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New Presidential Race Polls; Harris Focuses on Reproductive Rights; IDF Conducting Strikes on Hezbollah; Astronaut Returns to Earth. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired September 23, 2024 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: To you again very soon. Important, new information there.
Just 42 days until Election Day. And this week, Vice President Harris, now we're learning, is set to unveil new details of her economic policy.
This morning, the new controversial claim by Donald Trump, women, quote, "will no longer be thinking about abortion" if he wins.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: So, this is the moment you've been waiting for since we told you right at 7:00 there is brand new polling from "The New York Times" and Siena College from key sunbelt states. This polling, the question now, what does it all mean?
And there is one man with the answer to that question. CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten.
So, Harry, as I said, honestly, when we hear there's new polling from Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, the viewers, they want to know what it means, what it says and what you think about it.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes.
BERMAN: So, what does it say, first of all?
ENTEN: Let's see if I can live up to the hype of this.
All right, look, you got a lot of red on the screen. This is pretty good news for Donald Trump. This is the Harris versus Trump margin, unrounded margin. Look at this, in Ariona, Donald Trump up five, in Georgia up four, though I'll note, no clear leader.
[08:35:02]
North Carolina, a similar story. Donald Trump up 3. Again, no clear leader.
But you take it all together, in these three key battleground states, two of which Joe Biden carried four years ago, we see that Donald Trump is ahead and by an average of four points. Significantly better than he did back in 2020 across all of these states.
BERMAN: I am old enough to remember last Tuesday, Wednesday -
ENTEN: That might have been.
BERMAN: When there was "New York Times"/Sienna battleground polling from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan that was all blue.
ENTEN: Yes, there was that - there was that polling from Pennsylvania. We had that other polling that essentially showed that Kamala Harris was doing very well in the Great Lakes. And this, to me, seems to be the increasing divide amongst these swing states. These are the averages in the polls, right? Take a look in the Great Lakes, Harris up two. Wisconsin, Harris up two. Pennsylvania, Harris up two. Again, close races. But blue, not red, you jump over here with me to the sunbelt battleground states, you see a little blue at the top in Nevada, plus one. We don't have any new polling from there. But you look at North Carolina, Trump up by less than a point, Arizona in the average, Trump up by two. Georgia, Trump up by two in the average.
So, in the sunbelt battlegrounds, more red than blue, predominantly red. In the Great Lake battleground, predominantly, in fact, all blue. And this is going to be the divide I'm going to be looking at going forward, which is, do we continue to see that Kamala Harris does better in these Great Lake battleground states than she does in these sunbelt battleground states.
BERMAN: First of all, I have to say about Nevada. Somewhere John Ralston (ph) is crying because we don't have new battleground polling from Nevada.
ENTEN: Trushonda (ph).
BERMAN: But that said - that said, why - is there an explanation why Donald Trump is doing better here than here?
ENTEN: Yes, I think the big reason why is this, which is, Trump's 2024 coalition is more diverse. All right, so this is - this was among likely voters nationwide. Back in 2020, 81 percent of Donald Trump voters were white. Look at where we are today. It's just 77 percent. The non-white percentage jumps up from 16 percent to 20 percent. And if you know anything about those sunbelt battleground states is that they are more diverse than those Great Lake battleground states. In the southwestern they're more Hispanic than they are nationwide. In the southeast, in North Carolina and Georgia, they are more African- American than they are nationwide, John.
And I think the real question here is, what does this mean for the electoral map, because that's what we're all interested in. And it is - look, folks, it's just as tight as it can possibly be, because if the polls are exactly right, yes, Kamala Harris carries these Great Lake battleground states. But, of course, Donald Trump carries North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona, and that leads to 276 electoral votes for Kamala Harris to 262 for Donald Trump. But that is only if the polls are exactly right. You saw back in slide two how close these states are. The bottom line
is, we're just going to continue to mention this over and over and over again. It is the closest race in a generation, one of which I honestly really don't know who's going to win, John.
BERMAN: Harry Enten, great to see you.
ENTEN: Great to see you.
BERMAN: Thank you.
Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Nobody knows.
All right, this morning, the Harris-Walz campaign has released a brand new ad focusing on the national battle for reproductive rights. It features a military spouse and the potential challenges in getting IVF treatment if her husband is relocated. This week the Democratic nominee also expected to lay out more of an economic vision to voters in battleground blitz, as new polling shows, as you just heard from Harry Enten, very, very tight race. No one knows who might win at this point.
