A series of polls has asked respondents in swing states whether they would vote for a Republican or Democrat if Donald Trump led the ticket versus if Ron DeSantis headed the party. The polls were conducted by Republican pollsters Public Opinion Strategies in Georgia and Arizona, and by WPA Intelligence in Oregon, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In each state, the results showed the GOP would win more votes with DeSantis leading than with Trump. In Michigan, the difference was 14 percentage points, with DeSantis leading 47-33. In Oregon, DeSantis led by three points. The difference was smaller in the other states, with DeSantis leading by an average of four percentage points. Multiple polls have shown this trend, and combined with recent election results, paint the picture of the GOP being better off without Trump. However, it is noted the polls were conducted by pollsters that are sympathetic to DeSantis, but each survey was independent and not commissioned by the Governor.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has caused China to delay its ambition to invade Taiwan. Speaking at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington, Clinton offered assessments on a range of subjects including Joe Biden’s re-election, US-China relations and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Clinton warned that Donald Trump's re-election in 2024 would “spell the end of democracy” in the US and the “end of Ukraine”. She also described Putin as “complicated, Messianic, narcissistic authoritarian” whose intention was to pull the US out of NATO if Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Clinton added that she no longer believes China’s President Xi will make a move on Taiwan within three or four years as previously expected. Clinton urged voters to judge Biden on his record rather than his age. She also endorsed Biden’s penultimate move to push the Democratic National Committee and overhaul the party’s nominating process in the wake of the 2020 Iowa caucuses marked by delayed results due to a faulty vote-counting app.
FT columnist Rana Foroohar has backed US de-risking rather than decoupling when it comes to China. She said targeting economic chokepoints and concentrations of power that granted monopoly power to nations or private businesses would lessen economic coercion by safeguarding chips, gas, digital data, raw materials, and manufacturing capacity. This allowed for cooler US-China relations while still tackling the core issues. However, she also questioned China's reasons for pursuing tougher espionage rules, which will hinder any foreign business sending digital information across its borders.
JPMorgan Chase is to spend $15.7bn on new initiatives, including investments in technology, marketing and hiring, according to co-head of the bank’s consumer and community division, Marianne Lake. Her unit is set to spend $7.9bn on new investments, which represents an $800m increase from 2022. The announcement comes on the back of a year in which smaller lenders have faced pressure and represents the latest example of the widening gap between small and large US banks. The wider spending will be $2bn more than the bank spent last year.
The Donbas city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine appears to have been almost entirely destroyed, with Kiev moving its military focus to the city's outskirts after 10 months of heavy fighting. Reports say the Russians claimed victory last week and Ukraine conceded that only a few of its soldiers remained. However, there are ongoing battles for land surrounding Bakhmut including high ground taken by Russian forces over the winter months. The capture represents Russia's first major battlefield victory in Ukraine since last summer. Climate-related drought and population growth have also played their part in the tribulations of the Ukraine in recent years. Meanwhile, Arizona, California and Nevada have agreed to take less water from the drought-strained Colorado River to avoid jeopardising cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles and, particularly, some of the country’s most productive farmland.
