FiveThirtyEight’s top politics stories this week

[FiveThirtyEight]( Popular in Politics Thursday, August, 08, 2024 [1. Why immigration is a better issue for Trump than it was in 2020]( [Why immigration is a better issue for Trump than it was in 2020]( The issue of immigration has fueled former President Donald Trump's dominance over the Republican Party for the past nine years. When he first ran for office, negative views of immigrants [were an important factor]( in him winning the GOP nomination. Those views were [an even stronger predictor]( of voting for him in the 2024 primaries. [Read more]( [2. Harris and Trump are tied in 538’s new polling averages]( [Harris and Trump are tied in 538’s new polling averages]( Good news, polling fans: 538 now has polling averages for the new presidential matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. As of Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern, our [average of national polls]( says Harris has the support of 45.0 percent of voters, while Trump garners 43.5 percent. [Read more]( [3. Tim Walz was the safe VP pick]( [Tim Walz was the safe VP pick]( In the end, Vice President Kamala Harris made the safe choice. [Read more]( [4. Can Harris ride memes all the way to the White House?]( [Can Harris ride memes all the way to the White House?]( Don't worry, we will not be subjecting you to another punny Kamala Harris lede. [Read more]( [5. What are the best pollsters in America?]( [What are the best pollsters in America?]( With former President Donald Trump’s recent Republican presidential primary victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, we can now say [with near certainty]( that the 2024 general election will feature a rematch between President Joe Biden and his predecessor. Both the stakes of the election and the odds of the outcome are of great importance, and people will be paying them a lot of attention over the next 10 months. And if social media conversations and news coverage about the primary are any indication, public opinion polls will feature very heavily in the discourse about the general election. [Read more]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe](