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New Day
New CNN Presidential Poll; Family Issues Matter to Voters; Erykah Badu Promotes Change; Minority Voters Favor Clinton. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired September 06, 2016 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00] KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's very divided. And we tend to -- and so we're going to tend to see these very close races. Even when Hillary was up at certain points six or seven points, I think the expectation was it would probably settle into something more like this. The most interesting thing is, of course, that independents seem to be preferring Donald Trump. And that would be of real concern, I think, to the Clinton campaign.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We have that if we want to put that up.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Sure.
CAMEROTA: Trump gets 49 percent to Clinton's 29 percent, then Gary Johnson, 16, Jill Stein, six, but that is a big double digit lead for Donald Trump with independents.
CUOMO: Now, the Clinton people will look at these numbers, Kirsten, and say, yes, but look at the electoral map. It's a different scenario when you look at the map. She's still closer to being able to get a suggestion of an election because of where she is with those votes. Do you buy that?
POWERS: I think that's true. I think the map does favor her more. But at the same time I -- we've seen a couple polls coming out showing that Trump is doing well in Michigan, for example, in Iowa. There are places where there are large white working class voting blocs that seem to be preferring Donald Trump more. So, you know, I think that that's something that is of concern to them. I don't -- I, frankly, don't think this poll is probably much surprise to the Clinton campaign. I think they've been concerned that people are maybe assuming that it's in the bag and that Hillary Clinton's going to win, when, in fact, we have a very divided electorate and we have to remember we have an electorate that really prefers change at this point. I think they are -- there's a lot of dissatisfied people that are very unhappy with the status quo, and Donald Trump, to them, seems to represent a change.
CAMEROTA: Let's look at the gender gap, because we did ask about that as well, and it's almost exactly inverse. So more women prefer Hillary Clinton, 53 percent, to Donald Trump's 38 percent. More men prefer Donald Trump, 54 percent, to her, 32 percent. So what's the -- what's the answer moving forward for these candidates to win over the opposite gender? POWERS: Well, I think it's difficult. There's been a gender gap
between the parties for quite some time. This isn't something that's unique to this race. And, you know, you've seen more women voting for Democrats and more men voting for Republicans. And the expectation is that this race will -- is on track, basically, to see historic levels in -- in the gender gap. So I don't know that there's a lot that can be done to address that, frankly, because you have women preferring Democrats typically because they feel -- they align more with a party that provides a social safety net, because women often feel much more vulnerable than men do. And so I think it's difficult and it's also difficult for Donald Trump, who has his own unique problems with women and, frankly, with Hillary Clinton, who has -- seems to have her own problem with white working class men.
CUOMO: So the mood of the country is decidedly in favor of change, except the change agent doesn't set up Donald Trump as exactly that.
POWERS: Right.
CUOMO: Is that why we see this election even being close because if you look at the historical cycle play, this should be the GOP's race to win?
POWERS: Well, this is such an unusual race because you have a Republican nominee who doesn't even have the support of a lot of the people in his own party. So that -- that makes it unique in that way. And then you have a very unpopular Democratic nominee. I think, honestly, if Joe Biden was running against Donald Trump, you might be seeing a different race. I think, you know, if you had somebody who was connecting with those white working class men the way a Joe Biden would, somebody who didn't have the trust numbers that she has, and I think you might be seeing a different race. But this is what we have. We have two people who are not seen as being the most trustworthy people and I think it's --
CUOMO: Now seen as being the most trustworthy? We've never seen numbers as high of lack of trust as we do in this election. And I think it's pretty much, you know, colored the whole environment, hasn't it?
POWERS: Yes, it has. I mean one thing about this race is that it's obviously not an issue. It's not -- trust -- this is not a trust election. If it was, neither of these people would have won the nominations in their parties, right? I mean they -- they both have the worst trustworthy, honesty numbers in -- of -- in their respective parties running for the nomination. And so, you know, if that had been the top issue, then we would have seen John Kasich winning or a Jeb Bush winning or we would have seen Bernie Sanders winning. So it's not really -- it's not really coming down to a trust issue in terms of honest -- whether you're honest or not. It's coming down to who do you trust to be the best leader, who do you trust with the nuclear codes.
CAMEROTA: Kirsten Powers, thank you. Always great to get your perspective.
