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Pfizer Tests Potential Vaccine on Children as Young as 12; Today, Senate Set to Confirm Amy Coney Barrett to Supreme Court. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired October 26, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN INSIDE POLITICS: Why is that important in the sense of if there's not a lot of volatility, in part, helps you trust your numbers, right?

BARRY BURDEN, DIRECTOR, ELECTIONS RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON: Yes, you're exactly right about that. And one thing that makes our surveys different from a lot of the other surveys we see in the news, is that we have re-interviewed the same respondents from one month to the next.

And so for individuals, we can see how likely they are to change their opinions about who they're voting for. There's almost no change among those who wanted Trump a month ago or two months ago, 98 percent are still with him. The same is true on Biden's side.

Where Biden is making up some ground or widening his advantage is beginning over people who didn't vote in 2016 or who voted for third party candidates in 2016. They have really helped contribute to his margin.

As you mentioned, the gender gap has been very stable. And that's a problem for Trump because the gap is unbalanced. Biden is winning by double digits, 15 or 20 points among women. Trump is winning among men but by smaller margins.

The number of women and the number of men in the electorate is about the same. Women vote actually at slightly higher rates. So the asymmetry there is, again, to Biden's advantage and doesn't leave wiggle room for Trump to claw back to victory in these three states.

KING: Well, they have three critical states they were key in 2016, they will be again. We'll watch them in the eight days ahead. Barry Burden, grateful for your time and important research work, thanks for sharing it with us.

BURDEN: Glad to be with you.

KING: Up next for us, the drug maker, Pfizer, starts testing its potential coronavirus vaccine on children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:35:00]

KING: One of the drug companies racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine, Pfizer, now expanding its trials to include children as young as 12. That is a critical step in testing the efficacy of a vaccine candidate.

CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been tracking vaccine development. Elizabeth, how big of a deal is this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a big deal. In fact, John, the American Academy of Pediatrics has been urging that children be involved in clinical trials because, eventually and hopefully, these children will get a COVID vaccine, and you want to test in children to see if it works and if it's safe.

So let's take a look at the trials. So this Pfizer trial with children has been approved by the FDA. They have divided the children in two -- or children -- teens, I should say, into two groups, the older group 16 and 17. Their responses may be very similar to young adults, and also a younger group of ages 12 to 15.

Now, there are lots of reasons for testing a vaccine in children. One is COVID kills children, and so we want to see how this vaccine -- but also studies have shown that children do and have spread COVID to household members. Even though children get it less frequently than adults do, they do spread it to adults in their family. Also children who are ten and older, they may spread it just as efficiently as adults do.

So I think, over time, there has been sort of this concept that's developed that says, no, children don't get COVID, it's not such a big deal, it is a big deal. John?

KING: It is a big deal, and we will watch this one. This is, I guess, an exciting part of the trial. Now, we'll see if they have success. Elizabeth Cohen thank you so much.

When we come back, up next for us, it's a legacy day for the president, the Supreme Court confirmation vote, and yet coronavirus casting a shadow over this day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

KING: The Senate today is ready to give President Trump a giant legacy win, the confirmation of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Justice Barrett will be the third Trump pick on the high court. And by replacing the liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, this will create a clear 6-3 conservative majority.

Reshaping the courts has long been the obsession of Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, and this is a little dose of gloating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): A lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. It won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The short-term politics though are more dicey. The Barrett confirmation is now part of the coronavirus safety debate and a health care case on the court docket in the days ahead is fraught with risk for Republicans.

CNN's Manu Raju and Joan Biskupic join me now.

Manu, let's with you. A very big day on Capitol Hill and yet, like everything else, a complicated day.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And we expect her to be confirmed tonight. Only one Republican expected to break ranks, that's Susan Collins of Maine. Ultimately, she will be confirmed by 52-48, essentially a straight party line vote, all Democrats voting against this nominee.

And one person's vote is not needed but who also might be here today, and that's Mike Pence, the vice president, who is also president of the Senate. He, of course, has a role of breaking a tie if it were to come to that. That's not going to happen.

But Pence has indicated that he still wants to be here for to preside over the chamber. It's uncertain if he's actually going to carry through with that plan but that's causing a lot of concerns among Democrats after the news from over the weekend that several of his aides have tested positive for the coronavirus, including his chief of staff, Marc Short.

And top Democratic leaders today wrote a letter to Mike Pence saying this, saying, with five of your closest aides recently testing positive for COVID-19, it is not a risk worth taking. We ask you to reconsider. Not only would your presence in the Senate chamber tomorrow will be a clear violation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, it would also be a violation of common decency and courtesy. This letter was written last night. They're referring to today's vote.

[11:45:00]

Now, Republicans are not concerned. And they are saying, as long as Pence follows the proper guidelines, that's fine with them if he appears. Even Mitt Romney, the Utah senator, told me he sits at the back of the chamber so he said I feel safe if Mike Pence were to come.

