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Smerconish

What Best Explains Biden's Low Approval Ratings; New Evidence In Menendez Brothers Case; How Experts Profile Serial Killers; The Death of Summer Jobs for Teens. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 22, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:00:48]

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: Why isn't President Joe Biden more popular? I'm Michael Smerconish in Philadelphia.

This week, No Labels, the group seeking to mount a third party so- called unity presidential ticket in 2024 held a town hall to announce its intentions and what it calls its common sense agenda. The co- headliners were Joe Manchin, Democratic former governor now Senator from West Virginia and John Huntsman, former Utah governor and Ambassador to both China and Russia. Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, who's working with No Labels and introduced Manchin at Monday's town hall defined their mission this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT MCCRORY, (R) FORMER GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA; We hope we won't have to do it. But the fact of the matter is, if my Super Tuesday that we see the final two candidates, frankly, being Donald Trump or Joe Biden -- and Joe Biden, the American people are saying loud and clear, and we'll measure that again, come Super Tuesday. Right now, 60 percent to 70 percent of the American people are saying we can do better. That's not the choice we want.

Now, hopefully by shaping the agenda between now and then things will change. But if it doesn't change, and we do get on the ballot access, which we will, we will present a president and vice president, president candidate on a No Labels ticket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMERCONISH: It's understandable why the group that purports to be independent and centrist is so vehemently opposed to Trump again being a candidate. After all, by Super Tuesday, he'll be a twice impeached president perhaps three or four times indicted. And his endorsements and presidents have often been blamed for his party's pattern of losses since 2016 simply stated Trump is a lightning rod, who for better or worse, inflames passion.

I'm a little more baffled as to why there's an equal level of opposition to Joe Biden being the Democratic candidate. Consider the numbers that Governor McCrory cited which are reflected in CNN's recent poll. Sixty-six percent, two thirds of all Americans say a Biden victory would be either a setback or a disaster for the country. Just 56 percent, I shouldn't say just, but less 56 percent say the same of Trump.

Why are Biden's numbers so low? I found some answers in an excellent piece by my next guest who was writing for Yahoo News in something titled, Why is Joe Biden so Unpopular? Andrew Romano writes that at this point in his term, Joe Biden is the second most unpopular president in modern U.S. history. Jimmy Carter was the first.

Romano cites polling data from 5:38 where Biden's approval rating 910 days into his term stood at just 39 percent. By comparison, at this point in 1979, Jimmy Carter was at 29 percent. Romano then points out that the issues that hobbled Carter are not the same for Biden. "Inflation had skyrocketed by 13.3 percent year over year, unemployment would stubbornly stuck around 6 percent and the price of oil in the process of doubling.

In contrast, a gallon of gas today costs roughly 30 percent less than it did 12 months ago. At 3.6 percent. Unemployment is on par with 50 year lows and down by almost half since Biden took office. The U.S. economy added 4 million jobs over the past year. Inflation has cooled to 3 percent after peaking last summer at triple that rate."

Additionally, Biden has been able to make good on many of his campaign policy promises such as the infrastructure bill, a resurgence in manufacturing and boosting green energy. He diffused the debt ceiling crisis and expanded broadband access while also holding together the NATO alliance in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And on a personal level, he doesn't engender the contempt that some feel for Trump. I'm not here to carry the President's water, but all of this does raise an interesting question, why is the President so unpopular?

Romano in that piece that I'm describing, then cites possible causes, the lingering pain of inflation, prices remaining high for staple goods, deeply embedded partisanship and an overall societal unhappiness? Or he asks, could it be Biden himself, his advanced age, his frequent gaffes, his ongoing family drama, each of those factors received 24/7 coverage in conservative media not to mention this week's hearing with the IRS whistleblowers concerning the Hunter Biden investigation.

[09:05:14]

I have my own answer. My answer has more to do with our political climate generally, then with him personally. An approval rating of under 50 percent is known by the pundits as being underwater. Biden hasn't been above 50 percent since August of 2021. And being underwater was true of Donald Trump for the entirety of his presidency.

I see it as a reflection of the nation's ever widening divide in an era of polarized media, including social media. This is hard to believe. As recently as 1984 Ronald Reagan won 49 of 50 states against Walter Mondale. Mondale carry only his home state of Minnesota. In 1972, Richard Nixon also won 49 states, George McGovern carried only Massachusetts, not even his home state of South Dakota.