POWERS: Thank you. CUOMO: OK, up next, family matters on the road to the White House. What are we learning about the candidates in CNN's in-depth documentaries? Will the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Trump's divorce, are those things going to matter to you as voters, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:38:58] CUOMO: In case you missed it last night, CNN aired two really fascinating documentaries on the lives of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton talks about the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Trump kids address their father's divorce. Family issues matter in politics. In fact, the personal seems to resonate with you guys as voters more than policy ever does. So, how will these two aspects play out on Election Day?
Less's discuss with CNN political commentator and former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter, and CNN political commentator, Hillary Clinton supporter and Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen.
Good to have you both.
Let's play a piece of sound and react. I think we will start with the Trump kids talking about the divorce they had to live through, as so many do in this country, and what it means to them today. Here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You didn't talk to you dad for a year or so. Can you talk a little bit about why that was and how you felt as a teenager?
DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: Listen, I think, for me -- I was 12, right. So --
BORGER: Oh, 12.
[08:40:00] D. TRUMP: I was 12. You know, you think you're a man. You're starting to feel like you are, but you don't really understand the way everything else works. It was a difficult time. I mean it was certainly difficult reading about it in the papers every day on the way to school.
BORGER: I read this story about you that when you heard about it, you asked your mom whether you were still going to be Ivanka Trump. Is that a -- is that a true story?
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Yes. You know, I think I was digesting things and trying to understand as, you know, a 10 or 11- year-old would, the implications to me and my life and my relationship with my parents individually and collectively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Divorce is terrible for kids. We all know that personally and professionally. The question is, how will that experience in Trump's life resonate with voters?
Amanda, what's your take?
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, here's the thing. As we get into this one on one matchup, there is a lot of interesting questions, drama related to both candidates in terms of marriage, fidelity and how they endured problems within those relationships. I mean your family, those are the closest relationships you will have. And how you prioritize them, how you remain committed to them, I mean I think you can see in both the candidates that they have found a way to remain committed to their family in different ways. You know, Trump had the divorces so it's a little bit different because Hillary and Bill ultimately did stay together. But the question of enduring relationships among both candidates is going to be something that will be explored a lot through this campaign.
CUOMO: I mean this is something we always hope, Hilary, wouldn't matter to voters, right? Certainly in their own personal lives, the numbers are all very clear. You know, nobody cheats like Americans do. No country has more divorces than we do. And yet, in our leaders, we tend to judge it more harshly. Now, the sharp focus on this will obviously be Lewinsky for the Clintons' side if you're going to look at it in terms of the marital issue. Here's some -- here's some sound on it. Hillary Clinton talking to Pamela Brown about it. Here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: How difficult was it to go through something so private, so personal, under the glare of the spotlight as the first lady?
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It was really hard. It was painful. And I was so supported by my friends. My friends just rallied around. They would come. They would try to make me laugh. They would recommend books to read. We'd go for long walks. We'd hang out, you know, eat bad food. I mean just the kinds of things you do with your friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Now, she's been asked this question many, many times, Hilary, and the challenge for Hillary Clinton has always been for people to be somehow impressed by how she felt about what was going on with Bill. I mean there have been books written about it. What do you think it means in today's election?
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I -- you know, you have two candidates who have had troubled marriages and I think this is just information for the American people about how each of them have handled it. I feel for Ivanka Trump being asked on national TV how she felt about her parents' divorce. No kid wants to have to talk about that in private, much less in public. And, you know, I think from Hillary's perspective, look, she had a husband who did this to her and I think American women across the board have essentially in many ways been inspired by how she was able to come through it, forgive him and stay together as a family. This is a real marriage. This is real love. And this is, I think, in many respects, a real role model for so many women.
CUOMO: What do you -- what do you think, Amanda? At the end of the day, do these matter as issues, or do they become part of the feel fabric for the voter when they're trying to judge each of these people?
CARPENTER: Yes. Throughout the course of the campaign, we want to find out what kind of people these candidates are. And one thing I found really interesting about the CNN documentary, I mean Hillary Clinton is a hard person to get a feel for. Watching that we saw her go from D.C. lawyer, to first lady of Arkansas, to first lady, to a New York senator, to secretary of state. And something I picked up on in all those clips over the years, you would see the same kind of mannerisms and hand gestures come out. You know, she -- I didn't know -- I didn't remember how she testified for five hours and how she kind of did this gesture with the hand on her head. She did that again during the Benghazi hearings. And so that was an interesting reveal in her personality that's been consistent that most people don't really recognize.
