Saturday, September 19, 2026
Fox News Poll Shows Economy/Affordability Is Big Issue In This Election
The charts above are from the Fox News Poll -- done between September 11th and 14th of a nationwide sample of 1,211 registered voters, with a 3 point margin of error.
Donald Trump Is Extremely Unpopular In Western Europe
The chart above reflects the results of the YouGov Poll's European Tracker. The results are from August 6th through 23rd.
Texas Democrats Have Their Best Chance In Three Decades
The chart above is from the ReconMR Texas Poll -- done between September 8th and 11th of a sample of 614 likely Texas voters, with a 4.3 point margin of error.
Texas Democrats have not won a statewide race in over 30 years. There have been some years when hopes were high, but they have never been able to get over the hump.
This year looks very different. Several polls have shown Democrat James Talarico leading Republican Ken Paxton in the race for the United States Senate - and most knowledgeable pundits now rate the race either as a toss-up or slightly favoring Talarico.
But the real surprise is happening in the race for governor. Until recently, most people were ignoring this race - assuming that Governor Abbott would easily win, as he had several times in the past. But polls are now showing that race has tightened. This poll has Democrat Gina Hinojosa with a slight lead, and several others have shown her wishing the margin of error.
Most pundits still give Republican Greg Abbott the better chance to win, and I think they are probably right. But this is not a normal election year. Democrats are fired up, Republicans are disappointed in Trump and the economy, and Independents seem to be breaking mostly for Democratic candidates.
I think Talaraco is going to win the senate race. And if there is a massive turnout, Hinojosa (and possibly some other statewide Democrats) could pull off a surprise and win.
As a life-long Texas Democrat, I'm excited.
Friday, September 18, 2026
Polls Show Democrats Extending Their Generic Ballot Lead
The chart above is from the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between September 11th and 14th of a nationwide sample of 1,461 registered voters, with a 3.3 point margin of error.
Another Poll Shows Talarico Leading Paxton In The Texas Senate Race
The chart above is from the Mason-Dixon Poll -- done between September 8th and 10th of a sample of 625 likely Texas voters, with a 4 point margin of error.
Trump's Real Motivation: Being Exposed As A Bumbling Clownish Loser
Robert Reich tells us Donald Trump real motivation:
Earlier this week, after a federal judge barred the Kennedy Center from once again adding Trump’s name to it, Trump apparently ordered his handpicked Center trustees to close it down. (Fencing went up around the building yesterday.)
Trump said in a social media post that the closure was needed for safety repairs. But he also said the repairs would happen only if the board were permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.
The Center’s trustees confirmed that without “appropriate recognition” on the building, Trump was unlikely to oversee the renovation or “lead the fiscal rescue of the Center.” A fiscal rescue is necessary because ticket sales and fundraising plunged after the trustees added Trump’s name to the building in December.
What’s going on here? By now we’ve become accustomed to Trump’s moves but we’re still confused about his motives.
Some blame Trump’s vanity. Others point to his flagrant narcissism. Or his insatiable need to glorify himself. Or his bottomless vindictiveness.
It goes deeper. They’re all symptoms of a mentally disturbed man-child who cannot abide the humiliation of losing. Any person or group that publicly puts him down, makes him look as if he has surrendered, or displays domination over him threatens his self-worth.
His ego is so fragile that the mere prospect of being shown to be who he fears he is — a loser, a bumbler, a clown — drives him nuts. Like a 6-year-old who kicks over the card table when he’s losing a game, Trump would rather demolish the Kennedy Center than endure the public humiliation of having his name removed from it.
This is the dangerous world we’re all living in.
It’s why Trump is willing to wreak endless suffering in Iran and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf, to cause death and injury to American service members, to compromise the security of the United States, and to impoverish Americans who can no longer afford gas or groceries or their mortgage loans — rather than endure the public humiliation of being defeated there.
It’s why Trump was willing to undermine the trust on which American democracy depends rather than endure the public humiliation of losing the 2020 election, and why he’ll do whatever he can to sabotage the 2026 midterm elections.
It’s why he responds the way he does to all those who have publicly challenged him — from the writer E. Jean Carroll to Harvard University to Canada’s Mark Carney to the members of the Supreme Court to the few congressional Republicans who have crossed him. He would prefer to have them purged and expunged, their careers ruined, their reputations in tatters, their nations become America’s enemies, rather than suffer the public humiliation of being defeated by them.
But there may be good news here. With his polls in the basement and the likelihood of midterm losses mounting by the day, it could be he’d rather exit from the game than publicly lose it. He’s already said out loud that he’s “getting a little bit tired of politics.”
If the midterms turn out as badly as expected for Republicans notwithstanding Trump’s efforts to sabotage them, I wouldn’t be surprised if, before the start of the new year, he the announces that he’s resigning the presidency and handing it over to his handpicked successor, JD Vance.
Like his closing of the Kennedy Center, he’d rather close down his presidency than be seen losing it.
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