Despite a plethora of legal woes, Donald Trump still leads with California Republicans

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DESPITE LEGAL TROUBLES, TRUMP CONTINUES TO HOLD COMMANDING LEAD

Two impeachments, a legal finding of liability for sexual abuse, a Congressional inquiry that found he fomented an insurrection and multiple felony indictments aren’t enough to turn California Republican voters off towards former President Donald Trump, who is running once again to seek the Republican nomination for president.

A new poll from the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies finds that two-thirds (66%) of Republican primary voters are most likely to vote Trump in the March 5 primary election. That’s a nearly 10-percentage-point-increase from when Republican voters were surveyed last October.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took a distant second place, with 11% support, while Florida Gov. (and Gavin Newsom nemesis) Ron DeSantis trailed with 8%.

Trump dominated in virtually every demographic category, according to Berkeley IGS, while Haley performed best “among the relatively small segments of California Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal in politics, those with a post graduate education and GOP voters living in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.”

Still, Trump is extremely unlikely to win a California head-to-head general election race with incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.

The Berkeley poll found that Biden leads by 19 percentage points in a one-on-one matchup. The lead drops to 16 points when longshot independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and Jill Stein are included.. Still, that lead is down significantly from the 30-point margin of victory Biden enjoyed against Trump in 2020.

These findings come from a survey of 8,199 registered California voters and between Jan. 4-8, with a sampling error ranging from 1.5% for overall registered voters, 2% for likely voters and 3.5% for likely Republican voters.. The poll survey of Republican voters included 1,351 likely voters.

LAWMAKER INTRODUCES BILL TO REMOVE INSURRECTIONISTS FROM BALLOT

Despite a plea from California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Secretary of State Shirley Weber expressed little appetite for removing Trump from the March 5 primary election ballot.

However, a new bill by State Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, would require the secretary of state to do just that, if the candidate has been credibly found to have participated in insurrection against the U.S. government.

Trump has repeatedly challenged the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, with no evidence. On Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying the results of that election, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and shut that process down, as Trump himself looked on from the White House.

Now, as Trump faces criminal liability for his alleged election interference, some states have taken up the question of whether to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment’s clause barring insurrectionists from seeking public office.

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to run for president in that state, and now the U.S. Supreme Court is set to take the matter up as well.

Min’s bill, SB 929, would require the California secretary of state to determine a candidate’s eligibility before listing them on the presidential ballot.

If the bill becomes law, it could bar Trump from appearing on the November general election ballot.

“While I recognize that many are uncomfortable with the proposition of actually applying this provision of the Constitution, I believe strongly that we are a nation of laws, and that the rule of law must apply to everyone equally, no matter how controversial that may be,” Min said in a statement.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Mr. Speaker, liberty depends on the freedom of the press and journalists are often the first to expose government fraud, waste, abuse and encroachment on personal freedoms. In a free country, we need to make sure that the government cannot unmask journalists’ sources without good cause, and that’s why the need for this legislation is so strong.”

- Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives on behalf of House Resolution 4250, the PRESS Act, which would enact a federal shield law for journalists. Kiley is a co-author along with Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin.

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