ROSEN: One quick thing on the documentaries, Chris, which were fantastic and people should watch them -- I know they're on demand -- is, all of the Trump critics were people who really knew him, who worked with him, who were cheated by him. The Clinton critics were people who didn't know her. Her intimates all loved her. It was the critics who were on the outside making suppositions about her that were -- that were filmed. Whereas on the Trump said, you had people who worked with him who really had terrible experiences.
[08:45:06] CUOMO: Well, people judge for themselves. Amanda, Hilary, thank you for the perspective on this.
And as Hilary just pointed out, if you missed these documents, you know, it's worth taking a deep dive into these two people. One of them is going to be the leader of the free world. You can watch them both again this Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Well, Chris, our new national poll reveals a very uphill climb for Donald Trump with minority voters. We'll debate what he's doing about that, next.
CUOMO: But first an interesting story for you. Singer Erykah Badu, do you know her? She's taking on another role now as an activist. She's lending her voice to help thousands of crime victims in an interesting way. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO (voice-over): Adorned in garb from around the world, Erykah Badu took the stage in Detroit last month as more than an artist. She stood as an activist.
ERYKAH BADU, SINGER: When one of us is a victim, we are all a victim. CUOMO: Badu was approached by concert promoters to make her Detroit
show a benefit for the African-American 490 Challenge. That group, and the Michigan Women's Foundation, hope to finish testing more than 11,000 rape kits found sitting in a police warehouse. In a report last year from the National Institute of Justice, police said budget constraints and staff cuts led investigators to not follow through on tests of those kits.
BADU: When I learned about it, I thought it was very important. I thought it was, at this point in my life, my responsibility.
SHANITA MAUO-JOHNSON (ph) PRESIDENT, THE RIGHT (ph) PROSECUTORS (ph): Erykah Badu, as an artist, is one who has always demonstrated a great social consciousness. She brings that to her artistry.
CUOMO: Badu and her fans raised more than $50,000 at the Detroit benefit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were surprised that they cared so much about Detroit. But, truly, it's that they care about these women and these children.
CUOMO: What's more, donors were able to see their dollars go to something they could end now.
KIM TRENT, PRESIDENT, AFRICAN-AMERICAN 490: And this is a problem where people could see the end of the road. They know that their money is going directly to a cause that is fixable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:51:04] CAMEROTA: Our new CNN national poll out just this morning shows Hillary Clinton with a four to one advantage among minority voters. Is Trump's appeal to black voters going to make a difference?
Joining us now to debate this is the Reverend Dr. Wendell Anthony. He's the president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, and Pastor James Davis, the pastor of the New Spirit Revival Center and a Donald Trump supporter.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here.
REV. DR. WENDELL ANTHONY, PRESIDENT, DETROIT BRANCH OF NAACP: thank you.
CAMEROTA: Pastor Davis, let me start with you.
Donald Trump, as you know, visited an African-American church on Saturday. You describe that visit as a home run. What did he do right there?
PASTOR JAMES DAVIS, PASTOR, NEW SPIRIT REVIVAL CENTER: Well, he -- this is something that had been on the calendar of his for quite some time. And it was a home run again to get him in front of the people that, again, are probably going to make this election cycle. There's been a lot of chatter about he doesn't want to speak to African- American audiences and there's been arguments about venue. When he speaks, I don't care where he is, he can be in a corn patch in Iowa, people are going to hear him. And it's one of the things where we didn't hear from Mrs. Clinton. She was in hiding until he actually started calling out and speaking to the African-American community and that's --
CAMEROTA: Well, not exactly. She has been going to black churches as well. She went to one in early August.
DAVIS: No. What I'm saying is -- well, she didn't -- she was in hiding with respect, not necessarily with black community, but I'm saying she was absent from the discourse. She wasn't doing interviews and such until he started deliberately saying, what do you have to lose by voting for Mr. Trump.
CAMEROTA: OK.
Dr. Anthony, is that how you saw the visit to the African-American church this weekend?
ANTHONY: Absolutely not. I would not call it a home run. I would call it a foul ball. He hit out and it did not land. It was not really an outreach, it's an in reach. Donald Trump is not speaking to African- Americans, he's speaking through, around, over and under African- Americans who the white moderate class, the folk who are trying to entice their vote. This is the part of the old strategy to divide and to conquer, to talk around black folk, to use them as their leverage to try to get to the vote that he, in fact, knows that he needs in order to secure the presidency.
