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Obama-Biden-Oval-Office

President Barack Obama talks with Vice President Joe Biden, in the Oval Office, July 29, 2015. (Photo: White House/Pete Souza)

Only 27 days after Hillary Clinton’s landslide defeat at the hands of President-elect Donald J. Trump, Vice President Joe Biden is mulling a run in 2020. Vice President Biden, 74, who was on Capitol Hill to preside over the U.S. Senate as it took on procedural measures to vote on a biomedical research bill he supports, told reporters he would make his third run in 4 years.

“I’m going to run in 2020,” he told a group of reporters Monday evening. “So, uh, what the hell, man.”

When asked to clarify if he was serious or joking, as is often needed with “Uncle Joe,” the vice president paused for about four seconds and sighed before answering.

“Yeah, I am,” Biden said. “Yeah, I am. We’re going to run again.”

But when pressed even further by reporters still trying to come to grips with the reality Mr. Trump won the election, Vice President Biden backed away a bit from his initial statement. But he left the door open.

“I’m not committing not to run. I learned a long time ago fate has a funny way of intervening.”

The Democratic Party is fighting changes that some members recognize are necessary after they clearly lost touch with working class Americans. A Biden presidency candidacy, which would be his third, is a tempting prospect for some. Still, under his vice presidential tenure, the Democratic Party has been decimated electorally.

From 2008 to 2016, the Democrats lost a net 9 seats in the U.S. Senate, 63 in the U.S. House of Representatives, 13 governorships, 949 state legislative seats and full control of 29 state legislatures.

“After losing Pennsylvania for the first time since 1988, it makes sense for some Democrats to turn to Joe Biden for salvation,” PPD’s polling and election projection head Richard Baris said of the comment. “But if President-elect Donald Trump has a successful first term, I’m not sure anyone will be able to stop him.”

Only 27 days after Hillary Clinton's landslide

FILE - This combination of two photos shows U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, left, speaking during a "USA Thank You" tour event in Cincinatti Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, delivering a speech during National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Trump spoke Friday, Dec. 2, with Tsai, a move that will be sure to anger China. (Photo: AP, File)

FILE – This combination of two photos shows U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, left, speaking during a “USA Thank You” tour event in Cincinatti Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, delivering a speech during National Day celebrations in Taipei, Taiwan, Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. Trump spoke Friday, Dec. 2, with Tsai, a move that will be sure to anger China. (Photo: AP, File)

Like a bolt of lightning, that call of congratulations from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to President-elect Donald Trump illuminated the Asian landscape.

We can see clearly now the profit and loss statement from more than three decades of accommodating and appeasing China, since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger made their historic journey in 1972.

What are the gains and losses?

Soon after Nixon announced the trip in July 1971, our World War II ally, the Republic of China on Taiwan, was expelled from the UN, its permanent seat on the Security Council given to the People’s Republic of China’s Chairman Mao, a rival of Stalin’s in mass murder.

In 1979, Jimmy Carter recognized the regime in Beijing, cut ties to Taipei and terminated the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty of 1954. All over the world countries followed our lead, shut down Taiwan’s embassies, and expelled her diplomats. Our former allies have since been treated as global pariahs.

During the 1990s and into the new century, Republicans, acting on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable, voted annually to grant Most Favored Nation trade status for China. They then voted to make it permanent and escort China into the WTO.

What did China get out of the new U.S. policy? Vast investment and $4 trillion in trade surpluses at America’s expense over 25 years.

From the backward country mired in the madness of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1972, China grew by double-digits yearly to become the foremost manufacturing nation on earth, and has used its immense earnings from trade to make itself a military power to rival the United States.

China now claims all the islands of the South China Sea, has begun converting reefs into military bases, targeted hundreds of missiles on Taiwan, claimed the Senkakus held by Japan, ordered U.S. warships out of the Taiwan Strait, brought down a U.S. EP-3 on Hainan island in 2001, and then demanded and got from Secretary of State Colin Powell an apology for violating Chinese airspace.

