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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Obama Hits Trail For Biden; New Presidential Polls; President Trump Expresses No Regrets Over Pandemic Response. Aired 4-4:30p ET

Aired October 21, 2020 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:01]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Brand-new CNN polling from two key battleground states, Pennsylvania and Florida, just 13 days out from Election Day, and with one final debate tomorrow for candidates to make their closing arguments to the American people.

Let's get right to CNN political director David Chalian.

David, where did the candidates stand in these two critical states?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They are critical to the path to 270, Jake.

And we're seeing a pattern here form. Take a look at the Florida numbers. Our brand-new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. There's no clear leader. It's a margin of error race. We have Joe Biden at 50 percent, Donald Trump at 46 percent. But that margin of error is indeed plus or minus four points. And there's no clear leader in this big electoral prize.

Different story in Pennsylvania. Look at the state of the race in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden has a clear lead, 53 percent in Pennsylvania among likely voters, 43 percent for Donald Trump among likely voters in Pennsylvania.

And this fits what we have been seeing, where Biden has some real strength in that upper Midwest Rust Belt region of the country, where the Sunbelt states have been a bit more margin-of-error races.

TAPPER: And, David, we know that more than 40 million Americans have already voted this election. What does this poll tell us about early voting in Pennsylvania and in Florida?

CHALIAN: This is just so fascinating, and how different the Biden world is voting vs. the Trump world plans to vote.

Take a look. Among those already voted in Florida, OK, Biden is getting 71 percent of those votes, Trump is getting 27 percent. Among those who tell us they still plan to vote in Florida, Trump beats Biden among those voters 56 to 40.

So you see the huge amount of vote that Joe Biden is banking with those folks that already voted. It's a similar story in Pennsylvania. Among those who have told us they already voted in this poll, 88 percent Biden, 10 percent Trump.

But then you look at that universe that say they still plan to vote, either in the mail or in person on Election Day, and Trump is winning those voters who haven't yet voted 54 percent to 42 percent, Jake.

And there is a story here about enthusiasm as well. We see a slight enthusiasm advantage for Trump here in the state of Florida. Among likely voters, 58 percent of Trump voters in this poll say they're extremely enthusiastic about their vote; 49 percent of Biden voters save the same.

In Pennsylvania, it's not quite as big a gap there, but still, numerically, Trump voters, 61 percent -- he has an edge in terms of people who say they're extremely enthusiastic about the vote, vs. 56 percent of Biden voters who say so in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

TAPPER: All right, David Chalian.

And that's another reminder, David, that the election results that we learn on election night might actually favor Donald Trump, if you don't count the ballots that have already been sent in, which is why it's important to count all the votes before we declare a winner one way or the other.

Let's bring in CNN's Abby Phillip and Nia-Malika Henderson into this conversation. We're going to have even more numbers from that poll in a second.

Abby, first of all, I mean, generally, those polls are good for Joe Biden, but pretty significant enthusiasm gap in Florida favoring Trump.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is pretty notable.

And it struck out at me, an enthusiasm gap, it seems, almost in general in some of the other states as well, maybe not as large as in Florida. But I think back to some reporting that our colleague Kate Bolduan just did in Michigan, where she was talking to some voters there, some Black women voters, who -- some of whom said, I'm not super jazzed about voting for Joe Biden, but I'm going to do it anyway because I think that this is a critically important election.

The coronavirus in particular pushing people to do that. So, this time around -- I think, last -- four years ago, last election, the enthusiasm gap was a significant issue and a significant problem. This time around, I think the fundamentals are a little bit different. I think people are feeling a sense of urgency that perhaps they didn't feel before.

I think the coronavirus has made this election much more visceral for many Americans. And while people might not be enthusiastic about voting for Joe Biden, the polls also show that they don't dislike him as much as they might have disliked Hillary Clinton four years ago.

TAPPER: Right. Four years ago, Trump said, what have you got to lose? And now people know.

Nia-Malika, Biden holds the lead in both Florida and Pennsylvania among key demographics, women, voters of color, voters aged 65 and older. I mean, that's very worrying for the Trump campaign.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Especially those seniors numbers.

If you look back to 2016, seniors made up about 21 percent of the electorate in both Florida and Pennsylvania. Trump won seniors in Florida by about 17 points. He won seniors in Pennsylvania by about 10 points.

