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Year: 2024

Harris, Trump favorability ratings are on the rise among American voters, poll finds

Harris, Trump favorability ratings are on the rise among American voters, poll finds

The favorability ratings of both Vice President Harris and former President Trump are on the rise as a greater number of Americans are saying they are “extremely motivated” to vote in this November’s election, a new poll has found.  The Pew Research Center survey of 9,201 adults – including 7,569 registered voters – has revealed that Harris’ overall favorability rating has increased from 36% to 44% since May, while Trump’s has gone up from 39% to 42%.  Among voters who identify as Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents, Harris’ approval has jumped from 65% to 83%, while Trump’s is at 79% among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.  Nationally, Harris is slightly leading Trump among all voters, 46% to 45%, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trails in third with 7%, according to the poll.  FOX NEWS POLL: NEW MATCHUP, SAME RESULT – TRUMP BESTS HARRIS BY ONE POINT  The poll also found that 70% of Harris supporters are saying they are “extremely motivated” to vote, up from 63% of Biden supporters who felt the same way in early July when he was still in the presidential race.  Meanwhile, 72% of Trump supporters that were surveyed reported feeling the same way, up from 63% in July.  Even though Biden has abandoned his re-election bid, the poll found that he still has just a 37% approval rating among the American public.  POLLING GURU CAUTIONS PUBLIC AGAINST OVER RELYING ON POLLS: IN LAST TWO ELECTIONS, ‘THEY UNDERESTIMATED TRUMP’  But one number that has changed is the number of “double negative” voters who earlier this year indicated to pollsters that they did not like either candidate, according to the Pew Research Center.  In May, a quarter of American voters said they held both unfavorable views of Trump and Biden, but now with Harris in the race, that number has fallen to 14%.  The poll was conducted from Aug. 5-11. 

New Jersey Gov. Murphy to appoint former chief of staff, George Helmy, to vacated Menendez Senate seat: report

New Jersey Gov. Murphy to appoint former chief of staff, George Helmy, to vacated Menendez Senate seat: report

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to appoint his former chief of staff, George Helmy, to fill the seat that will be vacated by convicted U.S. Sen Bob Menendez, D-N.J., next week, multiple state media reports say.  Helmy served as Murphy’s chief of staff for more than four years and most recently was employed as an executive and head of external affairs for RWJBarnabas Health. Murphy’s appointment means Helmy will serve out the remainder of Menendez’s term, which expires on Jan. 3.  The seat was already up for election on Nov. 5. Democrats have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who’s in a strong position in the Democratic-leaning state. He faces Republican Curtis Bashaw. While still on trial in July, Menendez filed to run as an independent candidate for re-election.  Helmy, who also previously served as state director for Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., will now serve beside him in the upper chamber until the end of the 118th Congress.  Murphy could have handed Kim a possible seniority advantage by appointing him to the vacated seat. Kim competed against the governor’s wife, Tammy Murphy, in the Democratic primary. The New Jersey first lady later withdrew her candidacy in late March.  DEMOCRATIC SEN. BOB MENENDEZ GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES IN FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL Helmy is not the first former senior aide to earn caretaker senator appointments from former bosses. New Jersey Republican Jeffrey Chiesa, Massachusetts Democrat Mo Cowan and West Virginia Democrat Carte P. Goodwin did the same, according to Roll Call.  Menendez will resign Aug. 20 following his conviction for taking bribes for corrupt acts including acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. The senator had insisted after the July 16 verdict that he was innocent and in a July 23 letter announcing his upcoming resignation to Murphy, a fellow Democrat, Menendez promised to appeal “all the way,” including to the Supreme Court.  The roughly monthlong delay in leaving gives Murphy’s staff time for an orderly transition, Menendez wrote. The date also coincides with a Senate payday, according to the Associated Press.  Menendez, 70, was convicted of charges that he sold the power of his office to three New Jersey businessmen who sought a variety of favors. Prosecutors said Menendez used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect his associates. They said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt. COULD BOB MENENDEZ RUN FOR RE-ELECTION AFTER BEING FOUND GUILTY OF CORRUPTION? He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes, including providing details on personnel at the U.S. embassy in Cairo and ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators regarding lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 in cash hidden in Menendez’s house. After his conviction, Menendez denied all of those allegations, saying “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.” But numerous fellow Democrats had urged him to resign, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Murphy had urged the Senate to expel Menendez if he didn’t quit. Only 15 senators have ever been expelled. Sen. William Blount, of Tennessee, was ousted in 1797 for treason. The other 14 were expelled in 1861 and 1862 for supporting Confederates during the Civil War. Menendez faces the possibility of decades in prison. A judge scheduled his sentencing on Oct. 29, a week before the election. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

‘Not my governor’: Minnesota small business owner rips Harris VP pick’s ‘radical’ COVID-era policies

‘Not my governor’: Minnesota small business owner rips Harris VP pick’s ‘radical’ COVID-era policies

