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Harris Courts Hispanic and Black Voters; Harris Weighs Visit to Border; Evelyn Farkas is Interviewed about Israel Striking Lebanon; Non-Alcoholic Drinks are Trending; Florida Braces for Potential Hurricane; SpaceX Sued for Trespassing. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 24, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:32]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This week, Vice President Kamala Harris is hitting the campaign trail in the key states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, as she continues to court Hispanic and black voters as part of the coalition she needs to win.

Harry Enten is running the numbers on this one.

And you're seeing some real shifts from four years ago and even more recently.

Let's start with black voters. What are you seeing?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, let's start with black voters. And, you know, big part of the Democratic coalition. This is the Democrat versus Trump margin. Look, Kamala Harris is up by 66 points among black voters. That is up from where Joe Biden was earlier this year, right, when he got out of the race, at 51. He was up by 51 points over Donald Trump.

But this 66-point lead is way lower than that 80-point lead that Joe Biden had over Donald Trump at this point in the 2020 cycle. It's 14 points lower.

So, the bottom line is, yes, Joe Biden was really struggling with black voters. Harris has climbed up a little bit. But she's not anywhere near the level that Joe Biden was at this point just four years ago.

BOLDUAN: And then what about Hispanic voters?

ENTEN: All right, so this is the same trend idea, right? All right, what you see here again, Democrat versus Donald Trump. Yes, Kamala Harris is ahead by 15 points. That's certainly significantly better than Joe Biden was doing just a few months ago when it was a seven- point advantage. But again, look at this, this 15-point advantage that Harris has is significantly less than Joe Biden was doing at this point four years ago. It's nearly - it's only about half that number.

[08:35:02] My goodness, gracious, right.

So, again, we're seeing that double-digit shift from where we were four years ago at this point, not just among black voters, but Hispanic voters as well. Kamala Harris doing better than Joe Biden was doing earlier on this year, but not anywhere near as well as he was doing four years ago at this point.

BOLDUAN: And then compare it - compare this to where Trump and Harris are with white voters.

ENTEN: All right, so we have all of this news here, which has really not very good for Kamala Harris given where Joe Biden was four years ago at this point. And you're wondering to yourself, how the heck is Kamala Harris so competitive in this race. And this is where it gets really interesting. This really racial dynamic, racial polarization decreasing, because look among white voters. All right, so what do we see? This should actually be 2020. There we go. And what do we see? We see here again, the Democrat versus Trump margin. And what do we see here? Look at this, Trump is ahead, but by eight points. That is significantly lower than Trump's lead was at the end of the 2020 campaign when it was a 14-point advantage, and it's even lower than it was at this point back in 2020 when it was a nine-point advantage for Donald Trump.

So, what's essentially going on here is that Kamala Harris is able to make up the sort of lower standing that she has among black and Hispanic voters by doing significantly better than Joe Biden did four years ago in the final tally among white voters.

BOLDUAN: That's (INAUDIBLE) going to be a really interesting mix of voters, a coalition that ends up leading to whomever wins, right?

ENTEN: To whomever wins, it may lead to an interesting electoral map come November.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. Thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: That's really interesting.

Sara.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, Simon Rosenberg, Democratic strategist and consultant, and Maura Gillespie, Bluestack Strategies founder and former press adviser to then House Speaker John Boehner.

On top of everything that Harry just said, which is always really instructive, we are learning in "The New York Times" that the vice president heading to Arizona later this week in might visit the border where she might speak about the border. What do you think she gets out of that given that Donald Trump, Simon,

has such an advantage right now on the issue of immigration in the polls?

SIMON ROSENBERG, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND CONSULTANT: Yes, look, the Harris campaign is being very aggressive. They're contesting all types of voters, all regions of the country, playing to win all these seven battleground states.

I've really been impressed, which is how much on offense they are all the time. And they're not scared to take on any of the big issues. I mean so I think it's great. I mean Arizona and Nevada, very important to us and, you know, we - it's going to be an important part of the fight to 270.