Beijing has manipulated her currency, demanded transfers of U.S. technology, and stolen much of what of U.S. did not cover.

For decades, China has declared a goal of driving the United States out beyond the second chain of islands off Asia, i.e., out of the Western Pacific and back to Guam, Hawaii and the West Coast.

During these same decades, some of us were asking insistently what we were getting in return.

Thus Trump’s phone call seemed the right signal to Beijing — while we recognize one China, we have millions of friends on Taiwan in whose future as a free people we retain an interest.

China bristled at Trump’s first communication between U.S. and Taiwanese leaders since 1979, with Beijing indicating that Trump’s failure to understand the Asian situation may explain the American’s gaffe.

Sunday, Vice President-elect Mike Pence assured us that nothing of significance should be read into the 15-minute phone call of congratulations.

Trump, however, was less polite and reassuring, giving Beijing the wet mitten across the face for its impertinence:

“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn’t tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?”

Trump then answered his own question, “I don’t think so.”

According to The Washington Post, the phone call from Taiwan to Trump was no chance happening. It had been planned for weeks. And people in Trump’s inner circle are looking to closer ties to Taiwan and a tougher policy toward Beijing.

This suggests that Trump was aware there might be a sharp retort from Beijing, and that his tweets dismissing Chinese protests and doubling down on the Taiwan issue were both considered and deliberate.

Well, the fat is in the fire now.

Across Asia, every capital is waiting to see how Xi Jinping responds, for a matter of face would seem to be involved.

On the trade front, China is deeply vulnerable. U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would cause a sudden massive loss of income to factories in China and a stampede out of the country to elsewhere in Asia by companies now producing in the Middle Kingdom.

On the other hand, without China using its economic leverage over North Korea, it is unlikely any sanctions the U.S. and its allies can impose will persuade Kim Jong Un to halt his nuclear weapons program.

China can choke North Korea to death. But China can also step back and let Pyongyang become a nuclear weapons state, though that could mean Seoul and Tokyo following suit, which would be intolerable to Beijing.

Before we go down this road, President-elect Trump and his foreign policy team ought to think through just where it leads — and where it might end.

Like a bolt of lightning, that call

Charleston County, S.C. police officer Michael Slager was charged with Walter Scott's murder after shooting him in back after a traffic stop.

Charleston County, S.C. police officer Michael Slager was charged with Walter Scott’s murder after shooting him in back after a traffic stop.

A judge Monday declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in the case of Michael Slager, a North Charleston police officer who shot Walter Scott. Ex-patrolman Slager was charged with shooting Scott, a black driver in South Carolina last year.

The defense in the five-week trial argued that Slager feared for his life when 50-year-old Walter Scott got control of the officer’s stun gun and pointed it at him. Slager was fired from the North Charleston police department after his confrontation with Scott on April 4, 2015 led to Scott’s death. A video of the shooting caught on a bystander’s cellphone went viral online and the media picked up the story, sparking national outrage.

“Despite best efforts, we were unable to come to a unanimous decision,” the jury wrote in its final note to the court. Jurors had deliberated more than 22 hours over four days.

The jury also considered a lesser verdict of voluntary manslaughter, but Mr. Slager faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murdering Mr. Scott. It’s the second case in the last few weeks in which a jury deadlocked in an officer-involved shooting. On November 12, a jury in Cincinnati couldn’t reach a verdict in the case of a former campus police officer who was also charged with shooting a black motorist.

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager gestures as he testifies in his murder trial at the Charleston County court in Charleston, S.C., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Slager is charged with murder in the shooting death last year of Walter Scott. (Photo: AP, Pool)

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager gestures as he testifies in his murder trial at the Charleston County court in Charleston, S.C., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Slager is charged with murder in the shooting death last year of Walter Scott. (Photo: AP, Pool)

While the jury foreman told Circuit Judge Clifton Newman that he thought the jurors could still reach a verdict if deliberations continued. At the time, which was right before the weekend, it was believed one juror opposed a guilty verdict. That juror sent Judge Newman a letter claiming that he could not “with good conscience approve a guilty verdict.”