[16:05:11]

So, this swing has got to be worrisome for the campaign, particularly because it's something you can't fix easily. This is a campaign that's about COVID, and it's also about character. And, obviously, seniors have been hit most of all hardest, in many ways, by COVID.

And in character, all of those issues about the president's behavior, his Twitter feed, his comments on race, any number of issues that bedeviled this president in terms of character, seniors also care about that.

So you have seen the president try to do any number of things. He had those $200 drug prescription cards that he was supposed to send out. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. We will have this moment at the debate, but it's not clear that you can turn this around, particularly with those seniors.

The other groups, it's not really surprising that Biden is leading among women, that he's leading among people of color. It'll be about turnout of those groups. It'll be about margin with those groups.

But these seniors numbers, a real reversal of fortune for this president and for Republicans more broadly.

TAPPER: And, David, Joe Biden's looking to Pennsylvania and the Rust Belt as his main path to victory.

And, in Pennsylvania, there is this massive divide among white voters when it comes to education level. White voters who have four-year college degree support Biden over Trump 63 to 35. Those who do not hold college degrees favor Trump by 59 to 35. What do you make of this?

CHALIAN: Yes, this is one of the great divides in American politics now.

And we saw this starting in the Clinton-Trump race. And we know that white non-college-educated vote is Donald Trump's base, especially white non-college-educated men. But when you look at that white college-educated vote, this is taking what Hillary Clinton was doing and sort of turbocharging it for Joe Biden.

And, by the way, women, white women with college degrees is part of what is powering that to such a big advantage for Joe Biden.

TAPPER: And, Abby, one demographic where Biden is struggling -- or -- I'm sorry, David -- one demographic where Biden is struggling is with Latinos in Florida.

And this poll suggests Biden is underperforming Hillary Clinton's 2016 showing in the state among Latino voters; 52 percent back Biden; 45 percent Trump; Clinton won 62 percent of this group, according to exit polling there.

How big of a problem is that for Biden? Or does he make up for that with all the seniors that he's winning over?

CHALIAN: You just hit the nail on the head there, Jake.

I mean, I do think what he makes up with seniors, with independents, also a group that Donald Trump won in Florida last time around, is enormous and really important to why Joe Biden's at 50 percent and Donald Trump's at 46 percent.

But watch that Latino number in Florida specifically, because we know it's not monolithic at all. There are all different slices of the Latino electorate in Florida politics. And, yes, he's underperforming where Clinton was, which is something that the Biden campaign is consistently trying to work on.

Obviously, that's a small sample. It's got a 10 percent margin of error, so some caution there with that number. But this has been on Joe Biden's to-do list for months now. And he still doesn't seem to be quite at sort of the Clinton levels.

And, of course, she ended up losing that state anyway, Jake.

TAPPER: That's right.

And, Abby, just last night, President Trump was in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Take a listen to an interesting admission from the president. He was at a rally in Erie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn't coming to Erie. I mean, I have to be honest, there was no way I was coming. I didn't have to.

I would have called you and said, hey, Erie, if you have a chance, get out and vote. We had this thing won, and then we got hit with the plague. And I had to go back to work.

Hello, Erie. May I please have your vote?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Really saying the quiet part out loud there.

PHILLIP: Yes, no kidding. How's that for a pitch to voters? I really don't want to be here talking to you, but I have to, because I need you to get out and vote.

TAPPER: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIP: I don't -- the president's supporters actually would probably love something like that from him, the sort of, I guess they would call it self-deprecating humor.

But I also think it's kind of not true as well. And we should point out that this really has been a very stable race. Joe Biden has been, according to the polls, leading President Trump for a long time, pretty consistently, in fact, in many of these states.

And so the that trend, perhaps, you could argue was exacerbated by the virus, but there has been some fundamental weakness for President Trump all along in this race.

And now, when it's crunch time, that situation is really bad. But he may be right in one respect, which is that there are parts of that state that he should have locked down, parts of that state where he should have very large margins.

[16:10:08]

And that's going to be one of the big things that we look for on election night, is, in the places where he's supposed to do well, is he doing well enough to overcome Joe Biden's strengths in more of the urban areas and the suburban areas around the big cities in Pennsylvania?

TAPPER: Yes, I mean, the Trump team was worried about Biden from back in 2019, when the president was pressuring Ukraine to give him dirt.

