Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Voter Opinion Shifting Ahead of the Midterms; Trump Orders Universities to Hand Over Data on Applicants' Race, Gender; Interview with Actress Elaine Hendrix. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 08, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Because they are losing, which they absolutely are on the Generic Congressional Ballot. At this point, Democrats are winning. Republicans are losing, and maybe they're trying to change the lines in order to give themselves a little bit more wiggle room given what we're seeing, a clear Democratic momentum on the Generic Congressional Ballot.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: How does it break down when you look at party I.D.?

ENTEN: OK, so this is one metric, right? The Generic Congressional Ballot. How about party identification, right? Because the idea is if you're a Democrat, you're very likely to vote Democrat. If you're a Republican, you're very likely to vote Republican. Take a look here. The party I.D. margin, Democrats versus Republicans. Look in quarter one of this year, Quinnipiac, Republicans had a lead of a point. Gallup it was tight.

Look at where we are now in the latest measures. Again, Democratic momentum. This is a five point move to the Democrats according to Quinnipiac. Now they're up by four on party I.D. How about Gallup? What we see is Democrats ahead, ahead by three points. So again what you're seeing is clear movement towards the Democratic Party on a very key metric because if you're identifying as Democratic, you're far more likely to vote for the Democrat. If you're identifying as Republican, you're far more likely to vote Republican.

And I will note, Kate, that this is a change from last year, especially among Gallup, when Republicans had held a rare lead going into the 2024 election and then, of course, foreshadowed Donald Trump winning, foreshadowed Republicans taking the House, taking the Senate. And now, of course, Democrats are ahead here. This is a big uh-oh for Republicans, as we are at the midpoint of 2025.

BOLDUAN: But you're also -- you see some signs as well, even beyond polling that you've been looking at, you think could indicate.

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So this is the polling, right? You're looking at party I.D., you're looking at the Generic Congressional Ballot. How about the special elections? Look at this. And the median 2025 special election so far, Democrats in these different districts, get this, they're doing about 13 points better. The median Democrat than Kamala Harris did in those same districts last year. That is a huge, huge movement.

And last year what we saw was, in fact, when you compare the 2024 special election results back to the Joe Biden baseline of 2020, Republicans were actually doing better than they did in 2020 in those. So again, this is clear movement towards the Democrats, and we're seeing it on three different metrics, two polling and one in actual election results.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting. Good to see you. Thanks for coming back in, Harry.

ENTEN: My pleasure, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Can you put up, Harry, the first slide you had there, again, the Generic Ballot test here?

BOLDUAN: The generic?

ENTEN: Here we are.

BERMAN: Thank you so much, man.

ENTEN: You're welcome.

BERMAN: OK. With us now, former Republican strategist Lee Carter and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona.

Those numbers, which I hope we can still see here, Brad, show those again, and Vanna White there.

Maria, how much of a coincidence is it you think that we're seeing that trend in the congressional ballot test there? How much of a coincidence we're seeing that and these Republican efforts at redistricting at the same time?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No coincidence at all, John. The -- what the Republicans are doing in terms of the naked corrupt power grab of trying to redistrict Texas and then going into other states to try to do the same, to steal Democratic seats is because they're seeing this polling, is because they're seeing the town halls where voters are pissed off about what Trump and Republicans have been doing, which is going back on their word, betraying the American people, taking away health care from millions of Americans, taking away food from the mouths of hungry children, focused on helping billionaires instead of working class and middle class voters.

And the numbers are showing it. And so instead of trying to defend their big, horrendous bill that they just passed, instead of trying to compete with Democrats on the battlefield of ideas and policies that actually do help working class and middle class voters, which is what Democrats are talking about, they have to resort to lying, cheating and stealing. And frankly, John, I kind of predict that that could actually backfire

because voters are going to see that and they're going to say, so now you're going to try to take away my vote and my voice? I don't think so.

BERMAN: Lee, you know, you've got numbers in your blood. Why do you think that the trend line has moved the way it has on that ballot test, on the congressional ballot test, from where Republicans had a very unusual edge before, and now the Democrats picking up some steam?

