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America Votes. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 05, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:26]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome to another primary edition of CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Boris Sanchez in Washington, D.C., alongside Brianna Keilar.

And it is a Tuesday unlike any other. It's Super Tuesday, so millions of Americans are going to cast votes across 16 states and American Samoa. It could be a decisive day for President Biden and Donald Trump, who are hoping to have their respective presidential nominations all but clinched by the end of the night. And we could see answers to really critical questions.

Will this be the final day of Nikki Haley's campaign? Will President Biden face more protest votes from frustrated Democrats? And is there an appetite for Trump-style Republicans downballot?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We may have the answers within hours. And looming over all of these questions are these polarizing issues that voters are weighing, immigration, abortion and inflation among them.

CNN has reporters on the ground across the country, so let's start in the increasingly purple North Carolina with Dianne Gallagher.

Dianne, what are you hearing from voters there?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, we have had pretty steady turnout at this particular polling location in Cornelius, North Carolina, about 40 minutes north of Charlotte.

And you can probably see a couple people standing out here. The majority of voters that I have spoken with have given me issues like education, abortion, democracy and the border as what is key for them when going in there and choosing their ballot.

Now, in North Carolina, most voters, the largest number of registered voters, are unaffiliated, so they can go in and choose Democrat or Republican, whichever they want to. And I have been talking to voters who say that they're looking at the top of the ticket, but also an extremely long downballot in this state, with everything from the governor and the attorney general to members of Congress and local races they have to choose from as well.

I spoke with a Haley voter, a Trump voter and a Biden voter about why they made the decisions they did today. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I chose to vote Republican, but I'm an independent.

GALLAGHER: Who did you vote for? Do you mind me asking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nikki Haley.

GALLAGHER: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A vote against Trump.

DENNIS STRICKLAND, TRUMP VOTER: He's the only man that can help us as a country and bring everything back the way it should be, a normal day-to-day living for all Americans.

JARROD MASON, BIDEN VOTER: I want to make sure that gun laws in our country, especially with schools, that's taken care of, and just opportunity for resources. I know abortion laws is always changing, so making sure there's opportunities for ladies that do seek abortion, they can get the opportunity to do so, and they have equal rights to take care of their body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Now, I will tell you that all of the Haley voters that I have spoken with today tell me that they were unaffiliated, and they actually do plan to vote for President Biden in November, but this was something of a protest vote for them during this primary season.

Also, they wanted to weigh in on the Republican side of those downballot races. Boris, Brianna, more than 695,000 North Carolinians have already cast early ballots before they started even voting today on primary day here.

SANCHEZ: And, Dianne, the gubernatorial primary in North Carolina is expected to be really contentious, given some of what we have seen happen in North Carolina recently, specifically that abortion ban that was passed in the state. That's going to be a central issue in the general election campaign, and I imagine it's on voters' minds in the primary as well.

GALLAGHER: It is, and especially, of course, on the Republican side of the gubernatorial race here.

You have three main Republicans who are running. Of course, the front- runner, the current lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, who is a bit of a lightning rod, if you will, for controversy. He has a history of offensive inflammatory and bigoted remarks, especially those that he's tried to, in some of his more conservative positions, avoid talking about as much on the trail, including past positions of wanting to ban all abortion, including any exceptions, in the past.

Now, his opponents, businessman Bill Graham, as well as the state treasurer, Dale Folwell, have said that they feel like, come the general election, that Democrats are just going to -- quote -- "play the hits" and use past statements against the lieutenant governor in the general election.

Now, on the Democratic side, the current attorney general, Josh Stein, is the overwhelming favorite, but he does have some competition, including the endorsement from the Progressive Caucus, from a retired Supreme Court justice in Mike Morgan. We will see what happens there.

But the belief, of course, Brianna and Boris, is that we will see both lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, who has been endorsed by former President Trump, as well as Josh Stein, proceed on to the general election there for a very competitive race.

[13:05:07]

SANCHEZ: Dianne Gallagher live for us from Cornelius, North Carolina, thanks so much.

Let's get to Virginia now and CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, Donald Trump lost the general election there both times that he's run, in 2016 and 2020. With voters that you have talked to, does that mean that there's an opening for Nikki Haley there?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: It's really interesting, Boris and Brianna, because South Carolina is one of few states participating in Super Tuesday that actually have open primaries. That means Republicans, Democrats, independents alike, as long as they are registered voters, they can come to the polls and pick whichever candidate they want.

And so I think it's been reflected actually in some of the interviews I have done. We have heard from a variety of people as they have been leaving that polling location just behind me. Some say they voted for Biden, others for Donald Trump, some for Nikki Haley.

