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Polls on How Younger Voters Feel about Trump and Biden; Haley's Pennsylvania Voters Aren't Ready to Fall in Line; U.S. Economy Grew in First Quarter; New Claims against Weinstein; Recycling Falling Short of Goals; Chris McCarty is Interviewed about Legal Protections for Child Influencers. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 30, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:08]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new reporting this morning and there is a growing hesitancy among many of Hollywood's elite to wade into the 2024 endorsement game. This is according to several publicists who spoke with CNN. They say it's because of just how highly polarized politics have become.

The Biden campaign obviously would love some endorsements from some big, young stars because they're having some struggles with younger voters.

With us now, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten.

When we're talking about these struggles with younger voters, what does that look like?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, we're talking about the youngest voters here. I, unfortunately, have aged out of this group.

All right, so take a look here, Biden/Trump margin. And this, take a look here. Age 18 to 24, Biden won this group by 32 points last cycle over Donald Trump. Look at where the polling is now. Joe Biden still leads, but just by seven points. That is a drop, John, let's see if I can do this math. I believe it is a drop of 25 percentage points.

And compare that to the rest of the electorate where we're looking at a fairly similar race to where we were four years ago, where Joe Biden won those voters by two points last time around. Now Donald Trump leads by two. So that's a movement of four points. But four points, I don't need to tell you, John, is significantly less than movement of 25 points among those voters under the age of 25.

BERMAN: Yes. Worth noting, there are way more voters over 25. But nevertheless, that is a huge showing, the likes of which the Biden campaign has to be a little bit nervous about.

What are the reasons behind it, Harry? ENTEN: Yes, so, you know, this question to me gets really at the reason of why this might be occurring. Do you prefer or want a presidential candidate who promises to restore normalcy to Washington, D.C., or bring major change to the country? Overall, 54 percent of likely battleground state voters say they want a candidate, they prefer one who will restore normalcy to Washington, D.C.

But look at voters under the age of 30. It is a total flip of that. Bring major change to the U.S. Look at this, 65 percent of voters under the age of 30 say they want a candidate to bring major change to the U.S. And in that same poll, you know which candidate they thought would bring major change to the country? They thought Donald Trump would. So, all of a sudden you match up those two questions and you get a pretty clear understanding of why younger voters seem to be coming more Republican versus four years ago.

BERMAN: You've got to read the small print here. The small print means - has big implications.

Harry, how quickly have opinions changed among younger voters?

ENTEN: Yes, I think some people look at this polling and, you know, they look at a slide like this and they say, oh, this change, this is just a polling artifact. Uh-uh. I don't think it's necessarily the case, because I want you to go back in time.

I look at age 18 to 24-year-old voters. Look at the margins. And look at this back in the early 2000s. In 2000, those under the age of 25 were tied between Bush and Gore.

[08:35:04]

Look what happened in 2004, they started shifting, becoming more blue. John Kerry won them by 13 points. Barack Obama, in 2008, won them by 32 points. We had a movement of 32 points over just eight years.

Remember, John, those voters under the age of 25 right now, they, if best, were born in 2000. They were probably born later than 2000. They don't remember 9/11. They really don't remember the Bush years. They barely remember the Obama years. It's perhaps time that we're going to see a change, like we saw earlier on in the 21st century.

BERMAN: Yes. The point is here, you can see big swings. Maybe that is what we are seeing now for real.

Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some really interesting questions about that voting bloc.

Also some interesting questions about another voting bloc in 2024. Nikki Haley has made clear that Donald Trump has her vote come November. But what about all of the people who voted for Nikki Haley in the primary? The ten, even 15 percent of voters that - percent - voting percentage, even that she won, even in states after she dropped out of the race?

CNN's John King traveled to battleground Pennsylvania to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Michael Pesce's first big political statement came 40 years ago.

MICHAEL PESCE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I became a Republican when I turned 18 because of Ronald Reagan. Both my parents were staunch Democrats and I - and, you know, at the time they're like, we're Democrats, we're not Republicans. And I was like, no, no, no, this - you know, I'm a Reagan republican.