LEE CARTER, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT: I mean, we're still not talking about a massive lead. So I'm not looking at this and saying this is a runaway lead for the Democrats. I also look at the same poll that -- one of the polls that just came out on CNBC and Democrats have a low time -- all-time low net favorability. They're minus 32. That's a record low number.

What I'm seeing right now is that both sides are wildly unpopular. Donald Trump's approval rating not high. Democrats' approval rating very, very low. And what most Americans are saying is that the political elite are fighting against each other and not fighting for me. The issues I care about the most are cost of living, not gerrymandering maps. And we don't want to see politicians fighting against each other over map lines and have Democrats flee the state looking like they're abandoning the people, not fighting for the people.

I think this looks bad for everybody.

[09:35:00]

When people are saying, I'm concerned about my cost of living, fight for that. Don't fight over maps. I think this is a big mistake for both sides. And when I look at this and I look at the poll numbers, I'm actually not encouraged for either side. 78 percent of Americans say that elites, the political elites, are playing by a different set of rules than the rest of us, and they feel like no one is fighting for them. And that's a real big problem for both parties.

BERMAN: Maria, where do you think it ends? Because the news overnight, Florida perhaps getting in the game. Republican leaders there making a move to redistrict. Absolutely could pick up Republican seats there. JD Vance went to Indiana to try to pick up seats there. What are your concerns that even if states like California try to respond here, the Democrats end up losing in the seat battle in the mid-decade redistricting surge?

CARDONA: Well, certainly this is not something that Democrats wanted. Historically, you know, Democrats have been involved in gerrymandering as well. Right? We got to be clear about that. But historically, it has also been Democrats, the ones that have pushed for these independent commissions, like the one that is in California, because they're the ones who have wanted the redistricting and the reapportionment to actually be fair and be much more democratic.

But what has happened now is that Republicans with this naked, putrid, corrupt attempted power grab, Democrats are not going to fight with both hands tied behind their backs. So they are going to attempt to also redistrict where they have the power to increase seats for the Democrats.

But at the end of the day, John, it all goes back to what we talked about at the very beginning. Republicans are concerned about the shellacking that is coming for them in the midterm elections because, and I'll go back to something that Lee just said, she's right. It's all about what Donald Trump promised and Republicans promised in the '24 election that they would focus on bringing down the cost of groceries, gas and rent, bringing down inflation. And they have betrayed the American people.

BERMAN: Let me -- on the issue of jobs, Lee, sometimes I think you can tell what President Trump is most concerned about by what he does and how he reacts to things. So it's been one week since those jobs numbers came back revised with really, really gloomy figures for May and June. Revisions down into the single double -- low double-digits of job gains there. He fired the head of the BLS.

And then yesterday in the Oval Office, there was a strange performance where he brought in Stephen Moore with charts and graphs to actually compare his first administration really with that of Joe Biden. What does all this concern from President Trump on these numbers, Lee, betray to you?

CARTER: It betrays me that he's very frustrated that his story isn't being told in the way that he sees what things are happening, and he gets fixated on these things. He gets fixated on jobs. He gets fixated on the markets. He gets fixated on a number of things, and he wants to make sure that his story is getting out there. I think there's no one better at trying to control the narrative than Donald Trump. And I think he gets really frustrated when he can't. And that's what we're seeing right now. A huge sense of frustration.

I will say, when we look at some of the recent polling, I think it's interesting, we're starting to see a small shift now in how people are viewing the economy. In fact, we're seeing that the most positive numbers and most recent poll by CNBC towards the economy since 2021, and that's a pretty big deal. And I think that's the story that Donald Trump is trying to get out there. Whether or not everybody is going to be buying it, I don't know.

I think a lot of people are looking at what happened with the jobs number, saying, why is he so frustrated? And I think a lot of people are trying to read into this, but I think we're seeing somebody who's really trying to get his story told.

