The Koch brothers spent $20 million trying to tell the public how great the Trump tax cut was. It didn't work.

The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that the tax-cut law, never broadly popular, has sagged in public esteem lately. Just 27 percent of Americans call it a good idea, down from 30 percent in January. A 36 percent plurality call it a bad idea, while the rest have no opinion.
Moreover, a majority gives thumbs-down on the plan when asked to consider its potential effects. Just 39 percent foresee a positive impact from a stronger economy, more jobs and more money in their pockets; 53 percent foresee a negative impact from higher deficits and disproportionate benefits for the wealthy and big corporations.
Republicans began learning that lesson last month during a special House election in Pennsylvania. GOP strategists found the tax cuts an ineffective message against the Democratic candidates and dropped the issue as Election Day approached.

Less than half of Americans think their taxes are too high

Americans are less likely today, than at any time since 2012, to say the federal income taxes they pay are too high. Currently, 45% hold this view, while 48% say their taxes are about right.

Democratic Blue Wave is now just a ripple. Maybe they should scream "Russia" more

The Democratic advantage in the midterm elections among voters nationwide has narrowed since January, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday.
Democratic candidates were favored to Republican candidates by 4 percentage points (47%) among registered voters in a generic congressional ballot -- down from a 12-point edge when the poll was last taken in January.
Among all adults, Democrats held a wider lead of 10 percentage points over Republicans in the generic ballot.

On the other hand, in Arizona...

A new poll published by Emerson College on Monday says that a special House election in Arizona next week will be tight.
The poll has Democratic candidate Hiral Tipirneni in a “statistical dead heat” with Republican Debbie Lesko for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. Tipirneni had a slight lead, 46 percent to 45 percent. The Emerson poll is a swing from previous polling. A poll last week by OH Predictive Insights had Lesko up 10 percent.

Cuomo still has a huge lead, but it's shrinking

Less than a month into her campaign, Cynthia Nixon has shaved 16 percentage points from what is still a significant poll lead held by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is suffering from some of the lowest favorability ratings of his seven-plus years in office, according to a new survey.
In a head-to-head matchup with Ms. Nixon, an educational activist and actress making her first run for public office, Mr. Cuomo still leads, 58 percent to 27 percent. But that margin, according to Siena College, is substantially less than one found in a similar poll by the school in mid-March, before Ms. Nixon declared her candidacy, when Mr. Cuomo led her by 47 points.
It also comes at a time when Mr. Cuomo, a second-term Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender, is being seen favorably by less than a majority: 49 percent.

Sanders advisor calls bullsh*t on Cuomo

A senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders Tuesday shot back at Gov. Cuomo's campaign for saying the two political leaders are in “lock step.”
“The idea that Andrew Cuomo and Bernie Sanders are lock step on policy is 100% Grade A American bulls---,” Ari Rabin-Havt tweeted Monday.

Bernie Sanders introduces bill to impose jail time for execs behind opioid crisis

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will introduce a bill Tuesday that would impose jail time for pharmaceutical executives whose companies engage in manipulative practices when marketing opioids.
The legislation would impose a 10-year minimum prison sentence and fines equal to an executive’s compensation package if the individual’s company is found to have illegally contributed to the opioid crisis. It would also impose an additional fine on those companies of $7.8 billion — one-tenth the annual cost of the crisis, per a 2016 estimate.

Ed Schultz Blames MSNBC Firing on His Support for Bernie Sanders

Former MSNBC host Ed Schultz ripped his former employer for being “in the tank for Hillary Clinton” and suggested his firing in 2015 was due to his support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Schultz, who now works for RT, told National Review’s Jamie Weinstein in an interview posted last week, about an episode that backs up his claim MSNBC didn’t like his support for Sanders.
Sanders was launching his presidential campaign on May 26, 2015, in Burlington, Vt., and Schultz said his network was the only one planning to cover it live.
Five minutes before Sanders was scheduled to give his speech, Schultz received a call from MSNBC president Phil Griffin, who said, “You’re not covering this.”
The discussion got contentious as Schultz tried to explain why he felt it was important to cover Sanders, he said, but Griffin wouldn’t budge, forcing him to cover something he referred to as “totally meaningless.”
“I think the Clintons were connected to [NBC News chief] Andy Lack, connected at the hip,” Schultz said. “I think that they didn’t want anybody in their primetime or anywhere in their lineup supporting Bernie Sanders. I think that they were in the tank for Hillary Clinton, and I think that it was managed, and 45 days later I was out at MSNBC.”