Today, our presidential elections are decided by just a half dozen or so swing states, everything else locked in and predetermined. And not only that, but we're increasingly living among the like-minded. Consider this, most people in America live in an area that was won handily by one presidential candidate in the last election. There are roughly 3,100 U.S. counties. In 1980, there were only 391 that were won by 20 or more points, a landslide. By 2020, that number had grown to 1,726.

Check this out, look at this map, you can see the dramatic difference from 1992 to 2016. Where you see color, there is a landslide county, relatively few in 1992, but the vast majority of the country by 2016. And the 2016 presidential election was much closer than the 1992 race, and yet there were more blowout counties in 2016 with landslide victories.

Presidential approvals are also emblematic of the divide that I'm describing. It's hard to imagine any candidate in the near future ever winning nationwide by a landslide like Reagan did in '84 or Nixon didn't '72. The only American presidents to enjoy outsized approval in the last three decades, the Bush's.

Both in the face of war or terror, papa Bush during the first Gulf War achieved a 72 percent approval rating and W post 9/11 hit 90 percent. My gut tells me that no matter who wins the 2024 election, they're going to struggle to have an approval rating that's above water. So, it may not really matter what Biden or Trump or whomever might be the next president or the next president actually accomplishes.

I want to know what you think. Go to my website @smerconish.com. Please vote on this week's poll question, What best explains President Biden's low job approval rating? Is it his record? Is it his age? Is it the economy polarization or something else?

Joining me now to discuss is Andrew Romano. He's national correspondent for Yahoo News. He wrote the piece that I described.

Andrew, you heard my setup and you heard the data that I referenced. I'm going to put it back on the screen. That number about disaster or setback, what accounts for Joe Biden having a higher number in that category than Donald Trump? Sixty-six percent saying it would be a setback or even a disaster if he's reelected?

ANDREW ROMANO, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, YAHOO NEWS: Yes, it's a fascinating question. One thing I do other than writing feature articles is I run our poll, I design it. And every two weeks we ask sort of similar questions, and they come back with similar answers. And they show just what your poll showed that there's sort of more unsatisfaction with Joe Biden than even with Donald Trump on these measures.

And it's pretty remarkable, the last poll that we did, we asked, are Joe Biden, Donald Trump are they fit for another term as president? And what we found was Joe Biden, 55 percent of Americans say he's not fit for another term as president, bout the same for Trump, 53, a slightly lower. I think what accounts for Biden's higher numbers on some of these measures, is the fact that Democrats are more willing to express dissatisfaction with Joe Biden than Republicans are with Donald Trump. I don't know whether that's just a psychological difference between people who tend to be Republicans and tend to be Democrats, but there is a kind of more self-critical attitude among Democrats towards Biden as their standard bearer. And, you know, I think that is going to be a factor going forward.

But I also think that as the election gets underway, Biden is the nominee that's looking very, very likely that the party will rally around him to a degree. One other thing we asked in our poll was about whether you prefer Biden as your nominee to someone else. And actually on that measure, 53 percent of Democrats said they prefer Biden to someone else that's higher than we've ever measured and it's higher than Donald Trump among Republicans. Forty-nine percent of Republicans said they prefer Donald Trump to someone else. That's actually his lowest number. So we're seeing some dissatisfaction surfacing among Republicans when you ask that question.

[09:10:22]

SMERCONISH: So, his critics, the President's critics are going to say, hey, Michael, you just offered a very flowery presentation of his record. It's much more dismal than that or they'll talk about his age and ineffectiveness. I could be making the same point about Donald Trump that I'm making about Joe Biden. My point is, it's emblematic of the time in which we're living. I mean, it's frankly, quite shocking to think that not that long ago in the Reagan '80s, he was able to win 49 states, I can't see anyone winning 49 states in my lifetime.

In fact, I'll frame it for you this way, I can't think of a person on the planet. Just put aside the requirements necessary to run for president, I can't think of a person on the planet that you could put on the American ballot in next year's election who could win 49 states.

ROMANO: I think that's absolutely true. I mean, there are two questions here, right, with Joe Biden's disapproval ratings, how much of it is specific to Joe Biden and how much of it is systemic? Joe Biden, there are issues that that people are responding to when they say they disapprove of him. I think his age is one of them. Not necessarily that they've seen him, you know, gaffe or stumble, but just that they think he's getting up there in age, maybe he's not in charge of his own presidency, that he's a passenger in his presidency.

