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Trump Urges Early Voting While Also Criticizing It; New CNN National Poll: Race Virtually Tied With 6 Weeks To Go; Trump's Message To Women: "I Am Your Protector"; Source: Harris Campaign Plans Visit To Southern Border On Friday; "I Know There Is A Way Forward"; Biden Issues Call For Global Unity; Biden Addresses Wars In Ukraine, Gaza In His Final U.N. Address; Soon: Trump Remarks On The Economy. Aired 12- 12:30p ET

Aired September 24, 2024 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, deadlocked. We've got brand new polling you're going to see right here. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in a virtual tie with just six weeks to go. We'll break down each of their strengths and weaknesses headed into the final stretch of the campaign.

Plus, end this war. That was President Biden's message in his final speech to the United Nations. Saying, innocent people in both Israel and Gaza are going through hell, as he tries to jump start the push for a cease fire deal.

And Donald Trump is headed south to talk about an issue. He hopes will define this race as Kamala Harris tries to cut into his lead on the economy with the endorsement of more than 400 economists and policymakers.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

First up, six weeks, 42 days. Election Day is right around the corner. And in some states, voters are already headed to the polls. But Donald Trump is delivering some mixed messages about early voting, encouraging it in one breath, and then pushing baseless conspiracies about doing so in another.

Here's what he said last night in Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Early voting begins in Pennsylvania over the next two weeks, and we need each and every one of you to go out. Just don't take anything for granted. We got to get out and vote. You can start right away.

You know that right now we have this stupid stuff where you can vote 45 days early. I wonder what the hell happens during that 45. Let's move the -- see these votes? We've got about a million votes in there. Let's move them.

We're fixing the air conditioner in the room, right? No, it's terrible. What happened the last time was disgraceful, including right here. But we're not going to let it happen again too -- you know, too big to rig right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now there's nothing wrong with early voting, which is why Donald Trump's own campaign is trying to get their supporters to the polls right now. It is a deadlocked race. And to give you more on that, let's go right now to CNN's David Chalian, who was with me at the Magic Wall with our brand-new numbers.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Six weeks to go, as you said, 42 days. And it doesn't get much closer than this, Dana. This is among likely voters.

BASH: Unbelievable.

CHALIAN: No clear leader within the margin of error. Kamala Harris at 48 percent support, Donald Trump at 47 percent support among likely voters, according to this brand-new poll by SSRS. Take a look here. Most important issue among likely voters, far and away, it's the economy. 41 percent say so. Protecting democracy is second at 21 percent, immigration and abortion rights round out the double-digit support categories.

And on issue number one, you mentioned Donald Trump going down to Georgia today. Take a look at Trump's advantage on the economy. 50 percent of likely voters say they are -- they trust him to handle the economy more than Harris. Only 39 percent of likely voters say so of Harris again on issue number one.

BASH: I mean, it is really stunning. If you think about these numbers. 20 percent more voters say that they are worried about the economy and that's their number one issue, more than anybody else. And look at his lead on this. So, then that begs the question, David, why is it such a tight race?

CHALIAN: Yes, exactly. Because Trump, first of all, has some real warning signs on some attributes like his temperament or his empathy and ability to convince voters. He understands their needs. But also, in the coalition piece of this. Look at this gender gap, OK.

Among likely voters, Kamala Harris has a 10-point advantage among female voters, 53 percent to 43 percent. Donald Trump has a nine-point advantage among male voters. So, you see here this -- that is a 19- point gender gap between his support for men and her support for women.

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But Dana, drill down into independent voters, OK. Among likely independent voters, her advantage with female independents grows. It's a 15-point advantage, 51 to 36. And his advantage with independent male voters comes down a bit. So, the gender gap increases to her advantage among the critical middle of the electorate, these likely independent voters.

Take a look here also we asked, views are so extreme that those views will threaten the country. 48 percent of likely voters say yes to Donald Trump that his views are so extreme that they threaten the country. 35 percent say so of Kamala Harris. A chunk of these folks, Dana, actually are still voting for Donald Trump, even though they think his views are extreme and threaten the country.

And here's one other benefit for Harris. You say, what's keeping it close? 43 percent of likely voters say that Harris will has the trust factor of the American people to unite the country. Only 30 percent say that about Donald Trump.

