presidential candidate field will shape out. We still have to get through the primaries. But how would Americans feel seeing the same two people on the ballot box as they did in 2020? Well, they aren’t ecstatic. CONTINUED

Clifford Young, Sarah Feldman & Bernard Mendez, Ipsos

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Biden Begins Reelection Bid at Low Point in His Presidency

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As Joe Biden begins his reelection campaign, his job approval rating among the U.S. public has slipped to 37%, the lowest Gallup has measured for him to date. Biden’s job approval has been in the low 40% range for most of the past 19 months, apart from the current reading and a 38% score last July. …

This decline has pulled down Biden’s job approval average for his recently completed ninth quarter in office, which spanned Jan. 20 through April 19, to 39.7%, the lowest quarterly average in his presidency. Only Ronald Reagan in early 1983 had a lower ninth-quarter average among elected post-World War II presidents. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

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Fox News Poll: Voters favor gun limits over arming citizens to reduce gun violence

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After a series of mass shootings this spring, including the killing of several students at a private Christian school in Tennessee, voters would prefer focusing on specific gun control measures rather than arming citizens to reduce gun violence.

A new Fox News Poll finds most voters favor the following proposals:

• Requiring criminal background checks on all gun buyers (87%)
• Improving enforcement of existing gun laws (81%)
• Raising the legal age to buy a gun to 21 (81%)
• Requiring mental health checks on gun buyers (80%)
• Allowing police to take guns from those considered a danger to themselves or others (80%)
• Requiring a 30-day waiting period for all gun purchases (77%) CONTINUED

Victoria Balara, Fox News

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Fox News Poll: Two-thirds say abortion pill should be legal

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A majority of American voters thinks the FDA-approved prescription medication used to end a pregnancy, mifepristone, should be legal. That’s from the latest Fox News Poll, which measured opinions on the controversial issue, as well as attitudes toward a Supreme Court whose decisions are reshaping public policy on abortion.

Approval of the Supreme Court remains near its low, with 41% approving of the job it’s doing. …

Sixty-five percent think the abortion pill should be legal – including nearly half of conservatives (46%) and White evangelicals (44%). Plus, more men (68%) than women (63%) support the drug. CONTINUED

Victoria Balara, Fox News

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