Off-the-charts gas price hikes are a big problem for Democrats

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Whether you go by the holiday or meteorological calendar, summer is on! That doesn’t only mean heat, it also means road trips to a lot of Americans. But over the last few months, folks planning out their vacations have been in for a rude awakening over the price of gas. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline topped $4.70 for the first time ever this week.

On top of historic inflation, this is the environment Democrats face five months from Election Day. It could prove disastrous for them. …

The problem for Democrats is that at this point last year, the average price of regular gasoline was a little over $3 a gallon. That means gas prices are up more than 55% from 12 months ago. No other midterm cycle featured a rate of increase anywhere close to that five months before the election. CONTINUED

Harry Enten, CNN

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Voters Say They Want Gun Control. Their Votes Say Something Different.

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It’s one of the most puzzling questions for Democrats in American politics: Why is the political system so unresponsive to gun violence? Expanded background checks routinely receive more than 80 percent or 90 percent support in polling. Yet gun control legislation usually gets stymied in Washington and Republicans never seem to pay a political price for their opposition.

There have been countless explanations offered about why political reality seems so at odds with the polling, including the power of the gun lobby; the importance of single-issue voters; and the outsize influence of rural states in the Senate.

But there’s another possibility, one that might be the most sobering of all for gun control supporters: Their problem could also be the voters, not just politicians or special interests. CONTINUED

Nate Cohn, New York Times

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California: Incumbents Hold Wide Lead in Upcoming Statewide Primary

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The latest IGS Poll shows incumbent officials with a wide lead in the upcoming statewide primary election contest. Governor Gavin Newsom has the support of 50% of likely voters, with his nearest competitor, Republican Brian Dahle, at 10%, and No Party Preference candidate Michael Shellenberger receiving 5% of the vote. …

Voters are being asked to vote in two Senate primaries: a special election to fill the remainder of the term won by Vice President Kamala Harris (which ends in January 2023) and the other to fill that seat for the subsequent six-year term beginning in January. Alex Padilla, the incumbent senator appointed by Newsom, enjoys a substantial lead in both races. CONTINUED

Mark DiCamillo, Cristina Mora & Eric Schickler, Berkeley IGS Poll

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A tale of many Americas

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Next week Congress will hear witness testimonies and present learnings from the select committee’s January 6th investigation into the storming of the Capitol and the attempt to disrupt and overturn the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The question of election legitimacy has become a firebrand issue and rallying call for many on the right, staking out new ground in the culture war. While on the left, there are calls to save democracy.

That day, and all that preceded it, showed the depths of the country’s broken politics. Ahead of that, we’ve released a new poll with Axios to better understand where the country’s fault lines are, and where the potential places of connection exist in our divided nation. CONTINUED

Clifford Young & Sarah Feldman, Ipsos

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Most Catholic Americans disagree with hardline positions of church leadership

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The attitudes of many conservative Catholic bishops in the United States are not shared by most Catholics. A majority of lay Catholics support abortion rights, oppose denying Communion to politicians who support abortion rights, and favor greater inclusion of LGBT people.

On May 20, the archbishop of San Francisco announced that he will no longer allow U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to receive Communion because of her support for abortion rights. Only 31% of lay Catholics agree that politicians supporting abortion rights should be denied Communion, while 66% say they should be allowed access to the sacrament.

The view of Catholic Americans on abortion rights and Roe v. Wade are in line with the general public. About two-thirds of Catholic adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Mainline Protestants and religiously unaffiliated Americans are more likely than Catholics to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But all three groups differ significantly from evangelical Protestants. Still, even among evangelical Protestants, few say abortion should be illegal in all cases. CONTINUED

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

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Barry Sussman, Washington Post editor who oversaw Watergate reporting, dies at 87

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Barry Sussman, the Washington Post editor who directly oversaw the Watergate investigation by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, providing invaluable — if at times unheralded — contributions to the news coverage that helped force President Richard M. Nixon from office, died June 1 at his home in Rockville, Md. …

Mr. Sussman had long cultivated an interest in public opinion. After Watergate, he became The Post’s first in-house pollster, helping to found the Washington Post-ABC News poll. “If presidential elections are the heart of the political process in this country,” he once wrote, “political polls have become the chief instrument through which that heart’s beat is measured.” CONTINUED

Emily Langer, Washington Post

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