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Merry Christmas to you and yours, friends!

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, sponsored by The ANTIFA by Jack Posobiec, for Monday shows that 40% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Biden’s job performance. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove. The latest figures include 21% who Strongly Approve of the job Biden is doing and 50% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -29. (see trends)

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are running dead even in Pennsylvania. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone and online survey of Likely Voters in the Keystone State finds Trump and Biden with 46% support each. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and another four percent (4%) remain undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Among the 82% of voters who say they are certain now how they will vote in the presidential election, Trump holds a slight 51% to 49% advantage. Sign up: Free daily newsletter Email The president carries 86% of the Republican vote and leads...

President Trump would KO Democrat front-runner Bernie Sanders if the 2020 presidential election were held today. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds Trump earning 50% support among Likely U.S. Voters to Sanders’ 43%. Seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) The incumbent president wins 84% of the Republican vote and leads 49% to 39% among voters not affiliated with either major party. Sanders captures 75% of Democrats, but nearly one-in-four Democratic voters (22%) opt for Trump instead. Senior Democrats including many of Sanders’ opponents for the presidential nomination argue that his...

Pernell Whitaker, a longtime pound-for-pound king and one of the greatest boxers in history, was killed Sunday night when he was hit by a car in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was 55. The Virginia Beach Police Department said that the incident remains an active investigation but that Whitaker was apparently hit by a vehicle at around 10 p.m. Sunday when he was walking at an intersection. "When officers arrived on scene they located an adult male victim who had been hit by a vehicle. The victim succumbed to his injuries on the scene," Virginia Beach Police Department spokesman L.M. Bauder...

Job creation posted a solid rebound in March, with nonfarm payrolls expanding by 196,000 and the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.8 percent, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. That was better than the 175,000 Dow Jones estimate and comes after a dismal February that had economists wondering whether the decade-old economic expansion was nearing an end. The unemployment rate met expectations. Wage gains fell off the recent strong pace, increasing just 0.14 percent for the month and 3.2 percent year over year, below expectations of the 3.4 percent pace from last month. The average work week...

Job creation ended 2018 on a powerful note, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 312,000 in December though the unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent. The jobless rate, which was last higher in June, rose for the right reason as 419,000 new workers entered the workforce and the labor force participation rate increased to 63.1 percent. The participation level was up 0.2 percentage points from November and 0.4 percentage points compared with a year earlier. A broader measure of unemployment that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons held steady at 7.6 percent. In addition to the...

The U.S. economy grew at a faster-than-expected rate in the third quarter as inflation was kept in check and consumer spending surged, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Friday. Gross domestic product expanded by a 3.5 percent annual rate. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the economy to expand by a 3.4 percent annual rate. The department said the PCE price index, a key measure of inflation, increased by 1.6 percent last quarter, much less than the 2.2 percent increase expected by economists polled by StreetAccount.

MILWAUKEE — A new Marquette Law School Poll of Wisconsin voters finds a tight race for governor following last week’s statewide primary elections. Among likely voters (that is, those who say they are certain to vote), incumbent Republican Scott Walker receives 46 percent, Democrat Tony Evers receives 46 percent and Libertarian Phil Anderson 6 percent. Only 2 percent say they lack a preference or do not lean to a candidate. Among likely voters in the race for the Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat on the ballot in November, 49 percent support the incumbent, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, and 47 percent support Republican...

Payroll growth turned sluggish in July after two robust months, though the unemployment rate edged lower and the overall jobs picture continued to look solid, according to Labor Department numbers released Friday. Total nonfarm payrolls increased by 157,000 for the month, below the 190,000 expected in a survey of Reuters economists and the lowest gain since March. The unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.9 percent, as expected, and is around its lowest level in nearly 50 years. In the key wages category, average hourly earnings also met expectations, increasing 2.7 percent over the same period a...

