memeorandum: Poll: Election 2016 shapes up as a contest of negatives (Dan Balz/Washington Post)

4:10 PM ET, May 22, 2016

Top Items:

Poll: Election 2016 shapes up as a contest of negatives — The coming presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump begins in a virtual dead heat, a competition between two candidates viewed unfavorably by a majority of the current electorate and with voters motivated as much by whom …

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, Politico, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and RedState

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Begrudging WaPo poll: Trump 46%, Clinton 44% — It's not the headline, and it takes 219 words to get there, but a new Washington Post poll on the presidential race reveals that Republican Donald Trump leads Democrat Hillary Clinton among registered voters 46 percent to 44 percent.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Scared Monkeys, Althouse and Prntly

Gary Langer / ABC News:

A Post-Primary Rally Boosts Trump, Albeit with Challenges Aplenty (POLL) — A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows a close contest in presidential election preferences, with Republicans lining up behind Donald Trump as their party's presumptive nominee while the continued Democratic race …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and The Last Refuge

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Clinton's Lead Over Trump Shrinks to 3 Points: New NBC News/WSJ Poll — Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Clash over Gun Control 2:10 — Hillary Clinton's advantage over Donald Trump has narrowed to just three points — resulting in a dead-heat general-election contest with more than five months …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, AOL, Washington Free Beacon and Politico

Matthew Nussbaum / Politico:

Sanders: Voters see Clinton as ‘the lesser of two evils’ — American voters should not be forced to pick between “the lesser of two evils” this November, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says. — Asked in an interview airing Sunday on ABC's “This Week” if that's how he'd describe a possible match …

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post, Guardian, Outside the Beltway and New York Times

ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript: Sen. Bernie Sanders

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, Politicus USA, Raw Story and Politico

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill: Sanders: Clinton can beat Trump in November

New York Daily News:
KING: Here's why I'm leaving the Democratic Party after this presidential election and you should too

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Hill

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Weakend at Bernie's — WASHINGTON — HILLARY CLINTON is the Democratic nominee.

Discussion: Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog and Mediaite

Meg Gatto / WVUE-TV:

Five-year-old shoots, kills self while playing with gun — A five-year-old in Laplace gets her hands on a gun, and accidentally shoots and kills herself. The accident happened Saturday at 9:45 a.m. at the girl's home on Country Club Drive. — Many residents on Country Club Drive …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jennifer Crockett / WDSU-TV:

St. John sheriff: 5-year-old kills self with father's gun — Haley Moore died at the hospital Saturday — Five-year-old Haley Moore was spending the weekend at her dad's house with her older sister and brother. The family was supposed to go see a movie Saturday.

Discussion: Washington Post, AOL and Talking Points Memo

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:

Trump: I Don't Want Guns In Classrooms, But Some Teachers Should Have Guns — GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump said Sunday that he doesn't want guns to be in classrooms, but that “some teachers” should have guns. — Trump was asked to respond on Fox & Friends to criticism …

Dan Merica / CNN:
Clinton: Trump is in the pocket of the gun lobby

Discussion: Daily Mail, ThinkProgress and Clash Daily

Mike Miller / Independent Journal Review:
‘Never Trump Guy’ Locks Horns With Fox News' Eric Bolling-Let's Just Say It Doesn't End Well

Discussion: RedState

Sabrina Siddiqui / Guardian:
Trump and Clinton on guns: two visions of race, justice and policing in the US

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story and Prntly

Henry Bodkin / Telegraph:

Elijah Wood: ‘Hollywood in the grip of child abuse scandal similar to Jimmy Savile’ — Hollywood is in the grip a child sexual abuse scandal similar to that of Jimmy Savile in Britain, Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood has claimed. — The 35-year-old former child actor said paedophiles …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

David Cay Johnston / Politico:

Just What Were Donald Trump's Ties to the Mob? — In his signature book, The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump boasted that when he wanted to build a casino in Atlantic City, he persuaded the state attorney general to limit the investigation of his background to six months.

Alle McMahon / ABC:

Mars appears at its biggest, brightest as planet moves into opposition — Mars is at its biggest and brightest in over a decade, as it comes into a particularly close opposition. — Mars comes into opposition — the point when Mars and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of the Earth — once every two years.

Discussion: Slantpoint

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Trump camp quietly courts Muslims — 's top foreign policy adviser has quietly opened backchannels within Muslim and Middle Eastern communities in the U.S. in an attempt to win over a small but increasingly important voting bloc. — Walid Phares, a top national security adviser for Trump …

Discussion: Hot Air

Jessie Hellmann / The Hill:

Libertarian VP candidate doubles down on comparison of Trump, Nazis … William Weld, a Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate, is doubling down on his comparison of Donald Trump — 's plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants to Nazi Germany. — “I'm absolutely certain that …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Mediaite and Jewish Insider

Erik Brady / USA Today:

Exaggerator wins the 141st Preakness Stakes — BALTIMORE — Exaggerator won the Preakness Stakes on a sloppy track Saturday, ending a Triple Crown bid by Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, who lost for the first time in nine career starts. — Cherry Wine finished second, with Nyquist third.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and ABC News