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Biden Leads In Polls, Warns Against Complacency; Italy Reports Record New Cases As Second Wave Grips Europe; Trump Losing White Female Voters In Swing States; Republican Seniors Voting For Biden; Mnuchin Leads U.S. Delegation To Israel, Bahrain, UAE; Kenya Stars Struggling Through Pandemic. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 18, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Coming up on the show, the U.S. president on the campaign trail visiting states with huge spikes of coronavirus cases but he doesn't mention it.
Also, COVID cases on the rise in north of England, with new restrictions recommended but the mayor of Manchester is pushing back. That is not sitting well with the prime minister.
Thousands of women march across the U.S. protesting President Trump and his Supreme Court nominee. But will their message be heard?
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CURNOW: Ten U.S. states reported on Friday the highest number of new COVID cases ever. That figure coming from Johns Hopkins University. One of those states is Wisconsin, where the president held a campaign rally on Saturday.
As you can see here, he had one the same day in Michigan as well, which is also breaking COVID case records. Instead of mentioning these alarming new, figures the president criticized the state's governor for how she is handling the pandemic. We will just play you a little bit of that.
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TRUMP: Get your schools open. The schools have to be open. Right?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Lock them all up.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CURNOW: So those are the chants that you just heard over Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, the same governor who was the target of an alleged kidnapping plot earlier on this month. She says this is exactly the kind of rhetoric that is putting her, her family and other officials in harm's way.
She says it is just one of the ways Mr. Trump is trying to fire up his base, trailing by double digits in the polls and the election is just 16 days away. And the president did not focus much on the surge in cases in Wisconsin during his campaign rally there.
He instead he promoted what he called his successes during the pandemic, as Jeremy Diamond now explains. Jeremy?
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is now losing to Joe Biden, according to recent polls, by an average of 7 points. So the president campaigning here in Janesville, Wisconsin, trying to win back some support. Talking about his support for law enforcement in particular, speaking in this town of Janesville, Wisconsin, which is 60 miles from Kenosha, Wisconsin, where, of course, a Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by police.
After that, of course, there were protests and some unrest which the president has amplified and talked about.
But what he didn't talk about here is the surge here in Wisconsin of coronavirus cases happening in the state. Wisconsin is experiencing one of the worst surges in the country at the moment. Hospitalizations have tripled over the last month.
And the state of Wisconsin experienced a record number of cases just the day before the president came here to Janesville to campaign.
Now the White House's Coronavirus Task Force itself has warned about these types of events that the president hosted here.
It wrote in its weekly report about the state of Wisconsin, saying, "Wisconsin's ability to limit further and avoid increases in hospitalizations and deaths will depend on increased observation of social distancing mitigation measures by the community until cases decline.
"Lack of compliance with these measures will lead to preventable deaths."
And so that is what is so startling is to see the White House Coronavirus Task Force say essentially that these very same events that the president is holding with thousands of people, packed closely together, no social distancing, very few people wearing masks, will lead to preventable deaths.
Yet the president of the United States continues to hold these events. In fact, he has pledged to hold very similar events to the one we saw here in Janesville, Wisconsin, over the next few weeks, leading up to Election Day. Once a day, multiple times a day perhaps, in order to try to save his chances at reelection -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, in Janesville, Wisconsin.
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CURNOW: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is not resting on his favorable polling numbers.
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CURNOW: The latest CNN poll shows him ahead 53 percent to the president's 42 percent but Biden's campaign manager is urging supporters to stay enthused and to fight as if they're trailing.
"We cannot become complacent because the very searing truth is that Donald Trump can still win this race and every indication we have shows that this thing is going to come down to the wire."
Jason Carroll tells us, now where Mr. Biden is focusing. Next Jason?
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As expected, the campaign putting much of its time, resources and energy in the battleground states. And states that are doing early in-person voting, we're seeing some of those same images coming out of places like North Carolina.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden will be in Durham, North Carolina, today, speaking to voters, telling them to be patient and to get out there and vote. Senator Kamala Harris will be doing the same in Florida on Monday; should be making two stops there.
Biden not out on the campaign trail on Saturday, neither was Harris. Biden met with advisers from his campaign on Saturday; Harris, a couple of people in her orbit have tested positive For COVID-19. So they physically took her off the campaign trail for a couple of days.
She did test negative for COVID-19 on Saturday. So looking ahead, again, you've got Biden; he's going to be in North Carolina today. You've got Senator Harris in Florida; she will be there on Monday. Jill Biden will be in Pennsylvania on Monday, she will be in Michigan on Tuesday.
