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L awrence J ournal -W orld - USA TODAY MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2016
Uber, Lyft say bias won’t be tolerated v CONTINUED FROM 1B
proximately 30% longer to be picked up than white riders. Black riders waited on average 5:15 minutes while white riders waited 4 minutes. The researchers suggested drivers may have taken longer to identify black riders at pickup, adding to the wait time. Uber drivers do not see riders’ photos, only their names. There were no statistically significant differences in waiting times for Lyft users. In Boston, the study compared riders of multiple races who could plausibly have been either black or white. They were given two accounts on each service, one with an African-American-sounding name and one with a white-sounding name. When they tried to hail rides with a black-sounding name, the ride cancellation rate was double that of those using white-sounding names, 10.1% vs. 4.9%. “Going from almost never having a ride canceled to having one in six of your trips canceled is going from ‘Very convenient’ to ‘This is a pain in the butt,’ ” said Don MacKenzie, an author of the paper and professor of transportation engineering at the University of Washington. Despite the differences, Black Seattleites or Bostonians using African-American-sounding names didn’t have a perceptible increase in average wait times, probably because the network of drivers in both cities is so dense there were always other drivers available, the researchers said. Uber and Lyft emphasized that they do not tolerate discrimination and their belief that ridesharing apps make transportation more equitable and available than taxis. That was borne out when researchers had students hail cabs in downtown Seattle. The first available taxi stopped 60% of the time for a white student but less than 20% of the time for black students. The white students never had more than four taxis pass them before one stopped. AfricanAmerican students saw six or seven cabs pass them in 20% of cases. “We believe Uber is helping reduce transportation inequities across the board, but studies like this one are helpful in thinking about how we can do even more,” said Rachel Holt, head of North American operations for the company. Corrections & Clarifications
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Clinton loses shine with Millennials v CONTINUED FROM 1B
“Trump is a menace to society.” Clinton does hold some powerful weapons with Millennials that Trump lacks: influential friends. President Obama’s endorsement was rated as “very important” by 34% of those surveyed, including 54% of Democrats. The embrace of Sanders, the Vermont senator whose presidential bid in the Democratic primaries was fueled by his strength among younger voters, was seen as very important by 26%, including 43% of those who had backed him. “His blessing towards Hillary Clinton made me feel more than I should vote for her,” says Jonathan Richards, 26, a personal assistant from Westbury, on New York’s Long Island. “If he trusted her, then I could.” India Alcorn, 25, a stay-athome mother from Florida’s Spring Hill, north of Tampa, was less convinced. “It seemed very forced, almost,” she says of Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton. She’s still undecided. “I’m terrified of Trump and terrified of Hillary, so it’s kind of in-between on them. I don’t know which one is the lesser evil, basically.” She hesitates to cast her ballot for her preferred candidate, Libertarian Gary Johnson. “It’s not good that it comes down to voting for a third party,” she frets, “only because people say third party is kind of pointless and all that.” Trump continues to show historic weakness among younger voters, backed by 21%. And he doesn’t have the advantage of being able to deploy surrogates with sway. The endorsement of former
JAY LAPRETE, AP
Hillary Clinton takes a selfie with young supporters at Fort Hayes Vocational School in Columbus, Ohio, in June. New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters, was rated as “very important” by just 10% of younger Americans. That influence was dwarfed by the power of parents (“very important” for 31%) and friends (26%). What’s more, despite declarations at campaign rallies appealing for support from African Americans, Trump is backed by only 6% of black Millennials who are likely to vote, another historic low. He is supported by 19% of Latinos. The poll of 1,299 young adults, taken Oct. 24-27 by Ipsos Public
Affairs, included an over-sample of racial minorities and Hispanics to provide statistically significant data for a breakdown of presidential support. The online poll has a credibility interval, akin to a margin of error, of +/-3.5 percentage points for the full sample and +/-5.5 points for the subsample of 668 likely voters. Among Millennials likely to vote, Clinton leads Trump among whites by more than 2-1, 57%27%. But her yawning Millennial margin comes from her 14-1 support among African Americans (84%-6%); 4-1 support among Asian Americans (67%-15%) and
3-1 support among Latinos (66%-19%). Her lopsided support among minority and Hispanic Millennials mirrors her strength among those demographic groups in the electorate generally. But white Millennials are much more likely to support her than their elders. In the latest USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, released last week, Clinton trailed Trump among white likely voters overall 41% to 45%. There’s another way Millennial voting patterns differ from the electorate at large. Among all voters, Clinton has built a solid lead among women while the divide among men is close. But in this survey, as in the four previous polls in the USA TODAY/Rock the Vote series this year, men younger than 35 are much more likely to support Clinton than their female counterparts: 56% of younger men compared with 43% of younger women. “I went back and forth for a while” between Clinton and Trump, says Natalie Spencer, 24, an IT worker from Rockville, Md., just outside Washington. She was interested in Obama’s endorsement but has settled on supporting Trump because of questions about Clinton’s honesty. “It just seems sketchy to have someone like that for president,” she says of the former secretary of State. “Hillary Clinton is a liar and Donald Trump is, you know,” says Marcus Reynolds, 32, who clerks at a grocery store in Detroit. “But I’m for Hillary Clinton because I’m a Democrat to my heart ... and because Clinton to me is more qualified.”
