The Western Word is coming to you, STILL, I repeat STILL, coronavirus free, from deep inside an underground bunker in Montana. The bunker also serves as the worldwide headquarters for The Western Word blog!

Quote of the day…

The most powerful way to win an argument is by asking questions. –Anonymous

Welcome to “Thursday Numbers!” In case you’re a first-time visitor, this is the weekly column where I take a look at the numbers that are in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary sometimes sprinkled with sarcasm and humor.

This week’s topics include Bloomberg, unemployment, Gianforte, coronavirus deaths in the USA, coronavirus cases in Montana, casting ballots by mail, 2020 Census response rate in Montana, Trump approval rating, stay-at-home orders poll, battleground states polls, and much more!

1,221,777,405.26

Former Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg spent a total of $1,221,777,405.26 running for President. That’s $1.2 billion. He was in the race for four months. (National Review)

That money could have been used for a lot of great things.

4,427,000

In the week ending April 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 4,427,000, a decrease of 810,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 8,000 from 5,245,000 to 5,237,000. The 4-week moving average was 5,786,500, an increase of 280,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 2,000 from 5,508,500 to 5,506,500. (DOL.gov)

1,050,000

Republican governor candidate and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte has the most cash in the bank leading up to the June 2 primary, at just over $310,500. The candidate also loaned his campaign $500,000 on April 6, bringing his total in loans for the election to $1.05 million. (Lee Newspapers)

Although less than Bloomberg’s loan, Gianforte’s loans to his campaign could be used for something so much better.

47,579

As of early Thursday morning, that is how many people have died from the coronavirus in the United States. That’s about 145 deaths per one million people. There have been 842,391 positive cases. (Reuters)

439

As of Thursday morning that is the number of coronavirus cases in Montana. There have been 14 deaths. (Montana.gov)

Stay safe out there…

58

A majority of voters — 58 percent — favor nationwide reform of election rules that would allow all eligible voters to cast their ballots by mail, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds. (NBC)

I favor voting by mail. I just received my school election/levy ballot in the mail yesterday. By the way, I will be voting in favor of the levy because I support public schools and Great Falls.

45

That’s Montana’s rank in the 2020 Census self-response. Montana has an embarrassingly low 43.6 response rate. Minnesota leads the nation with a 61.6% rating. The average is 51.6%. (Census.gov)

Montanans are afraid of the ‘gub-a-ment.’

43.6

That’s the current approval rating of President Donald Trump. His disapproval rating is 52.4. (FiveThirtyEight)

Trump is killing himself every day when he holds the press conference and says stupid things and then gets pissed when he’s asked about it.

12

Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a new survey finds. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that only 12% of Americans say the measures where they live go too far. About twice as many people, 26%, believe the limits don’t go far enough. The majority of Americans — 61% — feel the steps taken by government officials to prevent infections of COVID-19 in their area are about right. (AP)

The problem is that many people are not following the rules…

3

Republican President Donald Trump trails Democrat Joe Biden among registered voters in three Midwestern battleground states that he narrowly carried in 2016 and are seen as crucial to winning November’s election. The poll, which ran from April 15-20 in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, showed 45% of registered voters said they would support Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, while 39% said they would support Trump. (Reuters)

That is not good news for Trump.

##END##