And I think, listen, we're in a very strong patch here as Democrats. I mean we had a very good debate performance. Interest rate cuts. The polls are good for us. You know, but we've got to keep fighting and expand our coalition and go win this thing.

BERMAN: Some polls are good. Some not as good. "The New York Times" polls from the sunbelt states -

ROSENBERG: Most. Most. Most - most polls. Most - most polls. Most polls.

BERMAN: "The New York Times" from the sunbelt states showed Arizona actually with a lead for Trump outside the margin of error, Maura. So, my question it, does focusing on immigration, if that is what Harris does if she visits the border later this week, how does that either try to cut into that Trump lead or does she somehow expose herself?

MAURA GILLESPIE, PRESS ADVISER TO THEN-HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: Well, you know, as I think it's important to point out, she can't avoid it, right? And I think that's been made pretty clear throughout this campaign. Trump's certainly not going to let her avoid it. So, it's - maybe this - the tactic is to address it head-on.

But I think there has to be some substantial planning coming from her that she needs to say, OK, here is what I will do as president. Here are the actual policies I want to put in place. Here's what I'll sign on day one. Things like that, that I think would speak to Arizona voters and the people who she needs to win over. She's got to go in there with a real plan. She can't just waltz in there and hope to win favor by being vague. She has to be direct and talk to them. Meet the voters where they are. And by going to Arizona and trying to meet them where they are, I hope she comes up with a plan to do so.

BERMAN: Maura, you worked for John Boehner, so you know a thing or two about Ohio. I want to talk about the Ohio Senate race for a moment right now, but also the national issue over abortion and choice. The Republican Senate candidate, Bernie Moreno, was speaking to some kind of a town hall. And I'm going to read you what he had to say about abortion and single issue voting. He said, "you know, the left has a lot of single issue voters. Sadly, by the way, there's a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, listen, abortion is it. If I can't have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else. It's a little crazy, especially for women that are like past 50. I'm thinking to myself, I don't think that's an issue for you."

What's the takeaway there, Maura?

GILLESPIE: I feel as though I'm a broken record, but a woman's worth is not tied to her womb. And to talk about abortion as if it's just about one single thing, it's women's health. Again, the conversation about women's rights is about - this idea that Republicans, in large parts of the - the country don't understand, is that you're asking - or you're telling women what they can and can't do with their own bodies.

[08:40:05]

And it's - it's, again, it's a whole - it's a whole other issue than just one single, you know, right to life or right to choice. I think you can be both things. You can be both pro-life and pro-choice. You can believe in the sanctity of life, but you can also believe in a woman's right to choose what's best for her and her health. And I think that Republicans will continue to lose on this issue if they undermine women and point things out like that. This is a moronic comment to make and you're isolating the very voter base that you need to win over.

And Ohio showed that to us last November when they - you know, on the referendum. And this is not going to win over that voter base they largely need to get.

BERMAN: Simon, Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire, Republican, but Nikki Hailey backer and not I think considered on an extreme wing of the party, sat here and told me, he said, you know what, though, he said, there are limits to what Democrats can get out of the reproductive rights issue in campaigns around the country. They've largely won over the voters they're going to win on that subject.

What do you think about that?

ROSENBERG: I think that's wishful thinking, you know, because I think the - listen, we've seen, since Dobbs, Democrats have continued to overperform expectations and elections all across the country, in all regions, including in Ohio, where we're - we were able to take away the six-week abortion ban last year in 2023.

And I think that the reason why the Harris campaign is pressing this so much is that I think the horrors of these Trump abortion bans are just becoming understood by a larger group of voters. I mean we've had now two women die in Georgia that we now know about because of the Trump abortion bans.

And I think this isn't just a woman's issue, and I think this is where the governor is wrong. This is also an issue for men. I mean the misogyny and the anti-women campaign being run by Trump and Vance is offensive to anyone. Any man also who cares about their daughter, their wife, their sister, or any - any co-worker in their lives because women are under assault. As bad as things are for women today, it's going to get far, far worse if Trump and Vance win.