KING (voice over): The Philadelphia suburbs were reliably red back then. Pesce, a reluctant piece of why they are much more blue now.

KING: So, in 2016, you voted for -

PESCE: Trump.

KING: And in 2020?

PESCE: Biden.

KING: And you've got an election in a few months. What are you going to do?

PESCE: If I had my choice, I wouldn't vote for either. But I will vote for Biden. I will vote for anyone but Trump.

KING: Why?

PESCE: Well, so, he tried to overthrow our government. And that's a problem with me. I served in the U.S. military. I just have very strong feelings about what it means to be an American.

KING (voice over): So, another big statement this election year, a primary vote for Nikki Haley, six weeks after Donald Trump locked up the nomination.

PESCE: I want other Republicans out there saying like, we don't have to choose this guy. They don't want to hear that, OK, he could be a convicted criminal in a couple days. They don't want to hear that, hey, he did all these things.

KING (voice over): Pesce is hardly alone. Haley won 17 percent statewide, 24 percent here in suburban Montgomery County.

IRMA FRALIC, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: This is a little paradise outside the city.

KING (voice over): Irma Fralic also wanted to send a message. FRALIC: I want a country that's normal. I want a country that

functions. And I want people to be together.

KING (voice over): Fralic is the daughter of Cuban immigrants, a staunch supporter of Israel, another Reagan Republican, beyond frustrated with her choices.

FRALIC: One's in court, and the other one is, I feel bad for him. If he was my father I'd say, you know, you might want to reconsider your life. I don't know. And the other one I'd say, you might want to prioritize your personal problems.

KING (voice over): Rural Berks County is more Trumpy, but even here, 16 percent for Haley. Joan London (ph) was a Reagan supporter in her teens, a Tea Party backer in the Obama years. But after she cast a primary vote for Haley, London left the GOP, registering as an independent.

JOAN LONDON (ph), PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: The national party just didn't reflect my values the way it had. And I'm seeing a change in that more towards populism, which carries - carries some unpleasant baggage.

KING (voice over): She won't vote for Biden. London's debate, skip the presidential ballot line or write in a conservative.

KING: This is a county Trump needs. It's a county he won by eight points in 2020. If you are not Trump, that's subtraction. It hurts him. You get that, right?

LONDON: I do.

KING: And you think that's important?

LONDON: I - I believe that there - that we have to send a message that the Republican Party needs to go in - to go in a different direction.

KING: And if Biden wins because of that, so be it?

LONDON: It's a principled position I need to take.

KING (voice over): Media is in Delaware County, the Philly suburbs. Linda Rooney (ph), a registered Republican. A Trump voter in 2016, then Biden in 2020. Her Haley vote in April, both a protest and a question.

LINDAY ROONEY (ph), PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Who are these people in the Republican Party that are shoving this down our throats right now? Like, why can't we be - why can't we elect someone normal?

KING (voice over): Rooney serves as a borough election monitor.

KING: He just said the other day that he won Pennsylvania in 2020.

ROONEY: No.

KING: Oh. ROONEY: No.

KING: Yes.

ROONEY: Yes.

KING: Yes, we're laughing about it, but it's not funny.

ROONEY: No, it's not funny.

KING (voice over): She also says Trump's conduct on January 6th was reprehensible.

ROONEY: So, you know, I just can't - I can't forgive him for that.

KING (voice over): But Rooney won't vote for Biden again.

[08:40:01]

ROONEY: I can't. I don't trust him with the economy. My son's in the Army. I don't - I'm - I'm angry about Afghanistan, about that withdrawal. So, honestly, I - I can't vote for him.

So, I have two choices. I can write someone in or I can hold my nose and vote for Trump and know that it's only going to be four more years.

KING (voice over): Michael Pesce also takes the only four more years approach, but he arrives at a different answer.

PASCE: If enough of us Republicans can do the right thing, keep Trump out of office, the next four years aren't going to be perfect, but I think they're going to be better than what the alternative would be.

KING (voice over): Their Haley vote in April was a protest. Their choice in November could well decide the outcome in a crucial battleground.

John King, CNN, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking economic news. A new reading on economic growth.

