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New York Times/Siena Poll Shows Presidential Race Remains Deadlocked Nationally; Lebanon Rocked by Deadly Walkie-Talkie and Pager Attacks; Trump Says, Fed Could be Playing Politics With Rate Cut. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Polling, polling and more polling with just 47 days to go, a new snapshot or snapshots of the state of the presidential race in the battlegrounds.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: First, pager is now a new round of exploding devices targets a terror group. How Israel is pulling off these brazen attacks.

And the two-week manhunt for the gunman who shot five people on a busy interstate, it finally comes to an end. Who found him and how?

Sara Sidner is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. CNN News Central starts now.

BOLDUAN: Just in, a new read on the 2024 race. Post debate polling from The New York Times and Siena College showing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a dead heat nationally, 4 7-4 7 among likely voters. I have no idea what voice that was. Just go with it. But then, if you take a closer look at Pennsylvania, it offers this snapshot, putting Harris ahead of Trump with a four-point lead now.

Today, Harris is focusing in on Battleground, Michigan, bringing in the big guns with Oprah and a huge zoom event with more than 90,000 people expected to tune in. It's been built as an intimate conversation, though, it's a mostly virtual event, so as intimate as one can get there.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now with much more on this. What are they going to do with this polling snapshot today, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, there are some bright spots in this polling and some things that the campaign has been cautioning about.

So, let me just break this down for you. Pennsylvania, definitely a bright spot and some good news for this campaign because as you see there is an edge of 4 percentage points for the vice president. Of course, Pennsylvania has been a state that she has been very focused on spending a large amount of her time over the last two weeks in that state. Now, another point in this poll, though, is that the state of the economy and concerns about it are still widespread. And that is where the campaign is still trying to make inroads and getting that economic message to those voters and reassuring them that the economy is moving in the right direction or at the very least that her policies will help get it there. So, that is something that the campaign is certainly looking at.

And then, two, she's winning 46 percent of white voters in Pennsylvania. That's an important bloc, one that usually leans toward former President Donald Trump. So, that's another bit of good news here.

But when you look at this big picture, nationally, this is still a deadlocked. They are still in a very, very tight race. And when you talk to campaign officials, as I do, they know that it's going to be tight until the very end. So, presented with these polls, that's typically their response.

And I'll also note that this polling, which was done after the debate, voters saying that the vice president did far better than former President Donald Trump. And campaign advisers, they were delighted after that debate performance by the vice president.

But in that conversation, they would also say, but Hillary Clinton may have won her debates too in 2016 and she didn't win. So, they are also aware that even though they see these polls, that there is a resounding sort of positive review for the vice president, that it's not guaranteed that she wins in November. And she herself has been saying this on the campaign trail.

So again, this poll, some bright spots, especially with the state of Pennsylvania, which they're so focused on as part of their pathway to 270, but certainly showing that the race is still remains deadlocked, despite that debate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and there's more polling we'll dig in throughout the show, some coming up from Marist, some coming up from Quinnipiac, all very interesting, but all, again, a snapshot and also just showing how close the race will continue to be, especially nationally all the way when they run through the tape.

I mentioned the Oprah event that this virtual event, they're hosting it in Michigan. What is this all about other than, you know how important Michigan is if you know you're bringing Oprah there?

ALVAREZ: Well, and you're also harnessing the support of black women.

[07:05:01]

Black women, 90 percent of them, voted for President Biden in 2020. This is a reliable bloc for Democrats, but what they're also trying to do here is mobilize them, have them get out, try to get people to register to vote and help harness more support, especially in these battleground states, including Michigan, where this event is taking place. So, it is these types of live streams that the campaign has been looking toward, which are perhaps unconventional ways of trying to reach many voters and trying to get them to shore up support in many of these critical states. Kate?

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Priscilla. Thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, Donald Trump is promising to visit Springfield, Ohio, in the next two week, he claims. That it's a town where Trump has without evidence claim that Haitian immigrants are eating family pets. He vows to deport Haitian immigrants saying they are, quote, destroying the country. Trump has claimed that 32,000 illegal immigrants are in Springfield.