By the way, he looked very much out of place inside the church, which was not full. He was swagging when he should have been swaying. He looked like he was swerving. Will the real Donald Trump really come clean and demonstrate, not by what he does in terms of going to a church --
DAVIS: So -- so a man -- so a man that grew up in a Presbyterian church -- a man that grew up -- again, that --
CAMEROTA: Well --
ANTHONY: What he does -- what he does in terms of policies. He did not articulate any policy related to civil rights, human rights --
CAMEROTA: OK.
ANTHONY: Other than saying we need a civil rights agenda.
DAVIS: OK.
CAMEROTA: OK.
ANTHONY: But the platform of the Republican Party does not say anything about (INAUDIBLE). CAMEROTA: Yes. OK, fine, Dr. Anthony, hold on. I want to let Pastor Davis get in.
DAVIS: This is -- this is -- this is the problem. No, this -- this --
CAMEROTA: Beyond his swaying moves --
DAVIS: This -- this is the problem, beyond -- beyond whether or not he had rhythm, you know, Presbyterian in a Pentecostal church. But at the end of the day, here's the thing --
CAMEROTA: Beyond whether or not he had moves. But I do think -- hold on a second, I do think that Reverend Anthony brings up the point of Donald Trump says that he wants to remedy injustice. What exactly is he doing on that front?
ANTHONY: Absolutely.
DAVIS: No, no, here's the -- here's the problem.
ANTHONY: Thank you.
DAVIS: The problem is, you know, folks like my esteemed colleague there that want to keep the grievances of black folks at the top of the agenda, when what we need to be talking about is the future, instead of the rear view mirror. I heard him on television the other day talking about birth certificates. It was not Donald Trump that has our neighborhoods the way they are. It was not Donald Trump that has us with five million more people on food stamps than before Barack Obama came into his administration. So now here we sit here with all these problems and we want to blame the man that's running versus calling into accountability those that are in office and a vote for Hillary Clinton is the same old same. It's the third term of Barack Obama.
CAMEROTA: Yes, so -- OK, so just --
DAVIS: Donald Trump is putting forth a program and a platform and a policy that lifts all Americans, not just African-Americans.
CAMEROTA: OK.
ANTHONY: But, Alisyn, I will simply say this.
CAMEROTA: Yes, go ahead, doctor.
ANTHONY: My colleague, Reverend Davis, is a part of the Trump 100. He was a part of the group that met with Trump back in December of last year. They got nothing then. There's no policy today. The bottom line here is that what about policy? We raised President Obama. We have the Affordable Care Act. We have over 673 inmates who are in jail who were there for non-violent offenses released and patrolled by this president.
[08:55:08] DAVIS: So that's -- that's the home run, let 600 folks out of jail that -- and Obamacare? ANTHONY: Never before done. We have -- we have Medicaid and Medicare through the Democratic president.
DAVIS: That's -- that's what we got?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
ANTHONY: We have -- we have education (INAUDIBLE) --
DAVIS: But -- but poverty --
ANTHONY: In the Democratic platform --
DAVIS: Schools in shambles.
CAMEROTA: Hold on, Dr. Anthony. Let --
ANTHONY: Let me finish.
CAMEROTA: Yes, finish your point.
ANTHONY: In the Democratic platform, Alisyn, the impetus is on civil rights. It's on having extended voter education and ability to vote on same day. It's talking about having a national holiday to vote for people all across this nation.
CAMEROTA: OK.
ANTHONY: Donald Trump and he's championing the Republican platform, they don't speak to any of those issues.
CAMEROTA: OK, fair enough. So --
ANTHONY: So when my colleague talks about that, go back and articulate that policy.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes, I want to give you -- very good. Let me give Dr. Anthony the last word.
ANTHONY: Not the man with (INAUDIBLE).
CAMEROTA: What specifically will Donald Trump do that will change the injustice?
DAVIS: Again, the injustice is that the folk that look like me can't get a job. And so once he creates an economy that lifts all of us and the communities that we live, all of this crime, all the things that go -- our schools in shambles. Once again, now that you give someone school choice, you find yourself in a position now where our community is lifted through and by the policies that have been set forth, whether they have African-American listed at the top of it or not.
CAMEROTA: OK. Pastor Davis --
ANTHONY: Tell the Republican Congress to come up with a (INAUDIBLE) program like the president has done. CAMEROTA: We -- gentlemen, we have to leave it there. Dr. Anthony, Pastor Davis, thank you very much for making your points, gentlemen.
ANTHONY: Thank you.
DAVIS: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
CAMEROTA: "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello will pick up after this very quick break. We'll see you tomorrow.
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