163 Comments
author

Trump underperformed the 538 polling average in South Carolina by 8 full points this time. That’s consistent with him underperforming by seven in each of New Hampshire and Iowa. The polls in aggregate are way off.

Expand full comment

That was the first poll average I looked at. It had Haley at 31%, Trump at 61%. Oops.

My first thought as I looked at the results was exactly what you saw: Look how many voters in a deep red state don't like trump. And the role of the evangelicals (or as you just posted on FB, evangenitals) was significant.

When Biden wins, can the IRS start going after tax-exempt churches who actively tell their voters to go trump? Great way to reduce the debt.,

Expand full comment

Why wait? The IRS should have been going after the tax exempt status of political preachers and their churches years ago.

Expand full comment

patience. Not a good time just before an election. After--go for it.

Expand full comment

Unfortunately, the IRS and DOJ are too timid when it comes to going after religion. They should but if they do they get so much agita from the GOP that I think they don't feel it's worth the trouble.

Expand full comment

It's also consistent with his underpeformance according to his known sexual partners.

Expand full comment

A "mushrooming" performance in SC.

Expand full comment

EEYEW, Lance! This will probably 'crop' up again during DA Bragg's trial.

Expand full comment

Doh! 🤣

Expand full comment

Simon Rosenberg, writing in his Hopium substack page, runs the underperformance numbers for tRump in the past three R primaries as well, with even FoxNews weighing in regarding the number of Haley voters who WON'T vote tRump in the general election.

Expand full comment

The polls have been off for years.

Expand full comment

South Carolina is probably the most "Trumpy" state. As we know for the most part only the hard core politicos vote. Trump’s underperformance is a symptom of "Trump Fatigue Syndrome ". It's the same old story over and over "the election was (is) rigged,Biden's a crook, I'm being persecuted." It's like a sitcom with the same story line every episode. The voters are tuning out.

Expand full comment

At this point 538 is just a joke…so sad to see it fall this far. Thanks Jay for this great analysis too!

Expand full comment
author

This piece has been corrected to note that it is nearly 1 in 4 Republican primary voters, not Haley voters, who would not vote for Trump were the election held today.

Expand full comment

The fact that Haley voters turned out in such numbers in SC not only shows their dissatisfaction with Trump, it also reflects their refusal to be cowed by the MAGA intimidation trolls. Lindsey Graham, take note.

Expand full comment

Depending on Putin’s actions those numbers could increase with MAGA Republicans holding up aid to Ukraine and the Senate bipartisan border deal because Trump is playing politics while House Republicans are supposed to be doing their job for the American people not a candidate.

Expand full comment

NYT practically orgiastic over the tRump win in SC...he's described in terms of a Wehrmacht *blitzkrieg*, with the unstated message that - wait for it - it presents "real trouble for Biden", because "unstoppable". NYT ignored the type of analytic deep dive that you rolled out, Jay, and why am I not surprised?

Expand full comment

I'm beginning to think Mar-a-Lago is funneling money to Nate Cohn.

Expand full comment
Feb 25·edited Feb 25

And I’m beginning to think that the New York Times should change its name to the New York Post. Something stinks at the higher echelons of management.

Expand full comment

Apologies if this is mansplaining, but all of MSM and Corporate America is concerned only with money and profits. I’m convinced they would vote for a goat if they perceived it could get them more of those things, even it meant the destruction of American 🇺🇸 Democracy.

No, wait, I was speaking metaphorically and just realized I wasn’t. Equating TFG with a goat demeans the goat.

Expand full comment

I agree on both points, as I've spent plenty of time around goats in rural CO. :)

Expand full comment

I kind of like goats, but I like all animals, so there's that. I mostly like that a lot of them have little beards.

Expand full comment

NYT is in the business of selling newspapers, Ms Janet so the philosophy is, 'All The News That Will Bring In The Most Revenue'. That's why the Media ignores tRump's gaffes for the most part but make a big deal out of Biden's slip ups!

