CBS News
CBS News poll finds tight race in Georgia, where Trump has 2-point edge over Harris
It’s a toss-up race for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. Four years after the state narrowly went blue for the first time in decades, the presidential race there remains tight. Donald Trump is currently at 51% in preferences of likely voters, with Kamala Harris just two points behind him.
Financial concerns continue to give Trump an advantage, but not to quite the same degree it did when Joe Biden was his opponent. Meanwhile, widespread concern about democracy keeps Harris competitive. Georgia’s voters are divided over recent actions by the State Election Board, and there are stark partisan divides in confidence in the election system, as well as in what should happen after the votes are counted in November.
Economy and finances
Many feel worse off financially than they were before the COVID pandemic. About half of registered voters in the state say Trump’s second-term policies would make them better off financially — similar to the number when we checked in this spring. Only a third say the same of Harris. While she trails Trump on this measure, it’s noticeably better than President Biden did in the state.
Rising costs are still a top concern across Georgia, with housing prices seen as particularly burdensome. Eight in 10 voters say their income isn’t keeping up with inflation, and seven in 10 say housing in their part of Georgia is unaffordable. On the latter issue, Harris and Trump are seen by roughly equal numbers as likely to help bring housing costs down.
Democracy and elections
As Georgia continues to deal with the aftermath of the 2020 election, most voters say the state of democracy is a major factor in their vote this year. While economic issues rank higher as a factor, most voters feel “very concerned” about whether the U.S. will have a functioning democracy when they think about the next few years. And this group is leaning toward Harris.
As far as elections in Georgia itself, Democrats are much more confident than Republicans that their votes will be counted correctly this year. Most Republicans continue to give credence to debunked claims of widespread fraud in 2020. Four in 10 Trump voters would prefer Georgia’s 2024 results be challenged and investigated if Harris wins after the votes are counted. Nearly all Republicans don’t view Mr. Biden’s win in 2020 as legitimate.
Democrats are more concerned than Republicans that some of Georgia’s election officials will refuse to certify the election results for political reasons.
The State Election Board recently voted to require election workers to hand count ballots on election night this November, in addition to a machine count. Most voters say this new rule will cause delays in finding out results. They are more split on whether it will ensure accuracy or reduce risk of fraud, with views heavily divided by partisanship.
Majorities of Democrats feel the board did this for political reasons and to deliberately interfere with the election process. Republicans by and large feel it was to ensure elections are secure.
Other issues: guns and abortion
Just a few weeks after the deadliest school shooting in state history, most voters say they are very concerned about the possibility of gun violence in schools. That’s especially true of parents in the state, and majorities across party lines are at least somewhat concerned.
Six in 10 say laws covering gun sales should be made more strict in Georgia. Harris has a bit of an advantage on the issue, but neither candidate gets many voters who say their policies would reduce gun violence in the state.
Most Georgia voters support legal abortion, but their views on the details are more complicated.
Six in 10 want abortion in Georgia to be legal in most or all cases. That majority includes a third of Republicans. However, fewer call Georgia’s current law banning most abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy, “too strict.” Only half of voters statewide say so, with four in 10 saying the law is about right.
And just under half say being pregnant in Georgia is becoming more dangerous since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. They are backing Harris over Trump by 4 to 1, while voters who don’t feel this way about being pregnant are the mirror image in their vote choice.
There’s agreement across party lines that Harris would try to pass national legislation making abortion legal, but voters divide on what Trump would do. Most Democrats say he would try to pass a national ban, while most Republicans say he would leave it to the states to decide.
Abortion and gun policy are more salient on the left than the right these days. In fact, they rate about as highly as the economy as major factors in the vote choice of Harris supporters.
About half of registered voters say Harris is more liberal than they would like her to be, a notch higher than the four in 10 who say Trump is too conservative. However, this flips among self-described moderates, who are more likely to see Trump as too conservative than Harris as too liberal.
Key voter groups
The Atlanta metro area and its diverse suburbs were key to Democrats’ statewide victories in 2020 and 2022. At the moment, Harris isn’t matching Mr. Biden’s 2020 support in these counties.
And while Black voters are backing her in large numbers, they aren’t doing so at quite the same rates they voted for Mr. Biden four years back. Harris does slightly better among Black women than Black men, and even a small increase in Black support for her would make the race dead even.