So, I think Governor Sununu is - is a little - is indulging in a little bit of wishful thinking here.

BERMAN: All right, Simon Rosenberg, Maura Gillespie, thanks to both you. Appreciate you being here.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have got breaking news for you this hour.

New Israeli strikes targeting Lebanon's capital of Beirut. Take a look at this new video on the ground. The video from Reuters, where that strike reportedly hit. The IDF is describing the attack as a, quote, targeted strike. State news in Lebanon said the strike hit a five- story building in a southern suburb, destroying apartment in the top two floors. You see them there.

It happens as Israel has vowed to speed up its offensive, even after an intense barrage of strikes yesterday. Monday was the deadliest day in Lebanon since 2006.

Joining me now, Evelyn Farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Obama administration.

Let me first ask you about this. Israel saying these are targeted strikes. Why hit Beirut? A place that they did not tell people that they needed to flee from. That was certainly another area where Hezbollah is known to be.

EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT DEFENSE SECRETARY FOR RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND EURASIA: Right. I mean, Sara, clearly Israel is ratcheting up the pressure on Hezbollah leadership, and they're taking out these targets that they have determined are important to Hezbollah continuing to fight a low-level war against Israel.

I mean what's disconcerting is there was a war that, as you mentioned, ended in 2006. But Hezbollah restarted the war, if you will, or at least the start - the fight against Israel after the Hamas fighters attacked out of Gaza.

So, there's a two-front assault on Israel right now. And we can talk about whether they're taking the right approach. But they are, obviously, striking back at Hezbollah now.

SIDNER: We will talk about the - the strategy seems to be, and I think is, escalate in order to de-escalate. You know, hit something hard in order to stop, at this point, Lebanon from - from striking in a - in a major way or starting a major war.

What do you make of that strategy?

FARKAS: It's - it's really disconcerting because what we're relying on then is Iran, because Iran backs Hezbollah. So, Hezbollah and Iran to say, you know what, we're not going to escalate further. We're not going to launch any more missiles against Israel and the people all the way to Tel Aviv. We're not going to continue to escalate the war. So, I personally find that disconcerting.

There was an alternative, Sara, if you remember. Just a couple of weeks ago we were talking about getting a ceasefire in Gaza. And Hezbollah has been very clear that they are launching these rockets into Israel from Lebanon in solidarity. If there's a ceasefire in Gaza, if they feel that their terrorist compatriots, you know, the Hamas folks, have some kind of deal there, then Hezbollah has said they will stop firing from Lebanon.

[08:45:02]

SIDNER: All right, there is some worry that the UNGA is, this week - and leaders from all over are there. There is worry from U.S. officials that we are hearing that the assembly could actually inflame tensions, not lessen them. Do you share that concern?

FARKAS: I'm not sure that the U.N. General Assembly is going to have a great impact on the outcome of the war right now and the level of the war. The reality is, they could have a constructive role, perhaps, which is to say that if the U.N. General Assembly reminds the nations of gathering that there was an agreement in 2006 and that Hezbollah, that Iran, by proxy, you know, agreed that they would have a demilitarized zone, and that Israel would not be struck by missiles from Lebanon, this was an international agreement, a U.N. agreement, they could remind the countries that that's the case and, you know, kind of force Hezbollah and Iran back to the negotiating table, force them back to agreement.

But the reality is, Sara, I think the reason people think it's not going to help, and maybe might make things worse, is because of the China, Russia, North Korea, Iran axis against the United States and the democracies. And you see this standoff not only creating gridlock in the U.N., but, of course, a lot of angry rhetoric.

SIDNER: Yes. And speaking of which, we're hearing from Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who spoke to ABC. This caught our attention.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR Zelenskyy, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: It's not about negotiation with Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No?

ZELENSKYY: No. It's about - like I said, it's a bridge to diplomatic way how to stop the war. The bridge is a plan of victory, or a victorious plan. It's a strengthening of Ukraine. Ukrainian army and Ukrainian people. Only in the strong position we can push, we can push Putin to stop the war diplomatic way.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: He talked about the war being nearly at its end. What do you make of this? He's - he's saying this, obviously, as he goes to the UNGA.