Now, the city says it's actually between 12,000 and 15,000 immigrants and they have legal status.

CNN's Steve Contorno is with us this morning. Trump often says he's going to do something in the next week or two, Steve, this trip to Springfield. How much credence should we put in it?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's certainly something that has been rumored to be in the offing for quite a bit. Now, his campaign, Donald Trump and his running mate, have doubled down on that rhetoric that we saw at the debate that, you know, the president, quote, eating the pets in Springfield, Ohio. Well, now, they're going to triple down and there is plans in the works to go to Springfield, Ohio, as well as Aurora, Colorado, another city that has been sort of a fixation of the right for some of what's happening with migrants there.

Take a listen to what he said last night at this rally in Uniondale, New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They've got to get much tougher. I'm going to go there in the next two weeks. I'm going to Springfield and I'm going to Aurora.

You may never see me again, but that's okay. I got to do what I got to do. Whatever happened to Trump? Well, he never got out of Springfield.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: John, what's very clear is Donald Trump wants to make the final weeks of this race about immigration. It is a topic that he turns to at almost every single event he holds. Even if it's billed as an education event or economy or some other topic, he spends the most time by far talking about immigration. And even as the Republican governor of the state asked him to tone down this divisive rhetoric, even as the people who run the city of Springfield are saying that these need to be debunked, he continues to double down, J.D. Vance continues to double down, and we're going to see them potentially in Springfield as well.

BERMAN: Very quickly, Steve, the Trump campaign seems happy this morning with the non-endorsement from the Teamsters. CONTORNO: That's right, John. The Teamsters have endorsed a Democratic candidate going all the way back to 1992. So, they view a non-endorsement as a victory. And they also point out the fact that the Teamsters have released polling that shows 60 percent of their members support Donald Trump. So, he is claiming an endorsement from the rank and file. Of course, the Harris campaign is finding plenty of Teamsters leaders who support them as well. But for now, this has been a good day for Donald Trump, they're saying.

BERMAN: All right. Steve Contorno, thanks so much. Keep us posted.

This morning, Israel launches new airstrikes after somehow causing hundreds of walkie-talkies to explode. How they carried out this new brazen attack.

We've got new reporting on the big changes to your credit cards and car loans after the big cut in interest rates.

And Jelly Roll and Billie Eilish among the musical guests just announced for the new season of Saturday Night Live. We've got new information on who has been invited to host.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Overnight, eight Israelis were injured when an anti-tank missile reportedly was fired into Northern Israel from Lebanon, Hezbollah claiming responsibility. Also overnight, Israeli airstrikes charted Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure sites in Lebanon. Israel targeted those sites, part of what Israel is calling its new era of war.

Now, this comes after two days of brazen, coordinated and sophisticated attacks by Israel. We've been reporting on operations targeting Hezbollah members with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. At least 32 people killed from these attacks, thousands injured.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut with much more in the latest on this reporting. Ben, what are you learning?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly what we've seen in the last two days, Kate, is a death toll among Hezbollah members, the likes of which have not been seen in a 48-hour period, going back to the initiation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel on the 8th of October.

According to figures put out by Hezbollah itself, 38 of its fighters have been killed within the last 48 hours, five of them, if you break down the numbers, in the southern part of the country, really in the war zone, but 33 of them, it appears, are the victims of these exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that have been going off throughout Lebanon, within the last 48 hours.

[07:15:05] And, of course, this is causing a great deal of concern among ordinary Lebanese. The Ministry of Transport here, for instance, has banned walkie-talkies and pagers from all flights leaving out of Beirut. And the government, the army has been busy, essentially detonating suspicious devices. Just last night, right next to where we are at the American University of Beirut Hospital, the army blew up some suspicious devices and many people are essentially putting their phones and other communications devices as far away as possible, given the fear that perhaps a third day of these attacks will take place. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, and hearing from the Israeli defense minister saying that this is now, they've now entered a new era of war. Let's see what this looks like as the focus now turns once again to Lebanon, where you are, Ben. Thank you very much for reporting, much more to come from there.