Trump revels in new email debacle v CONTINUED FROM 1B
ing at and issued only a vague statement on a Friday afternoon just 11 days before an election. Campaign chairman John Podesta, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, said his team doesn’t know what new documents Comey is talking about, and he at least thought “it would explain if he thinks they’re significant or not significant. ... Let him come forward and say why.” Trump reveled in the news throughout the weekend, telling supporters it underscores his claims of Clinton “corruption,” ranging from the ex-secretary of State’s handling of classified information to claims of “pay to play” involving the Clinton Foundation and her State Department. During his rally in Las Vegas, Trump pointed out that the FBI announcement stemmed from another investigation, this one into allegations that former U.S. representative Anthony Weiner sexted a 15-year-old girl. Weiner is the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin; the couple are now separated. “We never thought we were going to say thank you to Anthony Weiner,” Trump told backers. Associates of the Republican nominee said the FBI news also speaks to doubts that voters have about Clinton. “Frankly, I think they’ve also come to the conclusion that Hillary Clinton is a risky choice to be the next president of the United States,” Trump running mate Mike Pence said on NBC’s Meet the Press. In July, Comey announced that the bureau would not pursue charges against Clinton and that the FBI found no evidence of intentional mishandling of classified information. Trump and other Republicans criticized Comey for that decision. Speaking to supporters Saturday, Clinton said Comey now owes an explanation about his October letter to Congress: “It is pretty strange — it’s pretty strange — to put something like that out with such little information right before an election,” she said. “In fact, it is not just strange: It is unprecedented and deeply troubling.” Podesta told reporters: “Just to recap and put this in perspective, there’s no evidence of wrongdoing, no charge of wrongdoing, no indication that this is even about Hillary.” The Republican team sees the FBI news as a potential turning point in a race that seemed to be slipping away from Trump just a few days ago. A series of polls last week gave Clinton solid leads over Trump, both nationally and in battleground states he needs to win in order to amass the 270
EVAN VUCCI, AP
“We never thought we were going to say thank you to Anthony Weiner,” Donald Trump said.
Feds in talks to get emails from laptop used by Huma Abedin Kevin Johnson USA TODAY
Federal authorities are in discussions with representatives of longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to get permission to search a computer Abedin used so agents can review newly discovered emails that may be related to the previously closed investigation of Clinton’s handling of classified information, an official familiar with the matter said Sunday. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said discussions have been underway to secure approval for the review of the laptop used by both Abedin and her estranged husband, former representative Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. The questionable emails first surfaced in a separate investigation of Weiner’s sexually charged contacts with a 15-year-old girl. The laptop was seized during that inquiry. NBC News and ABC News both reported Sunday that the FBI had obtained a warrant to search the emails on Weiner’s computer that relate to the probe of Clinton’s server. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that there may be up to 650,000 emails on the lap-
Huma Abedin
SETH WENIG, AP
top, but it is unclear how many may be relevant to the Clinton email server investigation. FBI Director James Comey announced Friday that the bureau had uncovered emails that may be related to the FBI probe of Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of State. Comey had announced in July that while Clinton had mishandled classified information on her private email, he would not recommend criminal charges against her. Democrats were outraged by Comey’s announcement Friday that the bureau was reviewing more emails, saying that he provided so little detail as to open the door to an array of conspiracy theories. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had urged Comey not to announce the new review, saying it violated the Justice Department’s policy of not interfering in elections.
electoral votes needed for victory. Polls over the weekend — including ones with questions asked before the FBI announcement — showed a tighter race, including in such pivotal states as North Carolina and Florida. Texas-based political consultant Matt Mackowiak said continued news stories about Clinton will benefit Trump and Republican congressional candidates. Mackowiak said Clinton probably remains the favorite — she “has a better path to 270 electoral votes” — but “there is much greater uncertainty and volatility today than there was Friday morning.” Democrats, meanwhile, sought to rally their voters in light of the new developments. The Campaign for America’s Future/Institute for America’s Future, which describes itself as “the strategy center for the progressive movement,” told backers in a fundraising e-mail Sunday that Trump “has closed the gap with Hillary Clinton,” and the “trend goes one place, and it’s not good.” Urging supporters to get themselves and others to the polls, the e-mail said that “this election will be won on the ground.” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said early polling since Friday reflects “a slight dent” in Clinton’s lead nationally, but it’s not clear if it will shift results in states that generate electoral votes. A loss of Clinton votes could help Republicans in congressional races and other down-ballot contests, Murray said. “The news has energized his supporters” Murray said of Trump.