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Trump Hits New High in New National Polls; Candidates Preparing for Final GOP Debate of 2015. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 15, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. You're looking there at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Michaela is in New York. Chris and I are out here. We're coming to you, obviously, live from Las Vegas, where just 11 hours from now, the Republican hopefuls will get to battle in tonight's high-stakes CNN debate.

[07:00:22] Donald Trump remains the undisputed frontrunner, even after backlash to his controversial Muslim ban.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Two new national polls have Trump surging to all-time highs. Highs the prognosticators said he would not reach. He has broken the 40 percent barrier, well ahead of Ted Cruz, who also has made a good jump.

So let's kick off our comprehensive coverage. CNN's Athena Jones live on the debate floor.

And Athena, any seat you want right now is yours.

CAMEROTA: Any podium.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Well, the stakes will be high as the candidates step up to these podiums behind me for the last GOP showdown of the year. And those new national poll numbers for Trump show him reaching heights, as you mentioned, many political pundits thought he'd never reach. That makes him a top target tonight. He was also a target of protesters last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Light that mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on fire!

JONES: Outrage overnight during Donald Trump's rally in Las Vegas, tensions high just hours before tonight's final GOP debate of 2015.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here now!

JONES: Multiple protestors...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

JONES: ... forcibly removed while trying to interrupt the frontrunner's speech.

TRUMP: Get them out.

JONES: Trump taking shots at his Republican competition.

TRUMP: The other candidates should be thankful, because I'm giving them a chance to make total fools of themselves.

JONES: And bashing the media.

TRUMP: I've learned two things, more than anything else: how smart the people are and how bad and dishonest the press is. Because it is really dishonest.

JONES: Trump's GOP rivals going after the billionaire businessman, who for the first time has topped 40 percent in a Monmouth University national poll of likely GOP voters. That's more than the next three competitors combined. And Trump towering 23 points above his closest rival in this new "Washington Post"/ABC poll.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I cannot imagine Donald Trump becoming president, because he would never win. He would never win. Hillary Clinton would clean him.

JONES: This as Texas Senator Ted Cruz surges into second place in national polling and tops Trump in several polls in Iowa.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless the great state of Iowa.

JONES: Which means all eyes will be on center stage to see if the two former allies will go after each other.

PALIN: They are both strong and very decisive and someone who would take the initiative. That is what we need today, and both those candidates fit that bill.

JONES: Tonight's debate is the first for the GOP contenders since the Paris and San Bernardino terror attacks, and it comes about a week after Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. The debate will keep national security at the forefront.

RUBIO: The vast majority of people that are trying to come are people that we just don't have information on. This is an issue that you have to be right 100 percent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now, Marco Rubio is another candidate to keep an eye on tonight. He's performed well in past debates. And his team is hoping for another strong night. Their attitude is why try to fix what's not broken?

As for Trump and Cruz, the question isn't so much whether Truz [SIC] -- whether Trump will try to go after Cruz but whether and how Cruz will hit back -- Alisyn, Chris. CUOMO: You did the right thing, Athena, conflating, "Truz," Cruz and

Trump. We're all focused on that column. Well played. Very well done. Well done here at 100 o'clock in the morning.

So what do the candidates have to gain and lose on the debate stage tonight? Let's discuss.

CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston; CNN anchor of "EARLY START"; trivia giant and anchor of "AT THIS HOUR," John Berman; and senior contributor to "The Daily Caller" and conservative commentator, Mr. Matt Lewis.

Maeve Reston, Truz. OK. That's the power word going into tonight. People are seeing it's a match-up, not so much because of Trump. Once again, 41 percent, you know, he's not going anywhere. But Cruz has sunlight on him. It's time to make the most of it or go the way of Fiorina.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Absolutely. I mean, he has coalesced the evangelical vote around him in Iowa. It's been really fascinating to watch, because he put in the spade work over many, many months. I think people should not miss that in the polls here. It's not like this is, you know, an outlier. Cruz has really built to this moment, and if he can capitalize on it, I think it will be a big night for him. He could give Donald Trump fits if he pulls off a strong finish in Iowa. And then it would just be anyone's race.