I mean, like, this is not just because of the pandemic.

Nia, the Biden campaign has been warning supporters that this race is a lot closer than pollsters say. And, obviously, the party is still reeling from their shock of Hillary Clinton losing.

"The New York Times" is reporting that some Democrats are beginning to consider that there might be a landslide. I want to under -- I want to underline, I am not saying that. Some Democrats are saying that to "The New York Times."

(LAUGHTER)

HENDERSON: You know, I was talking to a Democrat earlier who was saying the same thing. Maybe there'd be a landslide. She said she would never want to say that publicly, because of where this thing is and because of what happened in 2016.

Another Democrat I talked to say she's afraid of the unknowns, right? If you think about 2016, there were all of these things going on, including Russian interference, but also sort of algorithms and Facebook digital ads and a strategy that wasn't necessarily visible to the Clinton campaign.

So, that's one of the things that she's afraid of, as well as voter suppression. There are obviously efforts, known and unknown, about what the Republicans are trying to do to depress and suppress the vote.

So, that is also something that's keeping Democrats up at night. So, I don't know that many of them are going to be a publicly proclaiming that they're expecting a landslide come November.

TAPPER: All right, Abby, Nia-Malika, David, thanks to all of you. Appreciate it.

When asked what he would do differently in handling the pandemic if he got the chance to do it again, the president said -- quote -- "Not much."

How is he justifying that incredibly tone-deaf response? That's next.

Plus: what a major coronavirus vaccine developer is saying today about the safety of his vaccine after one of its volunteers died.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:50]

TAPPER: In our 2020 lead -- quote -- "Not much."

President Trump in denial and on the attack in the final stretch of the campaign, asked what he would do differently when it comes to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Sinclair television's "America This Week" -- well, listen to the president's stunning answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC BOLLING, SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP: Is there anything that you think you could have done differently?

If you had a mulligan or a do-over on one aspect of the way you handled it, what would it be?

TRUMP: Not much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: "Not much," the president said, not much.

With more than 221,000 Americans dead from coronavirus, more than eight million infected, tens of millions of Americans facing economic hardship, kids not able to learn in classrooms, President Trump is saying that he would not change much about his handling of the pandemic, a remarkable claim, given that the us has both the highest death rate and the highest infection rates in the world, according to official numbers, and the fact that the virus is right now again on the wrong trajectory.

No expression of regret for downplaying the virus in February and March, for not getting an aggressive nationwide testing and contact tracing program up and running, for not setting an example and wearing masks and social distancing. "Not much," President Trump said.

And, as CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports for us now, the president spent much of last night's rally going after Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the Presidential Debate Commission, and journalists, and Joe Biden, and the governor of Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than two weeks until the election, President Trump's closing message to voters has been a series of attacks on the news media and his own health experts.

TRUMP: You have to watch what we do to "60 Minutes." You will get such a kick out of it.

Look at Fauci, where he originally said, don't wear a mask.

COLLINS: That's not the argument the president's political advisers were hoping for as he plays defense in key states.

Trump is spending every day on the road, and now heading for North Carolina, after downplaying the pandemic in Pennsylvania.

TRUMP: Pennsylvania has been shut down long enough. Get your governor to open up Pennsylvania.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

COLLINS: At one point, the president bluntly acknowledged that his chances of being reelected were altered by fallout from the pandemic.

TRUMP: Before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn't coming to Erie. I mean, I have to be honest, there was no way I was coming. I didn't have to.

And then we got hit with the plague. And I had to go back to work.

COLLINS: Although coronavirus is surging across the U.S. again, the president has continued to hold large rallies that contradict guidelines from the federal government.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar insists there are no mixed messages.

ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I speak for him. And I'm telling you, our strategy is, reduce cases, reduce hospitalizations, reduce mortality. That is the message of this administration and the strategy of this administration.

COLLINS: Trump maintains there is nothing he could have done differently when it comes to his coronavirus response.

TRUMP: Not much. Look, it's all over the world. You have a lot of great leaders, a lot of smart people. It's all over the world.

COLLINS: The president is now threatening to preempt "60 Minutes" and release a recording of his interview with them before it airs, after he became frustrated with Lesley Stahl's questioning and abruptly ended the interview.

[16:20:06]

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: He wants to make sure that he gets a fair shake, that there isn't some deceptive editing going on.