CNN's Eva McKend is with me now.
What is the strategy as she lays out her plans for the week?
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, key to the strategy this week is continuing to talk about how restrictive abortion bans are impacting women. This is part of a larger push of having women really tell their own stories. We've seen this on the reproductive rights bus tour that the campaign has employed. And new this morning, that campaign ad rolling out across the country that features a woman by the name of Yesenia of Tucson. They're putting the fight over IVF front and center.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YESENIA: My husband and I are going through IVF treatments now. It could be our only chance to have a family. But Donald Trump's plan could ban IVF in some states.
We are patriots, and we go where he is assigned. What if we end up in a state where IVF is no longer legal?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:40:01]
MCKEND: So, in addition to talking about reproductive rights, we're also going to hear the vice president build out her economic plan. But listen, Sara, the Harris team recognizes that while she's gaining in national polls, the former president holds a slight advantage in some of these key states that will decide the election. That's why we see her returning to Pennsylvania and campaigning out west in the coming days, and needling the former president, goading him into participating in an additional debate. It was one of the strongest moments of her brief campaign, showing that contrast, seriousness and message discipline. And what I'm hearing is they're eager for the opportunity to do it again.
SIDNER: All right, Eva McKend, thank you so much. I know she's spoken about that, and we will wait and see. Probably not likely that there will be a second one, but you never do know. Appreciate your reporting there from Washington.
John.
BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN political commentator, worker of 12 jobs, including the host of "BATTLEGROUND," S.E. Cupp.
Very nice to see you this morning.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi. Happy to squeeze you in today.
BERMAN: I appreciate it.
Look, Eva was just talking about this debate, which Harris wants.
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: Trump, right now, says he doesn't, which leads me to this question. There are 43 days left.
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: I know Harris is giving a big economic speech this week, but what's left to change minds at this point?
CUPP: Yes, the debate part is really important because debates are an inflection point in a campaign and they get people to tune in. They both need a new debate - another debate. Donald Trump needs something to sort of change the momentum, and Kamala Harris still has to introduce herself to people. We're hearing that over and over again from swing-state voters, they don't know her enough. So they should both want another debate.
But the swing-state voters we're talking to are really telling us they are still undecided because they know exactly who Donald Trump is. They still have questions about Kamala Harris.
BERMAN: They're not undecided about him?
CUPP: Correct.
BERMAN: They're undecided about her?
CUPP: Correct. And so they might stay home. They might vote third party. But they are - they are wanting to hear more from Kamala Harris. And so -
BERMAN: About what?
CUPP: About - she - she has identified the correct problems they say. They don't have enough specifics on the solutions. Both politically and practically, what would she do to solve x problem, inflation, for example, and how would she get Congress to go along with it? These are two things that American voters, they're not stupid, they see as real political realities and problems, and they want to know more.
BERMAN: So, if she gives this speech -
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: This big economic speech, a set piece -
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: You know, where she's going to lay out plans.
CUPP: (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: They - they will be paying attention?
CUPP: Well, Savannah will, Georgia will, and Georgia voters are important. She really needs to shore up especially the black vote in Georgia.
But nationally, no, they won't, which is why she needs more interviews. This is not just S.E. Cupp or journalism asking for more interviews, right? This is because voters are telling us they still have questions. And that media interaction could come in the form of a town hall. It could be podcasts and other kinds of unconventional media. But she's got to do more.
BERMAN: So, grab people by the lapels. Somehow, some way -
CUPP: Captive audiences.
BERMAN: Get them to listen.
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: All right, the flip side of all of this, you said people want to hear more about Vice President Harris. What more do they want to hear from Donald Trump, particularly when he says and writes stuff like this. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's talk about our great women. All right. Because women have gone through a lot. They've gone through a lot. Women are poorer than they were four years ago, are less healthy than they were four years ago.
I will fix all of that. Women, I will fix all of that.
Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You will no longer be thinking about abortion.
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: Which is a clunky line at best there.
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: And, it a vacuum, in a campaign, will be the type of thing that might cause waves, but it seems to be that you're telling me, at this point, Donald Trump doesn't make any waves with anything he says?
CUPP: Well, no. I mean he is - this is - this kind of stuff is repelling the very voters he will need, these undecided swing-state, mostly suburban women. They will still be thinking about abortion. That's thanks in large part to his rhetoric, his policies, and his overturning Roe v. Wade assures that they will still be thinking about abortion in very real ways.