FARKAS: Yes, Sara, it's really interesting. So, he's talking about a victory plan. A plan for victory. Not a peace plan. And this is really deliberate because what Zelenskyy is saying, what President Zelenskyy is saying is that, we're not going to compromise with Russia. We want Ukraine to come out victorious. If you side with Ukraine, you're going to be on the side of the winter, so that's important for the international community, for the U.S. and our allies to remember that we want to be on the side of the winner.

But - but more importantly, Russia's only going to make a deal, only going to make a peace deal, if it's forced to understand that it cannot be victorious, that only Ukraine will be victorious. So, it's a pressure plan.

I don't know - you know, we don't know yet exactly what the components are. I think President Biden will be the first one to be briefed. But - but I think what's important to understand is that Ukraine is saying, we will only have peace on our terms. And our terms mean that we have to be victorious.

So, I think it's - it sounds subtle, but what they're trying to say is, we're going to push Russia to the negotiating table. And you're going to help us put pressure on Russia to force them to the table.

And this is important, just one other quick comment about this. It's important because of, of course, the U.S. election is coming up and Zelenskyy wants everybody to sign on the dotted line to his victory plan. You know, both sides, Republicans, Democrats, members of Congress, people running for the presidency. You know, across the board.

SIDNER: Yes, we just watched Volodymyr Zelenskyy arriving at the U.N. just there as you were speaking.

Evelyn Farkas, there are so many issues to talk about. This UNGA is going to be extremely important. Thank you so much for coming on this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: A debate over mail-in voting, and one state goes to court this morning. How the outcome there could jeopardize ballots cast elsewhere in the country now.

And cheers to your health, friends. The biggest benefits to choosing mocktails over cocktails.

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[08:53:19]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, bottom's up. Alcohol free, with special music right there. Many Americans have started swapping cocktails for mocktails as a way to cut back on alcohol. You can really find them like anywhere now and they're often quite tasty.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here on call, completely sober, as far as we know.

No, look, these mocktails really, Sanjay, they're - see, there you are, bottoms up. They're everywhere now. I mean just how popular are they?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is - this is really popular. And this is a - a growing movement, John, driven primarily by gen-z, interestingly. Your kids, I don't think, are quite old enough to drink yet, but gen-z is up to 27-years-old nowadays. And 61 percent of them say, look, we're willing to really not drink much, if at all.

If you look across the country overall, now 41 percent of people say they are trying to cut back on their drinking. So, these numbers are definitely increasing.

What I think is sort of fascinating is, if you look back over the last few years, you do see a sort of predictable and trajectory now of growth in terms of these non-alcoholic drink sales. It's gone up about 30 percent a year. It's expected to hit about $1 billion within the next two years, for an industry that was pretty nascent just a few years ago. So, it's really growing.

You know, athletic beer, John, I don't know if you've heard of this, this is one of the more popular ones. In 2018, we looked this up, they made 800 barrels of this non - this non-alcoholic beer. Last year they made 170,000 barrels of it. So, that gives you some idea.

Now, one thing I'll point out, there's a bit of a nuance here. Sixty- eight percent of people who were surveyed for this said that they still do drink, and 93 percent of people who buy all of these various non-alcoholic drinks, including non-alcoholic wine and this liquor and the beer, 93 percent still buy both.

[08:55:12]

So, the term that is tossed around a lot in the industry right now is intermittent sobriety. People aren't quite willing to go cold turkey, but they're increasingly headed that way, John.

BERMAN: You have like a full bar in front of you right now, which is oppressive, Sanjay.

Obviously, I imagine, less alcohol is better for you, but are there other health implications here?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, first of all, I don't think we can overstate how much better just not drinking is for you overall. I mean, you know, we've talked about this on your program before. The World Health Organization saying, look, no amount of alcohol is good for you. You should not start drinking in the pursuit of good health. But look at the numbers there on the screen. So that's Heineken. So,

we did a side-by-side comparison, Heineken alcohol versus no alcohol. The calories are a lot lower, as you can see in the no alcohol version of that, but the carbs are actually higher. And I think that's important to point out when you look at how these - these drinks are made, a lot of time they will add more sugar to it as part of the whole process. So, they'll still use some of the same ingredients to make the alcohols, but overall you will see more sugar. So, you really got to still read the labels.

