The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll — conducted by Hart Research/Public Opinion Strategies, whose 538 rating is "A-," most likely because the pollster Hart is Democratic; Public Opinion, Republican, thus striking a balance — finds, as Trump would put it though he never will, that the great citizens of this great nation are still in a great rage about pretty much everything excepting President Obama's great economy, which the succeeding, doubleplusungood president is now managing to derail.
Seventy percent of Americans remain angry about the political establishment and the financial establishment, the very swamps Trump promised to drain; they're angry "because our political system seems to only be working for the insiders with money and power," writes NBC News, "like those on Wall Street or in Washington." That polled statement is a demonstrable truth, given Trump's massive, upper-end tax cuts and deregulations of business and negligence of the middle and lower classes. Although it seems as though Americans are, in general, forever angry, Trump and his fellow fraudsters in Congress have given them excellent reasons to feel that way now.
What's most interesting about the NBC/WSJ poll is its findings about ...
And …
Since Millennials are the future and Democrats outnumber Republicans, it appears as though we're slowly but almost certainly returning to Max Weber's pre-Protestant work ethic, which, if true, would be an immense shift in American society. Most troubling to the economy, though, is the Millennial/Democratic relative lack of desire to have children, creating a vacuum in the labor force.
Speaking of immense shifts, the Joe Biden campaign is none too happy about the latest A+ Monmouth poll, which shows the former vice president at 19 percent nationally, with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders tied at 20 percent — statistically, undifferentiated. Biden's percentage is vastly incommensurate — statistically, possibly disastrous, should Warren and Sanders voters ever unite — with his Monmouth showing in June of 32 percent.
The problem with this poll is that which is problematic for so many polls, as Monmouth's director of polling and this site's commenters have noted: It included a mere 298 registered Dems and Dem-leaners out of only 800 voters, creating a 5.7 percent margin of error for the Democratic subset — which, on Biden's upside, applies to Warren and Sanders as well. And, as we should recall, though the Monmouth poll is plagued by nearly the same, large MOE as CNN's "A-" polling of last week, the latter had Biden up by 7 points (but with a MOE even larger). In other words, you are free to interpret the Monmouth poll however you like.
Perhaps more worrisome for Biden is what the Times reports: "In interviews in Iowa, some of Mr. Biden’s supporters have indicated that they lack enthusiasm for his candidacy, suggesting that his strong poll numbers may mask a softness in his support. Biden’s support had eroded in states that hold earlier primaries, dropping from 26 percent to 20 percent since June. It had also fallen among a broad range of Democrats — including those who call themselves moderate, conservative and liberal, those with college degrees and those without, white voters and voters of color."
The Biden campaign shot back at the Monmouth poll, noting that RealClearPolitics' polling average has kept their man in front: 27.2 percent versus Sanders' 16.7 percent and Warren’s 16.2 percent.
As for other notables? Bad news. After months of campaigning, Kamala Harris stands at only 8 percent support in the Monmouth poll, with Cory Booker at 4 percent, and Pete Buttigieg the same. It is time, lady and gentlemen, to depart from the stage, thereby defining this race, with advisable swiftness, as essentially a three-person contest. We can then get a better handle on the definition of the general-election race.