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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Key States; Early Voting Setting Records' The Seven Key States That Could Decide the Election; Former FDA Chief: It's Time for a National Mask Mandate. Aired 4:30-5p ET
Aired October 26, 2020 - 16:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:30:00]
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: So, this idea that he's just stunned, oh, my God, that people wear masks all the time, in itself, is an indictment of what has gone on at that White House.
And it explains why they had that first outbreak with the president, and why they had the second outbreak with Pence.
And we -- I think we can suspect that, with these super-spreader events that they're holding all around the country, there are likely some outbreaks that are related to those events as well. And we will see how that goes. A lot of the reporting and tracking will catch up to that at some point.
But, my goodness, I mean, what a stunning interview and admission from Mark Meadows, that they don't have any process in place at the White House.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I just couldn't even believe it.
HENDERSON: Yes.
TAPPER: Because D.C. has the -- one of the highest rates of mask- wearing in the entire country--
HENDERSON: Yes.
TAPPER: -- with the possible exception of that one building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I'm sorry -- well, 1600 Black Lives Matter Plaza.
Nia-Malika Henderson, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Abby, I'm going to come back to you in a sec.
HENDERSON: Thanks.
TAPPER: With just eight days left, more than 60 million Americans have already voted.
We're going to take a look at what that really means next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:35:46]
TAPPER: We're back now with our 2020 lead.
We are down to single digits, just eight days until Election Day. Already, more pre-election ballots have been cast so far than in all of 2016, more than 60 million so far.
And you can see this record-breaking turnout across the country, with people continuing to wait in hours-long lines to cast their votes for whomever. And with just days to go, there may be a new force to reckon with in some key battleground states.
Early data in key state shows a strong turnout among young voters, compared to this time in 2016, as CNN's Abby Phillip reports in our latest installment of "Making It Count."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early voting again bringing lines of voters in the final full week before the election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vote. Vote like your life depends on it.
PHILLIP: Even the ongoing coronavirus pandemic isn't putting a stop to civic duty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way the country is in right now, I think we're all trying to make a difference.
PHILLIP: The U.S. hitting record early turnout. More than 60 million Americans have already voted, surpassing all 2016 early ballots cast.
More young people and minorities are casting ballots early this time.
CHELSEA CRANDALL, NEW YORK VOTER: I want us to be better as a country. I think there's a lot of injustice and things that need to be fixed.
PHILLIP: And this NASA astronaut proved you can vote even when it's zero gravity.
KATE RUBINS, NASA ASTRONAUT: I think it's really important for everybody to vote. And if we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground too.
PHILLIP: In battleground Georgia, the total ballots cast has more than doubled ballots cast at this point in 2016. And, in Texas, more than 7.3 million people voted so far, according to data posted on the Texas secretary of state's Web site. That represents more than 43 percent of registered voters. In 2016, only about 59 percent of registered voters actually voted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm voting.
PHILLIP: As Maryland begins its first day of early voting, concerns about long lines and violence continue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Arrest him!
PHILLIP: In New York City, protesters clashed in Times Square on Sunday, resulting in at least nine arrests. Boston police arrested a suspect in connection with a ballot drop box allegedly set on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious issue. It's a federal crime. We're going to insist on prosecuting whoever did this.
PHILLIP: The incident prompting the Massachusetts secretary of state to issue a directive for election departments to step up security through Election Day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP: Now, Jake, a University of Florida researcher has looked into how many ballots have already been rejected in that state. He's been looking at this issue for quite some time and found that about 15,000 had already been rejected.
But the key here is that, while younger voters are voting more, their ballots, as well as ballots of black and Hispanic voters, are more likely, disproportionately likely to be rejected.
It really highlights the need for voters, if they are voting by mail, to look at the rules in their state and find out how they can fix those signature rejection problems before Election Day. Otherwise, their ballots may not be counted.
TAPPER: All right, Abby Phillip, thanks so much.
For one candidate, they might just be the magnificent seven. A closer look at the key states that could decide this election.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:37]
TAPPER: And we're back now with more in our 2020 lead.
Nearly half of all registered voters in battleground North Carolina have already made their choice for president, over three million ballots cast so far in that state, more than the total of early ballots cast in 2016.
And now, with just eight days to go, former Vice President Joe Biden is ramping up his ground game in North Carolina, hoping to flip a critical state that President Trump won by a slim margin in 2016, as CNN's Jeff Zeleny now reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crowds thunder for President Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, North Carolina! Go out and vote.
ZELENY: And horns honk for Joe Biden.
(HONKING)
JOSEPH BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello, North Carolina!
ZELENY: But the real work is also happening here, in the neighborhoods of Trump and Biden supporters.
In the closing days of the race, volunteers for the Biden campaign are hitting the streets for the first time in eight months, after being grounded by the pandemic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, Joe Biden. Let's do this!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ZELENY: They have gloves, masks and an urgent task, finding voters who still haven't been reached.