CNN's Rahel Solomon is here.

And what does it say?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's a little cooler than we had initially expected. So, GDP, for the first quarter, the first three months of this year, coming in, growing at an annualized rate of 1.3 percent. To put that in context, the first reading we had gotten on GDP was actually 1.6. So, cooler than that first reading.

And when you're thinking GDP, you're thinking the broadest look at the U.S. economy, right? The broadest look at all goods and services produced in this period. So, it's sort of a birds eye view of the economy.

Now, when you look at - well, why was it revised lower? It was actually revised lower on less consumer spending. Consumer spending is the backbone of the U.S. economy. It makes up more than two thirds of GDP. So, where consumer spending goes, GDP goes for the most part, right?

And when you're looking at this figure for the first quarter, you can see, cooler, right? Cooler the first few quarters. Actually, it's the coolest since we have seen since the first half of 2022, when we actually saw a contraction, when we actually saw a decrease in economic activity. But - but still positive, right?

And so, this is a report that is solid, but absolutely showing some - some cooling, right?

Now, it's interesting because earlier this week we got consumer confidence which showed people are actually starting to feel better about the economy. I mean, go figure. So, you had seen that the consumer confidence index had been falling, falling, falling, and then suddenly we see an uptick. And part of that uptick, according to the report, was because people were feeling better about the labor market, right? You think about jobs being plentiful, you think about wages going up. And so that's part of the reason why people were saying that they feel better.

To that end, the labor market also showing still solid but starting to see some cooling, which I should say is not completely a surprise. You think about how long rates have been high. You can think about how long inflation has been high. Obviously, you would expect to see some impact from that. We will get our next jobs report next Friday. But before then, tomorrow is the big inflation for - it's the biggie this week. We'll get another inflation report. It's not quite as sexy as CPI, as the CPI inflation report, but it's the one that the Fed pays the most attention to.

BERMAN: Yes, I think it's hot, but that's just me.

SOLOMON: You think it's hot.

BERMAN: All right, Rahel Solomon, thank you so much for that, but I digress.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, major digress.

Let's go - let's move on to this. Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein could be facing a new indictment as Manhattan prosecutors say additional accusers have come forward alleging new claims of sexual misconduct against him. The news comes after Weinstein's - ahead, rather, of Weinstein's retrial on rape and sexual assault charges.

CNN's Jean Casarez is following this one.

There's a lot - there's been already a lot of twists and turns in what's happened with Weinstein, the Court of Appeals. What - what's the impact here?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you never know what's going to happen in a hearing. And yesterday afternoon that happened because the whole focus has been on the retrial, as you just said, of Harvey Weinstein by the New York District Attorney's Office. And that is proceeding as far as we know.

But the prosecutor had sent a letter to the judge in this case, Judge Farber, saying that the defense attorney for Harvey Weinstein is trying to intimidate one of the accusers that will be the main one, Mimi Haley, to take the stand in an upcoming trial, retrial, and that - and after in a press conference, after the last hearing, he did say that they believe she lied on the stand. And so the prosecutor said, we can't have anyone trying to intimidate a witness. Of course, Arthur Aidala fought back on that. But this is what it lead to. Prosecutors said it's a critical time, we need to address this, because we've got new accusers stepping forward right now to the district attorney's office from New York City saying they were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. We are vetting them. We are in active investigation, she said, and we're looking at statute of limitations, but their identities have to remain private.

[08:45:07]

We've got to give them the courage to step forward and do this.

And so then the judge said, so are you saying that you believe there's going to be a new indictment filed possibly? Prosecutor said, yes, your honor. And so that was really - became the headline of this case.

And Arthur Aidala told me after the hearing, it looks like he knew about it. He's already filed paperwork. Harvey Weinstein might speak if they go to a grand jury, the prosecutors, to present new evidence. And that never happens.

BOLDUAN: Wow. All right, Jean is all over this for us. Thank you so much, Jean. It's great to see you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, so how would you feel if millions of people watched you potty train or throw a tantrum? A new push by young people to ensure they have total control over their digital footprint.