[07:05:02] CAMEROTA: John, the polls, a new poll out this morning, ABC, did find that he is -- he keeps breaking the ceilings that people predict. He -- in the Monmouth poll, 41 percent for Donald Trump. And he has had some lackluster debate performances or at least ones where he didn't sort of stand out of the pack. So does it matter what happens tonight?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Look, I think these polls are fascinating. The Monmouth poll at 41 percent, the ABC News/"Washington Post" poll, 38 percent, both taken completely after he proposed banning Muslims from coming into the United States.

So this didn't just not hurt him; this helped him. I mean, this actively helped him in the national polls.

You know, Donald Trump is playing a different game here. And I think a lot of times we're not giving him the credit he deserves. The story the last week has been Ted Cruz, the Ted Cruz surge in Iowa. Well, Donald Trump has gone up in every single one of the polls that Ted Cruz has gone up. Donald Trump has gone up also.

So he's playing his game, yes, he has a ceiling. You know, it would be interesting to see if he goes out on a limb. I mean, does he try to poke a hole in Ted Cruz or does Donald Trump just play it safe like he has the last few debates?

CUOMO: Now, when we're talking about the candidates. We also have the party at play here about what they wanted to happen. We always refer to the big report, the after-action report in 2012. We have to reach out more; we have to be more ethnically sensitive.

Now a guy is rocketing to the top of the polls by saying ban Muslims. Where does that leave you in the GOP?

MATT LEWIS, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY CALLER": In really bad shape. Look, there are two potential: a time for choosing and there's a crossroads. There's one path that would have, let's say, for example, a President Marco Rubio and a speaker of the house, Paul Ryan. That is an optimistic conservative, Republican Party.

Young, diverse. I think that's a conservatism that can win the 21st century. There is another path. I think that path leads toward destruction. That is Donald Trump. That path actually in the short term could pay big dividends. But I think in the long term, the mathematics don't add up.

CUOMO: What do you say to all the people who are backing him? Fifty- nine percent of GOP voters, 38 percent of independent voters who say you guys are out of touch. You're the establishment.

LEWIS: Yes.

CUOMO: "We are angry. You won all these elections. You gave us nothing. Now we want somebody like him."

LEWIS: I think their frustration is understandable. I think it's partly because of Barack Obama, to be frank, the rise of ISIS, the struggling economy. I think some of it is because establishment Republicans have pushed things like immigration reform, what they call amnesty, which is out of touch with the base.

CUOMO: How does the president take the blame for your party not getting its message out and having, you know, people vote for someone else?

LEWIS: Look, here's the bottom line. Whether it's Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, somebody has to find a way to co-op the message that Donald Trump has, the good part of it, the part that talks about the understandable frustration with political correctness, with...

CAMEROTA: Make America great again. Who doesn't like that message?

LEWIS: That message resonates.

CUOMO: John Berman doesn't like that.

BERMAN: I think that we undersold Donald Trump from the beginning. That message he came out with the moment he announced and rode down that escalator, which was about six minutes before he talked about building a wall in Mexico to keep the rapists out. Those were Donald Trump's words.

LEWIS: Some of them are good people, I understand. Not all.

BERMAN: He's been doing this from the minute he got in. In some ways he's not doing anything differently. He's been a consistent candidate in his tactics. And it may be enough to be a strategy.

CAMEROTA: He did do something differently last night. He said something we've never heard him say before. We've heard him say that he's surging with women, that Muslims love him, that Hispanics love him. Last night, Maeve, he for the first time talked about why he might have high disapproval ratings, because he said some people don't like him. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: One thing I don't do as well on is a lot of people don't like me as much as they like others. Who cares? You know what? I think I'm a nice person.

Honestly, I think I'm a nice person. I think if they got to know me, they'd like me. I'll be honest with you. This time I don't think niceness is going to matter. They want competence. They want smarts. They want toughness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Fascinating insight. "People don't like me as much as they like some others, but niceness doesn't matter."