They don't see him as a real assertive figure, so they're not maybe as inclined as they were with previous presidents to give him credit when things start turning around in the economy the way that they're doing right now. But I think the bigger -- the bigger factors are systemic, as you said, just the polarization we have, the fact that we're all in our different --

SMERCONISH: Yes.

ROMANO: -- media silos where we get news that reaffirms what we already believe in. It's very, very hard to break out of that. I don't think Joe Biden is going to do it, but I don't think anyone else could do it either.

SMERCONISH: Right. I don't -- thank you, Andrew. I appreciate your time and the piece that you wrote. And to Andrew's last point, I can't think of anybody on that stage, you know, when the Republicans debate on August 23 or among any of the Democratic candidate, I just can't see anybody who conceivably is going to have an approval rating of what, I don't know, 60 percent?

What are your thoughts? Hit me up on social media? I'll read some throughout the course of the program. What do we have Katherine (ph) from the world of Twitter? Stop protecting him every minute and hiding his lies and refusing to do any investigation.

Are you kidding me? We don't want trouble. We don't want Biden the table to set for the mean. I'm not protecting them every minute. I'm saying quite candidly that he has been deserving of a higher approval rate certainly, in the time that he's been the president thus far, that's not in defense of him, it's rather reflective.

I would say that the same way about Trump during the course of his one term. Something else is going on here.

Here's a fun thought experiment, go into the live chat feature of my website this hour, and give me a name. Anyone on the planet, putting aside the requirements necessary to run for the U.S. presidency, give me a name who could win 49 of 50 states the way that Ronald Reagan did. Nobody.

Please go to the website for an additional purpose and that is to answer this week's poll question. What best explains President Biden's low job approval rating? I'm giving you as choices, his record his age, the economy, polarization or something I can't think of.

Up ahead, on a well-manicured Long Island street, one house stuck out. It was a mess with overgrown bushes and exposed woodwork. Might this have been another telltale clue that the owner, a married architect with a Manhattan office and two children would end up accused in the Gilgo Beach killings. I'm going to speak to a veteran FBI profile of serial killers who really had a great insight as to what this guy might look like.

And the Menendez brothers. Yes, the Menendez brothers were guilty of killing their parents with shotguns in 1989. Nobody disputes that. But could new evidence of the father's sexual abuse now freedom and has society's understanding about such abuse changed in the three decades that they've been behind bars? Lyle and Erik Menendez's defense attorney, Mark Geragos, joins me next.

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[09:18:14]

SMERCONISH: Could new evidence up in the verdict in one of Beverly Hills in one of America's most notorious killings? It was nearly 34 years ago this summer that Jose and Kitty Menendez were brutally shotgun as they ate ice cream and watched a movie. Lyle Menendez, then 21, called 911 saying he and his brother Eric, then 18, had returned home to find their parents slain. The killings so gruesome that at first it was suspected of being a mob hit, but after the brothers began spending lavishly, police confiscated recordings with the brothers' therapy sessions that contain incriminating information. Prosecutors claimed the sons had killed for financial gain because their parents had threatened to cut them off from the family's $14 million estate.

In March of 1990, Lyle was arrested, Eric turned himself in. They were then put on trial twice after the first trials resulted in a hung jury. Following the retrial in 1996, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case has always held the popular imagination with movies and mini-series and documentaries, there's a recent one on peacock about Jose allegedly abusing a member of the band Menudo when he was the head of their record label and a Netflix series due next year called "Monsters, The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story."

But now with both, quote unquote, boys in their 50s, new sexual assault allegations have arisen that advocates say corroborate the brothers' claims of abuse that were not allowed in the evidence of the second trial. One of the attorneys for the brothers who filed a new rip to the court joins me now, legendary Defense Attorney Mark Geragos, whose clients have included Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and Colin Kaepernick.

Thanks so much for being here, Mark. Again, the question is not whether they did it, it's why they did it? What's the new evidence?

[09:20:05]

MARK GERAGOS, ATTORNEY FOR LYLE & ERIK MENENDEZ: Well you set it up, I thought, very well. Basically, there was a letter to that Eric had written about eight months before the killing that went to his cousin that described the abuse that was with his cousins who was passed away with his personal effects. Then also in the, as you described, the Menudo band member has now filed a declaration under penalty of perjury, both of those things are -- have has just been discovered as of late. And both of those things I think are compelling when you take a look at what happened in the second trial.