Expand full comment

Yes, I know. I am actually capable of critical thinking.

Expand full comment

Sorry, Ms Janet, I didn't mean to 'Mansplain' to you. Please forgive my Blunder.

Expand full comment

No worries. It happens all the time. 😊😉

Expand full comment

But that makes no sense! They must know that Biden has at least half of the country’s support. That is not it.

Expand full comment

By now, Ms Frances, you should know that most American Politics is Irrational! Ageism against Biden helps to sell newspapers. Sad, but true.

Expand full comment

Yeah it almost feels weird, right?

Expand full comment
Feb 25·edited Feb 25

It’s not just about the money and clicks for the news organization itself. I read some quotes from an interview (and I’m sorry, but I can’t remember where I saw this), wherein a New York Times former employee indicated that management is making a concerted effort to elect Trump because they know he will lower taxes on the very wealthy. Now, of course, this is one man’s opinion who is no longer working for the NYT organization, but it does sound plausible to me. I also think that some traditionally liberal news organizations are moving in this direction totally out of fear. Perhaps they think this will prevent them from being put out of business should Trump be re-elected. However, I think the chances of Trump being elected again are growing slimmer by the day.

Expand full comment

I have a degree in journalism (though I’m not in that line of work anymore) and my coursework and training emphasized the ethical need to report the news without fear or favor, to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. NYT’s coverage of politics and policy over the past eight years demonstrates quite the opposite—the framing of the election has done so much damage to this country. NYT still sets the agenda for other media outlets and the NYT f—-ing knows it. And NYT has been called out for their coverage. Makes me wonder what the actual hell is happening: boardroom dominating newsroom? /rant

Expand full comment

Oh how I long for the days of Walter C. ( I don't know how to spell his last name , sorry) and Dan Rather and others . Real journalists..

Expand full comment

Then why isn’t there a concerted effort by people here to write some to the point letters to the editor. I say flood them with letters pointing out their BS.

Expand full comment

I think the chances are growing slimmer, too, but I'm still very, very nervous, especially when the media does this normalization thing on a psycho. I have no reason to doubt your report here. But if the Times really thinks that they'd be let off the hook when Trump unleashes what he called yesterday his retribution, they're crazy. He'll stack the courts and run defamation lawsuits against every major non-Christo-nationalist outlet he can. And damn, how much further down do these greed mongers need taxes to go? They're already at record low levels. But don't get me started on that, lol. I'll just rant and rave for hours.

Expand full comment

We are already half-way there to an oligarchy; Trump will finish the job. But midterm and special elections are showing that Democrats are fired up, so I have hope.

Expand full comment
deletedFeb 25
Comment deleted
Expand full comment

There could be a variation on the profits motive: a close race garners more clicks and views, thus, more revenue. They figure if Biden is shown outperforming Trump that's bad for business. Or they're hedging their bets. They may also want people to worry that Trump will win so this keeps them more attentive to what's happening. While these are cynical they're also realistic.

Honestly, I'd like to believe Biden is going to have a landslide victory, but there are plenty of variables that burst that bubble: the continual portrayal of him as a well-meaning doddering old man, playing up Trump's victories, the uncertainty as to whether Trump can stave off his criminal cases and his civil judgments with appeals and delaying tactics, and if Putin's cyber operatives can keep up their attacks.

Expand full comment

No kidding, Janet (CO)--there is something very rotten at the top!

Expand full comment

And this lack of even coverage is why I cancelled my NYT subscription. Perhaps if enough do so they will rethink their coverage and provide a balance.

I didn't want all liberal, but I don't want both-sides are equal when it is clear that is not the case.

Expand full comment

When one side is being led by a psycho, then it's not a balanced take. It's irresponsible. Has anyone listened to this man speak for five minutes? He truly sounds like a crazy man. The deterioration has been pretty pronounced since he left office, and he was pretty bad then.

