AP-NORC poll: Economy grows as priority on Russia response

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Americans are becoming less supportive of punishing Russia for launching its invasion of Ukraine if it comes at the expense of the U.S. economy, a sign of rising anxiety over inflation and other challenges, according to a new poll.

While broad support for U.S. sanctions has not faltered, the balance of opinion on prioritizing sanctions over the economy has shifted, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. CONTINUED

Nomaan Merchant & Hannah Fingerhut, Associated Press

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Election deniers want to control the 2024 election. And they’re getting closer

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… Republican candidates echoing Trump’s disproven claims of fraud about 2020 have already been nominated, or are seeking nominations, for positions with control over election machinery in all five of the states that flipped from supporting Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020 — Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Republican candidates touting similar arguments are also in strong positions to win GOP nominations for key election positions in states just outside that inner circle of most competitive contests, including secretary of state races in Nevada, Minnesota and Colorado.

And even as these candidates are advancing, Republican legislators are moving a flurry of bills to change the rules for both voter access and election administration. …

This two-front offensive revolving around efforts to both change the election laws and who administers those laws could reconfigure the fundamental landscape for the 2024 election much more than most Americans, or even many political leaders, seem aware. It could also thrust the nation into incendiary turmoil about the legitimacy of the next presidential result, no matter who wins. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, CNN

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Trump gubernatorial endorsements show questionable judgment

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Former President Donald Trump has endorsed dozens of candidates in 2022 Republican primaries for the House, the Senate and governor. …

But there already are more than a few signs that Trump’s endorsements in governors’ races will be less important than in contests for Congress, and Trump losses in gubernatorial contests could make the former president look increasingly weak. …

While governors’ races have become more ideological (and voters more partisan) recently, they still are less so — and more dependent on the quality of the nominees — than are races for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. That’s why Democrat Laura Kelly was able to be elected Kansas governor in 2018 in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since the 1930s. CONTINUED

Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

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Like Americans overall, Catholics vary in their abortion views, with regular Mass attenders most opposed

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The Catholic Church in the United States has long been one of the foremost opponents of legal abortion, teaching that human life is sacred “from conception to natural death” and that unborn children have a “right to life.” But for U.S. Catholics, the abortion issue isn’t so clear-cut. Like the American public as a whole, most Catholics think abortion should be illegal in some cases but legal in others, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. …

Overall, about three-quarters of U.S. Catholics (76%) say abortion should be illegal in some cases but legal in others. Just one-in-ten say abortion should be illegal in all cases, with no exceptions, while a similar share (13%) take the position that abortion should be legal in all cases, without exceptions. CONTINUED

Gregory A. Smith, Pew Research Center

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One in Three Americans Think Pandemic Is Over

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Although COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are on the rise, 34% of Americans say the pandemic is over, and a broad majority say their own lives are at least somewhat back to normal. Still, half of U.S. adults do not think their lives will ever return to pre-pandemic normalcy and about three-quarters expect COVID-19-related disruptions to life in the U.S. will persist through the end of the year or longer. CONTINUED

Megan Brenan, Gallup

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Georgia voters showed us these 3 things about the fall election

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In Atlanta’s distant suburbs, voters across the political spectrum report that local life is good in 2022 — but the direction of the country is not.

That’s one of three major insights we gained while interviewing voters in a key state. We visited two metro Atlanta counties — one blue and one red, both prosperous, populous and diverse. …

We interviewed 36 people in Democratic-leaning Gwinnett County and Republican-leaning Forsyth County, ranging from local officials and activists to people we found by knocking on doors. CONTINUED

Steve Inskeep, NPR News

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