The second trial, by the way, what happened in the interim was the O.J. Simpson verdict. And we all know the kinds of political ramifications that that caused to the for the DA's office. And the same judge in the second trial disallowed much of the abuse evidence and allowed compounded things by allowing the DEA to argue that it was an abuse excuse, and that there was no evidence after it'd basically been excluded from their presentation. So, we think they're -- you know, we're cautiously optimistic.

SMERCONISH: The case was unique, correct me if I'm wrong, insofar as initially there were two trials in one, two separate juries, listening to the same presentation, mostly, but rendering different verdicts for each of the so called boys, those were hung juries. And then in the second go round, they were consolidated into one trial, is that right? GERAGOS: That's absolutely correct. By the way, both separate juries and trial number one found that the murder -- predominantly that the murder had not been proved. The idea is not an acquittal back then, what it was is the legal term, imperfect self-defense. And the idea was that it was a manslaughter. And if it had been -- if they had been convicted of manslaughter, they would long since have been freed.

SMERCONISH: The court is no doubt going to want to know well, why wasn't this letter introduced in trial one or two. From what Mark Geragos is saying, I guess, it's because it wasn't discovered? Should it have been discovered?

GERAGOS: Well, you know, the -- that's an interesting question. I should have -- probably should have been. And that's going to be one of the issues. But remember, this was in the effects of his cousin, who had tragically passed away, and wasn't discovered until later. And ironically, some of the biggest supporters, both Kitty's sister and the father's sister are supportive.

In fact, in the family itself, there's only one person who is not supportive of them being released at this point.

SMERCONISH: Right. But that's an uncle who says they don't deserve to walk the face of the earth.

GERAGOS: Correct, Correct. But the sisters are uniformly behind the release or the proposed release of both of the boys. Why also called boys if they're over 50.

SMERCONISH: Mark, if the Menendez if the Menendez brothers had been tried this year, in 2023, as opposed to three decades ago, you know, there's been a lot of change in society and a lot of a lot of changed understanding relative to abuse. I mean, back then there was a question as to whether what we discussed as the battered wife syndrome had any applicability to two teenage boys. What differences do you see in terms of society that would impact the outcome of the case if they were tried today not then?

GERAGOS: I think there's been a sea change in the way that we look at abuse and our understanding of it. I think that, you know, I've told you in other forums that if they had been the Menendez sisters, I don't think they would be in prison. And I think we now view or have come to understand abuse and, you know, much more sophisticated way, I don't think they ever would have been convicted in today's milieu of murder. I think this was a classic example of what's called the legal term imperfect self-defense.

SMERCONISH: Right. In other words, you're not here advocating that they should have been acquitted from the get go, but rather saying that they were convicted of the wrong charge. And the lesser charge that Mark Geragos thinks is more appropriate by now, they probably have been released. Is that it?

GERAGOS: That's exactly it. I couldn't have said it better myself.

SMERCONISH: I'm going to read aloud a social media response. Hang on for just a second in case I want to defer to you. What do we have Katherine?

It says, victim gender bias in sexual assault cases is a real thing. Eric, I guess, is making your point, Mark.

[09:25:02]

GERAGOS: Yes, I think that's -- I think that's exactly right. I think that you -- that when I frame it in terms of if this had been the Menendez sisters or if Eric had been a Erica so to speak, I think Lyle would have been lauded as a hero and so I'm not defending the any other idea but that they didn't get a fair second go round.

SMERCONISH: Be interesting to see how it plays out. Mark Geragos, thank you. Appreciate it as always.

GERAGOS: Thank you. Good to see you.

SMERCONISH: Please make sure that you're going to smerconish.com. I think a really interesting poll question this week. What best explains President Biden's low job approval rating? Is it his record, his age, the economy polarization or something else?

Up ahead, a 59-year-old architect arrested last week in the decadal Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island. Many details about the suspect turn out to fit the description predicted back in 2011 by my next guest, a retired FBI behavioral analyst. How did he know?

Plus, in the summer of 1978, 58 percent of 16 to 19 year olds had a job. Last year it was less than 37 percent. Where have all the summer jobs gone?

Here's what I'd like you to do. Go to the live chat feature @smerconish.com, give me your favorite. What was your favorite summer job from back in the day? I'm going to read some.