BERMAN: Yes. And again, as far as before the midterms and the economy, there is a lot of time there. I think both sides, what they want to make sure of is that on the Republican side, that ideas don't get baked into the cake now that they can't erase before those midterms.

Lee Carter, Maria Cardona, great to see you both. Thank you.

New actions from the Trump administration against universities. Now ordering them to provide the White House with race based admissions data.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:35]

BOLDUAN: This morning, the Trump administration is taking new action against colleges and universities, really across the board, across the country now. The president signed an order yesterday saying that colleges have to now hand over even more data about their admissions process. Colleges now have to require to submit data to the federal government to prove race is not considered in their admissions process, a move the White House says it's meant to boost transparency.

It's really began with Brown and Columbia University in their negotiated agreements with the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funding. Both schools agreed to hand over access to admissions and hiring data, including test scores, GPAs and the race of applicants.

Joining us right now is Justin Drivers, a professor at Yale Law School, knows a lot about this, as he's also author of the book "The Fall of Affirmative Action: Race, the Supreme Court and the Future of Higher Education."

Thanks for being here. You say that these moves by the administration will send a chill through admissions offices everywhere, all over the country. Why? What will they get now and what they -- and what can they do with it?

JUSTIN DRIVER, PROFESSOR, YALE LAW SCHOOL: Yes. So the Trump administration is requiring colleges and universities around the country to offer data about not just students who were accepted, but also those who were rejected. And the effort is part of a larger ambition to depress black and brown enrollment at universities around the country.

[09:45:05]

And so they hope that by collecting this data that they are going to see fewer black and brown students because they believe that the universities are not complying with the Supreme Court's decision from 2023, which ended affirmative action but it seems to me that the Trump administration's move is predicated on a misunderstanding of that decision.

BOLDUAN: What about -- because "The New York Times" had described the kind of the collection of this data as being on a wish list of conservatives who are searching for evidence that universities are dodging the 2023 Supreme Court decision. Is there evidence that schools are doing that?

DRIVER: No, I don't believe that there. The Trump administration wants there to be a decline in black and brown enrollment. And while I deeply disagree with the Supreme Court's decision from 2023, there are lots of mechanisms that remain available to universities who are interested in racial diversity that do not involve flouting the Supreme Court's decision.

Let me just give you one quick example. The Trump administration suggests that even keeping an eye on racial diversity is somehow impermissible. But universities are able to take account of low income status or, say, you know, if you grew up in a single parent household, these things may be correlated with race, but are not what the Supreme Court referred to, if you'll pardon my Latin for a moment here, as race cua race, race as race, race for the sake of race. So that's what's forbidden.

And the Trump administration is attempting to distort the Supreme Court's decision in order to again intimidate admissions officers and universities around the country.

BOLDUAN: And you've seen this. The administration says what this really is about is transparency. And they say following the law after the Supreme Court decision. Is greater transparency a bad thing here just in general?

DRIVER: Yes, it's a -- it's an important question. You know, I don't believe that even should the universities hand over this prized information to the Trump administration, that there's going to be some sort of smoking gun that would say, aha, these universities are cheating. Colleges and universities around the country are able to consider a whole host of factors.

And it's also important to think about how the Trump administration is framing this request for further information. They say we're interested in merit and that there are some people who are, in effect, non-meritorious admits. But if that were true, and by the way, we could contest the idea of what qualifies as merit, we would see a greater effort from the Trump administration to acquire data not only involving race, but the children of alumni, what people refer to as legacy admissions, or the children of donors, people who give a lot of money.

It's not true that the Trump administration is really interested in merit. What they have an interest in is lowering the number of black and brown students on elite college campuses.

BOLDUAN: It's very -- that is very interesting perspective. It's really good to have you here to help us understand a little bit more.

Justin Driver, really appreciate your time.