But Wednesday is the big day. That is the day that former President Barack Obama will be out there campaigning for Biden. He'll be doing that in Philadelphia. And a number of Democrats are saying that, if there's one surrogate you want out there stumping for you, that would be the one.
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CURNOW: So joining me now from Oxford, England, is Thomas Gift, director of the UCL Center on U.S. Politics. Thomas, hi. Lovely to see you. So a key point has come out of the last
sort of few hours is that the Biden team has been warning voters not to be complacent.
Where do you think they see their vulnerabilities?
THOMAS GIFT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Robyn, Biden's team has been warning about complacency for quite a while. That does come with the territory of having a sizeable lead. Concern for Democrats is that if enough voter feel like a Biden win is a foregone conclusion, some may decide to stay home on November 3rd.
Simultaneously, Biden is warning against complacency and it may reflect that he's also worried about an enthusiasm gap. Even if Trump trails by 8-10 points, there are arguably more Republicans who excited about casting their ballot, than there are Democrats who are excited about voting for Biden.
So it becomes a turnout game. Clearly Biden doesn't excite the liberal base as much as another candidate might from the Democratic primaries. So it still goes back to the challenge that we talked about in the spring, about coalescing the progressive and moderate wings of the party.
CURNOW: So what do you make then of this early voting?
Certainly, it speaks to enthusiasm, potentially Democratic enthusiasm. But you rightfully mentioned enthusiasm on the other side with the Republicans. That is what massive turnout is about. It's about everybody coming out.
What do you think is the message in that?
What is the sign posting?
GIFT: All indications are that there will be a record number of mail- in ballots this year. Of course the participation of mail-in balloting is highly polarized by party. Many more Biden supporters are expected to cast their ballots through mail than Trump voters because of how the parties have framed the pandemic, with Trump downplaying the risk of voting in person and suggesting without evidence that mail in balloting could be susceptible to widespread fraud.
But there's no doubt that mail-in ballots will be pivotal in swing states, which adds another layer of complexity. Both are making predictions about who might win on Election Night and how Trump might respond if the election ends up decided by a razor-thin margin.
And it's worth pointing out that "The Washington Post" pointed out that in the primaries, half a million mail-in ballots across 23 states were disqualified for technical reasons. So worst-case scenario, if that becomes a 2020 version of hanging chads, we can only predict what the fallout might be from that.
CURNOW: And that was going to be my next question. How likely a scenario is it that this election is decided in the
Supreme Court?
Mr. Trump said that he wouldn't mind if it goes that way.
But do you think that that is an option that is certainly motivating the Biden campaign?
GIFT: Well, it's a great question, Robyn, because lots of people are speculating about this.
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GIFT: And in any year, I think the chances that an election gets decided by the court, like in Bush v. Gore, is limited.
Still it's not an impossibility and both sides will be lawyered up if the election results are close. That's especially the case this year because the election logistics are so much more complex than anything we've seen in the past, with this overwhelming number of mail-in ballots because of the pandemic.
One of the reasons Trump said he wanted Amy Coney Barrett confirmed before November 3rd is that she would be eligible to cast a vote in any case that might come before SCOTUS.
Obviously, when we saw the Supreme Court render a verdict in Bush v. Gore, that was divisive. But the country is at a whole new level of polarization now. So if this election does get adjudicated by the court system, it could impose even more severe strains on America's social and political fabric.
CURNOW: Yes, I think you are so right there. So if we talk about where this election is going to be adjudicated, let's go down to the states.
Where do you think the key battleground moments are going to be?
Many seem to be in play like Texas or in Georgia but where do you think this is going to land up in terms of a swing location?
GIFT: Well, the consensus is that Trump's path to victory is narrower than Biden's. Trump's best chance in 2020 is to essentially duplicate the success he had in 2016 where he was able to narrowly edge out Clinton in just about every battleground state, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, you name it.
The problem is that some of these states are looking if not out of reach for Trump, definitely uphill battles for him this year. Case in point, I will point out is Pennsylvania. That's my home state. And it's where both candidates have been spending considerable time.
According to 538, most polls have Biden with about a 5- to 8-point lead there. It's really a microcosm of this ostensible shift away from Trump, not just among moderates and suburbs, in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but a number of small towns in the central part of the state, where voters have been hit by unemployment and also face other challenges associated with coronavirus.