Also, it's important to point out that some of these non-alcoholic drinks still do have some amount of alcohol, 0.5 present versus five to 12 percent. So, that's something to keep in mind as well, especially if you're talking about kids, John.

BERMAN: Yes, pay attention to what's on the label, all the sugars. I mean some of the mocktails will all that simple syrup, very, very sweet. Tasty, but super sweet.

GUPTA: That's right.

BERMAN: Sanjay, thank you very much. We'll talk about drinking anytime.

You can scan the QR code on your screen and submit your questions on cutting back on alcohol. Sanjay will be back tomorrow to answer all of them.

Cheers.

BOLDUAN: So, it it's - if it's choice between more carbs or more alcohol, which one are going for?

BERMAN: Oh, that's a - that's a - it's a very fair question. I - I don't like sweet drinks to begin with.

BOLDUAN: That's what I'm saying, yes.

BERMAN: So, I - it's not - typically it's not a factor (ph).

BERMAN: But you are a been connoisseur.

BERMAN: I - I like - I like a good lager. Like, Nerit Gansin (ph). Hey, neighbor. Like, the cheaper the better for me.

BOLDUAN: I'm going more alcohol.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: OK, let's turn to this. Which one am I going to? I'm going here. Here we go.

Florida just issued hurricane and storm surge watches as it could see a direct hit later this week. A storm to watch, and the person watching it for us.

CNN's Derek Van Dam tracking all of it.

We're talking about the storm expected to become Hurricane Helene. Tell us more.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning.

And here it is in the western Caribbean. Not all that exciting just yet. But, trust me, there's a lot of warm water, low shear environment ahead of it. So, it is forecast to strengthen and strengthen rather quickly.

It's been kind of broken apart on this western side because of some stronger winds associated with an upper low and Hurricane John that made landfall in southern Mexico overnight last night.

But the storm that's impacting the continental United States here within the next few days is Helene, or soon to be Helene. And ahead of that we have issued - the National Hurricane Center has issued these watches really focusing in on the big bend. We call this the catcher's mitt of Florida because it doesn't take much to push up storm surge. And we'll get a lot of it associated with the system right here near Cedar Key. We often talk about this location. Ten to 15 feet above normally dry ground. There's going to be a lot of wind associated with this system. Could increase over 100 miles per hour in some locations.

And we've got to watch this storm moving inland as well, Kate, because it will bring rain, flood threat, and the potential for power outages far inland away from the coast.

Back to you.

BOLDUAN: All right, Derek, thank you so much for that update.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

This is a - a strange one for you. Elon Musk has yet another lawsuit on his hands. That's not strange. What is strangers is who the plaintiff is. The party name Cards Against Humanity is taking the SpaceX CEO to court for allegedly trespassing on land they own in Texas. Land the company purchased years ago to try and block Trump from building the border wall.

CNN's Matt Egan is with me now.

There is a lot to unpack here, but I never thought I'd hear Cards Against Humanity suing anybody.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Sara, this is such a ridiculous story. It's got a little bit of everything, right?

SIDNER: Yes.

EGAN: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, the border wall, and, yes, Cards Against Humanity. Now, in case you aren't familiar with the game, this is a party game

known for its edgy, sometimes offensive sense of humor. I wouldn't want my mom or my kids anywhere near the versions that I've played, or if they are playing, don't tell me that they're playing. I understand there are some PG versions as well.

Anyway, back in 2017, this left-leaning company, they pulled off this elaborate stunt where they bought land near the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. The goal was to try to block then President Trump's border wall. Now, Cards Against Humanity has filed this $15 million lawsuit against SpaceX. That's the Elon Musk company that actually has a launch facility just a few miles away from where this vacant lot is.

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