However, over the weekend break things took a turn in favor of Mr. Slager. On Monday, jurors again sent a note to Judge Newman claiming “the majority” were unable to reach a verdict and posed several questions to the judge, including a request for clarification on why voluntary manslaughter was added as a possible verdict. They also asked whether the definition of self-defense for a police is different than for the average person.

Despite the media narrative, the issue of race was never a major theme at the trial.

A good deal of testimony at the trial surrounded the cellphone footage, which was blurry and shaky. Still, the jurors saw the video multiple times frame by frame. Andy Savage, the defense attorney for Mr. Slager, requested a mistrial from the judge on Friday but it was denied.

“The note that was received Friday was unequivocal,” Mr. Savage said. “This court is aware one or more of the jurors is unequivocally unwilling to vote for the guilt.”

As we’ve seen across the nation, the city of North Charleston last year agreed to pay a $6.5 million civil settlement to the Scott family before the criminal trial was completed. Prior to the increase in racial tension, it is not typical for any civil suit to precede a criminal case, as it taints the jury. Not this time.

Following the shooting, the city asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a review of department policies. As a result, Mr. Slager still will face trial next year in federal court on charges of depriving Scott of his civil rights.

[brid video=”7436″ player=”2077″ title=”RAW S.C. Cop Shoots Unarmed Black Man Walter Scott In The Back”]

[caption id="attachment_47514" align="aligncenter" width="740"] Charleston County, S.C.

AP_carson_trump

Dr. Ben Carson, left, shakes hands with Donald Trump, right, during a Republican debate in Ohio. (Photo: AP)

President-Elect Trump has picked Ben Carson as his Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which immediately produced two thoughts.

First, since he had the best tax plan of all the 2016 candidates, too bad he wasn’t named Secretary of Treasury.

Second, I hope his job at HUD is to shut down the department, raze the building, and get the federal government out of the housing business.

Then I realized I was thinking too narrowly. Shouldn’t all Trump appointees start with the assumption that their department, agency, or program is an unconstitutional waste of money? I’ve already written columns explaining why some cabinet-level bureaucracies should be abolished.

Now let’s expand this list by taking  a look at the Department of Energy.

And our job will be easy since William O’Keefe has a very persuasive column for E21. Let’s look at some of the highlights, starting with the observation that the bureaucracy was created based on the assumption that the world was running out of energy and that somehow politicians and bureaucrats could fix that supposed problem.

The Department of Energy (DOE) traces its roots to the energy crisis of 1973, which was made worse by misguided government policy.  …there was, at the time, a firm belief that the world was going to run out of oil by the end of the century. Not only does the world have plenty of oil, but the United States is now a net exporter of natural gas–and would be exporting more if DOE was faster with its approvals. …Prior to DOE, the federal government played a very limited role in energy policy and development.  Presumed scarcity, excessive dependence on OPEC nations, distrust in markets, and the search for energy independence became the foundation for what is now a $32.5 billion bureaucracy in search for relevance.

In other words, the ostensible problem that led to the creation of the department was preposterously misdiagnosed.

The market produced lots of energy once the shackles of government intervention (including those from the Energy Department) were sufficiently loosened.

So what, then, does the department do?

What DOE has done is squander money on the search for alternative energy sources. In the process, it enabled Bootlegger and Baptist schemes that enriched crony capitalists who are all too willing to support the flawed notion that government can pick winners and losers.  For 2017, a large chunk of DOE spending–$12.6 billion, or 39 percent—is earmarked to “support the President’s strategy to combat climate change.” This is not a justifiable use of taxpayer dollars. Over 36 years, DOE’s mission has morphed from energy security to industrial policy, disguised as advanced energy research and innovation.  There is a long and failed history of industrial policy by the federal government.