And since Gallup started polling abortion attitudes in 1976, women have always felt the same way about abortion. They want legal abortion with restrictions. That's been like a fixed, straight line. So, he can keep pretending that this problem is solved and over. That's just not the case.
The problem is, Donald Trump has a 21-point gender gap with women. Harris is beating him by over 20 points with women. His campaign knows that.
[08:45:00]
This sort of desperate attempt to throw spaghetti at the walls, say, you're going to be happy, you're going to be healthy, you're going to be rich, you're going to be successful, you're going to love your life and abortion's just not going to be a problem anymore. This is just sort of a desperate way of pacifying, assuaging these women who are undecided and turned off not to be. I don't think it's working yet.
BERMAN: So it's the type of thing that might keep them home -
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: Or is it the type of thing that might push them toward Harris, because that may be the issue with these undecided voters.
CUPP: Yes. And we're - we're still watching these voters very carefully, and we're not seeing the movement toward Harris. We're not seeing it toward Trump. RFK's endorsement of Trump didn't move them either - you know, over either. So, we're still watching to see what impact that has. And if they just decide to throw up their hands, I'm not interested in this election anymore, or maybe Kamala Harris starts giving them some reasons to move into her camp.
BERMAN: It opens up the possibility for some kind of late 1980-like break -
CUPP: Yes.
BERMAN: Where everyone moves all at once the last week. But who knows.
CUPP: Who knows.
BERMAN: Who knows.
All right. S.E. Cupp, thank you very much.
CUPP: Sure.
BERMAN: So, a textbook touchdown. And this - yes, I mean we're not talking about Tom Brady here, although he had 20 years of that. A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts return to earth from the International Space Station. We'll talk about this mission.
And an exhausted looking face. A root vegetable and a shovel. A sneak peek at some of the new emojis to hit your text chains. People have been clamoring, honestly, for root vegetables. This is a huge day for root vegetables.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:51:00]
BERMAN: All right, breaking this morning, officials say at least 100 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. The Israeli military is amping up its airstrikes on Hezbollah targets across the country.
Let's get right to CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.
General, great to see you.
I can give you a sense of the scope of this air campaign. Every dot here is somewhere that Israel has hit in the last couple of days. It's interesting because this follows the attack on the explosive pagers and walkie-talkies we're showing you right here.
How do you think, General, that this attack has impacted or influenced this air campaign that we're seeing right now?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, John.
Hey, this is exactly the key point, that the attack on the beepers, the walkie-talkies causes a communications breakdown within Hezbollah. Once any terrorist group has a communication breakdown, they start scrambling. They try and find new ways to communicate. And when they do that, they open them up - open themselves up for operational security requirements and problems.
So, the chatter that's going on within Hezbollah after they've lost some of their main ways to communicate has caused Israel to pick up more intelligence in terms of what they're doing because they've become more open sourced.
So, there were 150 strikes the day after those - the walkie-talkies were hit. That tells me, because I've done this in combat myself, that there was a lot of movement by Hezbollah forces, a lot of attempts to use couriers and other methods of communication. So that opens them up for signals intelligence and for Israel to strike.
The day after the walkie-talkies were hit, there were over 150 fighter jets, Israeli fighter jets, in the area striking multiple targets. They found some areas where cruise missiles were being launched from inside of houses in Lebanon. And they have taken those houses and destroyed them with air attacks. One hundred and fifty jets in areas of the Gaza, Lebanon and also operating in Judea and Samaria to strike those targets where Hezbollah terrorist and others are communicating.
BERMAN: So, you hear something or see something in one of these sites here and then you strike it from the air. I mean, I could put a dot on every one of them here.
General, one thing is, again, as we look at this map here, most of the locations that are hit are in southern Lebanon here. One area that has not been hit extensively, of course it did happen last week, the targeted attack in south Beirut, no widespread attacks around Beirut.
Do you think that will last, or do you think Israel will target? I mean Hezbollah is ensconced in certain neighborhoods around Beirut, where tens and tens of thousands of people live.
HERTLING: Yes, this is the headquarters, John. And the other thing that you're talking about with those dots you've placed in terms of where Israel hits, coincidentally correspond to where missiles are being launched from. And they have - they strike targets where they get intelligence.
But the strikes inside of Beirut, like the one last week against the Radwan (ph) force meeting with Ibrahim Aqil, which killed allegedly about 36 terrorists leaders, tells me that that's their headquarters. And again, I go back to the communication. The frontline forces shooting the missile, shooting the artillery, shooting the rockets are talking to those leaders that are stationed in Beirut.