CURNOW: Yes, and we've also seen white suburban women in Pennsylvania peeling away from the president in record numbers as well. So it's going to be interesting. It certainly is a microcosm of a state. 2 weeks to go until that election, it is certainly a generational one. Thomas Gift, great to speak to you, live from Oxford, thanks for your expertise and analysis.
GIFT: Thanks, Robyn.
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CURNOW: The threat of coronavirus isn't stopping women's rights activists from mobilizing all over the U.S. Saturday's Women's March drew thousands of protesters in Washington and other major cities, voicing opposition to President Trump's Supreme Court pick and also encouraging women to vote. Suzanne Malveaux has more.
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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: The pink hats are back as thousands of women gather here on the National Mall at the Women's March. I covered back in 2017 when there were 5 million people who participated throughout the country, 200,000 in D.C.
It is largely different and smaller because of COVID-19. That is the way they want it. But they got the several thousand women that have the energy and the passion. They want voters to come out. They said 43 percent of those eligible to vote back in 2016 did so. They want to get those numbers up.
We are looking here, just in the back earlier, the rally began at Freedom Plaza and went to the U.S. Capitol and then to the Supreme Court. Here at the National Mall, this is where they are headed to text upon (ph). They want to text 5 million people, reach 5 million voters, female voters, many of them new, to encourage them to vote this time around.
They say it is that important, it is that critical. They are talking about fighting for reproductive rights, climate change, racial equality among many of the causes I had a chance to talk to. Many of the participants. Here is just a sampling of what they are concerned about.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I quarantined just to be able to go to this. But I only go out to go to the grocery store, that's all. I haven't seen my grandchildren. I haven't seen my children. So it is just -- the whole country is just horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Women are being demeaned even worse right now, especially since that we are in a time where everything is tumultuous, the world is pretty much spinning in opposite directions, no matter whether it's Black Lives Matter, whether it's women's rights. It's all connected in some way, shape or another. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The priority of the marchers is to slow down the process of replacing the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, not to rush it through but to wait for the next president to be elected. That was her dying wish.
That is something that they want the White House and Congress to be clear on -- Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.
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CURNOW: So the deadly coronavirus is surging again in the U.S. as we have been saying and experts say it could get much, much worse this time. That is because the virus has now spread pretty much everywhere. We'll show you how and where. Next.
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CURNOW: There's a new surge of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Experts say it can be dramatically worse compared to spring or summer and here's why. The virus has made it to every region and not one of them seems to be safe.
So take a look at this map. U.S. reported almost 70,000 new infections just on Friday. The most since July 29th, using data from Johns Hopkins University. That brings the total number of U.S. cases to over 8.1 million. That comes as 10 states reported their highest number of new COVID cases on Friday.
As the weather cools in the U.S., COVID numbers are expected to rise even further, as Evan McMorris-Santoro now reports.
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EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Public health officials in the United States are sounding the alarm as cases rise across the country and winter swiftly approaches.
As you can see from this graphic, 10 states across the country recently reported their highest single-day total of new COVID cases since the pandemic began. Now Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that more states are showing bad numbers and things can get a lot worse.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You can't enter into the cool months of the fall and the cold months of the winter with a high community infection baseline.
And looking at the map and seeing the heat map, how it lights up with test positivity that is in more than 30-plus states, it is going in the wrong direction. It's still not too late to vigorously apply good public health measures. And again I emphasize, without necessarily shutting down the country.
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MCMORRIS-SANTORO: What Dr. Fauci is saying is that people need to realize the things that kept the virus in check in the spring are also important for the winter. A diligent adherence to social distancing rules and mask requirements. Without it, Fauci says, America could be in for a very tough winter -- Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.
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CURNOW: And European governments are also scrambling to stop a second and more severe wave. New cases are sweeping the continent as this map shows. If the country is shaded red and orange, the virus numbers are really, really going the wrong way. Now the U.K. just recorded another 150 deaths in the past 24 hours.
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CURNOW: And its leaders are feeling the pressure. The mayor of Manchester is pushing again back against prime minister Boris Johnson who's considering tougher restrictions.
And in Germany, the country had 7,800 new cases on Saturday, a new record. One German governor warned the nation is in danger of losing control in some areas.
And then in Italy, which was one of the hardest hit nations at the start of this, there were almost 11,000 new infections reported on Friday through Saturday which is a new daily high there.
