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New Day

Frank Luntz is Interviewed about the Elections; U.S. Debt hits $31 Trillion; Ebola Outbreak in Uganda; Poll Shows Kids Impacted by Pandemic; Thailand Nursery Shooting. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 06, 2022 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Jessica Dean, thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And indeed the countdown is on. Less than five weeks to go until the midterm elections. Both the House and the Senate very much up for grabs. You can see the dates circled on the calendar there.

What are the issues that could tip the scales?

Joining us now pollster and communication strategist Frank Luntz.

Frank, great to see you.

Since we just had that report on Pennsylvania, let me ask you about the commonwealth. Where do you see that race at this point and what direction is it headed?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: It has been pretty solidly in the Democratic camp up until about two weeks ago when you could see movement in the surveys. At one point the Democratic nominee had about a 10 point lead. And now it's down in most polls to somewhere between four and six points. It's clear the Democrats still have the advantage. And this is a Republican-held seat. It is an open seat, but there was a Republican senator before. So, this would represent a Democratic pickup, an important pickup should they win.

But the race has been tightening. Dr. Oz has started to do advertising, which is having an impact. And both candidates -- negatives for both candidates have been rising over the past few weeks. And, in fact, this is happening across the country. As voters see all these negatives, see the attacks going back and forth and say, a plague on both your houses.

Even as we say that and as the important Cook Political Report has moved this race into a tossup, it is still narrowly Democratic, but it is too close to call.

GOLODRYGA: And, nationally, as with every election, the economy is a major factor for voters going into an election. Talk about what impact you think that OPEC's announcement yesterday, that they're going to be cutting oil production by two million barrels a day, will have for voters if, in fact, we do see, as we anticipate, a rise in gas prices.

LUNTZ: If we do see that spike, it will have a significant impact and it will be harmful for Democratic candidates. Oil prices, as we can see, electricity, gas, has dropped over the last three months, and that has help blunt some of the criticisms.

And, by the way, it's really not inflation that the public responds to, it's costs, prices, and, most important, affordability. When voters can't afford to heat their homes, buy their food, and pay their mortgages, they're angry and they're going to be angry at the party in power. If the debate is instead about abortion or social issues, if the argument is about Donald Trump and what's happening at Mar-a-Lago, that is good for Democrats because a majority of Americans are still negative towards the former president, and it removes that really influential vote moving issue of, are you better off today than you were two years ago?

And, right now, the House is too close to call. Republicans have a narrow advantage. If you force me to project, I'd say the Republicans end up with a five to ten seat majority. But that is lower than what it looked like a few months ago.

BERMAN: What about the Senate?

LUNTZ: The Senate, I - yes, I keep reading these reports. And I do focus groups across the country. I look at states like Arizona, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico. A number of states - Nevada, where - where - where Republicans have fallen behind. They have narrowed the gap in these places, but the Democrats still have an advantage. So, if you had to project it right now, Democrats not only keep the Senate, but they'll add one or two Senate seats.

But I want to emphasize to viewers out there that there are enough swing voters and there is enough doubt and a lack of clarity on what the campaigns will be run on in these last five weeks that Republicans could still win the Senate, and Democrats, actually, possibly, could still win the House.

GOLODRYGA: Let me ask you about the controversy that continues to grow in Georgia, where Republican Senate Candidate Herschel Walker now denying that he allegedly paid for an abortion, threatening a lawsuit against "The Daily Beast." "The Daily Beast" keeps reporting, though, that that woman is, in fact, a mother of one of his children who had that abortion that he paid for allegedly. What impact is that going to have at all, in your view, among voters in Georgia?

LUNTZ: So, here's the thing. The Herschel Walker has been plagued with a lot of these issues, a lot of these attacks, these challenges, over the past few months and yet he continues to poll dead even with the incumbent Democrat. And I'm starting to wonder whether these attacks matter at all. This reminds me of Trump's campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Issue after issue, day after day, the media brought up what appears to be legitimate questions about the candidate and the candidate's history, but it didn't matter.