COTTONWOOD COUNTY FAIR, Minn. – A local small business owner railed against Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz as “the worst governor we’ve ever had in Minnesota.”  Diane Kruger, who runs a business selling Scentsy products in Minnesota, detailed how she feels negatively impacted by Walz’s policies since he took office. “He has ruined our state. I am angry and disgusted,” Kruger told Fox News Digital while working her booth at the Cottonwood County Fair in Minnesota. “Him and the Democrats, once they got the trifecta in the House and Senate and the governor, they have absolutely ruined our state. We are now probably more communist than California.” Kruger said that her business is still recovering in the aftermath of policies enforced by Walz during the coronavirus pandemic. FORMER MINNESOTA RESIDENT UNLOADS ON GOV WALZ AFTER MOTHER DIED ‘OF LONELINESS’ DURING PANDEMIC “During COVID year of 2020, my business income fell by at least 50% because when he shut down the economy in Minnesota in March, I couldn’t do any house parties. I couldn’t do any shows. I couldn’t do any events,” Kruger said. “And I still haven’t recovered from that.” RURAL RESIDENTS REVEAL HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT GOV. WALZ’S ‘VERY LIBERAL’ POLICIES: ‘WE’RE MINI CALIFORNIA’ Kruger also said Walz pushed “radical” policies in the state after expanding access to abortion and requiring school bathrooms to keep tampons in male restrooms for transgender-identifying individuals. “Walz is the worst governor we’ve ever had in Minnesota. I don’t care what anybody says,” she said. “I always called him tyrant Timmy or dictator Walz. I wouldn’t call him Governor Walz because he’s not my governor.” The Minnesotan added that she believes “we won’t have a country left” if Walz is elected as the vice president in November. Kruger added that a Harris-Walz administration would make the United States a “communist country within a year” and would be the “worst thing that we’d never, probably ever get our country back.” Several small business owners and residents in Minnesota have talked to Fox News Digital in recent days and have echoed Kruger’s sentiment about Walz’s tenure as governor. Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital he has “talked to a lot of businesses that either have left or, when they expand, are not expanding in Minnesota.” “He’s supported the highest income tax rate in the nation at 10%, he has taken a $19 billion surplus and the next year added a $10 billion tax on the hardworking Minnesotans,” he added. Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak previously told Fox News Digital that “Gov. Walz led Minnesota back with strong leadership, competent management, and smart policies — cutting taxes for working families and reaching the lowest state unemployment rate in recorded history.” Long Her, owner of New Fashion Tailoring and Alteration in St. Paul, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital that he watched hopelessly as his St. Paul establishment was destroyed during the 2020 George Floyd riots and that Walz failed to protect business owners like him. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign.

Trump says ‘new category’ of crime under Biden-Harris administration is ‘beyond control’

Trump says ‘new category’ of crime under Biden-Harris administration is ‘beyond control’

Former President Trump told a crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday that under the Biden-Harris administration, a new category of crime involving migrants has developed, and is “beyond control.” The Republican presidential nominee was expected to spotlight an economic argument against Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. It was Trump’s second stop in the crucial southeastern battleground state in the three-and-a-half weeks since Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democrats’ 2024 ticket as the presumptive nominee. While Trump spoke about price hikes under Harris costing the typical household $28,000, and credit card debt exploding to the highest it has ever been, he made sure to segue into the issue surrounding the border and illegal immigration. NYC MIGRANT ACCUSED OF RAPING WOMAN IN BROOKLYN HAD ICE DETAINER PLACED ON HIM: REPORT Trump said no country could sustain what is happening in the U.S. at this time, when millions of “illegal aliens” pour into the country from unknown countries. “They all said I was wrong when I said that migrant crime will reach epidemic proportions, and now it’s much worse than that,” Trump said. “It’s a lot worse than epidemic proportions. It’s beyond control. We have a new category of crime. It’s called migrant crime, and I think it’s gonna end up being the worst category of all.” ICE FINDS, ARRESTS HAITIAN MIGRANT WHO WAS RELEASED ON $500 BOND AFTER BEING CHARGED WITH RAPING CHILD IN MA He said in the past week, there have been situations involving migrants accused of rape, murder and other crimes. On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents located and arrested a Haitian immigrant who was previously released on a $500 bond despite facing charges of raping a child in Massachusetts. HAITIAN MIGRANT CHARGED WITH RAPE OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL ENTERED VIA CONTROVERSIAL PAROLE PROGRAM: SOURCES The migrant, 26-year-old Cory Alvarez, allegedly raped a teenage girl at a Massachusetts motel that housed other migrants in March. He entered the U.S. lawfully in June 2023 in New York City, and was sponsored by someone in New Jersey. A Nicaraguan migrant accused of raping a woman this week near a popular beach boardwalk in Brooklyn had an ICE detainer placed on him after he previously was arrested for sexual assault, but he managed to walk free after striking a deal with local prosecutors, a report says.  Daniel Davon-Bonilla, 24, had been out on the streets since June, when he was arrested late Sunday night for the alleged attack in Coney Island, according to the New York Post. The Big Apple is a sanctuary city, meaning local law enforcement generally does not cooperate with ICE detainers, which are requests that the agency be notified before the immigrant is released from custody and to keep them in custody until ICE can take custody of them. AXIOS HIT WITH COMMUNITY NOTE AFTER CLAIMING HARRIS WAS NEVER ‘BORDER CZAR’ “Nothing good is going to happen from this,” Trump said. “And now it’s getting more and more violent.” KAMALA HARRIS ONCE PLEDGED TO CLOSE IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS ‘ON DAY ONE’ AS BORDER RECORD UNDER SCRUTINY Fox News Digital reached out to both the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment. Still, despite calling the migrant situation “beyond control,” Trump told the crowd in Asheville he has a plan if he is elected. “If Kamala wins, you will have mass amnesty and citizenship for all the Biden-Harris illegals that poured into our country,” he said. “If I win, you will have the largest deportation operation in American history starting at noon on Inauguration Day 2025.” Fox News’ Greg Norman and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.