Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, we examine the political implications of the Biden administration’s decision to reclassify marijuana. Plus, national political reporter Steve Kornacki explains how Donald Trump broke the 2020 voting ceiling.
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The Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana, easing restrictions across the country
By Julie Tsirkin, Monica Alba and Adam Wollner
President Joe Biden is making a big election year move on weed.
His administration will take a historic step toward easing federal restrictions on marijuana, and plans soon to announce a temporary rule reclassifying the drug for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act took effect more than 50 years ago, four sources with knowledge of the decision said. NBC News.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to approve the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation to reclassify marijuana from the strictest Schedule I to the less strict Schedule III, marking the first time the US government has acknowledged its potential medical benefits and started acting on it. study them seriously.
What does rescheduling mean?: Since 1971, marijuana has been in the same category as heroin, methamphetamine, and LSD. Schedule III substances include Tylenol with codeine, steroids, and testosterone.
By changing the timing of marijuana, the drug will now be researched and studied to determine specific medical benefits, opening the door for pharmaceutical companies to engage in the sale and distribution of medical marijuana in states where it is legal.
Years in preparation: Biden directed HHS to review the classification of marijuana in October 2022 — just before the midterm elections. He took executive measures to pardon thousands of people convicted of possession of marijuana under federal law.
Biden even made history this spring by referring to marijuana for the first time in his State of the Union address.
It was Obama’s White House when Biden served as vice president opposed to any legalization of marijuana because it would “create significant health and safety risks for all Americans.” But Biden he said he would “Decriminalize marijuana use” during the 2020 campaign.
Growing public support: Biden hopes his pot position will give him a boost six months after the election.
A Gallup poll As of last October, it was found that 70% of adults said that the use of marijuana should be legal. That figure was 79% among those under 35 and 72% among people of color — critical voting blocs that Biden has lost over the past four years.
Where Trump stands: Former President Donald Trump said that the legalization of marijuana should be left up to each state.
He has he admitted Legalizing marijuana is “a very popular thing” among voters, too was questioned useful for people who use it. The Trump administration has taken a number of anti-cannabis measures, including: cancels An Obama-era policy directed officials not to initiate marijuana-related prosecutions in states where the drug is legal.
Trump trial, Day 9: Judge threatens Trump with jail after holding him in contempt for traffic violation
The judge presiding over the hush money case on Tuesday He criminally insulted Trump According to a series of posts on Truth Social, he told jurors and witnesses that he had violated a gag order barring any assault and warned the former president that he could be jailed for further violations.
Judge Juan Mercan held Trump in contempt for nine traffic violations with a fine of $1,000 for each instance. In the ruling, he warned that he would not tolerate further breaches of the order and said he would impose a “custodial sentence” if “necessary and appropriate in the circumstances”.
Meanwhile, the main witness took a position To explain in detail how the hush money transactions at the center of the trial came together. Prosecutors have called attorney Keith Davidson, who represents both Karen McDougal and Stormi Daniels, two women who say they had sex with Trump and were paid to keep quiet about their allegations during the 2016 presidential election. Trump denied the claims of both women.
Eric Trump was in court with his father on Tuesday, the first time a member of the Trump family has appeared in court since the trial began two weeks ago.
Trump could break his 2020 voting ceiling
By Steve Kornacki
This week National CNN poll This year, one after another, shows the continuation of a clear trend: Trump’s level of support is significantly and consistently higher than ever in the 2020 campaign.
Among registered voters in the CNN poll, the former president received 49% and Biden 43%. That 6-point Trump lead may even be outliers, as no other poll has him ahead by such a margin. But what isn’t much different is that Trump’s own approval rating is in the 40s. In a previous poll conducted by CNN in January, Trump received 49% of the vote. Since late March, at least five reputable nonpartisan polls have also put Trump at or above 47%.
This is a far cry from the last Trump-Biden campaign. From the first day of 2020 to Election Day, there were only five reputable nonpartisan polls that showed Trump at 47%. In none of these did Trump get more than 47% of the vote.
Ourselves NBC News survey at the beginning of this month Trump was 46%, and in our previous poll in January he was 47%. Compare that to the 11 polls we sponsored in 2020 — none of which had Trump above 44%.
Another way to measure it is: RealClearPolitics national polling average, Trump is currently at 46.6%. And its high water mark in the RCP average this year is 47.8% of what it reached at the end of last month. For comparison, let’s note that in 2020, Trump’s average support in the first days of the pandemic exceeded 45.6%. Since April, it has never exceeded 44.2%. On Election Day, Trump won 46.8 percent of the national vote, surpassing the poll numbers.
All this speaks to the question of Trump’s ceiling. So many voters have turned against him (our polls for years have found that at least 50% of them have an unfavorable view of Trump), is there a critical part of them that won’t vote for him no matter what. Are they unhappy with Biden?
In 2020, the survey consistently found this to be the case. It was almost universally assumed — and true — that Trump would lose the popular vote to Biden, and his only chance of victory would come with an Electoral College bankroll.
Biden’s own level of support throughout the 2020 campaign has also been remarkable. He regularly won clear majorities. For example, here’s how Biden’s support looked in NBC News’ 2020 poll.
But so far this year, Biden has just 42% and 44% support in our poll. And his RealClearPolitics average has yet to exceed 46.5%.
Whether it’s enough to reverse the result remains to be seen, but the numbers this time around tell us that Trump’s ceiling may be higher than before and Biden’s may have been lowered.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- 🕛 Timely Trump: During Trump’s lengthy interviews with Time magazine, he initially said he didn’t think there would be political violence in 2024 because he would win the presidential election. But in his later conversation, he said, “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fair conduct of the election.” More →
- ⚖️ Anyway: Trump’s campaign has said that if elected, he would consider individual pardons for those convicted of their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, rather than a general pardon. More →
- ⁉️ Revisionist history: Trump says the GOP’s position on abortion has always been to leave the issue up to the states. But the party has consistently sought to impose national restrictions on the procedure. More →
- 💲On state lines: Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s advocacy group is donating $500,000 to a Florida campaign behind a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution. The announcement came a day before Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect. More →
- 📣 Protest view: NBC News’ live blog follows pro-Palestinian protests at colleges across the country, including Columbia, where protesters occupied a university building overnight. More →
- 🔴🔵 Cooperation offer: Rap is Marjorie Taylor Greene Republicans struggle to find Supporting a motion to impeach Speaker Johnson, as House Democrats have said they will come to his rescue if they try to go after him. More →
- 🛹 Taking legislation to extremes: What are some House Republicans doing when their party has a razor-thin majority? Two people plan to skydive over Normandy to celebrate D-Day, The Wall Street Journal reports, while others can’t give up their equally risky hobbies. More →
For now, here they are from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – email us politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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