Now, it's been really interesting. I actually spoke to a lot of voters who did say they voted for Nikki Haley. They are Republicans. They say they identify as that. However, they varied on whether or not they would vote for Donald Trump in a potential Trump versus Biden general election rematch. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: If it ends up being a Trump-versus-Biden rematch, do you know who you would vote for? Yes,

DOUG MORAN, VIRGINIA VOTER: Yes. I will hold my nose and vote for Biden again.

TREENE: Are you at all thinking about Donald Trump again this time, in particular if he becomes the nominee?

DEBORAH O'CONNOR BIRD, VIRGINIA VOTER: No.

ANTHONY BIRD, VIRGINIA VOTER: If he becomes the nominee, it's going to be a terrible decision.

O'CONNOR BIRD: We're going to move.

(LAUGHTER)

BIRD: Well, I know, but it's -- I mean, I can't see any Democrat solving any of the problems. And I can't see Donald Trump solving the problems. That's why I think Nikki Haley's got some sort of chance.

O'CONNOR BIRD: Oh, I like Nikki Haley a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Boris and Brianna, the through line that I have really heard from all of my conversations today is that those who voted for Joe Biden or for Nikki Haley, they were really casting their votes against Donald Trump, which I found very interesting.

Some of them did have things that they liked, of course, in each candidate, but they said they really were motivated by their dislike of Donald Trump. And I do just think, going back to the open primary aspect of the race here in Virginia, excuse me, is it could potentially help Nikki Haley.

I mean, we know that her campaign has really been pushing for moderates and independents to come out and vote for her. We will see if that makes a difference. But it is an interesting dynamic here in the state.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly is.

Alayna Treene, thank you.

And we also have Brian Todd in Utah.

And, Brian, you're in a state where Donald Trump performs pretty poorly compared to how other Republicans have done. The Haley team is banking on a strong showing there tonight. Tell us about this.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Brianna and Boris.

Donald Trump has gotten lukewarm support here in past election cycles. We're going to set the scene for you quickly here. This is where the caucus-goers here are going to start showing up in about seven hours. Voters are not coming in all day, like they do in the primary states.

They're going to show up here for the caucus in about seven hours' time, all showing up here at once at Alta High School here in Sandy, Utah; 32 different precincts are going to be voting here tonight. So it's going to be a very busy caucus night here as we kind of pivot and show the rest of the area here with the beautiful mountain ranges.

Those are the Oquirrh Mountains over there. The Wasatch Mountains are here, spectacular views, I have to say.

Now, as far as Nikki Haley maybe getting some support here that she's counting on, Nikki Haley does have some advantages here, the lukewarm support for Donald Trump in the past. Donald Trump lost the 2016 caucus here pretty handily to Ted Cruz. He did beat Joe Biden in the general election in 2020 here in Utah.

But there are other factors favoring Nikki Haley. The governor of Utah has said he doesn't really like Donald Trump or Joe Biden. That's Spencer Cox, the Republican governor. He has not formally endorsed Nikki Haley, but he says he likes Nikki Haley. The governor's wife, Abby Cox, has endorsed Nikki Haley. Also, the lieutenant governor, Deidre Henderson, has endorsed Nikki Haley.

So that does play into the dynamic here. And you have got the Mitt Romney factor here in Utah. The retiring U.S. senator, former presidential candidate, still a popular figure here in Utah, clearly kind of an anti-Trump person, he's been very critical of the former president for years. And will Mitt Romney's influence play a part here in Utah?

Now, the advantage that Donald Trump has here is that this is a caucus run by the party. And the caucuses run by the parties tend to kind of draw the more conservative, committed voters. That's going to favor Donald Trump here. So is that going to be enough to carry him over the top here in Utah in the caucuses? We're going to find out later tonight.

Here is a sample of the ballot that they're going to be casting here. This is very simple. You have got Ryan Binkley here at the top, then Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. That's what voters are going to be doing. Once they come in and listen to the speeches, then they're going to be casting the votes at about 7:00 p.m. local time. That's 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.

And then the count will take place about an hour later. We're going to have access to the school, go in, kind of rove around those 32 different rooms where the votes are going to be taking place, and hopefully show our voters a lot of that dynamics. It's going to be a pretty fun evening here.

[13:10:10]

KEILAR: Certainly will be. We will be looking to see if it's an outlier.

Brian Todd, thank you.

Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston on what we should be watching for today.

Utah is going to be interesting, because, even though it's such a red state, Trump doesn't really do that well there. But that might be this one bright spot that Nikki Haley is really looking for. And she told Jake Tapper yesterday she'd stay in the race "as long as we're competitive."

So I wonder, Mark, how you read that, what that can mean for her campaign if she doesn't have any wins tonight or if she just has maybe one.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

Let me first say that Brian Todd just brings excitement to, like, a boring, empty room.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: He loves being there.