RESTON: We're in this moment where he is really connecting with people's fears, with their anxieties and their struggles in a way that other candidates have not been able to do.

And I think that what's most fascinating is who will emerge tonight to really move into that vacuum? All the other Republicans that have not chosen their candidate yet. You know, in that establishment lane, there's just a big opportunity for a Christie or a Rubio or even a Jeb, you know, to come back out tonight and try to capture some momentum in the middle.

BERMAN: Other than that, though, is there still an establishment lane? I think that's a legitimate question, as this primary moves ever closer to Iowa and New Hampshire.

CUOMO: I think J.B. is right; funny but insightful as always. He's a brilliant combination. I'm sure you guys deal with this. I have people stop me and they say, "Listen, don't say I'm afraid. I'm not afraid. I have concerns about people attacking us."

[07:10:07] And they seem to channel that the rebuff of Donald Trump is a rebuff of them, that he is literally the -- you know, the physical embodiment of how they feel. They feel they are him. And I know that boggled the mind at first. Because, like, the guy is a billionaire. You know, shouldn't you be seeing...

LEWIS: You know, magnate. I mean...

CUOMO: They talk to you as if they are saying what Donald Trump says. You know? And they don't want to be invalidated. That's a tricky spot if you don't like where they are, which is what we hear from the GOP establishment. LEWIS: It is -- you're exactly right. People have internalized this.

An attack on Trump can be an attack on a lot of conservative voters. If you're a working-class white voter who -- it used to be you could graduate high school, get a job at a factory, make $15 an hour. You could have a middle-class life for your family.

Now whether it's automation, immigration, globalization, whatever, that world is gone. And he's saying we're going to make America great again. That's a big deal.

RESTON: The Reagan Democrats. That's what we're back to.

CAMEROTA: Guys, thank you for all of that. Stick around. Obviously, we'll be calling upon you all morning and all day.

So which candidate will keep America safe? National security, that is the focus of tonight's CNN debate. The coverage begins at 6 p.m. Eastern for the undercard debate, followed by the main debate at 8:30. That's with Wolf Blitzer moderating. And we'll be live tomorrow morning, also here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Always interesting to see what shape we're in at 3 a.m. tomorrow morning.

CUOMO: All right. So you're getting ready for the showdown in tonight's CNN Republican debate? Of course you are. Now, what are the matchups? That's a big reason that these things always change the fates of the election. Right? Somebody seems to pop. Who could it be? We'll tell you about it.

CAMEROTA: OK. So stick around. We'll have Sarah Palin's take on this GOP field, what the former vice-presidential candidate thinks about Donald Trump and the others. You don't want to miss this when NEW DAY returns, live from the Venetian in Las Vegas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:02] CUOMO: Three guesses why we're in Vegas, and the first two don't count. The big debate, of course, the last GOP debate of the year. CNN has it. Wolf Blitzer is moderating it. Now what's going to happen on that stage tonight?

Every time we have a big deal like this, the race changes. So what are the rivalries to watch? Let's discuss.

CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp, Republican strategist; CNN political commentator, Mr. Kevin Madden; and CNN political commentator Van Jones. Good to see you all.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CUOMO: Good morning.

So let's start with S.E. When you look at tonight, of course, Trump's the man in the middle. No question about it. Just got affirmation in the latest poll. Talking about banning Muslims doesn't hurt; it helps with what he's complicated (ph) right now. So does he drive the action tonight and go at anyone in particular? S.E. CUPP. CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Not if history is any

indication. He really tends to sit back in debates. At times toward the latter end of the debate, it almost seemed like he was asleep. This is not his moment. He's great in the packed, you know, rallies. I don't think the action's going to be in the middle of the stage. I think the action is going to be -- going to between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

Marco Rubio has one job to do tonight, and it is to define Ted Cruz's foreign policy as weak and inconsistent. That's because the country, according to all the polls, identifies terrorism as the top issue.

Ted Cruz has been trying to sort of walk this line. He says he's somewhere between Rand Paul and John McCain an foreign policy. There's obviously a lot of ground between those two people. So he's really not committing to a side. He's been sort of against the metadata collection, against Syrian intervention.