CAROLYN EBERLY, BIDEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: People have been calling and texting and writing and everything they can do, and have not heard from these voters. So this conversation or this contact is really important.
Carolyn Eberly and Scarlett Hollingsworth have been itching to knock on doors and look those voters in the eye.
SCARLETT HOLLINGSWORTH, BIDEN CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: We say in North Carolina, we don't do landslides; we do squeakers.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLLINGSWORTH: So, we have to really get, you know, those votes out.
[16:45:04]
ZELENY (voice-over): Do you wonder what the other side's been doing and if they have been doing this all along?
EBERLY: We've heard that and seen that the Trump campaign has been out canvassing throughout this all -- all of this. The people we want to elect care about people's lives and so that's why this decision was made to not do it. ZELENY (voice-over): Until now, team Biden has done most of its work
virtually while Trump has gone full speed ahead with his rallies at the center of it all.
TRUMP: Thank you to Gastonia, beautiful name.
ZELENY: Four years ago, Trump won Gaston County by more than 30 percentage points. To win North Carolina again he is trying to increase those margins.
JONATHAN FLETCHER, CHAIRMAN, GASTON COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: That is really one of the reasons he wanted to come here was to energize the race.
ZELENY (on camera): So, the rally is part of the GOTV effort here?
FLETCHER: Absolutely, absolutely. Here and everywhere else he goes, you know, that is the point of him going places is to get people out to vote.
ZELENY (voice-over): Yet it's not just big rallies.
Republicans have been going door-to-door for months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's better to come to their houses and come to where people are.
ZELENY: Here in the growing Charlotte suburbs, Amy Bynum (ph) is running for statehouse. She is also secretary of the county GOP.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's our job to reach the new folks and get our Republicans out to vote.
ZELENY: North Carolina has more than 1.3 million new registered voters since 2016. As cases of coronavirus soar, turning out voters is a challenge facing both sides but particularly Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go to the polls!
CROWD: Got to the polls!
ZELENY: For Biden to win here, high enthusiasm among black voters is key.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With a leader like Joe Biden.
ZELENY: Charlotte's Mayor Vi Lyles says she thinks about this every day, but believes Democrats have an even bigger motivating force.
MAYOR VI LYLES (D), CHARLOTTE, NC: And this time it's been frame by COVID-19 and president's lack of response for it and that's why I think people are going to come out to vote.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: So President Trump, of course, motivates voters on both sides of the aisle, Jake. He's been to this state twice in the last six days. So, certainly, it fires up Republicans as well as Democrats but there are questions about if Democrats have been organizing in a way they had previously. That Obama victory back in 2008 was built on the backbone of a strong organizing effort.
Of course, a lot has changed then with technology. This is a virtually organized campaign, but it's certainly telling the Biden campaign at the end of this campaign is hitting the streets, they're trying to get out every vote possible.
We should point out, more than 3 million votes already cast here in early voting in North Carolina -- Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
I want to bring in CNN's Harry Enten now. He spends all day every day analyzing the polls for CNN.
And, Harry, you say results in just seven key states could determine the outcome of the election. What are those states? Let me see your map.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL WRITER AND ANALYST: Sure. So these are the seven closest states that Donald Trump won in 2016. So, it's Arizona in the Southwest. You go Florida in the Southeast. Then North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and then, finally, Nebraska second congressional district. That's the seventh of the closest contests. Those are the seven contests I'm watching most closely.
TAPPER: And you think that Biden potentially could win most of those?
ENTEN: Yeah, I absolutely do. And the reason I do is just take a look at the polling averages in those states right now or those contests. What you see is that Biden is ahead in all of them. The leads are somewhat bigger in Michigan. Nebraska second congressional district and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, his leads are above five points or above there. It's lower in those other states.
But if you give those states to Joe Biden, plus the states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016, you get Biden to 334. In fact, if you just give Biden Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, plus the states Hillary Clinton won in 2016, that also gets him about 270 electoral votes.
TAPPER: So, today, Joe Biden in Chester County, Pennsylvania and also Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Trump is also in Pennsylvania holding three different rallies. It's competitive. I know Biden campaign does not feel it's in their pocket and do not think they have it.
But you say there are two counties in Pennsylvania that you're watching in particular? Which ones are those?
ENTEN: Sure, you know, and I also agree with them and just say that Pennsylvania to me is arguably the most important state this election cycle but within Pennsylvania, I'm watching Erie County in the northwest and then North Hampton in the southeast right on the edge of the range of the Philadelphia media market. And the reason is both of those are counties that went for Barack Obama in 2012, went for Donald Trump in 2016 and then in the 2018 Senate race went for the Democratic candidate Bob Casey.
