Politico-Harvard poll: Majority of Americans support more Covid aid for the uninsured

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Most Americans strongly believe the federal government should continue to pay for Covid-19 testing, vaccination and treatment for uninsured individuals, according to a POLITICO-Harvard survey, underscoring the nation’s ongoing anxiety about the virus despite inflationary pressure. …

The survey of 1,025 adults, conducted May 6 to 9, found that nearly 60 percent of U.S. adults said continuing such programs is “extremely” or “very” important, compared to just 9 percent who said it was “not important at all.” CONTINUED

Krista Mahr, Politico

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Biden unites country, but it’s not what you think

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On Monday, gas prices hit another record high. A new poll showed the country slipping into what might be appropriately called a season of discontent. And the commander in chief forgot to remember D-Day, saving his skin with a last-minute, late-night tweet. Just the kickoff to another week in the Biden presidency.

But the sinking ship that is the White House these days hasn’t had a few bad days or even weeks. It’s been months of one crisis after another — one political fumble after another, with no end in sight to what has been an administration marked by incompetence, inflexibility and willful ignorance of reality.

It’s no wonder that the electorate has reached a staggering level of dissatisfaction not only with this president and his party, but with government as a whole. CONTINUED

David Winston (Winston Group), Roll Call

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A candidate’s position on gun control laws matters, but for Democrats more than Republicans

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For many voters, issues related to gun laws will play a factor in which candidates and officials they support in upcoming elections, but the issue is more of a factor for Democrats than Republicans — even among Republican voters who say they always vote in Republican primaries.

Americans overall support both a ban on the AR-15 semi-automatic weapon and increasing background checks and restrictions when it comes to purchasing such weapons, and that support is reflected in how most Americans would consider the issue when casting their votes. CONTINUED

Fred Backus, CBS News

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Is This the End of the George Floyd Moment?

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Since the massive nationwide protests that erupted in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, the debate over crime and public safety in the Democratic Party has been dominated by urgent calls for reforming police departments and confronting entrenched racial inequities in the criminal-justice system. History might record yesterday’s elections in San Francisco and Los Angeles as the end of that moment.

The decisive recall of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, and the strong showing of the billionaire former Republican developer Rick Caruso against Democratic Representative Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, likely will pressure Democrats at all levels of government to rebalance their message on criminal justice going forward. The results in California—combined with the former police officer Eric Adams’s victory in the New York mayoral race last fall—send a signal to Democrats that, even in some of their most reliable strongholds, voters are demanding a shift toward policies to combat crime and restore public order. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic

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Polls vs. initiative results

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Last week, The New York Times’s astute chief political analyst, Nate Cohn, raised serious doubts about polling on background checks for gun purchasers and, by extension, about the efficacy of issue polling generally.

The heart of his case: “When voters in four Democratic-leaning states got the opportunity to enact expanded gun background checks into law [through ballot initiatives], the overwhelming support suggested by national surveys was nowhere to be found.”

Cohn nods to the counterargument—“Initiative and referendum results are not a perfect or simple measure of public opinion”—but he seems to repose more faith in the ballot measure results than in the poll data.

I don’t. CONTINUED

Mark Mellman (Mellman Group), The Hill

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Half of Republicans support stricter gun laws, a double-digit jump in a year, USA TODAY/Ipsos poll says

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Half of Republicans support stricter gun laws, an exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds, a double-digit increase after a series of horrific mass shootings at schools, stores, streets and houses of worship.

The increase in GOP support – from 35% last year to 50% – could boost the prospects for Congress to tighten federal gun laws, an effort that has failed for decades. The House is poised to pass a Democratic package of proposals this week as bipartisan negotiations on a less far-reaching compromise continue behind closed doors in the Senate. …

In the survey, Americans by nearly 7-1 back more restrictions on guns, 69%-10%, a level of support that has been roughly steady in Ipsos’ surveys over the past five years. CONTINUED

Susan Page & Kenneth Tran, USA Today

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