Nearly nine in 10 Black voters feel Harris is trying to earn the support of Black voters. Only about half say so of Trump — that number is down from this spring, when most felt he was.
Trump leads Georgia’s men by double digits, while Harris leads women more narrowly — that is producing a gender gap on par with what we saw in 2020.
There’s some room for movement in the electorate, but not a lot. About one in 10 likely voters in the state profile as persuadable, using a fairly broad definition of being unsure of one’s choice or willing to consider the other candidate. That means nine in 10 are locked into their choice, and even many of the persuadable will stick with the way they’re leaning now. That all points to the importance of turnout, including new registrations.
With mail balloting underway in Georgia, Democrats are poised to bank a small lead in the coming weeks. Their voters make up a majority of those who plan to vote by mail. In-person early voting, which begins in mid-October, remains the most popular way of casting a ballot in the state. And those who plan to vote this way divide evenly between Trump and Harris. More voters are set to vote on Election Day this year than did so in 2020, and as we saw back then, this group favors Trump by a wide margin.
Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus contributed to this report.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a statewide representative sample of 1,441 registered voters in Georgia interviewed between September 20-24, 2024. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education and geographic region, based on U.S. Census data and voter files, as well as to past vote. The margin of error for registered voters is ±3.5 points.
One of the biggest investors in Trump Media & Technology Group has sold more than 7.5 million shares in former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social service, according to a new regulatory filing.
The investor, United Atlantic Ventures, owned 7.525 million shares in Trump Media as of March, or about 4% of the company’s outstanding shares, according to financial data firm FactSet. Trump is the company’s largest shareholder, holding about 60% of the stock, which trades under the ticker “DJT,” the same as Trump’s initials.
“As of the date of this filing, United Atlantic Ventures LLC owns 100 shares,” the filing states.
United Atlantic Ventures is the creation of two former contestants on “The Apprentice,” the reality show that starred Trump starting in 2004. Those ex-contestants, Andrew Litinsky and Wes Moss, had worked on the debut of the Truth Social network, but the relationship between the pair and the business soon soured, spinning into multiple lawsuits.
In March, a day before the DJT stock went public, Trump Media sued Litinsky and Moss, alleging they mismanaged the business and should be stripped of their shares. As part of their initial deal with Trump, the co-founders had received 8.6 million shares of Trump Media.
Meanwhile, Litinsky and Moss had filed an earlier complaint in February to prevent the former president from taking steps they claimed would sharply reduce their stake in Trump Media.
It’s unclear when United Atlantic Ventures sold the shares, but the filing comes after the expiration of a lock-up period that prevented insiders including Trump from selling their stakes. Such lock-up provisions are common in initial stock sales to prevent big shareholders from dumping their shares on the market, which would undercut the stock’s price.
Trump Media & Technology Group didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
If United Atlantic Ventures sold its shares on September 20, the first day after the expiration of the lock-up period, the sale proceeds would have amounted to $102 million. However, DJT shares slid over the following several days, hitting a low of $11.75 on September 24. At that price, the value would have dropped to $89 million.
Since hitting a low on September 24, DJT shares have rebounded slightly, ending trading Thursday at $14.13. But the stock has lost much of its value since its debut, plunging 82% since its peak of $79.38 on March 26.
CBS News
Gov. Newsom signs law to shed light on state storage of newborn DNA, prompted by 10-year CBS News California investigation
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill (SB 1099) Wednesday prompted by a decade-long CBS News California investigation into California’s newborn genetic biobank.
We still won’t know who is using your DNA for research, or what the research is for, but the California Department of Public Health must now reveal the number of newborn DNA samples that California is storing and the number of DNA samples that the state sells to researchers each year.
California has stored blood spots from every baby born in the state since the 1980s. Researchers and law enforcement can use those DNA samples without your knowledge or consent.
If you’re related to someone who was born in California since 1983, a portion of your DNA is likely in the state’s massive Newborn Genetic Biobank. In response to our decade-long investigation, lawmakers introduced several bills this year that were intended to shed light on how the state is amassing and using California’s newborn DNA stockpile.
SB 1099 was the only bill to survive the legislative session.
While privacy advocates say it is a step in the right direction, recent amendments raise new questions about the appearance of state secrecy.
The initial bill was heavily amended to remove the requirements for the state to reveal which researchers are purchasing the DNA and what they are using it for.