So with coronavirus on the rise in northern England, the prime minister Boris Johnson is calling the situation grave, yet the prime minister and the mayor of Manchester are at loggerheads over imposing additional restrictions. For more on that, I want to bring in Salma Abdelaziz, in Manchester.
Tell us why the folks in Manchester are pushing back at Westminster.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: This is essentially for the mayor of Manchester and his government a risk versus reward calculation. They say the risk to businesses shutting down under this 3 tier system is not worth the reward in terms of the number of infections that would be brought down. They argue a nationwide lockdown would be more effective in bringing case numbers and would provide more of an economic package for. Businesses.
Of course the prime minister disagrees. Take a look at how this dispute has played out.
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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): An ordinary act of defiance from the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham. ANDY BURNHAM, MANCHESTER MAYOR: We've unanimously opposed the government's plans for tier 3. They are flawed and unfair.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The city now faces an ultimatum from prime minister Boris Johnson.
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: If agreement cannot be reached, I will need to intervene.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Downing Street implemented a 3 tier COVID-19 alert system to curb a second wave of coronavirus cases. Not abiding by these new measures, the government says, means more people will die. But Afzal Khan, a member of Parliament from Manchester, says it's the prime minister, not the mayor, who is putting lives at risk.
AFZAL KHAN, MANCHESTER GORTON MP: I'm disappointed. I think they've been incompetent. I've never seen anything like this from a British government.
ABDELAZIZ: So why won't you just implement tier 3 restrictions as the government requested?
KHAN: Of course it will help but it will not be what we need. We need more. I think that's my first concern. And second point is the impact economically will be huge.
ABDELAZIZ: This shopping district is absolutely packed. And that's what this debate is about. Even under the country's highest (INAUDIBLE) restrictions (INAUDIBLE) shut down, households would be banned from mixing together like this would still be allowed. That's why some, including the country's scientific advisers, say a nationwide lockdown is needed.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): It would also come with more financial support to help businesses survive a second hit. Pub owner Tim Flynn says, if he closes his doors under the 3 tier system, he may never be able to reopen. Again
TIM FLYNN, ,PUB OWNER: A local lockdown will not do. It I have no problem with the sharp two week (INAUDIBLE) lockdown but this local lockdown will not do it.
And the packages they're offering the businesses is only peanuts.
ABDELAZIZ: Do you support the mayor and him -- ?
FLYNN: I do support Andy Burnham 110 percent.
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): He is not alone. On the streets of Manchester, it is hard to find support for the prime minister.
ABDELAZIZ: We are asking whether you support the mayor or the prime minister on coronavirus restrictions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the mayor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mayor. I'm on the mayor's side, definitely. Yes, I'm siding with the mayor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the mayor, yes.
ABDELAZIZ: What's your opinion of prime minister Boris Johnson?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't say it on TV.
ABDELAZIZ: While the government remains in a state of paralysis, the virus continues to spread.
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ABDELAZIZ: Now talks between these 2 sides have stalled. There have been no direct negotiations between the government of Manchester and Downing Street since Thursday. That MP we did speak to in the piece says he expects, while there is nothing on the calendar, his personal expectation is that this could be resolved on Monday. We'll be hearing from both Boris Johnson officials and the mayor himself on the Sunday morning talk show in Britain.
CURNOW: Just got me as I sneezed so hopefully I didn't make that on air. But thank you very much. I know yesterday you heard someone yelling behind you. So we're even now. Thanks a lot.
OK, so we're going to continue talking about coronavirus. Italy is facing that second spike as well. The country is reporting escalating record cases this, week and we know that schools have also shut down. This time the country is dealing with the pandemic much, much more aggressively as Ben Wedeman reports from Naples.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the fourth day in a row, Italy has reported record high daily increases in the number of new coronavirus cases.
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WEDEMAN: Numbers far higher than we saw earlier in the year, when Italy was the European epicenter of the pandemic. Yet deaths remain relatively low from coronavirus. Still, in the double digits.
We are in Naples where the governor of this region has ordered schools and universities to be closed. Restaurants have to close their doors by 9 pm. We also had the time to speak with the region's senior infectious disease specialist, who told us that this region is taking a much more aggressive approach to testing.
In the past in Italy you actually had to show symptoms of the disease. Now all you need is a doctor's referral. So testing is much more easily available for those who want it, regardless of whether they show symptoms.
