The Patriot Post® · 2020 Comes Poll Circle

By Tony Perkins ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/74577-2020-comes-poll-circle-2020-10-31

“You know me,” Joe Biden told a reporter this week. “I’m not overconfident about anything.” That’s a big shift in tone for a candidate the media brags is up by double digits in key swing states. Is the Democratic contender really that modest – or are his internal polls painting a drastically different story than the one Americans are hearing? Let’s put it this way: would Biden be visiting Wisconsin if he were actually winning by 17 points? The pollsters brave enough to question the system say no.

Jim Lee from Susquehanna Polling and Research says he’s just a “small potatoes” firm – but even a small potatoes company knows a huge conspiracy when they see it. “I’m appalled at some of the poll numbers being released now showing late for one candidate – particularly Joe Biden – in double digits in states that Trump carried four years ago.” It’s “absolute nonsense,” he argues. On “Washington Watch” Thursday, I asked him if he thought there was bias in the polling now, and Jim agreed, “There is now.” “Do I believe some polling firms are deliberately skewing the results with the hope of suppressing [Republican turnout]? I’m not prepared to say that’s what’s happening, that would be downright criminal. What I do think is happening – and this is happening to all of us – is that it’s getting harder and harder to produce accurate polling. And there [are] many firms that refuse to believe that there’s a submerged vote for Donald Trump.”

The same thing, he points out, happened in 2016, when the whole world was caught off guard by the come-from-behind victory for Donald Trump. Susquehanna, whose specific focus is Pennsylvania, saw this is their state four years ago. “One of the more reputable academic institutions of Pennsylvania, Franklin and Marshall College saw Hillary Clinton winning Pennsylvania by 11 points just three days before Trump’s one-point win… Those are the polls that should never be released.” They don’t pass “the smell test.” There is a silent majority for Trump, he agrees, and if his industry won’t adjust for it, then they should stop polling altogether.

The idea that anyone would release a poll showing a 17-point lead for Biden in Wisconsin – “in a state that’s been trending Republican in the last three election cycles” – is “absolutely, completely unbelievable.” In fact, Jim argues, “it’s mathematically impossible that everybody in this region of the state [would] change their minds… [B]ut, we’re getting these garbage polls put out by firms that don’t care about their reputations.” A lot of them, he explains, only care about getting the radical Leftists elected. Susquehanna and others don’t have that luxury. “For guys like me in the private sector… [w]e put our reputations on the line. And if a poll comes back and it just doesn’t make sense, [we] don’t put it out there.”

Like Trafalgar’s Robert Cahaly, Jim believes these companies need to adjust to the changing landscape. There are ulterior motives here. “The American Association of Public Opinion Research needs to crack down on these bogus firms and start sanctioning firms that don’t come up with better technologies and techniques for how to do surveys.” In the meantime, don’t expect the media to join in the cry for more accountability. They don’t care who’s running the numbers as long as it helps the narrative that the Leftists in the press want to push forward. They don’t mind pollsters intentionally cooking the books, because they think it discourages conservatives from voting.

If you’ve been tempted to believe that your vote doesn’t matter because of what you’re reading in the headlines, don’t buy it. This is a dangerous game the Left is playing, and it could come back to haunt them. There’s just as much risk of Democrats staying home because of the inflated numbers as Republicans. The best pollsters, the Scott Rasmussens, Robert Cahalys, and Jim Lees, are the ones who don’t think polls are perfect. They’re the ones working to make them more reliable, more accurate, more in tune with where the country is culturally.

There is some speculation that the exaggerated polling numbers will help the Left challenge the legitimacy of a Trump victory. They’ll claim the outcome wasn’t in line with the polls, so there must have been voter suppression or manipulation of the mail-in balloting.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the headlines say or who’s leading in what state. What matters is that we have an obligation to get out there and vote for men and women with principled policy. The polls only make a difference if we let them. Don’t be swayed by what the world says. Keep your eyes on what’s important: being a voice – and a vote – for truth.

And just because you’ve already voted doesn’t mean you can’t have an impact. Make sure you’re sharing good election resources with your friends, family, and people in your church. There are plenty to choose from at PrayVoteStand.org, including voter guides (for Senate and gubernatorial races too!), Biden and Harris on the Issues, the Trump Accomplishments (now broken out by issues like life, family, and religious freedom), a Biden-Trump comparison, and so much more. If you know someone who’s on the fence about Joe Biden, make sure they hear the positions from the candidates’ own mouths in the video below from our final Pray, Vote, Stand broadcast.

Also, don’t miss the rebroadcast of Freedom Sunday 2020, airing on the Daystar network this Saturday, October 31 at 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. I guarantee it’ll be an encouragement to you in these rocky days before the election.

Originally published here.


Biden Fizzles while Pennsylvania Burns


Philadelphia is burning, 14 more officers were injured, and what is Joe Biden talking about? Transgender bathrooms. With absolute tone-deafness, the former vice president spent Wednesday afternoon talking to Pennsylvania reporters about his extreme LGBT priorities instead of the chaos breaking out on city streets. His “day one” agenda – which would end religious freedom as we know it – has been a bizarre fixation for the Democratic candidate, but beware: it’s a sincere one.

The man who outed Barack Obama on same-sex marriage in 2012 has been a true loyalist in the cause, insisting eight years ago (when most Democrats wouldn’t touch the issue) that transgenderism is the “civil rights issue of our time.” Unlike his other moves to the far-Left, this radical insistence that we ignore science, biological norms, empower children to mutilate their bodies, and force schools, businesses, and churches to bow at the Left’s alter of transgenderism is real. And Biden himself has made it quite clear: it will be the cornerstone of his administration.