Privacy advocates plan to try again next year.
See our continuing coverage on newborn blood spot privacy concerns here.
Learn more about newborn bloodspot storage and how to opt out of storage or research here.
Washington — Special counsel Jack Smith has filed what is expected to be a key legal brief in the federal case against former President Donald Trump related to the 2020 presidential election, but kept it under wraps as the judge weighs the next steps.
Smith’s filing, which prosecutors said would run up to 180 pages, is expected to provide the most comprehensive look at the evidence federal prosecutors have compiled in their case against Trump, which was upended by the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on presidential immunity. The filing was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday. The court set a deadline of 5 p.m. for the filing.
“We have complied with the court’s order,” the special counsel’s office said in a statement.
The former president pleaded not guilty to four counts arising from what the special counsel alleges was an unlawful scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election to hold on to power for four more years.
The filing, as well as any accompanying exhibits, could give the public its most substantial window into the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the transfer of power, if the document or portions of it are made available. It contains a “substantial amount” of sensitive information, such as recordings, transcripts and reports of witness testimony that typically is kept secret, Smith’s team said in a separate filing.
Smith’s team filed the document under seal, meaning it was not released publicly. Whether the submission is made available — and when — will be up to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case.
Trump’s 2020 election case
Smith initially brought charges against Trump in August 2023, but a federal grand jury returned a new indictment narrowing the allegations last month after the Supreme Court ruled that the former president is absolutely immune from prosecution for official actions taken while in the White House.
The decision has led to additional proceedings before Chutkan, who must now consider whether the newly alleged conduct can give way to criminal charges in compliance with the Supreme Court’s opinion.
Federal prosecutors have argued the new indictment adheres to the high court’s decision and stressed that Trump was acting as a candidate seeking the presidency rather than the office-holder. Among the allegations that Smith and his team have made is that the former president enlisted Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally reject state electoral votes during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, which he presided over in a ceremonial role as president of the Senate.
But Trump’s lawyers have asserted that those communications with Pence are subject to immunity and therefore cannot be used in the case against him. They have indicated that they will seek to have the entire indictment tossed out on those and other grounds.
The two sides appeared before Chutkan earlier this month for their first meeting since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling to hash out a schedule for how the case should move forward. While Trump’s lawyers had proposed a series of deadlines that would push proceedings into 2025, the judge adopted a schedule that sees most filings submitted before the November election.
The path Chutkan laid out means the public could learn more about Smith’s case against the former president, and the evidence he has amassed, before Election Day. Trump is vying for a second term in the White House and is locked in a tight race with Vice President Kamala Harris, with the election now less than six weeks away.
If Trump wins, he could order the Justice Department to seek to drop the charges against him.
Lawyers for the former president have argued that evidence gathered by the special counsel and his team should not be made public before the election and raised concerns to Chutkan about potentially damaging information coming to light as voters begin casting ballots.
The judge, though, has made clear that the upcoming election will not factor into her decision-making, though she said earlier this month that setting a trial date would be an “exercise in futility.”
Any decision Chutkan makes about whether the conduct alleged in the new indictment is covered by presidential immunity will likely be appealed up to the Supreme Court.
In the opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the conservative majority laid out three categories of presidential acts and corresponding levels of immunity. Actions taken within a president’s exclusive constitutional authority are entitled to absolute immunity, official acts are entitled to the presumption of immunity and unofficial acts are not entitled to immunity at all.
The Supreme Court wiped away one aspect of the indictment under its new standard, finding that Trump is shielded from criminal charges for alleged conduct involving his discussions with Justice Department officials. But they left it to the district court to determine whether a prosecution involving the rest of Trump’s alleged actions, including the efforts to influence Pence’s oversight of Congress’ certification of electoral votes, is allowed.
Chutkan said in a filing earlier this week that she is conducting a “close” and “fact specific” analysis of the indictment’s allegations, as directed by the Supreme Court.
contributed to this report.
Trump Media & Technology Group investor sold more than 7 million shares of DJT
Mom suspects an MPS aide assaulted her child with special needs
Lao community mourns as 5-year legal saga to convert a derelict hotel into a Buddhist temple ends in demolition in rural Jackson, Minn.
Trump Media & Technology Group investor sold more than 7 million shares of DJT
Mom suspects an MPS aide assaulted her child with special needs