All of this it is hoped, will help stop this latest alarming surge, a second wave in this pandemic. I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Naples. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: The U.S. president Trump owes a lot to suburban women for winning the 2016 election but this year many of them want him to lose. And that might cost him that important swing state. We've got that story, an important one, stick around. You're watching CNN.
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CURNOW: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Thanks for joining me.
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CURNOW: I'm Robyn Curnow coming to you from CNN's world headquarters here in Atlanta and it is 29 minutes past the hour.
So if it seems to you that more people are early voting for this presidential election, you'd be right. More voters than ever are going to the polls early or requesting absentee ballots. Let's just compare this time to back in 2016, 17 days before the election and there were only 7 million early voters in a bit more than half of the states.
This time it's over 22 million in almost all of the states. But despite all of these high numbers, there is still no way to tell who is a favorite to win and that's because Joe Biden supporters are more likely to vote before Election Day than Trump supporters.
And here in the state of Georgia, early voters are certainly coming out in droves.
Look at these images, these lines. And polls haven't even been open a week. As of noon on Saturday, there were over 1 million in-person votes, that's up 134 percent from last election. Natasha Chen has been on the ground and she filed this report.
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NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The wait in the afternoon is significantly shorter than what we saw this morning when the doors opened a 8 am. We saw people here who said that they had already been waiting more than 3 hours just to make sure that they could cast their vote.
In fact if you see the fence line and the yellow tape over there that's currently empty, this morning at 7 or 8 that was completely full. So a lot of energy and enthusiasm from voters who say it's so important for them to cast their vote.
In fact, across the state of Georgia, we are seeing more than a 100 percent increase in turnout, combining both early in-person voting with absentee ballots compared to this point in the 2016 election. We also met some first-time voters in line, who said they're very
excited to be. . is what they said.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need change in this country right now and honestly it's important for the younger people to come out, because it's our country to run at this point. It's not for the older generation anymore. It's us that are coming up now.
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CHEN: We also talked to her brother, Douglas (ph), who is 23. He said he missed Voting in the 2016 election because he made the mistake of thinking that the outcome was guaranteed. So he and his family talked to me about how every vote matters.
A lot with similar sentiments, saying that the issues driving them to the polls is the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic and the government's response to police brutality -- Natasha Chen, CNN, Marietta, Georgia.
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CURNOW: Thanks Natasha for. That
So U.S. polls show that President Trump is deeply unpopular with many women. Voters and he is very much aware of that gender gap. It would also explain this appeal he made on Saturday.
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TRUMP: They will kill your jobs, dismantle your police departments, dissolve your borders, raise your taxes, destroy your suburbs. And I saved your suburbs. Women, suburban women, you're supposed to love Trump.
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CURNOW: Kate Bolduan went to Pennsylvania where 50 percent of white women voted for Trump in 2016. Here's what some of them are saying this time around.
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HOLLI GEITNER (R), BIDEN SUPPORTER: You all right?
I'm probably a good example of someone who's gone through a lot of change in four years.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Holli Geitner, a registered Republican, is a working parent of two kids living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and she wasn't alone. Fifty percent of white women in Pennsylvania did the same, according to exit polls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: What do you feel today about your vote four years ago?
GEITNER: I can tell you how I felt four years ago. Shame.
BOLDUAN: Do you regret your vote?
GEITNER: Where we are today? Yes, I do. I don't think that this is the "great again " that everyone thought it was going to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So Holli is voting for Joe Biden and so is Nin Bell.
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BOLDUAN: What drew you to Donald Trump? Why did you vote for Donald Trump then?
NIN BELL, FORMER TRUMP SUPPORTER: For his celebrity, 100 percent.
BOLDUAN: It was the brand?
BELL: It was.
BOLDUAN: The image?
BELL: Absolutely. Successful, funny. Like he was funny, I loved his show, "The Celebrity Apprentice." Never missed it.
BOLDUAN: Was there a moment when you decided I cannot support him anymore?
BELL: It was almost instantly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: It's not just outside the cities where suburban women are questioning their support for Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, it's even out here in Westmoreland County, rural Pennsylvania. Considered Trump Country.
We're about to meet two of them.
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JULIE BRADY, FORMER TRUMP SUPPORTER: She's older.
JOAN SMELTZER, FORMER TRUMP SUPPORTER: I'm older.
BOLDUAN: Oh, you're definitely sisters.
Joan Smeltzer and Julie Brady are registered Democrats and both voted for Trump in 2016.
SMELTZER: I felt like I got duped, I got it wrong.
