37 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
michaelflutist's avatar

https://politicalwire.com/2024/10/12/trump-has-clear-edge-on-handling-israel-ukraine-wars/

Per a Wall St. Journal poll:

"Trump leads Harris among swing-state voters, 50% to 39%, on who is best able to handle Russia’s war in Ukraine and has a wider advantage, 48% to 33%, on who is better suited to handle the Israel-Hamas war."

The Wall St. Journal is paywalled, so I don't know whether this is a poll of registered or some modeling of "likely" voters.

All that said, I think we ought to be very cautious about assuming Harris will win, given that voters seem to trust Trump more on the economy, immigration, and now on wars. They are seriously, dangerously wrong, but they will determine who wins the election in each state unless the Supreme Court annuls their votes or there is some other kind of theft. This poll may have the same problems as others, and their models may be flawed, but if they're not, we should consider Harris in danger and act accordingly.

Expand full comment
ProudNewEnglander's avatar

Here's the question I keep coming back to. In how many states did the Republicans do better in 2012 than in 2010? As far as I can remember, the answer is very few, if any.

It's why my predictions are still these: https://www.270towin.com/maps/07k6W. Only maybe 30-40% of this is based on polls - the rest is fundamentals, previous election results, fundraising/ground game, etc. (meaning that these predictions are very unlikely to change before the election). It's really hard for me to see how Dems can do so well in MI/PA in 2022, despite low urban and minority turnout, and yet somehow lose those states this year when Democratic turnout will be much higher.

Expand full comment
S Kolb's avatar

Go out on a limb! Do you think KH will win any of the 3: AZ, GA, NC? Even WSJ/Murdoch pollster has KH winning with 278 EVs!

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

Imo AZ>GA>NC

Expand full comment
DM's avatar

I suspect Arizona will be so close that we won't know election night, and possibly for several days after. I suspect Arizona could see violence.

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

I think the violence might depend somewhat on the outcomes in the other battlegrounds

Expand full comment
ClimateHawk's avatar

Mark me down for all 3.

Expand full comment
Blomstervaenget's avatar

That is crazy - he will give the Ukraine to Putin (leading to more offensive attacks by him; he will let Netanyahu annihilate the Palestinians in Gaza . Neither of these paths will lead to peace. They will encourage strong men to attack the vulnerable.

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

They don't think so because "wars didn't happen when he was President."

Expand full comment
sacman701's avatar

Except that we were still at war in Afghanistan.

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

They don't blame Orange Slob for that. If anything it was "inherited from Obama."

Expand full comment
Tigercourse's avatar

Those are issue where we would typically expect Republicans to be better regarded.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Why would we expect Trump to be better regarded on war?

Expand full comment
Tigercourse's avatar

Because voters think Republicans are tough and Democrats are weak. Voters are morons.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Not because voters are isolationists?

Expand full comment
Tigercourse's avatar

That is a good point, and probably plays into it as well.

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

Again because "wars didn't happen during his Presidency." They blame Harris for the messes in Iran, I/P, and Ukraine.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

That's absolutely stupid. Does anyone understand what Vice President really means?

Expand full comment
James Trout's avatar

She's Biden's VP though. They blame her because "Biden started the wars."

Expand full comment
ProudNewEnglander's avatar

And to pre-emptively respond to a comment that Mark27 (I can't help but still call him that) may make, higher educated turnout in midterms does not necessarily mean higher Democratic turnout. Mark likes to point out that there was higher turnout among educated voters in 2022, and tries to claim that this means there will be a surge in turnout among voters without a college degree, a surge that he assumes will be heavily Republican. However, it is difficult to square that assumption with the fact that, despite any education-related trends, Republican turnout was still higher than Democratic turnout in 2022. If you look at precinct election results in MI, PA, or almost any state, turnout in heavily Republican precincts was higher than turnout in heavily Democratic precincts (sometimes by significant margins). In a presidential election, there will be much less of a gap, and the voters who didn't vote in 2022 but will vote this year will still be heavily Democratic, if maybe not quite as much as those who voted in 2022 (i.e. a heavily minority, working-class precinct that voted 80-20 Dem in 2022 might see their new voters this year vote only 75-25 Dem, but that's still an increase in the overall Dem vote margin).

Expand full comment
Mark's avatar

By all means, continue to call me Mark27! I tried to claim that name again but Substack said it was already taken (yet "Mark" wasn't?).

Your point is well-taken about blue county versus red county turnout in 2022.

Expand full comment
sacman701's avatar

Can you change it to Mark27a or something like that? I've done that before.

Expand full comment
ProudNewEnglander's avatar

Or how about The Real Mark27?

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

Sounds like a DJ

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

That's why the GOTV advantage we have is so important(as to farming the Republican gotv out to grifters like Charlie kirk)

Expand full comment
Henrik's avatar

Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t turnout among core Ds in 2022 really bad? Like, 2010/14 bad, but we won on persuasion?

Expand full comment
ProudNewEnglander's avatar

I think so, yeah. And it's tough for me to see how voters who were persuaded to vote for Dems in 2022 thanks to our anti-Trump or pro-choice messaging would vote for Trump now.

Expand full comment
axlee's avatar

2010/14 level of bad turnout only in certain areas in certain states. Everyone remembers Florida and New York?

Also very bad for minority voter dominated areas. Most city centers, rural Black Belt, etc.

Expand full comment
S Kolb's avatar

I know we shouldn't discount any polls we don't like but I refuse to take seriously any poll/pollster connected to Murdoch...he has his agenda and will do what he needs to do in order to control the dialogue.

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Is there any record of Wall Street Journal polls being manipulated? Fox News polls are reputable, in spite of the organization. I don't think we should assume guilt by association.

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

Not directly related to your post, but imo fox(and the other right-wing outlets) will run that same 'RED WAVE' !!!!! BS from the last cycle; so maybe not the polling side of fox, but definitely the 'news' side will act disreputable

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Do you think anyone reading needs to be convinced that an entertainment organization with "news" in its name that's had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for libel is disreputable?

Expand full comment
S Kolb's avatar

just me but I don't trust them

Expand full comment
michaelflutist's avatar

Do you also not trust Fox News polls?

Expand full comment
S Kolb's avatar

don't they use a different polling company? one that is supposedly bi-partisan?

Expand full comment
Jonathan's avatar

It's the same one they've had forever(pretty sure)

Expand full comment
William's avatar

it says right there that the pollster Wall Street Journal used is a Democratic pollster and Fabrizio/Lee Associates. Fabrizio is Trump’s internal pollster. There have been many polls that Fabrizio has been jointly putting out recently to affect the narrative

https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-swing-state-poll-trump-1967690

Expand full comment