So, for the first time in four years, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. So, from your mortgage to your car loan and much more, what the ripple effects from that big decision mean for you? We're going to focus in on that.

And deja vu, not the good kind. The Republican House speaker loses a key vote on the floor, now left searching for a plan B with a government shutdown looming.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. New reaction this morning to the first interest rate cut since 2020, a big one, half a point. Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement calling it, quote, welcome news. Donald Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I guess it shows the economy is very bad to cut it by that much. Assuming they're not just playing politics, the economy would be very bad, or they're playing politics, one or the other, but it was a big cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan in Washington. He's talking about Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, who he appointed. Not politics, this is about the economy, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, absolutely, John. The former president is right about at least one thing. This was a jumbo-sized interest rate cut. But as far as this suspicion that politics were at play, two points there, yes, let's not forget who made Jerome Powell one of the most powerful people on the planet. Former President Trump. This is Trump's handpicked Fed chairman.

The other point, though, here is Powell has stressed repeatedly, the Fed does not play politics. And I asked the Fed chair yesterday why he believes it's so important that the Fed remains independent from politics. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: We do our work to serve all Americans. We're not serving any politician, any political figure, any cause, any issue, nothing. It's just maximum employment and price stability on behalf of all Americans. And that's how the other central banks are set up, too. It's a good institutional arrangement, which has been good for the public. And I hope and strongly believe that it will, you know, continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: So, there you go, not focused on the horse race, but, yes, they are focused on slowing job growth and cooling inflation.

Three big takeaways from this big Fed meeting, first, they did go big. This was a rip the band aid off type move, as one analyst put it this morning. They also they're not done, right? They're penciling in another half a point of rate cuts this year, another full point next year. The other point here is they really tried hard to emphasize that they're not scared, that they don't see this as coming to the rescue moment for the jobs market. At one point, Powell even said that labor market is in a strong place. We want to keep it there.

Now, some economists are relieved that the Fed is moving aggressively to address these cracks in the jobs market before they spread. Moody's economist, Mark Zandi, he tweeted out that this big rate cut, quote, all but cements an economic soft landing. And he added the Fed got policy right today.

Now, as far as what this means for everyone at home, first, it means the Fed is serious about protecting the jobs market. They don't want the unemployment rate to rise. Of course, it also means good news for borrowers. If you're someone who is trying to get a mortgage right now, this does suggest that rates are going to continue to drip lower.

Same thing if you're someone who needs to refinance a mortgage or perhaps you need to take out a home equity loan to pay for a major home improvement project, same thing for people who want a car loan right now, big, big help for everyone struggling to pay off credit card debt where you have record high interest rates.

This is also encouraging news for all those mom and pop shops on Main Street because, yes, small business loans are going to get cheaper. And don't forget, small businesses are among the biggest job creators in this economy.

So, at the end of the day, the Fed is making clear that their mission has switched. It's gone from fighting inflation to fighting unemployment. And, John, that does mean lower interest rates.

BERMAN: That's a big statement right there in and of itself, a way that the battle against inflation, as it were, this four-year battle is kind of over, this new phase.

EGAN: Yes, absolutely. That's what they're saying. I mean, look, we've seen a massive improvement in inflation. There was 9 percent inflation. Gas prices were $5 a gallon two-plus years ago. All of that has improved dramatically. And they're not declaring victory on inflation yet, but they stopped just short of that.

[07:25:02]

And they've made a big focus right now on the jobs market.

BERMAN: Matty, great job explaining all this. Thanks so much for being with us. Even if you're very far away in Washington, it's much better having you stand right here and explain it all to us. Thank you.

EGAN: I'll be back soon.

BERMAN: Good travel safely.

Brand new polling from critical battleground states. One thing that remains clear, everyone is watching Pennsylvania.

And a new legal loss for Sean Combs, why a federal judge has decided he should not be free before his trial.

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