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SMELTZER: And it hurts my heart. It truly hurts my heart because the things that I saw I didn't take seriously enough.
BOLDUAN: Throughout the campaign he was making sexist, misogynistic remarks and then there was the "Access Hollywood" tape. How did you guys process and digest that, being out there and voting for him?
SMELTZER: It was not easy. I look at myself and I think how could I do that?
BRADY: I feel like I did a disservice to women by voting for this guy.
BOLDUAN: Was there a moment in the last four years when you said, I can't do this again?
BRADY: The COVID pandemic, the way he handled it. That that was the absolute last straw for me.
He didn't create the virus but he kind of left us all in the dark guessing what was going on. And that wasn't fair to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Among the women we spoke to the coronavirus, the president's handling of the pandemic and the racial unrest following the police killing of George Floyd were the overwhelming driving issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEITNER: George Floyd's killing was a pivotal moment for me. And when I read that he was begging for his mom, as a mother myself, it just brought me to my knees.
And to see what's happened since, I feel like he's added fuel to flames of hatred. And that really bothers me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: No justice. No peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Nim Bell who registered as a Republican in 2016 just to vote for Trump in the primaries now protests weekly in her town just outside Philadelphia. Often met by groups she used to consider herself a part of, Trump supporters, setting up counterdemonstrations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: I think Trump kind of thrives on that, on that division. I see it in my own town.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMELTZER: Integrity, that's what we're lacking.
BRADY: And accountability.
SMELTZER: Yes.
BRADY: Being the mom of a 9-year old, that's one thing that I push with my son all the time is you made a bad decision, it's your fault, you learn from it, you move on.
We have a president who nothing that happens is ever his fault, it's always somebody else's fault.
BOLDUAN: Well, there are consequences.
BRADY: There are consequences. He's about to find them out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: The women we talked to don't speak for every woman in Pennsylvania of course. But what they have to say and why shows the uphill battle that Donald Trump is facing right now in this battleground state. The latest polling shows Trump trailing Joe Biden by 23 points among women in Pennsylvania -- Kate Bolduan, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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CURNOW: Let's bring in our polling expert Harry Enten, he's a senior political writer.
Harry, wonderful to see you. I know you crunch the numbers and I want to get your take.
Which voting bloc do you think could swing this, either way?
I want to talk about seniors and suburban women but I want to start with seniors.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We are seeing some trends. Seniors was a group that Donald Trump won last time around. He won it by about 5 to 6 points. If you look at the polls right now, what do you see?
You see Trump is trailing among seniors by 10 points over former vice president Joe Biden.
If Biden ends up carrying seniors, he's going to be the first Democratic candidate to carry seniors in about 20 years, if not 24, depending on what poll you look at. So there's no doubt to me that Donald Trump has lost his grip on those voters age 65 and over and they are a group heavily in Joe Biden's corner at this point. CURNOW: And I think COVID has a lot to do with that. Let's talk a
little bit about suburban women. In many ways, Mr. Trump carried them as well last time around. Again, seeing a lot of trends that see them turning against the president.
Why?
ENTEN: I mean, look, the current average of polls, suburban women are favoring vice president Biden by 21 points. Back in 2016, Hillary Clinton was only leading them by 12 percentage points. I think there are a number of reasons.
The pandemic has something to do with it but it goes beyond that. Women at large are against the president of the United States, white women especially have moved significantly against the president. I think it has to do with a number of factors, including economic factors.
Women want to make sure that there's the Affordable Care Act in place and obviously President Trump is trying to get rid of it. The tax cuts that passed a few years ago, women voters didn't like that.
And the other thing I'll mention is that President Trump has been trying to say, I'm going to keep your neighborhoods safe for suburban women. But in fact they don't trust him on that issue whatsoever.
A recent FOX News poll indicated that suburban women were much more in Joe Biden's corner when it came to racial equality and the police.
[03:40:00]
ENTEN: So there are a slew of factors that are running against the president when it comes to suburban women.
CURNOW: But still, we're hearing from the Biden campaign and Democrats, perhaps a little cautious after 2016. But they are urging folks not to be complacent. And then again, you know that the Electoral College can throw off anything.
Can you put a number, a percentage on Mr. Trump's chances right now?
ENTEN: Here's what I essentially would say. If you were to take a die at a casino, what's the chance you're going to roll 6 on any one roll of the die?