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BOLDUAN: A Michigan state police trooper has been charged with second- degree murder, charged in the death of Samuel Sterling, in 25-year-old black man who was struck by an unmarked SUV while fleeing officers on foot.

[08:50:01] The dashcam -- but this looks like - this looks like actually bodycam footage. But this is dashcam. It shows Sterling running through the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant before he was hit. After that, Sterling told officers his whole body was in pain and struggled to move as officers handcuffed and searched him. He died hours later at the hospital.

Now, the FAA is investigating another close call, this time at Reagan National Airport. An American Airlines flight heading to Boston was forced to slam on the brakes and abruptly abort takeoff to avoid colliding with another plane that was landing on the runway. The plane returned to the gate for inspection, did make it to Boston, though four hours later. This is the second close call at Reagan National Airport in just six weeks.

And if you've got a court date for having a suspended driver's license, it is not advised that you attend court while in your car and while driving. One man in Michigan realized that too late and quickly found out just how bad a court appearance can go.

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JUDGE CEDRIC SIMPSON, WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Mr. Harris -

COREY HARRIS: Hello?

SIMPSON: Are you driving?

HARRIS: Actually, I'm pulling into my doctor's office, actually. So - so, I'm - just give me one second. I'm parking right now.

SIMPSON: So, maybe I don't understand something. This is a driving while license is suspended?

NATALIE PATE, COREY HARRIS' ATTORNEY: That is correct, your honor.

SIMPSON: And he was just driving. And he didn't have a license.

HARRIS: Oh.

PATE: That's what the charge is, your honor, yes.

SIMPSON: No, I'm looking at his record.

PATE: Yes.

SIMPSON: He doesn't have a license. He's suspended and he's just driving.

PATE: That is correct, your honor.

SIMPSON: I don't even know why he would do that.

So, defendant's bond is revoked in this matter. The defendant is to turn himself into the Washtenaw County Jail by 6:00 p.m. today. Failure to turn himself in will result in a bench warrant with no bond.

HARRIS: Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to laugh, but Judge Simpson's probably like, honestly, honestly. CNN reached out, John, to that man's attorney and has not heard back.

BERMAN: Yes, because the attorney's hiding somewhere. Like, not taking any calls. And I hope the guy doesn't drive himself to jail.

BOLDUAN: I almost snorfed (ph). I almost snorfed (ph) on TV.

BERMAN: Yes. So, no, I'm just - I feel bad for everyone involved.

BOLDUAN: Stop laughing and move on.

BERMAN: So, it promised to revolutionize recycling and help banish pollution, but critics say a process called chemical recycling, it's all an illusion.

CNN's Bill Weir is here.

And this is not like a good David Copperfield illusion, Bill.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not, unfortunately, John, because the plastics crisis is a real crisis. It is everywhere. Plastics top of the tallest oceans, bottom of the deepest - deepest oceans, topest (ph) mountains, in our bloodstreams. It's everywhere.

And the promise that maybe we could start recycling this stuff in a - in a circular, more harmonious loop is sort of falling away after a big plant just closed in Oregon.

This is Regenyx. This was a company that was supposed to recycle thousands of pounds of plastics. And they had the most difficult plastics to recycle. The polystyrene, the stuff in those coolers, coffee cups, egg cartons. They could break it down, reuse it again and again and again. At least that was the promise. But they just closed after only managing to recycle about 3,000 and - about 3,600 tons of plastic waste over five years. That was the promise, they wanted to be able to do over 3,600 a year. They only managed to do 3,000 over five years and then close, even though they called the project a success.

But this is just sort of a glaring example now of the plastics industry, a big petrochemical consumer, that recycling efforts aren't going the way they've been promised for so long. Even back to the Keep America Beautiful campaigns you remember of the '70s of the - of the crying Indian putting the responsibility for recycling on the consumer instead of companies as they actively resisted those sorts of things.

It turns out that only 9 percent of plastics these days is recycled globally. And much less than that, only around 5 percent in the United States. The promise of chemical recycling is that it was this new, magic process. Unlike mechanical recycling, which takes more energy and is harder to separate all those chemicals, they promised that the chemical way to do it would be the way to go. But only 11 of these plants are operating in the U.S. and at capacity could only recycle about 1.3 percent of U.S. waste even at full capacity, if they're cranking full-time.

