Free Republic

The U.S. services sector picked up speed in April, according to the Institute for Supply Management, with growth broadening across key components of the economy’s largest segment. The Services PMI rose to 51.6 percent last month, up from 50.8 percent in March and beating expectations for a modest dip. The increase marks a reversal from the prior month’s slowdown and suggests the sector may be reaccelerating heading into the second quarter. Three of the four major subindexes that feed directly into the headline PMI improved in April, with increases in new orders, supplier deliveries, and employment. Only the business activity...

Pollster Frank Luntz said Thursday on CNN’s “News Central” that former President Donald Trump “clearly” has the momentum in the election. Discussing Vice President Harris’ reaction to President Joe Biden’s garbage comments, host Sara Sidner said, “She also came out and said, ‘No, no, no, I’m going to give people a seat at the table and not call them the enemy within.’ Why do you argue that this might be the big issue?” Luntz said, “Because it reminds me so much of 2016. And I think there are a lot of similarities right now between this campaign and that campaign....

Republican pollster Frank Luntz in a recent interview said Vice President Harris could come up short in November, suggesting her momentum “froze” when she went ‘anti-Trump.” Luntz said Harris’s best stretch came when she was making the case for herself of why she should be elected commander in chief. That progress, in his view, has halted with her expanded her focus on attacking former President Trump. “What’s interesting is that with Harris focused on why she should be elected president, that’s when her numbers grew,” the pollster said on CNN’s “This Morning.” “She’s had the best 60 days of any...

If true, then the 2024 election cycle could shift from merely forgettable for Democrats to downright catastrophic. They have based their electoral strategy on decades of near-total domination of the black-voter demographic to maintain their grip on power. While that applies to municipal elections in big cities, it applies even more to presidential elections. Four years ago, Democrats leveraged that into a stunning win in Georgia, normally a safe state for Republicans in presidential cycles. Joe Biden eked out a narrow 0.3-point margin of victory created mainly by a massive turnout of black voters against Donald Trump, winning 83% of...

We are less than 50 days from Election Day and with thousands of New Yorkers packing out Nassau Coliseum on Long Island on Wednesday to see Donald Trump speak, all eyes are on New York. Why New York? Weak, corrupt, incompetent and inept leaders have passed law after law that have made life less safe and affordable. New York continues to lead the nation in out-migration because pro-criminal, high-tax and sanctuary policies have forced countless New Yorkers to seek refuge in other states. Many have reached their breaking point but have found hope in the New Yorker running at the...

Former President Donald Trump enjoys a net four-point swing his way in just a week’s time in the race against Vice President Kamala Harris, neutralizing momentum garnered from her ascension to the top of the Democrat ticket, according to an RMG Research/Napolitan News Service survey. The poll, published Friday, shows Harris at 44 percent and Trump at 43 percent, while independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garners 6 percent. In the hypothetical two-way contest, Harris and Trump are tied at 49 percent, per the Napolitan News Service: 🇺🇲 2024 GE: @RMG_Research Harris: 44% [-3] Trump: 43% [+1] RFK Jr: 6% [=]...

Former Bush campaign manager Karl Rove said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” that he believed Vice President Kamala Harris will soon lead former President Donald Trump in the polls because of momentum. Rove said the former president could take the lead again by focusing on an issue. Host John Roberts said, “So let’s talk about where the race is because, in some battleground states, the polls seem to have been narrowing.”

In politics, it’s important to remember that even if your preferred issue or candidate is lagging in the polls, the direction in which it (or he) is moving matters. Currently, candidate Trump is moving up on every metric. I’m mindful of the many warnings against hubris: “There’s many a slip twixt cup and lip”; the Yiddish “Mann tracht, Un Gott Lacht” (“man plans and God laughs”); and, of course, Aesop’s “Never count your chickens before they hatch.” However, optimism is a driving force in momentum, so let’s celebrate a bit.Here, in no particular order, are seven causes for optimism:One. According...