PRESTON: Like, Brian Todd can bring it, but also very informative.

Like, here's the situation with Nikki Haley, mathematically impossible. Of course, we know that. The data that we will all be looking at, will it be corrupted basically because people aren't necessarily engaged? They're not going out to the primaries.

However, she did raise $28 million in January and February. So if she wants to continue on, how much money does she have left now? Because, when you're at the beginning of a campaign, you only have to spend money traveling around Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, small states, smaller media markets, not as expensive.

She has to go to California and Texas and Minnesota and just all across the country. So, at some point, she's probably going to realize that she doesn't have the funds to keep going.

SANCHEZ: Notable that she's not even out on the campaign trail today. She's back home in South Carolina. Perhaps gives you an indicator of where her mental state is at on a pivotal day for her campaign.

On the flip side, for President Joe Biden, we saw this concerted campaign to vote uncommitted in Michigan. We're not expecting those kind of numbers today.

PRESTON: Right.

SANCHEZ: When you look at the primaries for Democrats, is turnout a barometer of where the president stands in the minds of voters right now?

PRESTON: This is what I think.

I mean, I would consider it like having like a cold, OK? So, like, look what happened in Michigan. It spread beyond Muslims, right, and Arabs, what have you, and it connected to, like, other dissatisfaction, which were young people, who might not necessarily have been fully engaged in what's going on with Israel and Hamas.

But now they are getting engaged, right? And then it also connects over to the more progressive folks, who, again, may not have been as engaged in what's going on in Israel and Hamas, but they're all kind of coming together.

And this cold now is -- becomes a bigger problem. Now, if you look at what's going to happen tonight, look at Minnesota to see necessarily if there was any spillover from an adjoining state. But also let's look in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where I live, or in North Carolina as well.

Specifically, will there be enough people that come out that will continue to send the message to President Biden that he needs to change his policy on that issue?

KEILAR: Yes, and if some of the rhetoric the Biden administration has sort of amped up since Michigan, if that's going to make a change in how they're reacting with their ballots. We will see that as well.

PRESTON: Yes.

KEILAR: You mentioned the data and basically raised this idea, like, is -- are the polls really going to show us what's going on? Because enthusiasm can sometimes mess with that a little bit. So what kind of questions do you have about what we are going to see today versus what we have been seeing in the polls and how enthusiasm can impact that?

PRESTON: Well, Virginia, as a perfect example, again, a state where I live that is -- has very reliable red areas, certainly around the Washington, D.C., area, reliably blue in those suburbs.

The question is, will people even come out? I know several Republicans who were probably going to vote for Nikki Haley, but said, why am I even going to go to the polls today, because, honestly, it just doesn't matter?

It wasn't the same kind of enthusiasm or I guess focus that you saw in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, three small states that really is familiar with playing a really important role in the process. And then you come to some of these big states and folks are saying to themselves, look, if Donald Trump's going to win, then he's going to win.

That's really no reflection on Nikki Haley. It's just a reflection of the reality of where we are now.

SANCHEZ: Yes, those early states set the tone. At this point, the tone's been set.

PRESTON: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Mark Preston, always appreciate the analysis. Thanks so much.

PRESTON: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come on NEWS CENTRAL.

From sitcom seat to House seat. Actor Ben Savage of "Boy Meets World" fame is now running for Congress. We look at his contest and a slew of other downballot races with major implications.

KEILAR: And he's got 91 problems, but winning the GOP nomination probably ain't one. How the former president has turned his criminal indictments into a campaign rallying cry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:19:11]

KEILAR: Today, President Biden's strategy is clear, and that is get out the vote and go after former President Trump.

Here's part of his message earlier on a Dallas morning radio show.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Think of the alternative, folks. If we lose this election, you're going to be back with Donald Trump.

And Donald Trump, I have not -- anyway, the way he talks about, the way he acted, the way he dealt with the African-American community, I think has been shameful.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Joining us now, CNN political commentators, analysts, wise voices...

KEILAR: Wise voices.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: ... Karen Finney and Kristen Soltis Anderson.

Ladies, thank you so much for being with us.

Karen, first to you.

How big is today a test for President Biden?

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

SANCHEZ: We were just chatting with Mark Preston about the uncommitted vote in Michigan. He sort of described it as a contagion of sorts.

[13:20:00]

FINNEY: Yes.

SANCHEZ: He wants to see how far it spreads. What do you think?

FINNEY: It's an -- it was an important point that he made, although I would point out that Biden did better this time than Obama did in 2013.

And that's one of the things that we have been looking at is -- because it's the most comparison -- best comparison. Meh. It will give us some -- we will have some indicators. I think one of the things, though, that is important is just to see

where people turn out in terms of, we have had quite decent turnout in a number of these states where there hasn't really even been much of a campaign. And so that tells us people are primed to vote.

