“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
- Thomas Jefferson
LESSONS LEARNED: Former Veep and climate activist Al Gore has joined Hillary Clinton’s already deep arsenal of surrogates out on the campaign trail. Gore, however, delivers a different message than the others. Instead of talking about Clinton’s strengths, Gore is urging voters who care about the environment to not throw their vote away by selecting a third-party candidate - and to vote for Clinton. The former veep knows this lesson all too well as the Green Party’s Ralph Nader won 97,488 votes in FL in 2000, while Gore lost the state and therefore the election to President George W. Bush by 537 votes.
HELP FROM HISPANICS?: It’s no secret that Donald Trump is not very popular with Hispanics - he boasts an unfavorable rating of 80%, even though roughly 25% are considered conservative. On the other hand, Clinton is pulling in high numbers with 65% of likely Hispanic voters supporting her, compared to Trump’s 17% - an even bigger lead than President Barack Obama enjoyed in 2012 when he beat Mitt Romney by 44%. President Obama’s victory persuaded Republicans that they needed to up their outreach to Hispanic voters, but that effort has gone south. Though Clinton’s numbers are still positive, they’ve slipped in just in the past month - yes, she has growing enthusiasm problem with this demographic as well, making her vaunted GOTV operation even more critical on election day.
DEATH….AND MORE TAXES: Clinton has proposed a new set of taxes of approximately $550 billion over the next decade, mostly affecting investment partnership, wealthy estates, and banks. She plans to increase the estate tax to a top rate of 65% for the largest estates, levying a fee that would average around 0.13% of bank’s taxable assets, and attempting to close loopholes that allow real-estate investors to lower their tax bills. This adds more of a tax burden to Clinton’s already penalizing tax plan on the wealthy, and though the plans are harsh on high income earners, Clinton still leads Trump 46%-42% among likely voters with annual household incomes of $100,000 or more.
TAR HEEL TANGLE: Clinton and Trump have become the new NC rivalry - in just the last five months, there have been three lead changes. Today, the race has tightened, giving both candidates 41% of likely voters in a three-way race, with 18% selecting “other.” Although Trump leads Clinton among white voters, 53% to 28%, Clinton has a strong hold among black voters, with 86% to Trump’s abysmal 3%. Despite recent efforts, Trump’s favorability among minorities is not going anywhere. There’s no doubt the race will come down to the wire, but when looking at Trump’s Electoral College strategy, NC is a must win - expect the candidate’s responses to the unrest in Charlotte to take center stage at Hofstra Monday night.
CUTTING LOCAL RED TAPE FOR WIRELESS DEPLOYMENTS: Our Telecommunications-Media Analyst Paul Glenchur discussed how the FCC backs more aggressive policies to push wireless facilities siting - a potential boost for infrastructure players. You can read his piece here.
CALL INVITE: TOP THREE CHALLENGES FOR U.S. DEFENSE INDUSTRY IN NEXT ADMINISTRATION: Our Senior Defense Policy Advisor LtGen Emo Gardner is hosting a call on September 30th at 11:00 AM EDT with Aerospace Industrial Association CEO, Dave Melcher, to hear what industry is telling and hearing from the candidates. You can find call details here.
REPLAY | ELECTION UPDATE: CHARLIE COOK OF THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: In case you missed it, we hosted a call with Charlie Cook, founder of the Cook Political Report and one of the nation’s leading authorities on American politics and U.S. elections. He shared his outlook on the presidential race, discussed the state of play for House and Senate elections, and gave us a preview of the upcoming presidential debates later this month. You can listen to the replay here.