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[09:30:47]

SMERCONISH: More than a dozen years ago, my next guest pretty much nailed the profile of the person who would later be arrested as the Gilgo Beach serial killer. "The New York Times" piece in April 2011 described the likely suspect this way. "He is most likely a white male in his mid-20s to mid-40s. He is married or has a girlfriend. He is well educated and well spoken. He is financially secure, has a job and owns an expensive car or truck. As part of his job or interests, he has access to, or a stockpile of, burlap sacks. And he lives or used to live on or near Ocean Parkway on the South Shore of Long Island where the police have found as many as 10 sets of human remains."

One of the experts cited by "The New York Times" in that piece, Jim Clemente, who had retired from the FBI in 2009 where he was a senior supervisory special agent in the agency's Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico. Clemente is then quoted as saying -- quote -- "He did not stumble upon that location. He has some familiarity with it." And he also theorized it may be the time that his wife or kids or parents are away for the summer. Meaning in which he carried out the killings.

Well, all of those things turned out to be true of the apprehended suspect. Fifty-nine-year-old architect Rex Heuermann, who lives near or where the bodies were found drove a Chevy Avalanche truck. And law enforcement sources are now saying that Heuermann may have murdered victims at his family's home while his wife and kids were out of town.

Joining me now is Jim Clemente. He is an FBI supervisory special agent profiler who worked at the D.C. sniper case, the JonBenet Ramsey case and many serial killer cases. Today he co-hosts the podcast "Real Crime Profile." So, for many of us, Jim, all that we know about your line of work we learn from "Silence of the Lambs" and the Jodie Foster character what is the job of a profiler?

JIM CLEMENTE, RETIRED FBI PROFILER/CO-HOST, "REAL CRIME PROFILE" PODCAST: Basically, Michael, it's to look at the behavior exhibited at a crime scene, and the victimology, the choice of victims, to use that behavior to reverse engineer back to the type of person who committed the crime. These offenders will leak out information about themselves in the choices that they make.

SMERCONISH: So, are you looking at a case and saying, hmm, when have we seen this before, oh, this looks similar to, you know, John Wayne Gacy or some other known case, or are you consulting the DSM or some combination thereof?

CLEMENTE: I think some combination is more accurate. Well, we have, as a unit, in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, we have interviewed now over 1,500 serial offenders who have been convicted. And we get all the details of what they were thinking at the time they committed the crime, how they did what they did, how they grew up, what their fantasy life was like, and what they did both before pre-offense behavior and post-offense behavior. So, all of those things, then, we look for the nuances in a crime scene to tell us which kind of motivation was behind each of those cases.

SMERCONISH: Are these serial killers once caught, eager to talk? I mean, are they forthcoming? Do they share their story? What's -- what's it like to interview one of these individuals?

CLEMENTE: Well, first of all, they're not typically eager to talk right away, unless they want something from us. Israel Keyes, for example, spent 11 days divulging cases, crimes he committed, some that we were unaware of before he took his own life but he wanted something in return. He didn't want his daughter to know everything about him.

But other serial killers, because once they have been convicted and they know they'll be in prison for the rest of their lives, they do want to talk to us because it is sort of their last hurrah, their ability to sort of go down in history, and we use that to actually get them to open up to us.

SMERCONISH: Jim, I give you props for the things that you told "The New York Times" more than a decade ago that ended up perhaps being true. He's not yet been convicted.

[09:35:01]

Anything that surprised you about this guy?

CLEMENTE: Sure. One of the things was the fact that he had hundreds of guns in sort of like a bunker in his basement. That is atypical, but it probably tells us that it wasn't just for hunting. And it did sort of indicate that potentially he would have bunkered himself and fought it out with the cops when they came to arrest him. But that's why, I think, the police decided to arrest him in New York City while he was on the street so he would be away from his weapons. I think that was -- that was unusual.

Also, there were things about him in his -- in his professional life in which he seemed to be very kind and caring to certain individuals, went above and beyond to explain things and be nice. That is probably -- there's probably some underlying reason why he didn't pick those particular people to pay that kind of attention to because in general, I think, he was very controlling.

SMERCONISH: Some people wonder how could the wife not have known. I find interesting that the "New York Times" is reporting today that apparently sometimes she'd be seen paying with food stamps at the grocery store. What do you make of the spouse?

CLEMENTE: Well, first of all, it is not unusual for spouses of serial killers to be kept in the dark by the offender. In fact, I would say there's a higher probability that he was coercively controlling her and restricting her from going near certain parts of the house like this gun bunker, and staying away from his private time on the internet and so forth. I think that is the norm.

