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CNN Presidential Poll Of Polls: No Clear Leader; Israel Steps Up Airstrikes Against Hezbollah In Lebanon; North Carolina Governor Race Rocked By CNN Report. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 23, 2024 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: This latest average taking into consideration polls taken after the last presidential debate earlier this month.

Harris now challenging Trump to a second debate in just a few weeks as mail-in and early in-person voting already underway in some states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WITMER, (D) MICHIGAN: This election is going to be close. We've always known that. That's what happens in these presidential elections. And in a state like Michigan or Pennsylvania and Wisconsin we know that this is going to be a close race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now Semafor's Shelby Talcott. Shelby, good morning. Always wonderful to have you.

So we've just got some new numbers in -- just in the last couple of minutes posted on The New York Times -- New York Times/Siena College poll. They did a Sunbelt look and the headline out of it seems to be that Donald Trump basically is doing well across the Sunbelt. And, in fact, they found that the tightest of these states is actually North Carolina which, of course, Joe Biden didn't win in 2020. It was Donald Trump's narrowest victory.

But there you see this Siena College poll -- 49-47 in North Carolina. Georgia and Arizona show that he has a slightly wider lead there. Arizona, in particular -- my Republican sources think is pretty much gone for the Harris team. That's one where Donald Trump seems to have a strong edge. Georgia, still some questions about Black turnout -- whether that might change things.

But I think you're seeing here why Harris has spent so much time in North Carolina. You add this together with, of course, what we've seen from Mark Robinson -- the scandal at the top of the statewide ticket there.

What do make of these latest numbers?

SHELBY TALCOTT, REPORTER, SEMAFOR (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. You know, you and I talk about polls a lot and I think it's important to note that it -- the race is so close, and that's exactly what these polls represent. Even if Donald Trump is up a little bit or Kamala Harris is up a little bit, in a lot of these polls it's within the margin of error. And that's exactly what the campaigns are seeing and that's why we're seeing the campaigns go to North Carolina a lot, go to Pennsylvania a lot, go to a lot of these states.

And another thing is a lot -- when I talk to, particularly, Donald Trump's campaign but Kamala Harris' campaign also, when we talk about the national polling, they are more focused on these battleground states. And so when these numbers come in for the battleground states specifically, that's what the campaigns are really interested in.

HUNT: For sure.

Now, Shelby, some of the big picture trends, too, we can look at Harris' favorability. In that NBC News poll that dropped over the weekend, they had her at 32 percent favorability back in July. It's 48 percent now. And now some of this is, of course, a reflection of people getting to know her throughout this.

But I think one of the things I've been looking for is signs as to who is basically winning this war to define her, right? That was how the Trump campaign talked about it when she entered the race. That's how the Harris team has been talking about it. It seems like there may be some signs in this polling that it's the Harris team that is succeeding there. I mean, the head-to-head in this national -- in this NBC poll is now 49-44. That's a change from 45-47 back in July.

Again, I think you're correct to point out the campaigns are not looking at these national head-to-heads the same way they're looking at the battlegrounds.

But that number for Donald Trump is lower than it was -- perhaps a reflection of the way he's been running his own campaign as well. I mean, we know he has a floor, but he also has a ceiling, no?

TALCOTT: Yeah, absolutely, and that's the big thing. You know, back in the primary when I talked to candidates and campaigns that were opposing Donald Trump that was their big argument was he does have that ceiling.

And I do think that Kamala Harris' favorability and her popularity is notable because it could affect turnout -- how excited are people to come out and vote for her. Ultimately, a lot of people believe that this election is going to come down to turnout, so those numbers are something to keep an eye out on.

HUNT: Shelby, let's look at John Fetterman -- was on "MEET THE PRESS" over the weekend and he was -- he talked a little bit about Mark Robinson who, of course, is the gubernatorial nominee in North Carolina. Republicans talking about sort of a completely collapse for Robinson in the wake of that CNN story.

Let's watch what Fetterman had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): It's great news for the Democrats. I mean, Robinson is -- actually, he's the new dream candidate to run against. Back in 2018, I thought that Gov. Wolf and I -- I thought Scott Wagner was the dream candidate who could run, and we smoked him by 17 points. And then, of course, Doug Mastriano came on in '22, and that's the best kind of Republican candidate that you buy, and the Shapiro campaign spent millions of dollars to promote him as well, too. But then, Robinson's like, hey, hold my beer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:00]

HUNT: And this, of course, Shelby, matters potentially because of its impact on the top of the ticket. And I thought the Pennsylvania comparison was an interesting one because Republicans had nominated Doug Mastriano, whose performance was so challenging for Republicans that you saw this sweep for Shapiro.

Are we headed for something similar in North Carolina?