So, what this does is now forced back the debate over cutting down on the production of plastic in the first place. The industry wants to keep making the stuff with the promise that it could eventually be recycled.

[08:55:03]

The more activist consumers are saying, no, we need to shut it off at the source, get a handle on the problem right now. But as we speak, John, millions of tons of plastic are produced every day and a lot of them are single use that end up in waterways almost immediately. A big problem that needs - needs our attention.

BERMAN: A huge problem. And there is no magic solution here.

Bill Weir, great to have you on this morning. Thanks so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: But they are called - they are the so-called social media babies. They're the generation whose childhoods coincide with the rise of the social media era. They're the first-generation of child influencers, and they're now becoming adults. And there's a movement among them who are fighting back against the whole industry of parents posting birth announcements, personal medical information, intimate family life details that children don't have control over. Some young people are now even calling on lawmakers to do more.

My next guest is fighting to do just that with their organization Quit Clicking Kids. Joining us now is Chris McCarty.

Chris, thank you for coming on.

You've been advocating for this after you learned about one influencer in particular who shared extensive kind of personal content online about her adopted son. Why has this become your cause and your passion? What do you see here?

CHRIS MCCARTY, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, QUIT CLICKING KIDS: That's a great question. I and so interested in how we can better protect children online. I was fortunate enough to have a family that is very conscientious about the things that they share online. So, this is not anything that I've gone through firsthand. But the knowledge that social media is becoming increasingly ingrained in our daily life, that it's becoming easier and easier to find out a wealth of information just from their name or their photo, it really makes me want to consider and help maybe other parents consider how they can be respectful when it comes to sharing their children online.

BOLDUAN: One - until recently, we were looking at this, no states have laws protecting the privacy and financial interests of children influencers. But, in July, in Illinois, a law goes into effect that will require parents to compensate child influencers, which had me kind of wondering, where is the line, in your view? You know, when does posting family photos cross over to being unsafe and unfair for kids?

MCCARTY: This is really interesting. So, I think, in general, parents need to be careful when they're sharing their kids online, right, because regardless of the intention, the impact could still be there of, you know, people who have mal intent maybe following these accounts or maybe downloading images of these children, using them for nefarious purposes. That's always something you're going to have to be mindful of.

However, the legislation in Illinois, which is based off of initial Washington state legislation, is really specifically tailored to family social media accounts that are monetized and monetize heavily. So, this legislation isn't saying like you can never post your kids online. This is saying, when posting your kids online becomes a business, it needs to be regulated as a business. So, that is really important to keep in mind when considering this issue.

BOLDUAN: And also important to point out, this isn't just a, you know, a passion project if you - and you also, you have been working with lawmakers in Washington to try to pass a bill, as you're talking about, similar to what we were seeing kind of rollout in Illinois. Short of legislation - well, I guess even before that, what's the role of big tech in this? What do you think the role of the social media companies should be?

MCCARTY: Yes, that's a great question. So, social media companies ideally would be enforcing the privacy protection part of this bill. So, in Washington state, and then this later got changed in Illinois due to a complex variety of reasons. But most states that have introduced legislation to protect child influencers have two key components. The first is the right to privacy and the second is a right to financial compensation.

So, for that right to privacy, what that would look like is once these kids reached the age of 18, they can request a social media platform to delete content that features them that they're no longer happy with having public. The second part, the right to financial compensation is modeled off of Coogan Law for child actors, which says that these children, if they are working in a monetized account, deserve to see some of that financial revenue that they're helping to generate, because, again, it's really these kids that are drawing people into these accounts. They're called family influencing accounts for a reason. Most of that content, most of that draw, the sponsorship deals, et cetera, that's all coming from a kid-centered account.

BOLDUAN: I have to say, it is just - the legislation, the debate, where the line is, it's fascinating and an important conversation to be having.

It's great to meet you. Thanks for coming in.

MCCARTY: Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

[09:00:02]

BERMAN: We are on verdict watching in the criminal case against Donald Trump.