BASH: What are the warning signs for Harris besides the economy, which you started with?

CHALIAN: Yes. Besides the economy, there are pieces of the coalition that aren't quite where they were for Joe Biden four years ago. If you look here now, among likely voters, among black voters, Harris has a 63-percentage point advantage. Now, that's huge. That's a big advantage, but it's not the 75-point advantage that Joe Biden had in the 2020 exit polls.

Similar story here, even more so, among Latino voters. In our poll, Harris has a 19-percentage point advantage among likely Latino voters in this poll, but Biden in 2020 according to the exit polls, had a 33- point advantage among Latinos. And we should note, while it is getting late now, people are voting, and this race is locking into some extent. There are still persuadable voters here.

So, 86 percent tell us in our poll, their mind is made up. And again, these are likely voters. 12 percent say they changed their mind, and only two percent of the people in this poll say, they don't have a first choice of a presidential candidate. So, it's about a 14- percentage range that could still be persuaded to support one candidate or the other, Dana?

BASH: So, it's -- that's why there's so few persuadable voters. That's why you're seeing so much of the focus on getting at the people who already say that they support either candidate. David, really, really fascinating new polling.

We have a lot to dig in with our three excellent journalists here, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey, Lift Our Voices' Co-Founder and journalist, Gretchen Carlson, and CNN's Eva McKend. Josh, you talk to your sources in both camps all day, every day. What do you think they're going to take away from what David just reported?

JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS AND ENTERPRISE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, I think the numbers are consistent with what you see in other polls and a lot of the internal polling, right? If you talk to folks in Trump world, they think they're basically in the margin of error in most of the states. They see their numbers as a little bit better than the public polls, but they know that they're behind in some of these states. They certainly see a gender gap, as you delineated there. I think what they believe is that their gender gap with men is better that they, you know, are going to do even better than that.

Polling shows with men -- with black men, I guess we will see if that's true or not, but that's what you hear from them a lot. I think the way they look at where the numbers are right now is if that's a missed opportunities. You know, the month of August, by all accounts, was not his best month.

The debate performance, I think most people are honest in his world would say she did better. The speech went a little too long at the convention, but that it's a tied race, and it's their race to lose still, and that he can still win. And that's optimism. I hear from their orbit, even as you see Kamala Harris doing better in a lot of ways in Joe Biden was against him.

BASH: So, you mentioned the gender gap. Gretchen, I want you to listen to what Donald Trump said yesterday in Indiana, Pennsylvania about women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I always thought women liked me. I never thought I had a problem. But the fake news keeps saying, women don't like me. I don't believe it. I am your protector. I want to be your protector. As president, I have to be your protector. I hope you don't make too much of it. I hope the fake news doesn't go. He wants to be their protector. Well, I am as president and I have to be your protector.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I am your protector.

GRETCHEN CARLSON, JOURNALIST & CO-FOUNDER, LIFT OUR VOICES: Well, I think I'm going to offend Donald Trump in saying, as a woman, I don't need him to protect me. I'm fine on my own. And I think a lot of other women feel that way. I did think, though, that this was very interesting, because up until now, Donald Trump has fed up red meat to the base.

Last night. I felt like that was a bit of an olive branch to independent women, to say suburban moms, independents. Look at me. I'm here for you. He talked about the safety of women, the health of women.

I mean, there's two women in Georgia who would argue against that based on what's happened to them with regard to abortion. And you know, he's a little bit like the hands made tale to me, calling himself a protector of women. It makes you wonder what else is going to happen to women if Donald Trump is elected.

[12:10:00] BASH: And Eva, let's turn to the question of immigration. And we want to give our viewers a sense of where this poll shows voters are. Who do you trust more to handle immigration? This is again among likely voters, Trump 49 percent, Harris 35 percent, neither 15 percent. And we just want to add to this our new reporting today, which is that Kamala Harris's campaign says that she plans to go to the southern border of the U.S. soon.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: So, I understand why the campaign thinks that this is a good strategy to put her down there, to essentially argue, look, I care about this issue. The former president, he was the one that squashed that bipartisan border enforcement bill. He only wants this for politics. He doesn't actually care about this issue.

But I think that when you speak to voters, they really crave authenticity. They want to for all of the former president's issues, you'll often hear the caveat, well, he is who he is. The vice president has a long history, a well-documented history of really being an ally to these immigrant communities.

She has two chapters in her book. I say we fight, and we are better than this, where she really makes a robust case for undocumented immigrants. During the Trump administration, she talked about a climate of fear. She dismissed the border wall as ineffective and a waste of resources.

And so -- and even her guest at the joint session of Congress was a DACA recipient, was a dreamer. And so, for her to go down there and characterize herself as tough on the border, it -- to me, it isn't consistent with a lot of the policy positions that she previously has espoused.

And so, I think it's really important why she was so strong. I think before the Hispanic Caucus, when she talked about the havoc, it would wreak in this country if another Trump administration enforced mass deportations, was because it felt authentic. It felt real. And so, I think that is the challenge when she engages in sort of this, this border theatrics.

CARLSON: I would just add that I think that she should talk a lot about the fact that something that's underreported is that border crossings are down since 2020. We're not hearing a lot about that, and I think she should really talk about that a lot. I totally agree with you, though, on the potential flip flopping, but she doesn't have a choice right now.

She's 15 points down on immigration. She has to own this narrative. She has to try to take it back. And one way she does it is to also talk about that bipartisan bill that Trump completely killed. He should have been shouting from the mountaintops that he did that for immigration and that it was bipartisan didn't --

BASH: A real quick. I want to just turn to Nebraska. Because we talked a lot about that in the show yesterday, about the fact that Republicans, Donald Trump in particular, and some of his allies were making a play to take that one congressional district, which could potentially give one electoral vote in Omaha, Nebraska, the more liberal part of that red state to change the way that the rules are, and they did not succeed.

DAWSEY: Yeah. They wanted a winner take all approach like other states. Trump, you know, put some serious effort into this. Lindsey Graham, one of his allies flew out to Nebraska. They met with state senators individually. They asked him to do this. Trump calls in on the phone with the governor to try and get these senators to do this. And the senators aren't doing it.

I mean, they are saying, we're not. They want -- the key senator yesterday came out and said, he was not changing his position, which led Trump to then attack him on Truth Social as a grandstander. But it was an effort to make it easier to get a path to 270 for Trump and to get these votes.

And it's sort of interesting to me because Trump has been able to strong arm. So many people in the Republican Party, even people who really don't like him to do whatever he wants. But the state senators in Nebraska just said, no. They stood up and said, no.

BASH: And no -- because of the strong army, it sounds like if they could -- if they heard an argument other than it will help Donald Trump win. They might have been more open to it. OK, everybody standby, because coming up. The forces holding us together are greater than those pulling us apart. That was what President Biden said in his plea for global unity in his last speech at the United Nations just a short while ago. We're going to give you the highlights after a short break.

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BASH: President Biden just wrapped up his final speech to the United Nations General Assembly, focusing on the grave challenges across the globe as he nears the end of his presidency, but he also weaved in some optimism.

CNN's Kayla Tausche is at the United Nations. Kayla?

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dana, President Biden delivered what was meant to be a capstone address against a backdrop of a brand-new war in the Middle East since this time last year that has now been widening a protracted war on Europe's doorstep and long simmering tensions with China.

But in an optimistic tone, President Biden pointed to challenges that he's witnessed over his five decades in foreign policy, like the Vietnam War, apartheid in South Africa and the aftermath of 9/11. And he told the world leaders in attendance that there will always be atrocities around the world, including now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I recognize the challenges from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan and beyond war, hunger, terrorism, brutality, record displacement of people, a climate crisis, democracy at risk, strange in our societies. The list goes on, but maybe because all I've seen and all we have done together over the decades, I have hope. I know there is a way forward.

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TAUSCHE: Of course, that way forward. As you just heard President Biden say, included some cornerstones of the Biden doctrine, like promoting democratic values and strengthening alliances, most notably on Ukraine. He said that that was described as one of the triumphs of his presidency, rallying NATO allies to Ukraine's defense. He urged world leaders not to grow weary.

In the Middle East, where U.S. officials have raised some doubts about whether Israel and Hamas truly want to reach a cease fire deal. President Biden called on Israel and Hamas to accept the terms that the U.S. and Egypt and Qatar have negotiated. And with Hezbollah, he urged them to accept a diplomatic detente, which he says is the only option going forward.