The fact that they were paying for food with food stamps tells me the relatively poor way that he treated his family. He did not hold them in high regard. And I believe that he may very well have had this family literally as a cover for legitimacy so that when they were away, he could take advantage of and kill these women.

SMERCONISH: To be successful in your old job, must one have an innate sense of street smarts or can the skill set that you need be acquired?

CLEMENTE: Well, I think the people who get hired into the Behavioral Analysis Unit usually have a lot of experience in law enforcement, working with local and state law enforcement officers, and they actually look for people who have a sense of imagination, who have varied backgrounds and who can think outside the box but in a very, very specific way. Because we want to be able to interpret behavior and the nuances of that behavior to be able to say that it's this kind of person versus that kind of person who committed this crime.

SMERCONISH: Can you shut it off? Like if you and I went out and had a beer together, are you looking at me and looking at everybody else in the tap room and doing some kind of an assessment?

CLEMENTE: Well, I think there's a certain amount of that that goes on, but, yes, if you don't learn how to shut it off, then, I don't know, that's not very good for your mental health. SMERCONISH: It's a shame in this case, final observation, it seems like the Chevy Avalanche, that aspect of the investigation may have been overlooked and that it could have been brought to a close a lot sooner. You get the final word.

CLEMENTE: Well, I think maybe that's why he switched it out. The green one for a black one. Maybe so that when somebody showed up at his house to look and see if he had that car, they said, oh, it was a black one, not a green one as described, so maybe it's not him.

It could have been a forensic counter measure. And I think hiding the car with his brother down in South Carolina was a way to get rid of it, keep it off his premises and out of sight without doing some kind of legal registered transaction. I think it was a smooth move on his part to try to reduce the chances that people would look at him.

SMERCONISH: Jim, that was excellent. Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

CLEMENTE: Thank you, Michael. OK. Take care.

SMERCONISH: Programming note, for more information on this case, tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m., the premiere of "THE GILGO BEACH KILLER" on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" and CNN correspondent Brynn Gingras.

Still to come, are summer jobs a thing of the past? I'm going to talk to an expert on why more teens seem to be choosing classrooms over money. And I want to remind you answer the poll question on Smerconish.com, what best explains President Biden's low job approval rating? I give you a bunch of choices, go vote right now. Register for the daily newsletter while you're there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:44:05]

SMERCONISH: So, what happened to the summer job? I asked our audience earlier this hour to go to the live chat feature at Smerconish.com and tell me, what was your favorite summer job? Somebody said baseball umpire. Somebody said A and W carhop. I like that. I worked at McDonald's. Graveyard shift at a can plant. By the way, my producer Catherine picked up bodies for her father who was an undertaker as a summer job. How is that? Wildland Firefighter near Sequoia National Park.

Well, listen to this. Last summer, the youth labor force grew by 2.6 million people from April to July. Teen employment does grow between summer months. However, the current numbers still do not compare to what they used to be. 1978, 58 percent of 16 to 19-year-olds held a summer job in the summer. Fast forward to 2022, less than 37 percent of 16 to 19-year-olds are employed.

[09:45:01]

Of course, times are much different now. Instead of money students are often more focused on educational opportunities or taking summer classes, volunteering, doing unpaid internships. And yet, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics unpaid roles are not considered a type of employment.

But summer jobs can increase success in college and beyond. My own summer roles taught me valuable lessons before entering the workforce full time. So, why are the numbers dwindling?

Joining me now is Marie Schwartz, the founder of Teen Life, an online directory of enrichment programs for students in grades seven to 12. What's the answer, Marie? Do -- these kids today do they not want to work?

MARIE SCHWARTZ, CEO, TEEN LIFE: Well, I think there's just a lot of things competing for their time. Certainly, if jobs -- if they really want to work, they can but they're going to have to give up some things. I know students that are spending all summer doing athletics because they are trying to get recruited for college. I know other students who are, you know, trying to do research projects and other academic pursuits because they want to get into that, you know, a specific college.

And, you know, I think the -- just the competition seems to have ratcheted up quite a bit. And with the cost of college being what it is getting a scholarship, you know, through any way, shape or form is something that they want.

Another thing that's students deal with is that their high schools require them to do community service, you know, 40 hours before they graduate. So, they have to do that during the summer. It's a requirement.