It's not a great time to be Ted Cruz at a foreign policy debate when the country is so afraid and rightfully. So I think Marco Rubio on the other end of that really needs to set the distance between himself and Ted Cruz. If he doesn't, I think Ted Cruz's momentum going into Iowa is pretty unstoppable.

CAMEROTA: Kevin, do you agree that's the rivalry to watch tonight?

LEWIS: I think so. S.E. brings up a good point, that Donald Trump hasn't actually initiated a lot of these attacks. But when he -- when the moderators have allowed someone like him and Ted Cruz to come out and touch gloves, he absolutely counterpunches and goes after Ted Cruz.

One thing we have seen is when someone in this race has started to be on the ascent and has threatened Donald Trump's lead, he does really go after that person. So I expect those two to touch gloves at some point and really start to post up against each other.

CUOMO: There are some people up there tonight that you should be worried about who aren't getting a lot of attention. What do you see up on that stage, whether it's a Chris Christie or a Kasich? Who do you -- who do you look at that could be someone who could build a big tent?

JONES: First of all, I do think that it's an interesting thing. Chris Christie is this zombie that cannot be killed. I mean, we thought that Bridgegate...

CUPP: Figuratively.

JONES: He can't be stopped.

CUOMO: That's the thing with the zombie, isn't it? You're already dead? I don't know if the metaphor works.

LEWIS: He and I are both coming at you.

CAMEROTA: I get this. I like it.

JONES: But listen, so Bridgegate, supposed to take him out. He's back. He falls off the adult table. He's now at the kiddie table. If you're Marco Rubio, you're so happy, because you can be the foreign policy guy.

Now he's back on that stage. And he can look at a Marco Rubio and say, "You know what? It's fine for you and the Senate committee to run your mouth. I was governor during 9/11."

I think that hurts Rubio. So I think you're going to have somebody like a Chris Christie, trying to be in that moderate lane. Going after Rubio will be getting it from lots of different sides.

CAMEROTA: And see, how do any of the other candidates, other than Cruz, Trump, Rubio, maybe Christie, get some traction? What do they need to do?

CUPP: We've seen before Rand Paul has come out swinging, almost out of nowhere, kind of unexpectedly in a number of debates, right? He's picking fights with Ted Cruz. He's picking fights with Marco Rubio.

CUOMO: A lesson on what to do or what not to do?

CUPP: Well, he didn't really have a net, you know, effect, a positive effect for Rand Paul. But it certainly reminded us all that he was there. And frankly, when you have this -- when you have this crowded a field, you've got to find a moment. Carly Fiorina is excellent at this. She makes these debates her shining moment.

[07:20:14] CAMEROTA: She's won some.

CUPP: She has. She has great debate moments. And I expect she'll have a repeat of her great debate moments. She's actually fantastic on foreign policy. You know, she's at the highest level of clearances a civilian can have. She's touched a lot of these issues personally and professionally. So I expect her to have, you know, a breakout night again. Whether that results in any -- any poll movement remains to be seen.

LEWIS: S.E. is right. I think these debates are about moments. The headlines that come out the next day are always driven by one candidate posting up against another candidate onstage.

But there is one person onstage, who if they attack, they're also going to drive the headline. And that's President Obama. So I think, if any of those candidates want to break out, it's really offering the strongest critique possible of President Obama and on the issue that in so many polls we've seen come to the forefront, which is foreign policy, national security, terrorism.

CUOMO: But you know, here's what I don't get about it. Yes, bashing the president is always a good thing to do when you're the out party, but you have a party right now where the state of play is we know what we're angry about. We just don't know what you're going to do about it. We feel like we helped you win all these elections, and you've given us nothing for it.

So is it just -- and President Obama hasn't done a lot of good things. They're looking at Trump for one reason. They think he's different than the rest of the people up there, and he'll do something where the others will fail.

LEWIS: That's a very good point. I think one of the reasons that Trump has emerged on the issue of national security is because he's offered people what they think they don't have with the Obama administration, which is strength and clarity.