And in Georgia, the number of swing votes, zero. And I just - I -- you asked me about impact.

[06:35:04]

Herschel Walker's negatives are higher than the incumbents, and yet he's dead even.

And, by the way, the race to watch in that state is the governor's race. Trump tried to defeat the Republican governor because he refused to decertify the election, and that Republican governor is running ten points ahead right now of Stacey Abrams in a rematch from four years ago. That's a big deal. The fact that Herschel Walker's running behind the Republican governor, that's not good news for him.

BERMAN: Frank Luntz, great to see you. Thanks for your analysis.

LUNTZ: My pleasure.

BERMAN: So, the U.N. national debt now exceeds $31 trillion. This is the highest ever. What is behind it?

GOLODRYGA: Ahead, an NYU chemistry professor also saying that he was fired after students complained that they were failing because the class was too hard. The debate over who's to blame for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So, U.S. national debt, it has hit an all-time high of $31 trillion.

[06:40:05]

And this comes during high interest rates, which, as you will see, is a real issue.

So, what's behind all of this? CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans here to explain.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: John, this deserves unpacking. This number came out this week and, you know, got mentioned. But this is a humongous number with big implications for who you vote for and your standard of living.

Let's look at the numbers behind the chart, right? When Bush came into office, he had a single digit number. And he had budget surpluses, by the way. And then it went to --

BERMAN: Inherited budget surpluses.

ROMANS: Inherited budget surpluses. And then 10.6. He was the first one to crack that ten number.

Here's why. Let's look at these whys. Two big unfunded wars and big tax cuts in his administration. When Barack Obama came into office, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month because of the financial crisis. He had to borrow money and spend big to prevent the recession from getting even worse. Then Donald Trump comes into - that was two terms. Donald Trump comes

into office, big, big tax cuts there. Also not entirely paid for. And then a pandemic. And all that pandemic spending, which continued into this current administration.

This administration also, by the way, having student debt relief that is not funded. And also each of these administrations have congresses that passed huge spending bills that are also not funded.

So, you have America living and growing on borrowed money. And that borrowed money is now $31.1 trillion.

BERMAN: When you start spending more and start bringing in less, it's a problem.

Just one thing I want to point out here. This is in half the time. These are both two term presidents.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: Donald Trump was a one term president, so that increase happened over four years.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: And this also out of whack here because we're only a year and a half in.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: So that number clearly will go up too.

We talked about interest rates. And this is super important. Why?

ROMANS: So, look, a lot of this was complacent spending by Congress because you had basically zero interest rates for so, so long, right? So, you could borrow all this money and it didn't cost a lot to service it. But now it does.

2021, the cost to service the debt was something like $351 billion or $352 billion. Because of higher interest rates, by the time we get out here, $1.2 trillion to service that debt. That is a remarkable - that means you have less wiggle room for spending elsewhere and for other priorities.

So, this is something that really -- people really need to pay close attention to this. And this is a problem from Congress. Look, they can't make the tough decisions because it will hurt. Getting this pile under control will hurt. It means either higher taxes or lower spending.

BERMAN: I mean this just means, if you had zero percent on your credit card, that's what we essentially had for a few years.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: Now all of a sudden the interest rate on all of our debt shot way up. So, it's that much worse to have it now.

Who owns the debt?

ROMANS: So, we own a lot of this debt. The U.S. - the U.S. owns most of this debt. You know, the -- the Social Security Trust Fund owns a lot of this. But also U.S. investors, of course. But also other countries own it. And these are the people - the places that hold a lot of our debt.

And, again, that means we have creditors around the world, not just us, but we have creditors, including Japan, an ally, China, a strategic - a competitor, the U.K., Luxemburg and a lot of it's parked in the Cayman Islands.

BERMAN: The Cayman Islands with leverage over the United States.