TALCOTT: It wouldn't surprise me. And when I talk to Republicans inside and out of Donald Trump's orbit -- people who are close to him as well as people who have been opposing him who are Republicans, the main criticism is just Republican picking some of these poor candidates. And there is concern that this could drag Donald Trump down. And we've seen how the campaign has quietly sort of started to try to distance themselves from him.

HUNT: Yeah.

Shelby Talcott for us this morning. Shelby, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

All right, let's go now to this developing story. These are live pictures of smoke rising from Lebanon where Israel is conducting airstrikes near the country's southern border. The Israeli military says they struck 150 targets in extensive airstrikes against Hezbollah. It also urged civilians to leave areas where the Iran- backed group operates. Lebanon's Health Ministry says at least one person was killed and six others injured.

The attacks come on the heels of attacks last week when Israeli intelligence and defense forces blew up thousands of pagers and radios belonging to suspected Hezbollah militants. Now, the U.S. is urging Israel to de-escalate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION ADVISER: We don't believe that a military conflict -- and we're saying this directly to our Israeli counterparts, George. We don't believe that escalating this military conflict is in their best interest. It's certainly not going to be in the best interest of all those people that Prime Minister Netanyahu says he wants to be able to send back home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now to discuss, Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant Secretary of State during the Obama administration. Joel, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER OBAMA DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning, Kasie.

HUNT: This is -- seems to be a significant escalation here. Why is Israel doing this now, and how concerned are you about an -- about a wider regional conflict coming out of this?

RUBIN: Yeah, Kasie. I am concerned that we're at a pivot moment in this conflict. It's been almost a year since October 7 and what we've seen now in recent days is clearly something that's leading us into a regional war, which is the last thing any of the sides should want. Kudos to President Biden and Vice President Harris in trying to tamp this down.

Remember, Hezbollah unjustifiably started attacking Israel after October 7, and what that has done is that's opened up this second front. And now we're seeing the results, which is a really harsh reprisals now recently by Israel with the pager attacks, with targeted assassinations as well. Israel's north has been hammered by Hezbollah -- depopulating it over 100,000 civilians.

So it's time to pull back. It's time to get, for example, Iran to pull back Hezbollah. And it's time as well for Israel to accept the ceasefire for a hostage deal and really not go in the direction it seems to be heading right now.

HUNT: Joel, this, of course -- the conflict there -- what Israel has been doing -- the war in Gaza all a significant --

RUBIN: Yeah.

HUNT: -- part of the U.S. presidential campaign as well. And it's in the -- it's been in the spotlight recently for comments that Donald Trump actually made about Jewish voters and how they may deserve blame for his loss. He's saying this preemptively.

I want to show you this exchange that Jake Tapper, my colleague, had over the weekend with the senator, Tom Cotton -- Republican Sen. Tom Cotton about this. And he pressed him on whether this was the right way to be talking about this issue. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Donald Trump, again, has been saying for months that anyone who cares about Israel, anyone who cares about the fate of the U.S.-Israel alliance should vote for him. They shouldn't vote for Kamala Harris.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Again, I keep talking about --

COTTON: Not just Jewish voters who care about --

TAPPER: -- Jewish voters in the United States and you keep talking about another (INAUDIBLE).

COTTON: A lot of Jewish -- a lot of Jewish voters, just like a lot of Christian voters, care deeply about the fate of the Jewish nation and the status of our relationship with Israel.

TAPPER: Are you comfortable with him blaming it on the Jews preemptively?

COTTON: The point he is making is that anyone that cares about that relationship shouldn't vote for Kamala Harris. They should vote for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joel, what is your view of Trump's comments and the impact that they have, and Cotton's response there?

RUBIN: Well, Kasie, as an America Jewish voter this is very personal to me. And what President Trump did -- former President Trump -- what he did was use an age old antisemitic trope in blaming Jews for potential bad outcomes that may occur. American Jews with two percent of the population. We are Americans and we vote just like all Americans. And to blame one particular group -- to target us and specifically identify us puts us at risk.

[05:50:10]

And it's obnoxious and, quite frankly, depressing to see Sen. Cotton equating American Jews with Israel as well. Of course, we're close and have a deep affinity to Israel. Many American Jews do. But that doesn't mean that we vote because of Israel. We vote because we're Americans. We vote because of health care, the environment, the future of the economy, a woman's right to choose.

And so that also feeds into an antisemitic dual loyalty trope. It's unacceptable speech and he should be ashamed for -- of himself for claiming to oppose antisemitism and then engage in antisemitic tropes like that.

HUNT: All right, Joel Rubin for us this morning. Joel, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

RUBIN: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, a CNN investigation throwing the North Carolina's governor's race into chaos. How the porn site scandal could also impact the presidential race in that battleground state.