So, between all of these factors, I think, some -- and some jobs just don't lend themselves to being very flexible. You have to be available for eight weeks, for 10 weeks. And some students are, you know, going on vacation and -- but I do think an entrepreneurial student can find some great jobs and also jobs that pay well for a teenager. I'm happy to talk about some of that.

SMERCONISH: To the extent that this is a problem and I do believe that it's a problem. It seems to me that the solution would be the word going out from college admissions offices saying, hey, we're cool with the fact that you work for minimum wage and did something that doesn't look so glamorous on your application.

SCHWARTZ: Yes, I agree with you. I think that is a -- you know, that is something that a lot of parents and students don't know and don't appreciate. I do agree with you that colleges look at that. And also taking care of family members over the summer is also something they care about. You know, if you're -- if you're the one who has to take care of your little sister or brother, so those are all things that are very important. I do --

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Marie, can I also say -- can I also say this, that among the things that we lose, and there are a whole host of lessons, the value of a dollar, what it's like to punch a clock, et cetera, et cetera. But human interaction, right, human interaction at a time when too many are blind closed doors on social media, including with adults, will you quickly speak to that?

SCHWARTZ: Yes. I always say that if you are working for the summer, try to get a job where you're talking to people. I can think of three examples. One would be if there's a golf course nearby, public or private, they're always looking for caddies. And these kids, you know, work really, really hard. They carry bags, whatever. And -- but they're talking to the people who are playing golf, and they're getting advice, and they are learning how to -- you know, that they're getting that emotional intelligence by talking to these folks.

Another job that's great is working in a restaurant or behind a bar. Like you don't have to be 21 to work in a restaurant. There's a -- there's a role that my son did, called being a barback, where he was just basically refilling glasses, taking away -- you know, putting ice and refilling the refrigerators. And all the people who were there liked to talk to him and to give him advice and asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up. And so, that was a really, really helpful experience

And a third one is --

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Tell me before -- tell me before you -- tell me before you leave me, real quick, your favorite summer job from back in the day.

SCHWARTZ: Well, my favorite summer job was serving drinks on the beach in Hilton Head Island. I had to find a place to live. I had to --

SMERCONISH: I would take that gig today.

SCHWARTZ: And it was a honeymoon hotel so it was actually really nice. The couples were always very happy. I didn't have to deal with a lot of bad stuff.

SMERCONISH: Thank you so -- thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

SCHWARTZ: Yes, thank you, bye-bye.

SMERCONISH: Still to come, more of your best and worst social media comments, and we'll give you the final result. Last chance to go vote at least for now, what best explains President Biden's low job approval rating? Your choices, his record, his age, the economy, polarization, or something else.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:54:09]

SMERCONISH: All right. There it is, the result of this week's poll question from Smerconish.com. Whoa. What best explains President Biden's low job approval rating? Dare I say I persuaded some of you with my opening commentary? I haven't -- I haven't voted with the majority in one of my polls for, like, weeks but I'm in the 49 percent who attribute it to polarization.

By the way, I asked earlier in the program, could any person on the planet get 49 of 50 states? Forget the residency, whatever the requirements might be, where you're born, just give me a name. And Femi Ayanbadejo, I struggle with this name, the Raven -- the former Raven, the Super Bowl champion, sent me the name that could do it. Arnold. Yes. Do you have a better name than Schwarzenegger? Nobody else I can think of. Here's some more of your

social media reaction.

[09:55:01]

What do we got? Because right wing shows like Smerconish spreading fake news.

Yes, this is such right wing and such fake news that I hit you with polling data from, you know, CNN, and from Gallup, and from the FiveThirtyEight compendium because I'm sharing fake news. I'm sure that's the answer. What else came in?

To me, it's his record. And you need only look at one metric -- his administration's performance at the border.

Rawhide, the border had been porous, no doubt about it but -- like the numbers of crossings, fact check me on this but I want to say they're down like 70 percent. And the Armageddon that was expected when we finally got rid of the standard based on COVID, it never developed. Thank God.

I mean, there are issues with his record, for sure, and the border is still problematic, no doubt about it. But I don't think that his record alone -- and he is also not a guy, the president, who instills the sort of antipathy that Trump often does. People don't really walk around like really disliking Joe Biden. It is the polarization issue. You know, the era when Nixon or Reagan could win 49 states is sadly over.

I'll see you next week. Keep voting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)