So these other candidates, they have to sort of get ahead of Donald Trump on that issue by doing the same. But offering a vision for what the national security foreign policy posture of the country ought to be in a Republican White House.

JONES: I see it somewhat differently in terms of what Donald Trump has been offering. I think if you're a Democrat, frankly, if you're an independent and you're watching this, will somebody stand up to what I think can only be called demagoguery. A leader defines a solution. A demagogue defines a problem and then blames somebody.

CAMEROTA: You think they go after Trump? Not Hillary tonight?

JONES: Well, listen, they will definitely go after Hillary. They'll definitely go after Obama. But I think if you're an independent, this is very troubling to see someone, you know, first pick on the Mexicans. Now he's picking on the Muslims. And...

CUOMO: Thirty-eight percent of independents agree with Trump.

CUPP: And 15 percent of Democrats.

CUOMO: You said 15?

CUPP: Fifteen.

JONES: Fifteen percent of Democrats probably believe in UFOs. My point is that you have a majority of independents and a majority of Democrats who don't like this kind of thing. And my concern is, is there -- you're talking about strength.

CUPP: You've got a majority of Republicans who don't like this kind of thing. I'm not talking about the Muslim ban in particular. I'm talking about Trump. You have a majority of the party who has not chosen Donald Trump. So it's the -- it's the job of the rest of the candidates to explain why his message is wrong. I believe it is.

CUOMO: Monmouth has him at 41 percent.

CUPP: Creeping up.

CAMEROTA: Guys, stick around. We want to get your take on what happened last night, as well. Sarah Palin was out with Jake Tapper. We'll talk about that. CUOMO: These are beautiful people with gifted minds. But of course,

we know that you are more beautiful and more gifted. What do you think tonight going into the debate? Who are you watching and why? Tweet us. Please use the hashtag #AlisynCamerota. Use the hashtag #NEWDAY or you can go to Facebook and do it, as well. Alisyn with a "Y."

CAMEROTA: Very good.

So as I was saying, Sarah Palin was talking straight about the GOP Gang of 13. Who's her pick? Which side is she on?

CUOMO: And she spoke about Donald Trump. What does she think about the message that he's selling? She told our Jake Tapper. He'll tell us all when we watch a little bit of this in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:28:04] CAMEROTA: Welcome back to Vegas, everyone.

Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is here, and she was speaking out just hours before the final Republican debate of the year, right here on CNN. She spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper last night about the GOP field and her thoughts on it.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": One of the things that upset the Republican establishment the most has been Donald Trump's recent proposal calling for a total and complete shutdown on Muslims coming into the United States until, quote, "We figure out -- or our leaders figure out just what the hell is going on," unquote. That's something that you support?

SARAH PALIN, FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: The reaction from so many right off the bat, kneejerk reaction was typical of the media, not you necessarily. But the media. It was to jump all over him like it was such a negative.

And I wanted to say, not speaking for Trump, but I wanted to say, let him finish the conversation. Let him finish his thought about what he's talking about, a temporary ban. Because we do have a very screwed up system that is resulting in the bad guys coming on over.

It is common sense that, when we're in such tumultuous times as caused by -- in a lot of respects, not knowing who it is coming over our porous borders, we need to -- we need to take a pause here and figure out what the system is going to be to make sure -- first and foremost, that Americans live here, that we're safe.

TAPPER: Of the Republican presidential candidates, who would you most like to have a beer with?

PALIN: The one who seems most fun bellying up to a bar would be Trump.

TAPPER: Donald Trump.

PALIN: Yes.

TAPPER: So let me ask you, you have had very kind things to say about Mr. Trump and about Senator Ted Cruz. And in fact, in November you said that you thought it was going to come down to Trump versus Cruz. It looks, as of right now, that that's what it is headed towards. Between these two men, and I know you think they're both strong. And I know you think they're both able leaders. Whom would you pick?

PALIN: Well, I'm glad that you prefaced it with I know you think that they're both strong and they're both good.