FiveThirtyEight’s top stories this week

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Popular This Week] Sunday, January 22, 2023 [1. Biden’s Approval Rating Is Up. Will His Misplaced Classified Documents Bring It Down?]( [0603_POLLA-4×3]( Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. [Read more]( [2. NBA Stars Are Stuffing Stat Sheets Like Never Before. But Why?]( [Dallas Mavericks v Los Angeles Lakers – 4×3]( It’s usually a special occasion when LeBron James has one of his patented statistical eruptions. In Monday’s victory over the Houston Rockets, James notched a hyper-efficient 48 points, to go with eight rebounds, nine assists and zero turnovers. It was an eye-popping output to help carry his short-handed Los Angeles Lakers — even from the player who keeps defying Father Time. [Read more]( [3. The Freedom Caucus Was Designed To Disrupt]( [Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus]( At the beginning of this month, the House endured the longest contest to elect a speaker in 164 years. Rep. Kevin McCarthy ultimately was elected speaker, but only after he made several concessions to a small but influential faction of dissenting conservative Republicans. Though not every member of the Freedom Caucus — a far-right coalition of Republican lawmakers — voted against McCarthy, nearly every member who did oppose him was a member of the Freedom Caucus. [Read more]( [4. Conservatives Bring An Old Policy To A New Fight Over Public Schools]( [EDUCATION-FUNDING-4×3]( School vouchers, which use public funds to send some students to private schools, are more than 30 years old. But this year, bills are being introduced around the country that would push school vouchers into a new frontier. [Read more]( [5. Patrick Mahomes And The Chiefs Are Still Improving On Excellence]( [Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes]( The Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs have crossed over into that rarest territory of sports dominance — teams so consistently good that it’s easy to take them for granted if you’re not careful. With a 14-3 record this year, K.C. just wrapped up its fifth consecutive regular season winning at least 70 percent of its games, joining an exclusive club: [Read more]( [6. Saquon Barkley And Daniel Jones Are Finally Making The Giants Look Good]( [Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones of the New York Giants]( The New York Giants were built to run. Their problem in recent seasons — or, more accurately, one of their many problems — was that their rushing ability never matched the roster-construction dreams of their former general manager, Dave Gettleman. The executive arrived fresh off a tenure leading the Carolina Panthers from 2013 to 2017, a time when the Panthers had a stronger running identity than any team in the league. Gettleman wanted the Giants to bang around in a similar fashion, and he showed it in how he drafted. In his first draft, he spent the No. 2 overall pick on Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, cutting against an anti-tailback conventional wisdom. In the second round, Gettleman took UTEP guard Will Hernandez, whom Gettleman saw as the ideal road grader to open lanes for Barkley. The next year, Gettleman used the No. 6 overall pick on Duke quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones was not strictly speaking a running QB, but with sack yardage filtered out, he had carried for a 5.7-yard average on 321 attempts in three seasons. And in 2020, to both protect Jones and run-block for him and Barkley, the Giants spent two of their first three picks on offensive tackles. [Read more]( [7. Are The Defending Stanley Cup Champs Going To Drift Out Of The Playoffs?]( [Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche]( Last year, the Colorado Avalanche made history as one of the most dominant Stanley Cup champions to ever take the ice. This year’s Avs are threatening to make history, too — but not the good kind. [Read more]( [8. After A Surprisingly Tense Wild-Card Weekend, Are Blowouts Looming In The Divisional Round?]( [SportsChat-0117-4×3]( maya (Maya Sweedler, editor): The 2022 NFL playoffs started off with some exciting games that produced unexciting results, with only the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys knocking off a higher-seeded team (though the Cowboys, who had a better record, entered the game favored by 2.5 points). But the chalkiness of the results belies how close some of these games were. [Read more]( [9. One Major Concession From The Speaker Election Isn’t As Major As It Seems]( [House Will Investigate Biden, Family And Policies]( As now-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was frantically striking deals in Congress to secure him the speakership earlier this month, his allies at the Congressional Leadership Fund promised something that, on its face, seemed like a big concession. The political action committee promised not to spend money for any candidates in an open-seat primary in a safe Republican House district. In exchange, another major GOP group, the anti-establishment Club for Growth, agreed to endorse McCarthy for speaker. [Read more]( [10. How Americans’ Support For Aiding Ukraine Has Evolved]( [0113_POLLA-4×3]( Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. 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