Expand full comment

Nothing like a narcissistic ,psychopath with advancing Alzheimer's. I read an article by trumps niece where she talked about the symptoms of the advancing disorder. He's progressing rapidly.

Expand full comment

Listening to his speech, he sounds much like my father who passed from AD just this past year. Mixing up words, making up words, it's all very familiar.

Expand full comment

I've been around it enough. It's sad when it's people you care about. It's scary when they want the job he wants.

Expand full comment

Mary L. Trump has written plenty of things against her uncle and his kids. She's the black sheep of the family and she prefers it that way now. Her criticism of Jon Stewart hit the mark and a nerve that caused him to respond. I'm thankful she hasn't backed down or out.

Expand full comment

I used to think Jon Stewart was hilariously funny...however I watched his intro segment a couple of days ago. Not funny. He's become rather mean-spirited and cynical. Petty, even. Jon Stewart has become...disappointing.

I mean it's one thing to skewer both sides, but when democracy is hanging by a thread and the MSM is pushing and promoting a manifestly unfit candidate who is rather obviously mentally unstable (to put it kindly) and, furthermore, is promising to ignore the Constitution--if not actually rip it to shreds--and do all kinds of fascist-like actions.... Well, why on Earth would a comedian/commentator waste his sarcastic "jokes" running down the decent-albeit older--guy? Save it until after the election, Jon.

Expand full comment

My subscription ends 2/29. NYT must do better. They are still the media agenda setter and it’s terrifying that this newspaper has enabled this current situation: sliding into Christian nationalist authoritarianism.

Expand full comment

The NYT, WAPO and the TV news networks have failed in their duty to ask the WHY questions. Journalists are trained in "The Five Ws and H". On every story they are trained to report on Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. But when they report on a Trump story, they avoid asking WHY.

The New York Times reports:

"Trump is enamored with Russia , for some reason."

"Today the former President said..." (without analysis)

"Today Donald Trump said the Press was the enemy of the people."

And they aren't asking WHY.

Expand full comment

The NYT has become an embarrassment. Did they get quietly taken over by some right-wing scumwad? Their bias is showing strongly and their incompetence and laziness is truly sad.

Expand full comment

It is an honor to lose in the Republican primary!!!! The Republicans are the party that won’t bring popular bills for a vote in congress. It is the party of forced birth and declaring IVF embryos people, it is the party that is against health care, for a theocracy, against voting, bans books, against truth in education, that wastes time in the tax payer’s money on phony impeachments.

40% if South Carolina voters have enough sense to not vote for a sneaker salesman traitor, who’s strategy for avoiding justice is to delay through technicalities, who will not accept election results. They knew their votes weren’t going to stop this fraud, yet they cast their vote against him.

The message for them is that in November they can vote for people who will do good for the country. That is the way to take back the Republican Party. Totally bury these failures so a new party can rise from the ground up.

Expand full comment

The sneaker salesman traitor is also a rapist according to a jury of his peers. Just saying.

Expand full comment

Unless they have significant losses in November I suspect they may continue to straddle the tightrope.

Expand full comment

Anyone who has ever doubted, disagreed, or challenged donald trump becomes a target for his revenge. When he repeatedly and publicly raised questions about President Barack Obama on television and demanded that Obama produce his birth certificate, trump implied that Obama was Muslim and not born in the United States. At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that year, Obama invited trump, then made jokes about conspiracy theories. That became the motivation to redeem himself from being humiliated by the first black president. During his historic presidential bid, trump labeled President Barack Obama a "disaster," a "catastrophe," and "the most ignorant president in our history." Within hours after being sworn in as president, trump began to dismantle, with the help of a Republican-controlled Congress, Obama’s signature achievements in healthcare, foreign policy, and the economy (Affordable Care Act, Paris Climate Accord, diplomatic relations with Cuba, transgender military service, Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, Iran Nuclear Deal, Bears Ears National Monument, limitations on offshore drilling, stopped a planned ban of three dangerous household solvents, rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program).

Over the years, trump has made several false or exaggerated claims about NATO countries' defense spending, such as arguing that previous U.S. presidents like Barack Obama "didn't ask [other NATO members] for anything" and taking sole credit for NATO countries' increase in defense spending during his presidency. He wasn't the first U.S. president to raise issues with NATO: Former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush both pushed for NATO allies to spend more of their budgets on defense spending. European leaders were completely dumbstruck that America would put into office such an illiterate failure of a man. He made the US the laughingstock of the world. Most Europeans look at American politicians as amateur at best, but trump was considered a buffoon and the American people fools for electing him. His comments about NATO may be his response to their perceptions.

As President, trump held back hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine that Congress had appropriated to help that country fend off Russian aggression. He attempted to coerce Ukraine, enlisting surrogates within and outside his official administration, including his personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, to pressure Ukraine and other foreign governments to cooperate in supporting conspiracy theories concerning American politics, resulting in his first impeachment. The revenge he seeks may be the destruction of Ukraine.

Anyone driven with such animosity should never be given the power to act on it.

Expand full comment

And all the while Melania stands by with her middle finger pointed at all of us and her "I really don't care do you" coat on. God, she sucks.

Expand full comment

You might agree that we both feel the same way about her🤪

Expand full comment

Some of her friends that she grew up with said she was always a money grubber. She's a citizen via a “Genius” visa. I'm guessing she got that because she married Trump.

Expand full comment

Oh yeah. She's a freaking genius alright! 🤣🤣🤣

Expand full comment

I just linked to your highly informative and intelligent comment. I hope that’s okay with you. We’re all in this together so the wider the audience the better.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Katherine :-)

Expand full comment

NYT may as well rebrand itself as "Trump Times" these days.

Expand full comment

More and more it's looking that way.

Expand full comment

Well, at least there was this in Politico, which is a lot different than Trump Times:

Quoting Politico: But there’s another way to see things. “If [President JOE] BIDEN was winning only 60 percent, people would be freaking out,” writes FiveThirtyEight’s G. Elliott Morris.

I mean, I like that Jay is pretty much always right about things, lol, but I don't like it when he's the only one.

Expand full comment
author

I’m glad at least some out there are pointing out the weak underpinnings of Trump’s victory.

Expand full comment

In his newsletter, Lucian Truscott has also done a deep dive on Trump's and Haley's percentages, broke them down into their components and offered an analysis. Those who are writing to share insights and information and not merely for clicks, views and ad revenue, are the only ones bothering to break the "horse-race reporting" that so many of the useless press corps fall back on (because it's easy; real analysis takes time, thought and a lot more effort.)

Expand full comment

I hope that voters do not become complacent and assume that Trump is so unelectable that he will not win. It is important for them to understand the significance of their vote and not neglect their duty to vote.

Expand full comment
author

Certainly we should never assume that. He won in 2016, and he could win again if we don’t show up in massive numbers.

Expand full comment

Our lives certainly seem to depend upon his losing, and I have a feeling I'm not being hyperbolic.

Expand full comment

Better headline:"Convicted rapist, thief & racist hoodwinks SC--again"

Expand full comment

More adjectives:

"or vote for the criminal misogynist rapist serial liar racist dictator wannabe chaos agent Putin useful idiot twice impeached insurrectionist conspiracist fraudster defamer soon to be twice loser presidential candidate soon to be convicted felon not as rich as he like everyone to believe loser."

Expand full comment

That about sums things up. Should he lose the election interference case in NY, the case in Georgia, and the one in DC then we can add more.

Expand full comment

"The anti-Trump vote within the GOP is an under-told story by the mainstream media."

You can say that again. Nate Cohn at the NYT had a Trumpgasm while expressing Haley's doom.

Expand full comment

TRUMP: I Killed Roe v. Wade. (I'm Donald Trump, and I approve this ad.)

"TRUMP: I Killed Roe v. Wade." (I'm Joe Biden, and I approve this ad.)

Expand full comment

Perfect.