Then perhaps Trump's chances are a little worse than that. But over and over and over again, we have a little bit over 2 weeks to go. There are some historical examples where someone in Trump's position has come back to win. But there's no doubt, when you look at the national polls, when you look at the swing states, the president is behind at this point.
CURNOW: What do you make of early voting?
I know you have been quite verbal about not taking any clues or signposts from early voting. Why is?
That
ENTEN: I mean look, I should point out look. There are of a lot of voters casting ballots, over 22 million at this particular point. And the fact is that I think we're probably headed towards record turnout.
We don't necessarily know who those voters are and, more than that, we know from the polls that Democrats have said that they're more likely to vote early while the president's supporters are more likely to vote on Election Day. We know, back in 2016, in two key swing states, Florida and North Carolina had a lot of early voters.
Hillary Clinton won them. But President Trump carried both of the states because he did so well among the Election Day voters. Although you'd rather get your votes in case something happens at the last minute, an Election Day vote at the end of the day counts the same as an early vote.
CURNOW: Are you looking at any demographic -- we, are talking about suburban women, pensioners -- are you looking at any demographic who might surprise?
For example, African American men or Hispanic men, who have certainly been courted by the Republican National Convention.
Do you see that balancing out by a surprise group of supporters for the president?
ENTEN: Yes, you do look at the polls; there actually isn't much of a doubt in my mind that he is doing better among voters of color. He is doing better among African Americans than he did four years ago, he's doing better among Hispanic voters.
The problem is that he's doing so much worse among white voters that that overrides some of the better strength that Trump has among voters of color. But would it be surprising that at the end of the day if you go to a state like Pennsylvania and maybe Trump does a little bit better in Philadelphia, where there are more Black voters and that carries him over the finish line?
That's possible. But at this point, the president's surprising strengths don't outweigh what might be Biden's surprising strength, seniors and white voters in particular.
CURNOW: It just seems like November 3rd is about 500 million years away. Anything could happen.
Harry, wonderful to see. Thanks so much, have a great. Weekend
ENTEN: You too.
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CURNOW: So coming, up another symbolic flight is about to get underway in the Middle East. Coming up what the U.S. Treasury Secretary's trip could it mean for Arab-Israeli ties.
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CURNOW: Live pictures here of a historic trip that is about to get underway in the Middle East. It's the first ever direct commercial flight from Israel to Bahrain and it's set to take off shortly in that plane behind the red carpet and the speakers.
We know that the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will be on board. He's leading a U.S. delegation, along with Israeli officials. After Bahrain they're set to visit the UAE.
So for the latest, let's go straight to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Oren Liebermann is standing by, right by the camera, taking these images.
Talk us through what we can see now and what's going to happen next.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Robyn, (INAUDIBLE) statements of course by members of the Israeli-U.S. delegation that will head to Bahrain. For the Israeli delegation, this will be a one-day trip. They'll come back from Bahrain late tonight.
The speakers here are from left to right, the first is Meir Ben Shabat, the head of Israel's National Security Council. Speaking now, immediately next to him is U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Then of course Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, then on the right is Avi Berkowitz, one of the high-level members of the U.S. peace team that worked on the agreement between Israel and Bahrain.
And Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Worth noting that the plane you see sitting behind them, the El Al flight, is the exact flight that made the first commercial flight between Tel Aviv and the United Arab Emirates just a few weeks ago. It will now be making the first flight between Israel and Bahrain, with the Israeli and American delegation set to discuss a range of different topics, from tourism, technology, investment and a number of other fields to get these bilateral discussions or even trilateral with the American delegation on the way here and they need to advance what was signed on the lawn of the White House between Israel and Bahrain.
The agreement that began the process of formalizing and normalizing diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain. We know this team is trying to build on that momentum of Israel and the UAE and see if they can get other Arab and Muslim states on board. Of course be another major diplomatic accomplishment, not only for Israel but for the U.S. and president Donald Trump.
But right now the focus is on Bahrain, this flag behind these speakers, the Israeli flag, the U.S. flag and the Bahraini flag. CURNOW: We will watch that and monitor those images. But also we're
expecting the first-ever UAE delegation to visit Israel and that is also going to be seen as historic.
LIEBERMANN: Very much so. This is after the Israeli delegation visited the UAE a few weeks ago. Now it's the reciprocal visit. The UAE visiting here and because of the coronavirus in Israel, this will actually take place entirely at the airport. They will do an official statement, perhaps a signing ceremony.
