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CNN This Morning
Poll: No Clear Leader Between Trump & Harris; Israel Intercepts Hezbollah Rocket Near Tel Aviv; Helene Expected To Strengthen As It Approaches Florida. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 25, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:40]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, September 25th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here I am, we're leading -- leading in the polls. We're leading by a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Slim margins. New CNN polling shows Donald Trump and Kamala Harris locked in exceedingly close race.
And -- unprecedented attack. Israel intercepts that Hezbollah missile near Tel Aviv, the militants first ever to reach the city.
Plus --
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (I-WV): Shame on her. She knows the filibuster is the holy grail of democracy.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HUNT: Ending the filibuster, the fallout from Kamala Harris's vow to eliminate a key Senate rule to restore a federal right to an abortion.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: All right. Five a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday morning.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
There just 41 days until voters head to the polls and new CNN polling shows the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is a dead heat. CNN's latest poll of likely voters showing Harris at 48 percent, Trump
at 47, this very slight lead for Harris, of course, within the m margin of error. And we have this just in to CNN this morning, new data showing Harris is pulling ahead of Trump with younger voters. The same CNN poll has Harris leading by 12 points among likely voters under the age of 35, 52 percent to 40 percent.
But even with that double-digit lead among younger voters, it's still closer than it was four years ago. Exit polls from 2020 show the Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 21 points with that same age group.
In the meantime, Trump has an edge over Harris when likely -- with likely -- when likely voters were asked who they trust more to handle on the economy, Trump polling at 50 percent with Harris at 39 percent. Trump campaigning in the battleground state of Georgia yesterday, offered this grave warning to voters about the future of manufacturing jobs should Harris win in November.
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TRUMP: If Kamala Harris gets four more years, she will die industrialized the United States and destroy our country. We will become virtually a banana republic. We will be destroyed. There will be no car industry, no steel industry, no significant manufacturing of any kind.
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HUNT: Governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, was asked about some of these criticisms facing Harris's campaign, especially on the economy, here's what he told one of my colleagues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: I asked -- heard some of the criticism of the vice president. But when those questions are asked, she at least outlines a broad plan. I get that there are more questions about specifics, but it's a real answer that has real policies that that she can pursue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. And today, a senior campaign official tells CNN Harris is set to make a speech in Pittsburgh to outline her vision on the economy with a focus on manufacturing.
Joining us now is Laura Davison. She's political editor for "Bloomberg News".
Laura, good morning. Nice to see you.
Lets start with these new numbers just in to CNN on younger voters because this is a place where she clearly has made a big difference from where Joe Biden '24 was, right? He was not doing as well this time around, but it's not quite rare he was back in 2020.
What does she need to do to continue to appeal to these voters?
LAURA DAVISON, POLITICAL EDITOR, BLOOMBERG NEWS: So, what the Harris campaign has figured out is that turnout, an early please, turnout is where they can get some of these college students and young adults that didn't get them at to the polls. Now in some states, there's already voting, is early voting, particularly college students who are back on campus. They're out, you know, in the swing states at Michigan and Pennsylvania trying to get those folks.
The other thing too is that they realize is that there's still a deficit on policy issues as CNN polling shows, that when voters are asked about the different, you know kind of how they feel about Harris, policy is one of her lowest ranking issues. So that's why you see this speech today of her going out and talking about her vision of the economy.
We probably won't see a lot of new policies, new specific details, but more about outlining, here's how she wants to help people afford homes, people start businesses.
[05:05:08]
And that's the kind of messaging that really appeals to young voters.
HUNT: One thing, Laura, you mentioned, kind of policy generally people have been saying they've been telling us in polling, they said this after the debate that they want to know more about what she would do.
And there is a contrast between her and Donald Trump on things like tariffs. This is part of why we've been hearing Donald Trump talk a lot about the tariffs he wants to put into place. We're also trying to understand where she would differ from President Biden on some of these things.
There are some policies where are she has made a clear distinction between herself and the sitting president, but they seem to be smaller, specific issues as opposed to difference in broader philosophy. What do you expect to hear from her today in that regard?
DAVISON: I think she's really going to try to thread the needle between both appealing to working class and blue collar voters. You know, its no mistake that she's making this speech in Pittsburgh, which is a very much a union town, but also appealing to business leaders as well.
This is kind of a thread you've seen her tried to bridge here of saying, look, business, I'm here to be an ally. You saw her over the weekend reach out to crypto and AI industries, but also say, look, I'm still here for the working people and more, and more moderate economic approach, which is the kind of thing that, that appeals to voters.