An improvised explosive device was detonated around 5 p.m. Thursday in a parking lot located at the intersection of South Boundary Street and Francis Street near Merchants Square, according to Williamsburg Police. No one was injured, according to Williamsburg Police spokesman Maj. Greg Riley. The parking lot is across Francis Street from Berret’s Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill. Across from South Boundary Street from the parking lot is the College of William and Mary campus. The Williamsburg police and fire departments responded to what was initially reported as a car fire, Riley said.

Colin Kaepernick started out taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality, but his activism has since expanded to encompass a wide range of leftist causes, including a group named after a convicted cop-killer. The Colin Kaepernick Foundation donated in April $25,000 to Assata’s Daughters, a Chicago “direct action” resistance organization honoring Assata Shakur, who escaped prison and fled to Cuba after being found guilty in the 1973 murder of Officer Werner Foerster. The grant includes $2,500 for CopWatch, a program that trains volunteers to follow and video police, and $15,000 for teen training, part of the...

GREENSVILLE COUNTY, Va. -- Ricky Javon Gray was put to death by lethal ejection at 9.42 p.m. Wednesday at the Greensville Correctional Center in Greensville County. Gray’s last appeal was denied hours before his execution when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Gray's request for a stay of execution. When officials asked Gray if he had any final words, he replied “nope,” according to CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett, who observed the execution in the death chamber. Burkett reports Gray declined his final meal before the execution. Gray and his nephew Ray Dandridge shocked the Richmond community in January 2006 --...

A Vallejo man, Richmond police officer and active community member was fatally shot at his home in the Glen Cove neighborhood early Thursday. Vallejo police said Augustine “Gus” Vegas, 58, was killed after being shot multiple times inside the house. Vegas was a 15-year veteran with the Richmond Police Department, and last served in the regulatory unit. The suspect, identified as Robert Vega, 30, of Fairfield, has been taken into custody and is the father of Vegas’ 6-year-old grandson. The shooting was reported by a family member at 4:39 a.m. in the unit block of Narragansett Court at the victim’s...

Human Events-Gravis Marketing conducted a random survey of 643 likely voters regarding opinions of races in Louisiana. The poll carries a margin of error of 4%. The poll was conducted 11-12-2014-11-14-2014 The polls were conducted using automated telephone calls and weighted by anticipated voting demographics.

Pope Francis asked Iraq leaders to use dialogue to avoid further warfare there, during his weekly address in St. Peter's Square after Mass -- his first major public ceremony since health problems forced a spate of canceled appointments. "The news from Iraq is unfortunately very saddening. I join the bishops from that country in calling on the rulers to preserve national unity and avoid war through dialogue," he said. "I express my closeness to the thousands of families, especially the Christian ones, who have had to leave their homes and are in serious danger. Violence generates more violence. Dialogue is...

The U.S. Senate race in Iowa is a dead heat. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Iowa Voters finds Republican Joni Ernst, the winner of Tuesday’s crowded party primary, with 45% support to Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley’s 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while nine percent (9%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Iowa was conducted on...

If you’re wondering why Virginia Republicans are willing to fight over the attorney general’s race, it’s because the post has become almost as important as the governorship. Not only could the outcome impact continuing legal issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act, it would likely impact the number of Republicans in the U.S. Congress. Right now, Virginia has eight Republicans and three Democrats in the U.S. House. Prior to the redistricting — which was controlled by a Republican General Assembly and signed by Republican Governor Bob McDonnell — Republicans held just a six-to-five majority. Democrat Mark Herring — should he become...

As we've heard in news reports, "corrections" in absentee ballot totals in Fairfax County and Richmond City have wiped out what was a 1,262-vote lead for Republican Mark Obenshain and given Democrat Mark Herring a 117-vote lead. Now that I have that piece of misery out of the way, among the takeaways from this are a couple bad-news and good-news elements. First the bad news... as mentioned above, Obenshain now trails Herring by a razor-thin margin of 117 votes, and Fairfax isn't finished with its counting.. However... (and comes the good news) This morning, I did a county-by-county check on...

The hopefully deal-closing final message to voters from Ken Cuccinelli. It's an inspiring, uplifting, Reaganesque statement about his vision for the Commonwealth of Virginia.