Plus, the Kansas City Chiefs beating out the Atlanta Falcons yesterday -- just barely. We're going to have that and more coming up in the Bleacher Report.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:45:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH STEIN, (D) NORTH CAROLINA CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR: Yeah, I'm not a political scientist but there has been incredibly exciting newfound energy for the Harris-Walz campaign here in North Carolina. She had 25,000 people at a rally a week ago. So, she's got momentum. I think she's going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That was North Carolina Democratic candidate for governor Josh Stein who is predicting a win for Kamala Harris in the Tar Heel State. That's where our battleground beat heads this week.

New polling out just moments ago. It shows Harris may be closing the gap in North Carolina. The New York Times/Siena College poll found that Harris trails Trump by just two points in that critical state. That is within the margin of error.

And interestingly enough, she seems to be doing better with voters in North Carolina than she is in two other Sunbelt states, Georgia and Arizona. Those are two states that Biden flipped in 2020.

And this, of course, all comes as North Carolina -- the North Carolina governor's race was rocked by scandal this past week. CNN's KFILE uncovered past inflammatory comments Mark Robinson made on a porn website more than a decade ago. Donald Trump has praised Robinson in the past which, of course, Kamala Harris' campaign was quick to highlight. Robinson now facing mounting pressure to drop out of the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Should every Republican in the country be held responsible for this guy? I would say no. It's him, not me, it's not Trump.

FETTERMAN: It's great news for the Democrats. I mean, Robinson is -- actually, he's the new dream candidate to run against.

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And this is the problem for us Republicans. As long as Donald Trump is your recruiting agent for candidates in swing states, we're going to continue to get our rear ends handed to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT Hmm.

Joining me now to discuss the latest in this battleground state, former South Carolina state rep and CNN political commentator, Bakari Sellers. Bakari, good morning. Wonderful to have you.

So look, you have been -- you and I have been talking about this race in North Carolina well before what our KFILE reported, and you have been insistent that there's no way there could be such a gap in the gubernatorial race that Robinson could be doing so badly and not have Kamala Harris pull out this race.

Now, The New York Times polling still shows that Harris has a little bit of a gap here but it's within the margin of error. We had this reversed on the screens for our viewers who may have been watching a couple of minutes ago. But Harris is 47, Trump is 49. It's correct there.

What impact do you think what happened with Robinson -- this new CNN report -- is going to have at the top of the ticket? Because the reality is that while North Carolina has sent Democrats to their governor's mansion in recent years, it has not voted for a Democrat since 2008 in the presidential race.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, certainly, but North Carolina is one of the states that's primed to be flipped this time. I think North Carolina has an interesting combination for the Harris campaign. It's one that has a ton of college-educated white voters. It's that corridor between Charlotte, North Carolina and the research triangle, which is Raleigh-Durham. And it has a lot of Black voters. One of the things the Harris campaign has to do is go outside of those areas to the eastern and western portion of the state.

But you asked about Mark Robinson and the thing is Mark Robinson is running against an extremely good candidate in Josh Stein. But the steady drip, drip, drip --

Last week wasn't the first time that Mark Robinson has been marred by some type of scandal. I mean, he is anti-Black, anti-Semite who has said things such as Holocaust denial. And so for -- it's amazing to see that last week all of a sudden because of posts on nudeafrica.com or whatever it was it was a bridge too far when he has been taking bridges too far for so period -- so long a period of time that it's kind of baked into the cake in North Carolina now.

HUNT: Bakari, what do you think is the real difference between Georgia and Arizona -- the other Sunbelt states here, and North Carolina? I mean, why is it that North Carolina is more in play? I take your point about educated white voters but there are some similarities in terms of Georgia and the suburbs around Atlanta. Like, why was Biden able to win Georgia and Arizona and lose North Carolina, but then the polling showed this today?

SELLERS: Well, first of all, this polling showing this today is just a snapshot in time. I want everybody to understand that.

HUNT: Sure.

[05:50:00] SELLERS: And there's other polling that actually shows Kamala Harris leading in North Carolina and probably tied in, particularly, some of the local polling in North Carolina.

But I would say that one of the things that makes Georgia so appetizing is the number of Black voters there inside Atlanta, inside of the Savannah area, inside of Richmond County-Augusta. And so when you -- when you look at that you say that she's always going to have punter's chance there.

Before a very long period of time before Joe Biden, I just think that Georgia was a very -- you know, you saw what Stacey Abrams was able to do. Instead of going -- concentrating on sub precinct and able to flip that state and make it purple. You saw Warnock and Ossoff win. But it still is a very hard nut to crack for Democrats.