You, when you polling, for example, on tariffs, which is really the centerpiece of Trump's economic vision, does not poll particularly well. And there's more economist coming out, raising alarm bells saying, hey, look, this would actually raise prices for a lot of consumers.
HUNT: Yeah. Laura, some of the other new data we have out this morning in the CNN polling looks at Black voters and where they stand likely voters on Harris versus Donald Trump. We can put that up. You can see that Harris sits at 79 percent of Black voters, Donald Trump has 16 percent of Black voters.
Now, noteworthy because that is a little bit more than Republicans traditionally get. But I will well, so say my Republican sources look at the number and if they think about it in terms of over-under 20 percent, right? If Trump is at 20 percent or more with Black voters than that is significant, significant problem for the Democrat.
He's under it there. It's at 16 percent. Still. It shows you that there's some work to do and if we were to dig into those, I'm not sure the slide, but obviously Black men in particular, we know that Harris does much better with women, but Trump does better with men.
What do you make of that number? And how the campaign can going to look at it?
DAVISON: That 16 percent is dangerous for the Harris campaign. That's really close to that 20 -- even 25 percent that the Trump campaign has said they think they can get. That would be historically, very high in the past. Its been, you know, maybe around five to 10 percent of what Republicans have been able to capture of the Black vote.
But you see in the campaign ads that they're putting out, no, they're really trying to appeal to men, specifically Black men. You know, a lot of the messaging is about pizza and video games. And some of the ads coming out from the super PAC is clearly targeted at young men to try to get them out for Donald Trump.
HUNT: All right. Laura Davidson for us this morning -- thank you so much for starting us off. I really appreciate it.
All right. Tuesday, Tim Walz, J.D. Vance will meet for their first and only face-to-face debate. It's a CNN special event. The vice presidential debate simulcast, it's hosted by CBS News, but it airs right here live Tuesday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
All right. Up ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING:
Overnight, Israel intercepts that Hezbollah missile near Tel Aviv in a first such attack. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu is delaying his visit to the United States as fighting with that militant group nears a boiling point.
Plus, brand new this morning, a bipartisan Senate panel releases their findings on the probe into the July attempt on Donald Trump's life.
And a GOP-controlled House moves closer, avoiding a government shutdown despite the wishes of the former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm not defying President Trump. We're getting our job done and I think he understands that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[05:13:25]
HUNT: All right. Developing overnight a dangerous escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
A rocket fired from Lebanon intercepted overnight near Tel Aviv. That's a rare attack deep into Israel. It's far from the frontlines of this fight.
This video released overnight by the Israeli military appears to show an Israeli strike on the missile launcher that targeted Tel Aviv.
Thousands of people are fleeing Lebanon this morning after the deadliest day in that country in nearly two decades, over 500 people killed Monday by Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not ruling out a ground offensive in Lebanon. He delivered this message to the people who live there.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel's war is not with you. It's with Hezbollah. For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. Those rockets and missiles are aimed directly at our cities, directly at our citizens.
To defend our people against Hezbollah strikes, we must take out those weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: CNN has learned that Netanyahu is delaying his trip to New York because of the heightened fighting with Hezbollah. He was supposed to address the United Nations tomorrow. Instead, he'll deliver his address on Friday.
Max Foster joins us now, live from London.
Max, good morning to you.
[05:15:02]
Where are we on the question of whether or not Israeli ground forces are likely to go into Lebanon here, considering this escalation overnight?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, if it happens, it happens. The -- it's not currently being called a wall by, for example,
President Biden and other world leaders. It's not a war in the sense that there is between Israel and Hamas. If it becomes a war, of course, that changes the optics and the dynamics completely and it changes the situation. So those ground troops, no matter how many go in, if they go in, they just change the -- you know, what's happening here, how it's seen, and it ramps up the tension massively. And both sides will be seemed to respond or will feel the need to respond as they would in a war situation as opposed to what we've got currently, which looks like a war, but its being described as a conflict and ongoing conflict, which is escalating all the time.
And as Israel is described, there will be, you know, there'll be amping it up every day. We will have to wait to see whether or not ground troops getting bold. Certainly America will have a thing to say about that, I'm sure.
HUNT: Well, Max, makes this delay that Netanyahu has now. We're reporting he won't address those previously planned instead, it will be Friday.
How does that gathering play into all of this? Obviously, the United Nation's general assembly's here in New York. We heard from President Biden on this. The U.N., not an organization that Israel has entirely good relationships with.