There is “no room for compromise,” he warned, on “transgender rights.” That means there’s no room for compromise when it comes to abolishing girls’ sports, forcing employers to pay the sky-high bills for hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery, destroying Christian schools, Catholic hospitals, and nonprofit charities from food banks to homeless shelters. We’re talking about a piece of legislation, the Equality Act, that hunts down and punishes the same evangelicals whose vote he claims to want! One that also ends girls’ and boys’ bathrooms, Christian counseling, privacy laws, conscience protections, medical ethics, and parents’ rights. If you can imagine a man in every girls’ shower and a drag queen in every library, that’s Joe Biden’s priority. “This is our soul, da**it,” he has said. “This is who we have to be…”

“I will just flat-out change the law,” Biden told a mom with a transgender-identifying third grader. A man who would encourage the sterilization and surgical maiming of a young, impressionable child is no moderate. He is promoting a level of LGBT fanatism that rivals anyone in U.S. politics. As Abigail Shrier pointed out in this powerful interview, he’s even putting himself at odds with progressive parents.

And don’t buy the line that he respects your opinion to the contrary. When Joe Biden stood on stage in the second presidential debate and insisted that he would be an “American president” who represents “all of you,” just remember what he said about conservatives in 2018. The same man who sanctimoniously said he didn’t see “blue states and red states” but “the United States” made his disgust of anyone who disagrees with his fringe agenda crystal clear. They’re “virulent people,” he said with contempt, “the dregs of society.” Does that sound like a man who will bring “decency” and “civility” to the country?

This is not the Joe Biden you thought you knew in the U.S. Senate. In fact, the Wall Street Journal is so concerned about the dangerous agenda lurking behind the former vice president that the editors decided to spell out the gory details for anyone foolish enough to believe the lie that he’ll govern from the middle.

“The former Vice President is running as a reassuring moderate, a man of good character who can reunite the country and crush Covid-19 after the disruptive Trump Presidency. Yet he also is running on the most Left-wing policy program in decades. Voters have little idea about these policies because Mr. Biden mentions them only in the most vague, general terms. The press barely reports them. Americans may think they’re voting for Joe’s persona, but they will get the platform of Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders…”

A rude awakening awaits anyone who believe the cheerful lie that Joe will govern from the middle. On issues as fundamental as basic biology, the middle is a place he’s never visited – nor will he, with Kamala Harris by his side. For more proof, check out “Biden and Harris on the Issues.” Also, make sure you read the in-depth comparison, “Gender and Sexuality in the 2020 Election” by FRC’s David Closson. Finally, for the truth about the transgender agenda and how it affects kids, make sure you watch and share Abigail Shrier’s segment on the topic.

Originally published here.


Girl Scouts Lose Brownie Points in ACB Flap


Justice Amy Barrett made history Sunday when she was sworn in as the first mother of school-age children (seven of them!) to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. She is the fifth woman ever to sit on the court. The Girl Scouts among others, tweeted congratulations in recognition of Justice Barrett’s accomplishments for the female sex.

But then, the Girl Scouts deleted their tweet. The organization tried to explain: “Earlier today, we shared a post highlighting the five women who have been appointed to the Supreme Court. It was quickly viewed as a political and partisan statement which was not our intent and we have removed the post…. Girl Scouts of the USA is a nonpolitical, nonpartisan organization. We are neither red nor blue, but Girl Scout GREEN. We are here to lift up girls and women.”

In March 2019, the Girl Scouts tweeted praise for the four female justices who had served; apparently they only consider Justice Barrett partisan. Despite the fact that her colleagues and former professors (across the political aisle) have nothing but the highest praise for Justice Amy Barrett, and despite the total lack of disqualifying reasons, evidently Justice Barrett is considered too partisan.

Here are some people the Girl Scouts deem to be sufficiently non-political and non-partisan to associate with: Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Andrew Cuomo.

The Girl Scouts have also worked with organizations like Planned Parenthood and Teen Vogue to promote abortion, and they will admit biological males as “brownies.” They sponsored a “no adults allowed” event at the U.N., where young girls could pick up a Planned Parenthood brochure called “Healthy, Happy, and Hot,” which advised girls it was up to them whether to have sex if drunk or high, and that it was their “right” to hide a positive HIV status from sexual partners.

Any sensible person would understand terms like “nonpolitical,” “nonpartisan,” and “neither red nor blue” to mean either abstaining from political causes altogether or remaining neutral between two sides. But while they embrace abortion advocacy, the Girl Scouts censor even pro-life T-shirts. And while they praise the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, they deem Justice Barrett, a woman who is just as accomplished, too partisan.

The bottom line is that the Girl Scouts, like so many other Leftist organizations, no longer advocate for all women, but only those who fit their partisan political criteria. It isn’t that Amy Barrett or any other woman is too partisan, but that the Girl Scouts have become too liberal.

The Girl Scouts are one more example of a once-proud institution that brought Americans together which has been captured and destroyed by the radical Left. Given the Girl Scouts’ recent track record, their retraction of praise for Justice Barrett is as unsurprising as their claim to be “non-partisan” is dishonest.

That’s why so many Americans, particularly Christians, are abandoning the Girl Scouts in droves, for alternatives like American Heritage Girls, which instills girls with virtues, not progressive indoctrination.

The truth is, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, professor, judge, and mother of seven, has excelled in one of the most demanding professions in America. Her nomination and confirmation should be a story of inspiration to every young girl.

Originally published here.


This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.