Here’s the bottom line.

DOE has become the Department of Pork. …Energy firms do not need government subsidies to innovate and develop new technologies.  Horizontal drilling and fracking came from the private sector because the incentives to develop shale oil and gas were stronger than the illusions driving alternative energy sources. …Abolishing DOE would punish only the crony capitalists who have become addicted to its support.

Amen.

By the way, Mr. O’Keefe’s argument is primarily based on the fact that DOE doesn’t produce value.

Since I’m a fiscal wonk, I’ll add another arrow to the quiver. We also should abolish the department so that we can save a lot of money.

My colleague Chris Edwards has an entire website filled with information about the uselessness of the department. You can – and should – spend hours perusing all of the information he has accumulated.

But here’s the part that jumped out to me. Over the years, the federal government has squandered hundreds of billions of dollars on a department that is most famous for wasteful Solyndra-style scams.

By the way, there are a small handful of activities at DOE that should be shifted to other departments (such as transferring nuclear weapons responsibilities to the Department of Defense).

But the vast majority of DOE activities never should have been created and produce zero value, so the sooner the bureaucracy is eliminated, the better.

With Dr. Ben Carson getting tapped to

service-sector-hospital-nurse-reuters

Service sector employee, nurse at a hospital. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Non-Manufacturing Report On Business, the Institute for Supply Management gauge of service-sector growth, rose to 57.2 last month from 54.8 in October. The latest report beat the median forecast calling for a reading of 55.4.

Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while those below point to contraction.

The 14 non-manufacturing industries reporting growth in November — listed in order — are: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting; Retail Trade; Arts, Entertainment & Recreation; Transportation & Warehousing; Other Services; Management of Companies & Support Services; Construction; Finance & Insurance; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Accommodation & Food Services; Information; Health Care & Social Assistance; Wholesale Trade; and Mining.

The two industries reporting contraction in November are: Real Estate, Rental & Leasing; and Public Administration.

While both reports also topped economists’ expectations, the economic data from private sector and government-conducted monthly jobs reports show the service sector continuing to account for the largest share of job creation in the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, most are lower-wage opportunities than their counterparts in manufacturing, which is measured in the Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, as well as other sectors.

The ADP National Employment Report released last Wednesday showed 216,000 people were added to private sector payrolls in November, topping the median forecast expecting 165,000. Payrolls for the month of October were revised lower by 28,000 to 119,000, but service-providing jobs represented 228,000 of total payrolls added in November, while goods-producing sectors lost 11,000.

Natural Resources & Mining lost 4,000 and Manufacturing 10,000. The private sector data preceded the Labor Department report last Friday showing nonfarm payrolls increased by 178,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to a more than nine-year low of 4.6%, however, in September and October the previous jobs reports were revised to show 2,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported.

Further, wages pulled back as average hourly earnings fell three cents, or 0.1%. The economy has largely created part-time and lower-wage service-sector employment positions. Manufacturing fell by 4,000 jobs in the November report conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, marking the fourth straight month of decline for the higher-paying industry.

Construction employment increased by 19,000 jobs last month after rising by 14,000 in October. Retail sector payrolls fell 8,300, falling for a second straight month.

