The U.S. presidential polls

SEATTLE — President Joe Biden was here last week. Except for the traffic slowdown his visit was uneventful. At best, he must have raised some money for his campaign kitty, at worse the visit was foreboding. A few days after, the major news networks screamed: “Donald Trump leads Joe Biden in five crucial battleground states less than six months from Election Day.”

The projection is based not on one but three independent surveys conducted by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena College and which had former President Trump leading in Pennsylvania by three points, Arizona by 7, Michigan by 7, Georgia by 10 and Nevada by 12 points. President Biden led by only 2 points in Wisconsin.

Of course, the Democrats were not short on statements to belittle the results. “The only consistency in recent public polls is inconsistency. These results need to be weighed against the 30-plus polls that show Biden up and gaining which is exactly why drawing broad conclusions about the race based on results from one poll is a mistake,” they said.

Sounds familiar? The only difference is that in our political arena, the image builders of survey tail enders come up with their own surveys showing their clients on top.

Familiar, too is the number of cases filed against Trump, which would impact his chances of winning. He faces 88 charges in four federal indictments in different states. The largest number of 40 charges is for his alleged willful retention of classified information when he took home to Florida classified papers from the White House.

In our case, the next presidential polls will still be in 2028, but from day one members of the House of Representatives identified with VP Inday Sara Duterte were removed from their House posts despite belonging to the same ruling party, Lakas-CMD.

VP Sara of course was not intimidated and proceeded to make Speaker Martin Romualdez and his ilk happy by resigning from the ruling party.

“I am here today because of the trust of the Filipino people in me to lead and serve them and the country, and this cannot be poisoned by political toxicity or undermined by execrable political power play,” she said.

The US presidential election will be held in the first week of November this year. Among the major issues the American people are concerned about are inflation, housing, climate change, women’s reproductive rights, and immigration. Survey respondents, especially Republicans, have ranked immigration the number one issue since October last year.

The Biden administration relaxed immigration laws which invited hordes of Mexicans and other likely illegal immigrants to pour in through the US-Mexico border. Federal troops had to be dispatched to the border to curb the problem.

Oh well, the US has strict immigration laws but pays out a lot of taxpayer money for the welfare of illegal immigrants. That’s the sweetener that draws migrants from other countries.

A classic example are members of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s KoJC who fled the Philippines on the eve of a special audit of church finances. They sought asylum in the USA at the expense of the pastor who saved them from the quagmire of poverty and despondency. The FBI surprisingly swallowed their story which our own Senate, in aid of election, also “believed.”

I don’t know what fates await Biden and Trump. There are about 4.2-million Filipino-Americans in the United States of America and not a few of them loved former President Rodrigo R. Duterte for his iron-fist policy against criminality and drugs.

In a statement to the press last month, Duterte made it known that he is for Trump.

But then again, Biden is not short of supporters from the Philippines. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is undoubtedly his ally in politics and in war.