So, once you get the communication linkage and the signals intelligence gives you a location of the leaders of the Radwan force, then you can strike them. And that's what Israel has been doing as more intelligence starts coming into their headquarters.
BERMAN: You know, one of the things we have not seen yet, and Hezbollah has been shooting rockets and the like over into Israel. Some that have hit here around Haifa, the biggest city in the north. But we haven't seen Hezbollah unleash the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of missiles they've amassed over the last decades, or the ones with the new technology we've been hearing about so much.
[08:55:08]
Why not?
HERTLING: Well, first let's talk about the Haifa strike. Those were missiles that are extended range missiles. They can go a lot farther than most of what Hezbollah uses to strike in the area just south of the border, but they haven't. You're right, they haven't used the hundreds of thousands of missiles. And I think they're waiting for a cue from Iran. They have been told, standby. If Israel does more things against Iran, then I think you're going to see Hezbollah become very active.
And that's some of the preemptive strikes by Israel inside of the Lebanese territory, striking against some of the rockets that are being set up, especially some of those cruise missiles, which I talked about earlier.
Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, always great to speak with you. Thanks so much for being on with us this morning.
Sara.
SIDNER: All right, a bit later this morning, the co-founder of OceanGate will testify about the submersible that imploded on the way to the Titanic wreckage last year. Five people were killed in that vessel. A Coast Guard panel is in the middle of a two-week hearing to investigate what happened. Earlier testimony portrayed the company as prioritizing profits over science and safety.
Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson trying to give traumatized students from Apalachee High School some joy. Those students endured, as you know, a deadly school shooting that killed two students and two teachers earlier this month in Georgia. "The Rock" was in the Atlanta area working on a project, so he met them on a sound stage and shared photos and video on Instagram. One of the posts said, "sometimes one of the best paths to beginning the healing journey is through our smiles, laughter, and joy."
All right, speaking of smiles, laughter, and joy, meet Pesto. Look at that big boy. The adorable king penguin chick who's making waves at an aquarium in Australia. At just nine months old, he's already 50 pounds. This little guy has outgrown his parents. The average sides, by the way, of a king penguin, 37 pounds. Photos of Pesto hovering over his parents have gone viral. He eats about 30 fish a day. Way more than the typical adult penguin. Whoo, he's so cute.
All right, don't have enough ways to communicate? Never fear. There are more emojis on the way. There's an exhausted face, a fingerprint, a purple splatter, a root veggie, a bear tree, a harp, a shovel, and a flag for a remote island in the English Channel called Sark Island. The tired face was voted most anticipated emoji. There is actually a non-profit group that oversees emojis and must approve new ones. Now that these have the seal of approval, you should start seeing them over the next few months.
What do you do with the harp? Oh, you're harping on it. Stop harping on this issue. I don't - there's a lot of things.
BERMAN: There's a non-profit group that oversees emojis?
SIDNER: I know. Yes.
BERMAN: I mean, why?
SIDNER: I - it's a good - I think you should investigate. Or maybe we will.
BERMAN: I - you know, there's got to be better things to look at than emoji monitoring.
SIDNER: Yes.
BERMAN: International code of - court of emojis.
SIDNER: There's other things happening in the world that might be more important.
BERMAN: All right.
SIDNER: I agree, John.
BERMAN: All right, I feel safer, though, because - I will say that.
All right, moments ago, a NASA astronaut landed safely on earth after more than six months aboard the International Space Station. The team touched down in a remote area of Kazakhstan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown. Right on the money. A textbook touchdown on the step of Kazakhstan.
Tracy Dyson is home after 184 days in space. Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are home after 374 days in space. A record for an International Space Station mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: I mean you can hear the excitement in the announcer's voice right there. It feels like the 13th hole at the Master's or something.
CNN's Tom Foreman joins us now with how she got home and the mission.
Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was - it was an amazing - look at the numbers. The numbers are really astonishing here. One hundred and eighty-four days up in space, 2,944 orbits and 78 million miles. That's a lot of travel.
Now, interestingly enough, Oleg Kononenko, the commander who was with her there from Russia, he was up - he holds the record now for the most days in space, 1,111. That's the all-time record. He was up for more than a year this time around.
Anyway, she did a lot of great work up there. About six months. Easier way to think about it. She did research into stem cell research, 3D printing of heart tissues, operating robots on earth from space and fire safety and microgravity among many other things.
[09:00:05]
This really is - was a great flight for her.