But Mitt Romney went to the floor, he's supporting this nomination, he defended the nomination, but he also raised concerns around the distrust around institutions around Washington, including the distrust that has been fed by this president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMENY (R-UT): What a message it sends when the president accepts the word of the Russian president rather than the conclusions of our intelligence agencies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, the Senate is expected to adjourn for the elections, John, after this vote tonight. That means all the unfinished business, including whether they can approve any stimulus deal that so many people are waiting is going to have to wait until after the elections. But this victory Republicans are going to celebrate and hope it's enough for them to keep their majority here, John.

KING: It will be a big win tonight and none of us know what the message the American people will send before they gather again. Manu Raju live on Capitol Hill, I appreciate it.

And, Joan, Justice Barrett is not going to get a peaceful, calm, couple traffic cases transition. The high court, pretty much as soon as she is on the bench, is going to deal with some giant cases, including the future of Obamacare.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: That's right, John. Things are happening fast today and they're going to happen fast tomorrow, this week and next week. You mentioned Obamacare, that's up one week from the election on November 10th. It's a major test of the future of Obamacare and coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, like cancer and diabetes.

But even before that, she will be in a position to act on so many election-related cases. She could even break a tie that could make a difference in terms of state ballot disputes. Right now pending before these justices are cases from Wisconsin, from North Carolina, from Pennsylvania, all familiar battleground states.

And then once we get past the election, I presume there will be some fallout with ballot disputes. But then not just will she look at Obamacare, but there is a major religious liberty case coming up and then a census dispute.

So she will be joining a court where her vote will really matter. As I said, she could be breaking ties, but she could also very early on be deciding the law of the land. John?

KING: Consequential from day one. Joan Biskupic, grateful for the important insights there. You have got a busy couple of weeks ahead for yourself as well.

And coming up for us, why President Trump being compared to President Carter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00] KING: By the numbers, you have to go back 40 years to find an incumbent president in this much re-election trouble, Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan.

CNN's John Harwood writes this as part of a cnn.com analysis piece. Today, Trump's national polling deficit of around ten percentage points matches Carter's popular vote deficit against Ronald Reagan, who won a 44-state landslide while fellow Republicans seized control of the Senate.

Yet, John writers, just over a week from Election Day, few political analysts are prepared to say that points toward overwhelming defeat for Trump and his party on November 3rd.

John Harwood joins us now. And, John, it's an interesting dynamic, because you're absolutely right. The 2016 experience has people reluctant to look at the numbers this time and believe them.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, John. But there are a lot of parallels with 1980. That was a year when American voters decided that their president was not really up to the job. Then his problem was the Iranian hostage crisis, most particularly. Now people -- voters have reached the same judgment about President Trump.

In Carter's case, once they were satisfied that Ronald Reagan was an acceptable alternative, they flooded to him at the end of the campaign. The same is true in this case, except that Joe Biden has held a lead consistently, but here is why people are reluctant to go with that comparison.

First of all, polarization has left the president with a very strong political base that is principally blue collar white voters have stuck with him. Secondly, the geographic sorting we've had in the country along with that polarization and demographic changes left states distinct from one another. So a 44-state landslide is very unlikely. It's hard to imagine Joe Biden achieving anything like that.

And finally, there is the PTSD that you referred to from 2016. People expected Hillary Clinton to win, she didn't win, narrow victories for the incumbent president in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. And now, people are looking at these polls, which show a big national lead, smaller leads in those battleground states, smaller leads still in other battlegrounds, like North Carolina and Florida. And people are reluctant to make a -- go out on a limb and make a prediction about a big victory.

However, some of the early turnout patterns are suggestive of the possibility of a big Democratic win and because the pandemic is now peaking, John, that gives some real downside risk for Republicans who are counting on a big in-person Election Day vote.

[11:55:00]

The more people are frightened of the pandemic, the more difficult it is going to be to pull that off. KING: All right, I think that is a very important point, especially people should read this piece, it's a smart piece about the impact on those Senate races. We will see the impact here not only on the White House, the building behind you, but on the building behind, that Capitol dome and the balance of power. John Harwood, grateful for the reporting. I recommend everybody read that great analysis piece.

Up next for us, the Dow is diving. You see it down there nearly 700 points as fears over the case count rise and the failure of stimulus negotiations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: This just in. We're going to take you live look at Wall Street now. The Dow down about 700 points right now. Investors are rattled, you see it there, 713 points. Investors rattled by the surge in coronavirus cases and because talks for relief package here in Washington are going nowhere at the moment, even though millions of struggling families could use some government help.

[12:00:00]

European markets also in the red across the board today. That part of the world also facing a major COVID surge right now.

And hello to our viewers in the United States.