It may be a new year, but many of the trends we’re seeing from the 2016 presidential campaign are very much the same.
For starters, Hillary Clinton’s private email server is once again a topic of discussion, thanks to a new report from Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough. First obtained by Fox News, the correspondence to the Senate Intelligence and identifies a number of emails that may have been classified in a category known as “special access programs,” which is even higher than “top secret.”
The Clinton campaign responded by saying this was just another attempt to hurt the former Secretary of State’s campaign.
Another continuing trend is Donald Trump’s vice grip on national polls. The real estate mogul still holds a 19 percentage point lead over Ted Cruz in the latest Monmouth University poll despite the fact that Cruz’s poll numbers have been on the rise recently. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is still comfortably in first, leading Bernie Sanders by 13 percentage points.
What’s new here in 2016 is the latest addition to Trump’s backers. Former Alaska Governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced she’d be endorsing him. Palin has somewhat faded from the public’s political eye but is still popular with Tea Party supporters and other niche groups among conservatives.
Guests:
Ed Espinoza, democratic political and public relations consultant based in Southern California, Democratic National Committee member from Long Beach
Lisa Camooso Miller, Republican political strategist and partner at Blueprint Communications, a public affairs firm based in D.C.