FOSTER: Yeah, they tend, you know, there's a lot of tension between the United Nations and Israel, and Israel doesn't always take what the United Nation declares seriously. So, yes, there is that one level, but obviously it's a very high-profile event is being covered a lot by networks like CNN. The messages that come out from there do resonate and people have differing views on how Israel is handling this.
So when he does go to the United Nations and it takes it seriously enough to do that. Then it's all about getting support for his effort to battle both Hezbollah and Hamas.
So it's important to get that support and most notably course for the United States, because neither of these wars would be able to take place without support from the U.S. and whilst its supported Israel's war against Hamas, war with Hezbollah is exactly what America has been warning against, saying what it doesn't want is certainly a big question for America about whether or not it supports Israel in that war, because Israel wouldn't be able to win it without American support, particularly when you consider that Hezbollah also has allies in Iran, for example, in other proxy groups, most notably the nation of Iran, which supplies Hezbollah.
HUNT: Right. And, of course, that all underscores why this is such a risk for a regional conflict. This wider that we've been trying to avoid for all of these months.
Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN this morning, Kamala Harris now vowing to try to change the Senate rules to restore for reproductive rights. How some senators are weighing in on her proposal to do away with the filibuster.
Plus, as tropical storm Helene continues to gather strength gulf, we're tracking the latest on when the storm's impact could arrive across the Southeast.
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[05:23:04]
HUNT: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
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BRETT FAVRE, NFL HALL OF FAME QUARTERBACK: It's too late for me because I've recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's.
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HUNT: This Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre of confirming he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The former NFL great was testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday about reforming a federal welfare assistance program.
A Missouri man executed last night after the Supreme Court denied a stay. Marcellus Williams spent more than two decades on death row, convicted of a 1998 murder. His execution was opposed by both the victim's family, and the prosecutors office who insisted on his innocence.
A Haitian non-profit is hoping to criminally charge Donald Trump and J.D. Vance following their remarks about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating pets. An affidavit filed with a county court says Trump and Vance's comments disrupted public services and prompted harassment. Six potential charges were listed against those two.
And this --
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(JOHNNY CASH SINGING)
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HUNT: The man in Black receiving a rare honor on Capitol Hill, Johnny Cash becoming the first musician tend to be honored with a statue in Congress's statuary hall.
The statute features a guitar, of course, and a bible representing Cash's deep faith. He'll represent his homes state of Arkansas alongside civil rights leader Daisy Bates.
All right. Time now for weather. Preparations are well underway as Tropical Storm Helene approaches Florida's gulf coast. Residents from Tampa to Panama City beach are rushing to get ready before the storm arrives. The governors of Florida and Georgia are also declaring states of emergency ahead of the landfall.
Let's get straight to our meteorologist Allison Chinchar with the latest.
Allison, what are we looking at today?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So we just got the latest update at the top of the hour and we're continuing to see Helene strengthen those winds now up to 65 miles per hour.
[05:25:03]
They had been 60. It's expected to continue to strengthen as we go through the day today, likely getting up to hurricane strength at some point in the next few hours.
Now, the system here you can notice is just ever so slightly off to the east of Cancun, Mexico. Its going to continue to make its way up into the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. That's why we anticipate further strengthening at its fuel for these types of systems before continuing its trek up towards the Florida Panhandle likely still making landfall sometime Thursday evening and then continuing to spread inland up into states like Georgia and Tennessee. As we finish out the rest of the week. So, lots of states expected to be impacted here.
In the short term, a lot of these areas along the coast are really going to see those storm surge numbers begin to tick up as the storm gets closer, the highest obviously right through here in the big bend area where you're looking at ten to 15 feet of storm surge, the red area just to the west of west of St. Marks, going down through some areas of the panhandle, five to ten feet of storm surge.
Winds are also going to be strong, not just there along the coast, but look at how far inland some of these winds, especially that 74 to 110 mile per hour wind gusts spread inland even as far north as Atlanta getting maybe gusts up to 50 to 60 miles per hour and rainfall, Kasie. That's going to be the most widespread concern with some of these areas getting as much as a foot.
HUNT: All right. Lots to watch ahead here in the next couple of days. Allison Chinchar for us, thanks very much.
All right. Coming up after the break, a new report out this morning to detailing this stunning security failures surrounding the first apparent attempt on Donald Trump's life.
Plus, Kamala Harris supporting an end to the filibuster is a path to restoring Roe versus Wade.
And the House speaker's promised to follow the election certification process with a key caveat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHNSON: Well, of course, if we have a free, fair and safe election, we're going to follow the Constitution, absolutely. Yes, absolutely, yes.
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