ISM® NON-MANUFACTURING SURVEY RESULTS AT A GLANCE
COMPARISON OF ISM® NON-MANUFACTURING AND ISM® MANUFACTURING SURVEYS*
NOVEMBER 2016
Non-Manufacturing Manufacturing
Index Series
Index
Nov
Series
Index
Oct
Percent
Point
Change
Direction Rate
of
Change
Trend**
(Months)
Series
Index
Nov
Series
Index
Oct
Percent
Point
Change
NMI®/PMI® 57.2 54.8 +2.4 Growing Faster 82 53.2 51.9 +1.3
Business Activity/Production 61.7 57.7 +4.0 Growing Faster 88 56.0 54.6 +1.4
New Orders 57.0 57.7 -0.7 Growing Slower 88 53.0 52.1 +0.9
Employment 58.2 53.1 +5.1 Growing Faster 6 52.3 52.9 -0.6
Supplier Deliveries 52.0 50.5 +1.5 Slowing Faster 11 55.7 52.2 +3.5
Inventories 51.5 52.0 -0.5 Growing Slower 3 49.0 47.5 +1.5
Prices 56.3 56.6 -0.3 Increasing Slower 8 54.5 54.5 0.0
Backlog of Orders 51.0 52.0 -1.0 Growing Slower 3 49.0 45.5 +3.5
New Export Orders 57.0 55.5 +1.5 Growing Faster 3 52.0 52.5 -0.5
Imports 54.0 53.0 +1.0 Growing Faster 10 50.5 52.0 -1.5
Inventory Sentiment 60.5 62.0 -1.5 Too High Slower 234 N/A N/A N/A
Customers’ Inventories N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 49.0 49.5 -0.5
Overall Economy Growing Faster 88
Non-Manufacturing Sector Growing Faster 82

* Non-Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business® data is seasonally adjusted for Business Activity, New Orders, Prices and Employment Indexes. Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business® data is seasonally adjusted for New Orders, Production, Employment and Supplier Deliveries.

** Number of months moving in current direction.

The Non-Manufacturing Report On Business, the Institute

Pat-McCrory-Fox News Sunday

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory appears on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace on May 8, 2016. (Photo: Fox News Sunday)

DEVELOPING: Incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory on Monday conceded the gubernatorial election to Democrat Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general. Gov. McCrory, who was targeted the Democratic Party over his position on a controversial transgender bathroom bill, said he will support transition efforts.

In a video message posted Monday afternoon as a recount he requested in Durham County entered its final hours, he said he believes “the majority of our citizens have spoken.” While Durham officials planned to finish the recount later Monday, the early tally shows little change in the result.

“ I personally believe that the majority of our citizens have spoken, and we now should do everything we can to support the 75th governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper,” Gov. McCrory said in the video. “The McCrory administration team will assist in every way to help the new administration make a smooth transition.

“It’s time to celebrate our democratic process and respect what I see to be the ultimate outcome of the closest North Carolina governor’s race in modern history.”

Cooper led by 10,263 votes in nearly final election results posted on the State Board of Elections website Monday afternoon, making Gov. McCrory the state’s first governor to lose a re-election bid. His defeat followed the nation’s second most expensive gubernatorial race and North Carolina’s most expensive ever.

The state board will meet later this week to certify the election results. However, yet one more race is likely to head to a statewide recount.

Incumbent Democratic State Auditor Beth Wood has a small 5,976 vote lead over Republican challenger Chuck Stuber in the latest results, which is within the 10,000 vote margin required for a recount. Mr. Stuber has said he’ll request a recount even though there will be no statewide recount in the governor’s race.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the

In this June 25, 2015 file photo Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, left, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels. Merkel has been named Times' Person of the Year, praised by the magazine for her leadership on everything from Syrian refugees to the Greek debt crisis. (Photo: AP, File)

In this June 25, 2015 file photo Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, left, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels. Merkel has been named Times’ Person of the Year, praised by the magazine for her leadership on everything from Syrian refugees to the Greek debt crisis. (Photo: AP, File)

Rome, Italy – Premier Matteo Renzi resigned in disgrace after Italian voters dealt a devastating to defeat to his leftist reforms referendum, siding with national populists. His resignation puts the opposition 5-Star Movement one step closer to gaining national power.

The No’s were leading Yes votes by a 6-to-4 margin after votes were counted from nearly all the polling stations on Sunday, according to data from the Interior Ministry. The turnout was particularly high for a referendum, 67%, which rivaled the vote for Parliament.

“I lost, and the post that gets eliminated is mine,” Mr. Renzi said early Monday about an hour after the polls closed. “The government’s experience is over, and in the afternoon I’ll go to the Quirinal Hill to hand in my resignation.”