But perhaps in the most poignant moment of this speech, Dana, President Biden talked about his personal decision, not to seek re- election in November, and had a message for autocrats in particular when he said some things are more important than staying in power, and that's the people -- those are the people you serve, Dana?

BASH: That was quite a moment. Kayla, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. Back here with our great journalists. Gretchen, well, I wonder what your takeaway is from -- just I think maybe the big picture is an important way to look at it, kind of where Kayla left off there that this is a man who has been on the world stage most of his career, through the Senate and the Foreign Relations Committee for decades and decades. He finally got to the presidency, giving a speech at the United Nations, and this is his last one.

CARLSON: Yeah. And I'm sure that he wanted to add to his legacy that he was able to have a cease fire with Israel and Hamas, and instead, we have now Hezbollah entering the game, and Israeli forces are very limited, and Hezbollah is not Hamas. And then we're potentially going to get Iran involved. So, I don't think that's going to happen before the end of his presidency as far as any kind of an agreement there.

The other thing I would just like to add on the domestic front is that, in your poll, you showed with David Chalian, foreign policy is only important to two percent of the people.

BASH: Yeah.

CARLSON: We're only ranks at two percent. If Donald Trump agrees to that debate with Kamala Harris here on CNN on October 23, that will for sure be a question foreign policy because of what's happening right now will rise again to the top. Whether or not, Americans will care about that is another story, but they should be prepared to be able to answer that.

BASH: And let's listen to a little bit more about what President Biden said, specifically about his attempts for months and months and months to get a hostages for ceasefire deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I've met with the families of those hostages. I've grieved with them. They're going through hell. Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell. Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home and secure security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas' script, ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What do you think?

DAWSEY: Well, that's certainly a powerful call that he's done repeatedly. I think we saw the DNC, where the hostage families, you know, were on stage are powerfully begging for their son to come home. And then --

BASH: And the RNC.

DAWSEY: And the RNC. And a few weeks later, you know, unfortunately, they were brutally murdered in the tunnels. I mean, I think he's looked for an end of his war throughout his presidency. He's looked for, you know, into -- you know, what's happening in Ukraine as well. I mean, there's lots of conflagration right now around the world.

But, you know, as a president, you can only do so much to some degree, because you are, you know, sort of controlled by the crises of the world. But in a lot of these places, he leaves sort of with unfinished business, with hostages, with the war going on in the war expanding as we said.

You know, with the war in Russia and Ukraine still happening. There's a lot of places that around the world, I think, are hotter than when he came into his presidency. Now, I'm not saying that he's responsible for that. I'm just saying I think it's a challenging time to leave if you're the president, because there is a lot of instability and a lot of, you know, concern right now around the world.

BASH: And one of the arguments that Kamala Harris continuously makes is that you don't want this guy to be commander in chief again. You don't want him to be representing the United States on the world stage, making decisions about who to defend, who not to defend, how to get involved.

But if you look at our new poll and the way voters see it, yes, it is not a huge priority for them when you look at foreign policy. But inside that, who do you trust more to handle foreign policy? Kamala Harris has 40 percent, Donald Trump 47 percent. [12:25:00]

MCKEND: And it would be interesting to ask voters what specific issues that that they credit the former president for more than the vice president. We know that the Arab American community, for instance, in pivotal states like Michigan, have been really disappointed with President Biden and by extension, Vice President Harris.

But fundamentally, on the campaign trail, she calls the former president unserious that she is a serious leader. And so, that you can see her leaning into that argument when she talks about foreign policy, but clearly, from this polling she still has work to do.

BASH: OK, everybody standby. Before we go to break, a clarification on a story we brought you yesterday concerning Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib's comments attacking a decision by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to bring charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan. Tlaib accused Nessel of quote, biases.

Here's to Tlaib's full quote to the Detroit Metro Times. It seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.

Now Tlaib did not reference Nessel's Jewish identity. Her office has not responded to our request for clarity. Her allies insist that's not what she meant. But Nessel still says, she believes it is antisemitic, and repeated on CNN yesterday, that quote, clearly, she's referencing my religion.

Coming up. Donald Trump takes a page from Oprah's playbook as he tries to win over battleground state voters with new economic proposals. We will discuss that right after a break.

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