So, for me, they are bellwether counties. Whoever wins both of those counties in my mind is likely to be the winner in Pennsylvania come 2020.
TAPPER: Erie County represented once by then-congressman and after that, Governor Tom Ridge, a Republican who has endorsed Joe Biden. Interesting.
Harry Enten, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
[16:50:00]
As coronavirus cases surge, one familiar face says it's maybe time for a national mask mandate as we head into what could be a deadly winter.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: With the number of new coronavirus cases climbing to the highest level of the pandemic yet, former FDA commissioner during the Trump administration, Scott Gottlieb, is now calling for a national mask mandate in a new op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal."
The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has suggested the same thing as well.
[16:55:03]
Joining me now, Dr. Michael Saag. He's professor of medicine and infectious disease at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Dr. Sag, I want to lead you a portion of Gottlieb's op-ed. In it, he says, quote: A mandate can be expressly limited to the next two months. The inconvenience would allow the country to preserve health care capacity and keep more schools and businesses open. Everyone wearing a mask in public would help reduce asymptomatic spread.
Do you agree with Gottlieb's assessment here? Is it now time to implement a national requirement that we all wear masks in public?
DR. MICHAEL SAAG, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM: Absolutely. We've seen in Alabama, for example, when the governor issued a mask mandate back in July that our cases came down in the next three or four weeks. So there's no questions that masks work.
And the thing that puzzles me is, why is there so much resistance to a mask? We all want to be as open as possible and masks make it possible for us to get back to something toward a normal life. So why we are fighting that, I don't quite understand.
TAPPER: When you look at it on a state-by-state level, the data on mask mandates isn't as clear as perhaps as it is in Alabama. For example, California and Vermont, they both have mask mandates but they have seen daily new cases surge by more than 50 percent over the past week. States that don't have mask mandates such as North and South Dakota are also seeing significant rises.
What does this say to you? The fact that even places have mask mandates are having the surge?
SAAG: Well, the mandate is only a regulation. It's how enforced it is. So, last week in "The Washington Post," there was a nice graphic that showed a correlation between the states that had pretty good compliance with mask wearing and lower case numbers than those state who did not have many people wearing masks. So, in fact, correlation was quite striking.
We know that they work. Again, we have talked about this over and over, and I'm sure the audience is tired hearing about this, but we all kind of want to get out of jail free card that we can get back to normal without any action on our part. We have the highest daily average case load than we have ever during the entire epidemic, and there's no signs of it slowing down.
So, we've got to do something and nobody wants to go back to lockdown. So why don't we all just wear masks and move on?
TAPPER: I don't know. I don't have an answer for you.
President Trump has faced criticism for continuing to hold these rallies in which masks are not required. There's no social distancing. Crowds bunched together.
Listen to what one Trump supporter told CNN's Ryan nobles about why he doesn't think he needs to wear a face covering. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: He gets criticism for holding these rallies. Do you think that is fair with everybody shoulder-to- shoulder and not a lot of people wearing masks? Do you think that's a problem --
PAUL NEVES, TRUMP RALLY ATTENDEE: No, I really don't think it's a problem. Therapy outside where there is free air and not everybody is spitting droplets everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So, that Trump supporter says, we're outside, there is free air and not everybody is spitting droplets everywhere.
How would you respond to that rallygoer? Any truth to what he said? I mean, it is better to have an event outside than inside, I guess. SAAG: Well, it's absolutely better to be outside but when you have
crowded together, especially when they are not just talking but cheering and screaming, that's -- for the person who is infected in the group, they are spreading a lot of virus into the cloud around them that other people can breathe.
I just got out of COVID clinic and that's why I'm still in my scrubs. And while I was there today, I saw a woman who went to an out doors wedding and at that wedding one person infected 22 others. This was three weeks ago.
So, being outside is help but only one part of the equation. Wearing a mask and keeping distance and staying outdoors as much as possible. We know the mantra. We've been saying the same thing for almost nine months. So if we just did it we could make a difference in the epidemic.
For some reason, I don't know why it's politicized. It's unfortunate but we have to rise above the politics and do what is patriotic which is protect ourselves, our family and as well as our community.
TAPPER: And, Dr. Saag, just quickly if you could, President Trump at a rally suggested that the reason the numbers are so high is because doctors are cooking the books because they get paid more if somebody dies from COVID as opposed if they die from cancer and as somebody who is on the front lines of this horrific pandemic, I was wondering what your reaction was to that?
SAAG: It was hard to hear. No doctor that I know of wants this epidemic here. No hospital administrator wants it. We'd rather be back to normal just like everybody listening to the broadcast today.
TAPPER: Yeah.
SAAG: To say that there is a motivation to do this is frankly a little bit absurd.
TAPPER: All right. Dr. Saag, thank you so much.
You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper, tweet the show @TheLeadCNN.
Our coverage continues right now.
