OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Georgia Senate has introduced SB 358 in response to a referral from Acting State Election Board Chairman Matthew Mashburn.
This legislation seeks to legislate to confirm the power and authority of the State Election Board to investigate Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, remove him from his position as a member of the SEB, and compel him to cooperate in such investigations.
This procedure follows testimony by citizen election integrity advocate Joseph Rossi and others at the most recent State Election Board meeting, wherein they detailed errors discovered in the reporting of the 2020 election that were associated with Raffensperger’s office.
Due to the inability to obtain explanations from Raffensperger’s office and these preliminary findings, Rossi submitted the evidence to the office of Governor Brian Kemp. Kemp’s office conducted an independent analysis and subsequently issued a written finding affirming the factuality of Rossi’s results.
Rossi stated during the December 19th SEB testimony that investigators, assistant AG Charlene McGowan (currently employed in Rannfesperger’s office), and even specific State Election Board members appeared to have attempted to obstruct investigations or deflect attention from the accumulating body of evidence since the time of Kemp’s report in 2021.
In response to evidence and public demand for an investigation into Raffensperger’s actions, the SEB voted to request that the legislature confirm the SEB’s investigative authority concerning the Secretary of State.
The Senate enacted the proposed Bill 358 in response to the referral, authorizing the SEB to initiate an investigation into the SoS.
The state of Georgia will be a key state in the 2024 presidential election.
New polling shows that in the battleground states of Georgia and Michigan, former President Donald Trump is ahead of President Joe Biden.
Even though the incumbent president won the state in 2020, new polls released on Monday by CNN show that Trump is ten points ahead of Biden among Michigan voters. A total of 50% of Michigan voters indicated their support for Trump, 40% for Biden, and 10% for neither candidate.
Even though Biden came close to winning Georgia in 2020, a new poll shows that Trump has taken the lead there as well. In a hypothetical general election matchup, 49% of Georgia voters would support Trump, while 44% would vote for Biden. Voters who were undecided about the candidates accounted for 7% of the total.
There will be a rematch in 2020 and 2024 between Trump and Biden, who are leading the race for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, respectively. According to polls, a significant portion of the voting population in both Michigan (64% disapprove) and Georgia (61% disapprove) of Biden’s leadership in the country, The Hill reported.
Among the possible issues raised by the polls, 66% of Georgians and 69% of Michiganders feel that Biden lacks the requisite incisiveness and endurance to be president. As far as presidential temperaments go, 57% of Michiganders and 58% of Georgians have expressed disapproval of Trump.
The two states that are considered to be battlegrounds for the GOP presidential primary also had questions regarding the performance of other candidates, according to SSRS.
Both states would go to the former United Nations ambassador if Biden and Nikki Haley were to face off in a presidential election. Among Georgia voters, 49% indicated they would support Haley, while 43% said they would support Biden. Half of Michiganders say they would vote for Haley, while 38% say they would vote for Biden, giving Haley an even larger lead.
The current president has a slim three-point lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in Georgia in a made-up general election contest pitting him against Biden. With a 7-point lead, DeSantis is leading Biden in Michigan.
President Joe Biden has been touting his “Bidenomics” plan and insisting that his economic policies have made the lives of Americans better.
But what they are telling pollsters is that Bidenomics has caused them to spend less this Christmas season and, in many cases, has them working more hours or working another job simply to afford the holidays.
In Empower’s 2023 holiday spending report, a whopping 74 percent of the 1,000 people polled said that inflation has caused them to spend less this holiday season, and 31 percent said they are working more hours to afford it, Fox Business reported.
“The survey shows that over a third (34%) are trimming their budgets in favor of saving this year, while others are cutting back on buying gifts or non-essential expenses like dining out to stay on track,” Empower representative Courtney Burrell said to Fox Business.
“How you allocate your holiday budget will depend on what’s most important to you; this year, you may prioritize travel to visit family that you typically only see during the holidays over decorations or cut back on social commitments to give yourself a larger budget for holiday gifts,” she said.
“Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they plan to spend less than $250 on gifts this year, and more than one in 10 told Empower they are budgeting more than $1,000,” the report said.
Still, numbers show that people are spending this holiday season, as shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend broke records, and holiday shopping in general is expected to break records.
“However, the spending spree comes as U.S. consumers are already carrying record levels of credit card debt, and some experts are concerned a potential crisis is brewing as the balances rack up and more people find themselves unable to pay them back, especially today’s high-interest rates,” Fox Business reported.
In October, a more devastating report on the economy came to the president.
A poll showed that only 39 percent of voters in four key swing states—Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina—have confidence in the president’s ability to handle the economy, RealClearPolitics reported.