COLLINS: Trump and his daughter Ivanka will headline a fund-raiser in Tennessee tomorrow ahead of the final debate, after new filings revealed the extent of the president's money troubles.

Trump is badly outmatched by Joe Biden, whose campaign has $177 million hand, while Trump's only has $63 million.

At least one prominent member of the president's party has broken with him ahead of the election, Utah Senator Mitt Romney telling CNN today he didn't vote for President Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Jake, ahead of that final presidential debate tomorrow night, we are told the president is not doing formal prep sessions, like he did for the last debate.

Of course, those were the sessions that were tied to so many of his close advisers getting coronavirus eventually, in addition to that Rose Garden event.

And, instead, he's doing things like going to North Carolina to hold another rally with supporters, though it's a state that we should note is seeing record numbers of new cases right now.

TAPPER: Which won't be helped by a rally with no masks or distancing required.

Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much.

Right now, former President Barack Obama is in the great city of Philadelphia, as part of his campaigning for his former vice president, Joe Biden, in the critical battleground of Pennsylvania.

And, as CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports for us, the Biden campaign is hoping Obama can motivate three key groups of voters, as Biden is off the trail working on last-minute debate prep.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Philadelphia!

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail, making his first stop of the 2020 race where he left off in 2016.

OBAMA: Are you fired up?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Are you ready to go?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ZELENY: But, four years ago, Donald Trump won Pennsylvania, which is exactly why Obama is starting his push for Joe Biden in Philadelphia, his first in a series of appearances over the final two weeks.

To boost enthusiasm for Biden, Obama is making a direct appeal to younger voters.

OBAMA: Your generation can be the one that creates a new normal in America, one that's fair, where the system treats everybody equally, and gives everybody opportunity.

ZELENY: And he's working to solidify support among black voters in Pennsylvania and other key battlegrounds. It's the biggest test yet of Obama's political clout, after coming up short during the last presidential race, despite his aggressive campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

OBAMA: I'm betting that the wisdom and decency and generosity of the American people will once again win the day. And that is a bet that I have never, ever lost.

ZELENY: This time, Obama has a new argument in his arsenal, the record of Trump's first term, a case he spelled out during his Democratic Convention speech, also from here in Philadelphia.

OBAMA: Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job, because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe.

ZELENY: He's also injecting himself squarely into the fight for Democratic control of the Senate, making personal appeals in new television ads for challengers, from South Carolina.

OBAMA: If you want a senator who will fight for criminal justice reform, lower college costs, and make health care affordable, you have got to vote for my friend Jaime Harrison.

ZELENY: To Georgia.

OBAMA: You don't find a lot of people in Washington like Reverend Warnock. And that's exactly why we have got to get him there.

ZELENY: To Maine.

OBAMA: Help elect Sara Gideon and make sure, if Joe Biden wins, he will have a Senate ready to work with him to move our country forward.

ZELENY: And in Michigan for Democratic incumbent Senator Gary Peters.

OBAMA: Gary was there every step of the way helping save the auto industry, protecting the Great Lakes, covering preexisting conditions.

ZELENY: Yet there's little doubt Obama's chief focus is on Trump. And the feeling that the president's campaign rallies is mutual.

TRUMP: He campaigned harder than Hillary Clinton did for Hillary. And it just made us stronger. I want him to campaign so much. I want him to campaign, because we're going to do even better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, the former president, Jake, is beginning his stop here in Philadelphia right now at a meeting with black leaders at a community center in North Philadelphia.

This is one of the specific audiences the former president is trying to reach, black men. They believe that they need to increase their support for the Biden campaign, as well as younger voters and Latino voters.

That is exactly why Mr. Obama is out on the campaign trail right now. And, Jake, he will also be appearing here at a drive-in rally. It's one of the things that Biden campaign has been doing, but certainly different from the last time that the former president appeared on the campaign trail.

But he will be making the case for Joe Biden. Now, there's no question this is about Biden vs. Trump. But, Jake, it's also one more chance for this country to take a measure of the two men, Barack Obama and Donald Trump -- Jake.

[16:25:01]

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

We have some breaking news for you now. The CDC is changing what it considers to be close contact with a coronavirus patient. We will discuss what that might mean for you with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: There is not a single state in the United States, not a single one, trending right now in the right direction when it comes to COVID cases.

[16:30:00]