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Significant Digits For Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018

You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.


1,400 premature deaths annually

The Trump administration revealed its new coal-plant pollution rules yesterday. The document, the so-called Affordable Clean Energy rule, acknowledges that the plan would increase pollution and lead to 1,400 premature deaths a year. [The New York Times]


35 percent

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8 counts; 8 counts

In New York yesterday, Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” pleaded guilty to eight felony charges including tax evasion and making an illegal campaign contribution. And, literally meanwhile, in Alexandria, Virginia, Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, was found guilty on eight of 18 tax and bank fraud charges (a mistrial was declared in the other 10). [Bloomberg, CNN]


About 250 protesters

About 250 protesters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tore down Silent Sam, a Confederate statue on campus. The statue was erected in 1913 in remembrance of “sons of the University who died for their beloved Southland 1861-1865.” [CNN]


71 percent of Russians

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, 71 percent of Russians say the Russian government did not try to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Whelp, I guess that settles it. Everybody can go home now. [Pew Research Center]


At least 40 days of campaign-related travel

President Trump has a busy schedule ahead. He has at least 40-days of campaign travel planned through Election Day, which is 76 days away. The Hill reports that the schedule will begin by focusing on Senate races, while the particulars of House races continue to shake out. [The Hill]


16.1 percent of those voting without ID

With the midterms soon upon us, FiveThirtyEight contributor Dan Hopkins wrote a useful literature review yesterday of what we know about voter ID laws. Among many other findings, one recent study showed that black voters made up 11.4 percent of those voting in Texas in 2016 with ID and 16.1 percent of those voting without ID — clear evidence of a disparate racial impact of ID requirements. [FiveThirtyEight]


If you see a significant digit in the wild, please send it to @ollie.

Oliver Roeder was a senior writer for FiveThirtyEight. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied game theory and political competition.

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