Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* A new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows Joe Biden leading Donald Trump, 51% to 43%, among registered voters. A month earlier, this same poll showed the former vice president ahead, 50% to 41%.
* On a related note, the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found Biden ahead by a similar margin among likely voters nationwide, 52% to 43%. The gender gap is enormous — Trump leads by four points among men, while Biden leads by 22 points among women — but the education gap is even bigger: Trump leads by seven points among those without college degrees, while Biden leads by 31 points among those with college degrees.
* In a striking sign of the times, Hungary’s anti-democratic prime minister, Viktor Orban, is now publicly supporting Trump’s re-election bid, condemning Democrats for supporting “moral imperialism.”
* How did Democratic donors respond to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing? In part by grabbing their wallets: in the 9 p.m. (E.T.) hour, ActBlue received $6.2 million, which was a record for the donation-processing site. In the following hour, donors gave another $6.3 million.
* Speaking of fundraising, the National Republican Senatorial Committee raised about $19 million in August, which looked terrific for the party, right up until the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it had raised nearly $27 million the same month. Both set records for the respective party committees.
* In Iowa’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found Theresa Greenfield (D) with a narrow lead over incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst (R), 45% to 42%, among likely voters. In June, the same poll found Greenfield with a three-point advantage. * Speaking of competitive U.S. Senate races, the latest New York Times/Siena poll found incumbent Sen. Steve Daines (R) leading Gov. Steve Bullock (D) by the narrowest of margins, 45% to 44%, but the same survey found a Green Party candidate with 3.5% support, and we now know that candidate will not be on the ballot. * On a related note, that same poll found Trump leading Biden in Montana by seven points, 49% to 42%. Four years ago, the Republican ticket carried Montana by 19 points. * At a campaign event on Friday night, Trump said, in reference to Biden and the coming election, “If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I will never speak to you again. You’ll never see me again.” Some suggested that’d be an effective Democratic ad. Team Biden apparently agreed, turning it into a 10-second video that’s been seen 14 million times.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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