President Sergio Mattarella will accept it, making Renzi the latest in what is now becoming a long list of leftwing globalists to be defeated and ousted from power by voters favoring national sovereignty and right-wing policy.

French President François Hollande last week announced he would not seek reelection in the wake of several refugee-committed Islamic terrorist attacks, British Prime Minister David Cameron resigned after siding with the “Remain” campaign in the referendum known as Brexit, and President-elect Donald J. Trump trounced Democrat Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election.

As was the case in all these instances, fear-mongers warned of economic calamity if voters chose “No” and rebuked the agenda of industrialists, big bankers and other power institutions. The status quo powers vehemently backed the referendum, arguing that the government was making progress in cutting the staggering rate of youth employment, which they created.

The 5-Star Movement is led by anti-euro comic Beppe Grillo, who argued against changing Italy’s post-war Constitution. Prime Minister Renzi said changing the Constitution would modernize Italy’s economy and lead to a revival.

In addition to being a victory for the “anti-establishment” 5-Stars, the Northern League, which billed itself as an “anti” party, also saw the outcome as a victory. The party, which is an ally of French righting leader Marine Le Pen, the candidate in the French presidential race Hollande sought to avoid, opposes further unfettered immigration policies.

Premier Matteo Renzi resigned in disgrace after

Ben-Carson-Donald-Trump-FL

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson endorsed his former rival and Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump at a news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 11, 2016. (Photo: AP)

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced his intentions to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The decision to pick Dr. Carson, a former children’s neurosurgeon and presidential candidate, is a signal that the new Trump administration was serious about inner-city reforms he proposed during the campaign season.

In a statement, President-elect Trump says he’s “thrilled to nominate” Dr. Carson, adding he “has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.”

“Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans,” he said.

From being born in a poor neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, from being portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in a movie about his life, Dr. Carson has an extraordinary story. Raised largely by a single mother who worked two or three jobs at a time, usually as a domestic servant, he would eventually graduate from Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School.

When he when he was eight years-old, his father abandoned him, his brother and mother.

Carson was thrusted into the national spotlight after the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, during which he criticized President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law when he was seated about 3 feet away from him.

On May 4, 2015, Dr. Carson announced he was running for the Republican nomination at a rally in his hometown of Detroit. For a brief period, he rose in the polls to become one of Mr. Trump’s chief rivals. In March, he endorsed the Republican frontrunner in a heated race that came down to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Dr. Ben Carson is a brilliant man with a great work ethic and a deep desire to help his fellow Americans,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in a statement on social media, adding the doctor was “an outstanding choice for Trump.”

While initially thought to be in contention for the Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services or Surgeon General, Dr. Carson wrote and spoke passionately about the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its impact on inner cities.

“After serious discussions with the Trump transition team, I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone,” Dr. Carson wrote on Facebook roughly two weeks ago. “We have much work to do in strengthening every aspect of our nation and ensuring that both our physical infrastructure and our spiritual infrastructure is solid. An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.”

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced his intentions

People hold signs during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Photo: AP)

People hold signs during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Photo: AP)

While Democrats lament Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Americans are less likely to favor abolishing the Electoral College, which she lost in a landslide. A new Gallup poll finds support for the Electoral College gained 12 points since 2011 post-Election 2016.

Now, 47% of Americans say they want to keep the Electoral College, while 49% say no. Until 2016, a clear majority favored amending the U.S. Constitution to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a popular vote referendum, something our Founding Fathers declined to do to avoid the “tyranny of the majority” and elitist rule.

This year, for the first time in the 49 years Gallup has asked about it, less than half of Americans want to replace the Electoral College with a popular vote system.

Clinton’s lead in the popular vote is the almost identical to her margins in Los Angeles, Calif., and New York City, New York. In the rest of the country, she lost hundreds of counties that President Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012. President-elect Donald J. Trump won 306 electoral votes compared to 228 for Clinton, a landslide that included states in the “Blue Wall” that hadn’t voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984 and George H.W. Bush in 1988.

