This morning, PPP released polling of CA-17, commissioned by DFA, and it was absolutely catastrophic for corporate shill Ro Khanna who has wasted well over a million dollars already, relentlessly trying to smear progressive champion Mike Honda. Khanna's campaign is rolling in big dollar contributions from obscenely rich Republicans who feel Khanna is the next best thing to a Republican in this D+20 district which Obama won over Romney 72-26%-- and in which Honda vanquished his last GOP opponent 74-26%.This was the first round of polling that included Republican Vanila Singh who was recruited by U.S. allies of India's neo-fascist Narendra Modi. Her inclusion cut into Khanna's right-wing support drastically. Singh actually came in second in the polling for the jungle primary, indicating that despite all the money wasted by Khanna, he won't even make it into the general election. The results for the primary:
• Mike Honda- 45%• Vanila Singh- 29%• Ro Khanna- 26%
The head-to-head match-ups are equally encouraging for Honda. He bests Khanna 61-39% and beats Singh 69-31%. Honda's approval rating among district voters is a healthy 61%. I'm guessing that Khanna's expressed desire to cut Social Security benefits as part of an Austerity agenda advocated by Republicans and his wealthy donors is not going over well in the district. Honda, on the other hand, has been one of the strongest advocates of strengthening Social Security, not weakening it-- whether the schemes to weaken it come from Republicans or from corporate Democrats:
"I believe, as millions of other Americans do, that our deficits are a problem that deserve our attention, but Social Security spending is not the cause of our deficits. Any attempts to draw down our debt should be done in a sensible, responsible way, and not on the back of those who can least afford it-- struggling American families, seniors, veterans-- including our 3.2 million disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and children on survivors’ benefits."I’m eager to see what protections the President’s proposal has for vulnerable populations, but I am wary because every chained CPI proposal I’ve seen would affect veterans, people with disabilities, seniors on fixed incomes, and would institute compounding benefit cuts that would hurt future retirees harder as time goes on. The average annual Social Security benefit for retirees amounts to a very modest $15,000, yet one-third of seniors rely on Social Security for 90 percent of their income. These seniors cannot afford any reductions. As we face a looming retirement security crisis, with the majority of our workforce lacking private pensions and over one-third of all workers unable to save any money at all for retirement, we should be working together to make Social Security stronger, not weaker, to make our future retirees more secure."Americans all over the country depend on every single dollar they get from Social Security for the food on their table, and the roofs over their backs. At a time when so many of our Americans are already struggling, I strongly oppose benefit cuts to Social Security and will work with my colleagues to ensure that our government fulfills its promise to its future retirees."
Please consider helping keep Congressman Honda competitive against the millions of Republican dollars flooding into his district for Khanna and Singh. You can contribute directly to his campaign here.