And one of the things that you see in Arizona is the fact that immigration looms extremely large. And although we've made up a lot of ground on the issue of immigration we still have work to do. But I will tell you Arizona, with Ruben Gallego versus Kari Lake means that we have a chance. Because throughout this MAGA movement the candidates that the Republican Party have put up have just sucked. And so, Kari Lake is getting destroyed by Ruben Gallego.

And then you don't have any other races on the ticket in Georgia. And so it just makes it a head-up race without anything else in the state of Georgia.

So all of these races are just slightly different with North Carolina probably being the best target to flip.

HUNT: Nobody better to talk about it with than you, Bakari. I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much for being here.

SELLERS: Thank you -- all right.

HUNT: All right, time now for sports. The Kansas City Chiefs remain undefeated, and they have their defense to thank for that.

Carolyn Manno has this morning's Bleacher Report. Carolyn, good morning.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

It has not been pretty for the two-time defending Super Bowl champs -- that's for sure. They've won their three games by a combined 13 points, but they've won. And it's good to have a good defense.

Patrick Mahomes shaking off an interception to throw a pair of touchdown passes. But the Falcons were able to stay close in the fourth quarter of this game. They were down by five with just over four minutes remaining. Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins throwing to tight end Kyle Pitts on fourth down, drawing heavy contact from Chiefs safety Bryan Cook.

No pass interference flag thrown, but the Falcons would get the ball back for one more drive in the final minute. Once again, it's Kansas City's defense rising to the occasion, stopping them for a three-yard loss on fourth and one.

The Chiefs hanging on to win a nailbiter 22-17.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: It was a team effort. I mean, that's how this season has been. We've been in these moments before. We're going to try to not have them every single week. But I'm glad any time we get a win, and we get to fly home. And we'll have a tough opponent this week, so we'll get ready for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Nobody was giving the winless Rams a chance against the 49ers yesterday. L.A. missing a handful of offensive starters. They feel behind by double digits in the fourth quarter. But quarterback Matthew Stafford kept grinding in this game leading his team to three scoring drives in the last 10 minutes.

Kyren Williams rushing four yards to score his third touchdown of the day with 1:51 left on the clock to tie it up. And then it all came down to the leg of kicker Joshua Karty connecting from 37 yards out with two seconds left, completing the 27-24 comeback.

The 0-2 Ravens went to Dallas with their backs against the wall and ended up looking like their normal dominant selves. Lamar Jackson and company led 28-6 after three quarters. Now, the Cowboys did rally in the fourth quarter to cut the lead and make this one really interesting to just three points with less than three minutes left, but the comeback not to be. Ultimately, the final drive, Lamar Jackson gets the ball back through a clutch third down pass and then threw a nifty fake to start a 10-yard run for a first down.

So Baltimore holds on to win 28-25 and avoid the second 0-3 start in team history.

Things looking very bleak for the Eagles early against a Saints squad that had put up 91 points in the last two games -- not nearly that many scored on Sunday. This is a defensive affair.

The birds coming away with a hard fought win thanks in large part to Saquon Barkley. A lot went wrong in this game before it went right, but the running back taking matters into his own hands with a pair of fourth quarter scores. The 65-yard touchdown to get the Eagles on the board. And he also managed a four-yard run with just over a minute to play as Philly grinds out a 15-12 win.

And after being traded in late August from Tennessee to Green Bay, Malik Wills showing the Titans just what they gave up. In this second straight start filling in for Jordan Love, the Packers quarterback ran for a touchdown and threw for a score in a 30-14 rout over Tennessee.

So the Packers scored 20 straight to go up big. Midway through the third the team has eight sacks, which forced three turnovers. Willis finishing with over 200 yards passing and 73 rushing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAFLEUR, HEAD COACH, GREEN BAY PACKERS: I'm really happy for our guys and proud of their effort. (Fire alarm going off). Whatever -- just keep going. Keep firing away. They told me they were -- this city was going to burn if we -- if we came in here and won the game, so I guess it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:55:00]

MANNO: You just love a random fire alarm going off, Kasie, in the middle of a press conference. Everybody OK -- no big deal.

And a lot of football tonight, by the way. Two games on "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL." So it is that time of year.

HUNT: It is, indeed. Got to love it.

Carolyn, thank you. I really appreciate it.

All right, coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon are underway as civilians there are warned to evacuate.

Plus, Donald Trump trying to close the gender gap. His pitch to women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

HUNT: It's Monday, September 23. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, a razor-thin race. New polling shows just how close things are in battleground states now just six weeks out from November 5.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Join me on the debate stage. Let's have another debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A debate dare. Kamala Harris accepting CNN's invitation for a rematch. Why Donald Trump claims it's too late.

And this.