The change in views is unsurprisingly due to Republicans and leaning independents, who largely were at a disadvantage in the Electoral College before President-elect Trump changed the map. Only 19% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents favor basing the winner on the popular vote, down from 49% in October 2004 and 54% in 2011.

Final PPD Final State Projections and Results: Trump vs. Clinton vs. Johnson vs. Stein

On the other hand, 81% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning indies prefer national referendum.

At least for now, the Electoral College isn’t going anywhere. It takes two-thirds of Congress and two-thirds of the states to pass this kind of constitutional amendment, but the Democratic Party has been thoroughly decimated under President Obama on the state level. With 2018 looking worse than 2016, their current and future strength on the national level isn’t looking any brighter.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 28-29, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 1,021 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

While Democrats argue Hillary Clinton won the

People's Pundit Daily (PPD) President Donald J. Trump Tracking Polls: Trump Job Approval Rating | Trump Favorability Ratings

President-elect Donald J. Trump is enjoying his highest favorable rating measured to date, while a majority support his big key agenda items. A majority of voters also approve of the job he is doing during the transition. National polls conducted by People’s Pundit Daily show President-elect Trump’s favorability ratings are now above water for the first time ever since the PPD Poll began tracking in early July.

The PPD Poll, which conducted highly accurate surveys in 2016 on both the national and statewide level, finds 48% of likely voters now view the New York businessman favorably. That represents a 7-point increase since Election Day, while the percentage of voters holding an unfavorable view of him has fallen by 9 points to 46%.

Last week, the spread was improving but still underwater by -7, with 51% viewing him unfavorable and 44% favorable. Overall, the new results represent a 19-point swing since November 8 and 9-point swing from the prior week.

Throughout the campaign, PPD Polls repeatedly found voters had a more favorable image of Mr. Trump in the battleground states than voters nationwide. For example, in the final PPD Sunshine State Battleground Poll, 45% of Floridians had a favorable view of the then-Republican presidential candidate, while 52% had an unfavorable view of him.

Mr. Trump led his Democratic rival by just under 2 points in the poll, 48% to 46%, which ended up being his margin of victory almost exactly. At the time, he was underwater nationally by roughly 14 points, 41% favorable to 55% unfavorable.

Nevertheless, the sheer number of those previously reporting an unfavorable view who now say they are either undecided or have changed their minds altogether is a strong sign voters are willing to give the victor a chance. The change is likely due to the large percentage of voters who say they approve of the job he is doing during the transition.

On the question, “Do you approve or disapprove of how President-elect Donald J. Trump is handling the transition?” a whopping 56% now say they approve, up from only 49% during the prior week. Forty-one (41%) percent still say they disapprove.

President-elect Trump is also enjoying an increase in backing for several of his big agenda items. Support for his proposed temporary ban on Muslim immigration, particularly from Muslim countries plagued by Islamic terrorism, is shockingly high. Fifty-seven (57%) say they support the ban and only 38% oppose it.

On the question of whether “the U.S. should or should not allow refugees from Syria and other predominantly Muslim war-torn countries,” nearly two-thirds (63%) say “should not,” while 32% still support continuing President Barack Obama’s refugee resettlement program.

Worth noting, with the exception of those completed on Thursday, most of the interviews were conducted before Carrier announced they would keep some 1,000 jobs in the U.S. The public announcement came this week after they reached a deal with President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who kicked off a “Thank You” tour by celebrating with plant workers in Indianapolis.

Further, interviews began the day of the terrorist attack at Ohio State University and did continue for the remaining two days after.

The PPD Poll follows level 1 AAPOR standards of disclosure and WAPOR/ESOMAR code of conduct. The survey was conducted from November 28 to December 1 and is based on 1299 interviews via Internet panel with likely voters participating in the PPD Internet Polling Panel.

President-elect Donald J. Trump is enjoying his

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