And I would even say, with the folks who are voting uncommitted, they clearly care about making their voices heard. So, if over the course of the next several months we can move them back into the president's -- and many of them said they weren't necessarily voting against President Biden. So, if we can win those votes, that bodes well for the fall.

KEILAR: A lot of Democrats are saying they're voting uncommitted, but they're still engaged in the process.

FINNEY: Yes.

KEILAR: We will see, like you said, if that translates.

I wonder, Kristen, how you think the Biden campaign should be looking at turnout today, on this huge day, and what that could be something they're reading into the general election?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think turnout is going to be a big issue for Democrats in the general because their coalition is comprised of a lot of groups that have expressed real dissatisfaction with Joe Biden, young voters chief among them, young voters not being a huge piece of the Republican coalition these days, but a big part of how Democrats put their wins together.

And getting young people to turn out in a primary is always a challenge, but especially if they are among the groups saying they're the least likely to approve of Biden. You would want to see more young voters learning where their polling place is, getting engaged, making their voice heard.

With that said, I am reluctant to read too much into what happens tonight because we have a long way to go, and there are a lot of voters who right now may participate in a primary to blow off some steam to say, I'm ticked off at the options that we have and I want to make known that I don't like those options, but when push comes to shove in November, they will probably pick a side.

FINNEY: I just got to say, I think that's a really important point because, particularly on the Democratic side, we don't really have much of a primary, OK, Dean Phillips, but not really.

So it is an opportunity for people to just make their voices heard in a way that you would if there was a primary, where you would be kind of checking the different candidates out and seeing who you're interested in.

SANCHEZ: Kristen, on the other side, you mentioned we have a long way to go. It doesn't seem like we have a long way to go for Nikki Haley. She's not out there campaigning today. We're not expecting her to give a big speech at a rally tonight. This is effectively over for her?

SOLTIS ANDERSON: Well, as long as you have resources, you can stay in the race, but I do think that, once you get through Super Tuesday, you have given Republican voters in a lot of states the opportunity to make their voice heard, if you don't like Donald Trump, to blow off that steam, as I mentioned.

But once you get past Super Tuesday, the risk becomes that, suddenly, if Donald Trump is looking like he's going to lose in November -- and that's what Nikki Haley keeps saying, he's going to lose in November -- suddenly, the longer you're in the race, the more he's going to say, see, she wouldn't let the party heal.

Now, Donald Trump keeps picking at the scab. He's the one, for sure, that keeps saying, if you're not with me, if you're with Nikki Haley, you're out of the party. But the sooner that the primary ends on the Republican side, the faster the party really can consolidate.

FINNEY: And I would just make an analogy to 2016, although Bernie -- I mean, Nikki Haley is not having the same impact that Bernie did on Hillary, she is still turning out people who are saying, I am not voting for Donald Trump.

And, again, if you look in the states, 25 percent, 20 percent. That could be the margin of victory in a lot of these states in the fall if we, again, can have those voters support Biden.

KEILAR: Karen, "The New York Times" today has this headline, "Do Americans Have Collective Amnesia About Donald Trump?" and a story about how -- quote -- "The erosion of time appears to be working in Mr. Trump's favor, as swing voters base their support on their feelings about the present, not the past."

How does the Biden campaign need to confront that?

FINNEY: I think Donald Trump is going to help us do a lot of that work, frankly, because the more -- when we are in the general election, which, frankly, I think starts tonight -- and Thursday will be the first speech of the general election.

The more we are seeing the split screen of the two men and hearing more from Donald Trump, because, again, we haven't been hearing from him every day, all day tweeting and changing news broadcasts at the last minute with a tweet.

Then I think people will start to remember the chaos that we had, and as well as the vitriol. And he will be so focused on the past. And, hopefully, Biden, we're going to hear it Thursday and going forward, is talking about what's in our future. And I do think that's going to make a big difference.

SANCHEZ: Kristen, last word to you.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: I think that, for Joe Biden, he profited back in 2020 from the fact that voters felt like Trump had been very chaotic, wasn't for them. They wanted to turn the page. But what they have found with Joe Biden is that things haven't

necessarily felt more unified, less chaotic. So Biden has lost that advantage. He's got to make sure that the economy is better, the sorts of things that are pushing voters who don't like Donald Trump to nevertheless say, maybe I want to go back to that.

[13:25:09]

Kristen Soltis Anderson, Karen Finney, ladies, thanks so much.

SOLTIS ANDERSON: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

KEILAR: In California, it is the race that everyone is talking about.

We're not talking about Trump or Biden. We're going to go there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: All right, welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL's special coverage of Super Tuesday.

And we're not just focusing on the presidential primaries. In California, voters are deciding who's going to face off in November to fill the seat of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, the race critical.