Coming up for us, very different. It's Friday and for today's show it's getting even a bit freakier than it normally is on this show. The sequel to the film that helped define a generation, "Freaky Friday," is out today, and we speak to one of the stars next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:33]

BOLDUAN: The sequel fans have waited more than two decades for it. Finally here. "Freakier Friday" hits theaters today, and it stars Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis reunite for part two of the beloved 2003 hit "Freaky Friday." Part two picks up 22 years later, featuring a new out of body experience.

Here's a preview oh my god.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA BUTTERS, ACTRESS: Oh, my god.

LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: What was that?

BUTTERS: Oh no, not again. What's happening?

LOHAN: It's all right, honey.

BUTTERS: Who's in my body?

LOHAN: It's OK. It's me. Harp, it's mom.

BUTTERS: Wait, what? If you're me and I'm you, then who is that?

MAITREYI RAMAKRISHNAN, ACTRESS: I'm Grandma, sweetheart.

JAMIE LEE CURTIS, ACTRESS: My face looks like a Birkin bag that's been left out in the sun to rot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I didn't even see that clip before.

And in honor of "Freaky Friday" and out-of-body experiences, Erica Hill and I will now switch bodies to speak to one of the film's stars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Elaine Hendrix joins us now. She plays stylist Blake Hale in "Freakier Friday."

It's so great to have you here in the studio.

ELAINE HENDRIX, ACTRESS: Thank you.

HILL: So this film, as we look at it, a bit of nostalgia for you, of course, because you and Lindsay Lohan have, you know, paired up in the past before.

HENDRIX: Yes.

HILL: What's it like to be reunited?

HENDRIX: Oh, it's so great. I mean, she has a very special place in my heart. "The Parent Trap" has spanned so many generations and is such a beloved movie that, yes, you know, it's special place in my heart.

HILL: Yes. Your character in the "Parent Trap," Meredith Blake, talk about a cult following in many ways and really sort of has been revived with a younger generation now.

[09:55:04]

What's that like for you to see that and to see, you know, just how much attention?

HENDRIX: We never could have predicted what it has done. And it seems like it is having a resurgence now but as someone who's lived it, it never went away. I mean, every single day I get stopped in the street. I get a piece of mail. An e-mail, a message. Now with social media, of course.

HILL: Yes.

HENDRIX: So it's followed me, and I don't mind that.

HILL: So how has that changed then for you if it hasn't really gone away given that you now have the social media and people can get to you a lot easier?

HENDRIX: Yes. Yes. Well, I think one of the biggest changes is that Meredith Blake is now having her redemption, which I was always on board for. I have said from day one, she is not the villain. But now, thanks to the millennials, hashtag justice for Meredith Blake.

HILL: Hashtag -- I mean, I love a good hashtag, I must say.

HENDRIX: Yes.

HILL: And the millennials have a way with hashtags because they can make things happen.

HENDRIX: Yes.

HILL: "The Parent Trap" is also part of a new off-Broadway show. Talk to me about this because it sounds super fun.

HENDRIX: It is hilarious. My friend Jenny Steingart with Ars Nova called me up and said, I have a really special project that you need to come see. And I was like, OK. So I went to the workshop and I was like, holy wow. I mean, it's just hilarious. And so now I've come on board as one of the producers.

HILL: And so this just opened on Thursday?

HENDRIX: Yes. It just opened on July 24th, and it runs at least through October at the Orpheum Theater.

HILL: So plenty of chances to see it.

HENDRIX: Lots of time to see it.

HILL: What's your favorite part, though, about the show?

HENDRIX: That Meredith is getting her redemption. It's -- the writer- director, Kevin Zach describes it as "Wicked" for Meredith Blake, and I'm like, I like that. I'm going to go with that.

HILL: OK, I'm going to go with that, too.

HENDRIX: Yes.

HILL: Elaine, it's great to have you here. Thanks for coming by the studio.

HENDRIX: Yes, my pleasure. Thank you.

HILL: Appreciate it. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And I'm back.

BERMAN: Like just like that.

BOLDUAN: It's amazing.

BERMAN: It's fantastic.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Up next, our very own edition of "Freaky Friday," "THE SITUATION ROOM."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)