Christine Romans, thank you very much for that.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

BERMAN: So, how has the pandemic affected the mental health of children? The results of a new poll ahead.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And as promised, here are your Scooby snacks --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: A Halloween coming out party for a popular character in the Scooby-doo cinematic universe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:30]

BERMAN: Happening now, Uganda trying to contain an outbreak of a rare strain of Ebola that has now claimed more than two dozen lives.

CNN's David McKenzie has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm David McKenzie in Johannesburg.

The World Health Organization has now confirmed at least 29 people, including several health workers, have died from the relatively rare Sudan strain of the Ebola virus in that country. Now, that strain doesn't have a vaccination available. It was discovered last month and has spread to several districts of central Uganda.

The next few days of contact tracing and isolation will be absolutely critical in stamping out the spread.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our David McKenzie will be following this story very closely.

GOLODRYGA: In the meantime, we want to continue our look at mental health this week.

Our CNN poll, conducted in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, reveals some important findings on the state of our children's mental health.

Joining us now is CNN medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula.

Tara, it's great to see you. Welcome to CNN. It's the first time I'm with you on set here.

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: So, yesterday you told us that nine out of ten Americans view mental health as a crisis situation right now in this country. What impact is it having on children though?

NARULA: The picture is not great for kids either, Bianna.

So, this survey, as we talked about yesterday, was 2,000 American adults surveyed over the summer, 400 of them were parents and 55 percent identified mental health in teens and kids as a crisis, 47 percent said that the pandemic had negatively impacted their children and actually 17 percent had a major negative impact.

And when they were asked what they were worried about, eight out of ten cited anxiety and depression, alcohol and drug use in their kids. Seven out of 10 cited eating disorders, self-harm and loneliness. Two- thirds felt that schools should really be involved in helping with this problem.

But, again, as we talked about yesterday, John, this is a family affair. So, when your kids are suffering, when they're having issues, it impacts the entire family.

BERMAN: What's the importance of a survey like this?

NARULA: Yes. So, this is so critically important. You know, we talk about this all the time. But basically the surgeon general in 2021 said that this is a crisis. The American Academy of Pediatrics followed by saying it's a national state of emergency. And recently the surgeon general actually wrote that this is something that we need to do as a moral on obligation, not just a medical obligation. That we need to step up for the children in the country.

We know that one out of five kids is diagnosed with a mental disorder. That was before Covid. And, unfortunately, the delay, until getting treatment, is about 11 years, even though most of these disorders, actually about 50 percent, present early in life before the age of 14.

[06:50:08] And so, you know, this is something where we need to start screening and treat early to set kids on the right trajectory. We know that mental health sets them up for success. It affects how they act, how they feel, how they think, their relationships their school performance. And so, you know, we, as a society, as a country, really need to focus on doing better for our kids and removing some of those barriers, right?

So, 80 percent of adults live in counties where there are no psychologist for kids. So, the access is an issue, or the wait times are long or the costs are prohibitive. So, I think, you know, focusing on a multi-facetted approach is going to be really important.

GOLODRYGA: We know that most children don't communicate the way adults do. What are some of the signs -

BERMAN: Or if you have sons, don't communicate at all.

GOLODRYGA: That's an understatement. Right.

So, on this topic specifically, what are some of the warning signs that parents should be looking out for, and how do they approach their children about this?

NARULA: Well, I think parents are certainly very important in this and they need to keep an eye on their kids and have open conversations with them, how are they feeling? Are there issues at school? Are you feeling down or depressed or anxious? And also create that safe space where kids can open up and they feel like they can talk.

Also, parents have to take care of their own mental health because, guess what, that affects their kid's mental health. You need to teach your kids that it's OK to say, I see a therapist, that we need to break down that stigma barrier and also to prioritize their mental health. We need to work on integrating primary care with behavioral health. So, co-locating them so that referrals are easy. It's just easy to make that one stop plan happen.