Expand full comment

(For its part, The New York Times described Biden’s 96 percent win as “an uncertain measure of wider enthusiasm” while heralding Trump’s 60 percent win over Haley as “a crushing blow in her home state” in its respective South Carolina primary headlines.)

YES - and that is exactly why I cancelled my NYT subscription.

Expand full comment
Feb 25·edited Feb 25

Mind boggling. The Biden Campaign is finally -- and forcefully -- calling out the NYT for its blatant favoritism and patently erroneous headlines / overt Trump slant.

Expand full comment

Biden did not face a meaningful opponent. There is no conceivable scenario where Marianne Williamson or Dean Phillips, his opponents on the South Carolina ballot, will be the Democratic candidate for President, not even if Biden dies or withdraws his candidacy. The convention would choose somebody else.

Trump did face a meaningful opponent, a favorite daughter (in theory) who had a respectable showing in New Hampshire. Haley could be the Republican candidate if Trump were to be sent to prison before the Republican convention, especially if he were imprisoned on a state charge because he could not pardon himself. Even the RNC would have to acknowledge that Trump could not run an effective campaign or serve as President from maximum security at Sing Sing or the equivalent facility in Georgia.

Expand full comment

I wouldn't want either of them and Project 2025 to win.

Expand full comment

Hope you let them know why. Not that that would change things, but a record of why people are cancelling is still good. Who knows?….

Expand full comment

Isn't that the stupidest collection of loser words you ever heard in your life?!? I couldn't believe it when I read that....96% win, but that is an "uncertain measure of wider enthusiasm". Oh ffs.

Well...great and wonderful OZ of Noo Yawk...what would you think would be a winning number that demonstrated a more certain measure of enthusiasm??? What number would make the NYT editorial board publish a positive column on President Biden for once, hey?

Expand full comment

Great points all around. I love this. This proves that this is the year of accountability! 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023 have shown that when you GOTV dems win! When people stay home republicans win. GOTV!!

Expand full comment

California Primary reminder - we have a ballot tracking option, which I highly recommend, I was informed a few years ago about a signature mismatch in time to correct which is why it is important to mail early so please don't wait until last minute if mailing is an option for you. Also a reminder to fellow CA voters that there is a possibly confusing name on our Primary ballot of President R. Boddie and on my ballot it was directly above Joseph R. Biden, so please be careful, SoS office said placement was random.😐

sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-status/wher…

Expand full comment

We have that option in PA as well.

Expand full comment

And in Michigan. Nice to know my ballot is safe and waiting to be counted!

Expand full comment

Here, here! I received an email confirmation that all is well with my ballot, too. Sooo cool!!

Expand full comment

So far, I trust Katie Porter and Barbara Lee more than I trust Schiff and Garvey - especially compared to Garvey. In the last debate, Garvey sounded like he knew less about the issues than I did when I was 17.

Expand full comment

Hi Bill, I think my completed ballot mirrored your comment 🤗 with balance to Lee and full next term to Katie. I love baseball, the Dodgers were my team, but they didn't go to spring training to learn politics and no Republican will knowingly get my vote. 💙

Expand full comment

25 Feb 24 -- I went “behind the numbers, too. What I found:

How South Carolina GOP won another one for their Loser:

*** 4 in 10 describe themselves as MAGA members. MAGA is an American neo-Nazi fascist movement.

*** Two-thirds of them believe the Loser’s lie that he won in 2020.

*** 64% of them said they believe the Loser is fit for the presidency even if he is convicted of a crime.

Expand full comment

But tell me more about the "Biden crime family" please...

Expand full comment

Keep going, GOP! Dobbs, IVF decision. Gun Idolatry, Immigration Inaction, Inability to pass any legislation or govern at all, and a Nominee who is twice impeached, indicted on 91 counts in 4 different jurisdictions and a convicted Libertine and serial Fraudster! The Democratic Political Ads will write themselves. BTW, John, I used to live in Roswell and Las Cruces.

Expand full comment