But all the meetings between delegations will be right at the airport because of coronavirus numbers through Israel, which have been improving but apparently are not good enough for the UAE to feel comfortable going to Jerusalem.
Regardless, it will be a historic visit, the first ever official Emirati delegation to Israel. That will be on Tuesday on a Etihad (ph) flight from Abu Dhabi. So that, of course, a very big deal for Israel, for the U.S., for the Bahrainis, for the Gulf and for the Emiratis.
CURNOW: OK, we're going to leave it at that. I know you have a lot of work to do as these gentlemen are about to board that plane. Thanks to you, Oren Liebermann, and your team there on the ground there at Ben Gurion. Appreciate it.
So we're learning more chilling details about this deadly attack on Friday in a Paris suburb. France's anti terror prosecutors said an 18 year old accused of beheading a teacher approached students outside this school and asked them to point out the victim.
Officials say the attacker was a Russian refugee of Chechen origin and that he decapitated the teacher because he showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Now some parents are shaken.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My daughter attends this school. I knew him by sight. It's not a teacher she had had. But I knew him by sight. So it's unfortunate. You think of the family, just for giving a lecture on freedom of expression.
When you put it into perspective, it's just a lesson. Human madness, that's where we are today in France. It's unfortunate, just a lesson, just a caricature. Frankly, it's hard to imagine that someone could do it just for that, a drawing, a simple drawing.
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CURNOW: Well, the victim was a 47-year-old history and geography teacher. He was on his way home when he was attacked.
So coming up here at CNN, stuck in limbo during the coronavirus. One rugby player has to decide whether to keep training and working for a dream that may never come true.
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CURNOW: Results won't be official for another 3 weeks but New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern today is savoring her landslide victory in Saturday's general election. Her Labor Party won almost 50 percent of the vote in an apparent parliamentary majority. She said she will govern for every New Zealander and (INAUDIBLE).
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JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: Tonight we are living in an increasingly polarized world, a place where more and more people have lost the ability to see one another's point of view.
I hope that this election, New Zealand has shown that this is not who we are, that, as a nation, we can listen and we can debate. After all, we are too small to lose sight of other people's perspective.
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CURNOW: So Prime Minister Ardern's success at the polls was due in no small part to the measures she took to halt the spread of COVID in New Zealand. That allowed more than 46,000 maskless fans to attend a huge rugby match today near Auckland in the Bledisloe Cup between New Zealand and Australia.
Isn't this amazing to see?
Don't you wish you were there?
Well maybe not, if you are an Aussie because the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 27 to 7.
And athletes around the world are also navigating life during the pandemic. One of the stars of Kenya's rugby Sevens team was hoping he would have an Olympic medal by now. Instead he's training on his own and not getting paid. David McKenzie now reports.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andrew Amonde likes to lead by example. After months of lockdown, the 14-year veteran and captain of Kenya Sevens rugby team is back training for his Olympic dreams.
ANDREW AMONDE, KENYA SEVENS: Sports can still go on despite having the pandemic around.
MCKENZIE: Training without his teammates or even a contract.
AMONDE: All of the contracts were canceled. And there is the dangers for free because I love the game, you know.
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AMONDE: When I play the rugby, I came and developed a love for it. And I just thrown myself into it and it's something that I do with a passion.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): A love of the game tested by COVID-19.
Organizers grabbed the popular global Sevens tournament when the pandemic struck. Suddenly out of cash, the Kenyan rugby union says, it was left with little choice. But you stopped paying its players.
Amonde says the youngest team members were hardest hit.
AMONDE: There's no other can go now because there are no jobs for them now because they are fulltime rugby players. And the only thing they can wait for is for rugby to resume and for them to be get both their contracts.
MCKENZIE: When CNN visited the Sevens Team in 2018 they were on a high. Their success growing the fast paced Sevens game in Kenya, even competing for attention with the country's fabled runners. But the national team has struggled to win games since then. Amonde says its time to rebuild.
AMONDE: Getting -- to get your expectation level --
MCKENZIE: His goal is to medal in Tokyo -- that's a challenge. And the Kenyans' strict lockdown-rules. Amonde still can't compete or even practice with his teammates. Hard work and sacrifice is something Amonde and the Kenyan Sevens team know all about. If fans don't call them to or heroes for nothing -- David McKenzie, CNN.
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CURNOW: Thanks, David, for that story.
And thank you all for watching. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'm going to hand you over to my colleague, Anna Coren, who picks things up from here. Of course, CNN continues after the break.