We need to get funding for telehealth, to create more providers in this country. And then one other thing that's really important is to work on putting this into schools and equipping teachers with the ability as well to help kids. You know, the -- Yale has a great program called Ruler that they're putting in schools across the country to teach emotional intelligence, and for kids to recognize their feelings, talk about them, and learn how to work with their emotions.

And then, lastly, you know, I think one other important issue is, what happens to kids who are in an acute inpatient setting, right? They get discharged. We need to build out that support for them once they leave. So, whether it's community resources or step-down units or short stay places for them to go.

GOLODRYGA: That is reassuring. It sounds like there are some resources and steps that parents and educators can take too for warning signs to look out for. NARULA: They are. But I just - I hope we get to the point where we

don't have to keep shining a light on this because we're actually stepping up for our kids. It's frustrating to keep talking about this and -

GOLODRYGA: It's really important.

NARULA: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Tara Narula, thank you.

NARULA: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, the death toll from Hurricane Ian rising in Florida as CNN takes you live to the first school there to reopen since the storm hit.

BERMAN: And a CNN exclusive. Dozens of CIA officers accusing the intelligence agency of soft-pedaling its Havana syndrome investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Let me know if you need some condoms, I'll ask for you, OK?

Oh, spooky season is coming up. What scares you the most?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: A thousand kids coming to my door breathing on me.

COLBERT: All right, you're a doctor, what is the healthiest candy I can get?

FAUCI: Certainly, with all due respect to the brand names here, none of them.

COLBERT: Are you nervous to give Anthony Fauci a shot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've done this plenty of times.

COLBERT: But it's Anthony Fauci. Are you nervous? That's like pouring a drink to Jack Daniels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COLBERT: Are you - are you nervous to give this man a shot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's actually only the third most famous person I've vaccinated.

COLBERT: Who's the most famous person you've vaccinated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a deep breath in for me. And let it out.

COLBERT: Who is the most famous person?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it.

COLBERT: There's the most.

FAUCI: There you go.

COLBERT: OK, who's the most famous person you've vaccinated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't tell you that.

COLBERT: Yes, you can.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": Well, people are talking about this in the new animated "Scooby-doo" movie, Velma comes out as a lesbian. Even more shocking, Fred comes out as straight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: (INAUDIBLE). Oh, that pharmacist came out to play, right, with Dr. Fauci. What a line.

BERMAN: Well, so that - so, I guess what happened was, that Fauci went on with Stephen Colbert last night and Fauci was due for his new booster.

GOLODRYGA: Booster.

BERMAN: So, they walked to the pharmacy next door.

GOLODRYGA: That's what happens in New York, you see celebrities are all the time, right?

BERMAN: I guess it was the third most famous to him. I guess he probably can't reveal who the two most are because of - like HIPAA laws or something.

GOLODRYGA: We have to investigate. I'll look into that.

BERMAN: That was a serious tease. That was outstanding.

GOLODRYGA: It was great.

And NEW DAY continues right now.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman, with Bianna Golodryga.

On this NEW DAY, schools in some of the hardest hit areas in Florida beginning to reopen. We will take you to a school in Naples where students are returning to class today.

The breathtaking pace of the Ukrainian blitz against the Russians. New moves this morning. GOLODRYGA: Republicans weighing the idea of impeachment should the GOP

win back the House next month, but not against President Biden.

And a new twist in the drama involving Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker and the accusations that he paid for an ex- girlfriend's abortion.

BERMAN: All right, there is breaking news this morning.

A deadly massacre at a nursery where kids are in Thailand. At least 34 people are dead, including 22 children, after a gunman opened fire at a care center where the kids were sleeping. Officials say the suspect is a former police officer who also killed himself, his wife, and his child. He appeared in court for allegedly selling narcotics just hours before the shooting.

CNN's Selina Wang is live with the very latest on this.

Selina, what are the details?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we are learning more about this horrific tragedy that took place in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood in northeastern Thailand that is not known for violence.

[07:00:04]

Authorities say that at least 34 people were killed.