The rotation of Earth's inner core really has slowed down, a new study has confirmed, opening up questions about what's happening in the center of the planet and how we might be affected. Led by a team from the University of Southern California (USC), the researchers behind the finding think this change in the core's rotation could change the length of our days – albeit only by a few fractions of a second, so you won't need to reset your watches just yet. "When I first saw the seismograms that hinted at this change, I was stumped," says Earth scientist...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN’s “AC360,” CNN Military Analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) stated that “right now, the momentum is with Hamas.” Because “They know the weight of global opinion, including in the United States, is weighing in against the Israelis, against a continuation of the operation into Rafah. And they know that if they simply hang tough, continue to report casualties, get the sympathy of the world on their side, there will be increasing pressure against Israel. And this has been really the aim of their war plan since October 7.” Clark also...

It’s been one year since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the widely unpopular Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling, which ended the constitutional right to abortion, upending 50 years of precedent. Over the last 12 months, the American public’s already strong support for abortion rights has become even more entrenched, and the draconian bans imposed in Republican-controlled states have triggered a seismic shift in the political landscape — one that is advantageous to Democrats — surrounding the issue. With Republicans poised to continue their anti-choice crusade in the run-up to the 2024 election, abortion is likely to remain a...

Senate Republican candidates continue to gain momentum in swing state races despite Democrats heavily outspending them. The 2022 campaign cycle promised to be a tough year for the Republican Party to retake the Senate due to the number of battleground seats demanding resources to defend. Only 14 Democrat-controlled seats are up for reelection, compared to 21 Republican-controlled seats.

The House is in play for the first time this cycle as Democrats continue to build momentum, but the GOP remains the favorite to take control. This edition of the Fox News Power Rankings looks at shifts toward Democrats in nine battleground House races and two key Senate races. Meanwhile, the GOP makes gains in the Georgia and Oregon governor races. Republicans can expect a 13-seat majority in the latest House forecast (a total of 231 seats), leaving the Democrats with a 14-seat deficit (204 seats). These numbers reflect a shift of three seats away from the GOP since August....

The Democrats are riding a wave of successes the past few weeks. Gas prices edging downward, passage of the improbably named Inflation Reduction Act, successful meddling in Republican primaries and improving poll numbers have combined to make Biden and his compatriots believe they can win control of the Senate, and optimism is rising about the House. But when you dig through the numbers, Democrats are getting ahead of themselves.

Former lead strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign James Carville said Monday on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” the investigations, including those by the Manhattan district attorney, the New York State Attorney General and the Southern District of New York into President Donald Trump could not be stopped. Williams said, “Where do you come down on the natural temptation to launch a bunch of investigations?

Election day is almost here. Some things will end, like incessant campaign commercials, much to the relief of voters on both sides of the aisle. Other things will continue, including protests and riots, as we are seeing in Philadelphia, and as Kamala Harris promised. Despite more than five years of slings and arrows hurled at President Trump, to derail his campaign, transition, and administration, Trump has a spring in his step. Not just when he is dancing to YMCA song at the end of each rally, but in his entire demeanor. He is cool, confident, and on top of his...

Millennial Millie does an expose on who is behind the riot insurrections, the connection with the Green New Deal, the group that recruits school children as young as middle schoolers as foot soldiers in the ranks of Antifa and BLM, and who have gotten 16 of the 30 Democrat candidates they promoted elected in 2018 including Cortez, Omar, Talib and Presley. A must see.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry raised the possibility that a victory by President Trump could provoke a revolution in the United States, claiming that Republicans have a history of denying voting rights to Democratic voters. “If people don't have adequate access to the ballot, I mean that's the stuff on which revolutions are built,” Kerry said during a virtual appearance at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit. “If you begin to deny people the capacity of your democracy to work, even the Founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, we have an inherent right to challenge that. And...

Over the course of the past 200 million years, our planet has experienced four major geological periods (the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous and Cenozoic) and one major ice age (the Pliocene-Quaternary glaciation), all of which had a drastic impact on plant and animal life, as well as effecting the course of species evolution. For decades, geologists have also understood that these changes are due in part to gradual shifts in the Earth’s orbit, which are caused by Venus and Jupiter, and repeat regularly every 405,000 years. But it was not until recently that a team of geologists and Earth scientists...

In recent news, people have speculated about the challenges President Trump is having with enacting policies such as the tax cut deal, his stimulus plan, and the repeal of Obamacare. This has troubled some Americans and bred concern as to whether or not the President will fulfill the promises he made on the campaign trail. I have complete faith in Mr. Trump. He is an insurmountable leader and winner who has been in business for decades. The President is an expert at cutting deals and producing results ahead of schedule and under budget.