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CNN Exclusive: New Polling On 2024 Presidential Election; Biden Needles Trump At White House Correspondents' Dinner; Hush Money Trial: How Is Trump's Team Feeling?; College Campuses Hotbed Of Anti-War Sentiment; Republicans Plan To Nationalize Key Red State Senate Races. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired April 28, 2024 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: I did get a little teary either. I didn't expect --
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Of course, you did.
WALKER: No, no, I was like, this is so not romantic in my opinion. Are you doing in front of to do it in front of a bunch of people? I mean, would you want that?
I guess it depends on the person, but it was moved by it, weren't you, Victor?
BLACKWELL: Was I moved? I mean, it's very sweet for them. I would rather send by just leaned over me like, you know, we're not getting no younger. So we might as well do this.
WALKER: We're running out of time. We might as well. That's so romantic, Victor.
Thanks so much for being with us, everyone.
INSIDE POLITICS is up next with Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
MANU RAJU, CNN HOST (voice-over): Breaking news, new CNN poll reveals significant challenges for President Biden and how he stacks up against Trump. The latest numbers moments away.
Plus, under oath.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We sit here day after day after day.
RAJU: Trump's delay tactics appeared to pay off, as hush money allegations roil the race.
SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I'd always prefer somebody that didn't have an extramarital affair.
RAJU: And new reporting on how that GOP plans to target red-state Democrats.
Plus, boiling point -- as college campuses reel, Republicans pounce.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Go back to class and stop the nonsense.
RAJUJ: How will Biden handle the fallout?
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): This is not about politics. It's about doing what's right.
RAJU: And presidential punch lines.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald has had a few tough days lately. You might call it stormy weather.
RAJU: Celebrities and journalists gather in Washington to roast and be roasted.
COLIN JOST, COMEDIAN: Like many of you here tonight, I pretend to do news on TV.
RAJU: INSIDE POLITICS, best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU (on camera): Good morning, and welcome INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.
And we begin with breaking news, a new CNN national poll released for the first time here on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY reveals the challenges President Biden faces as he asks voters for a second term. Even as former President Trump has been stuck in a New York courtroom fending off criminal charges and with three other criminal cases looming.
Our new poll which was conducted by SSRS, finds Trump is leading Biden, who has ample work to do with his base and with independent voters, were breaking to his GOP rival. In a head-to-head race, 49 percent of voters say they'd pick Trump for president compared to 43 percent for Biden. That's a nine-point Trump advantage with independent voters.
And add in third-party candidates and Trump's lead jumps even more. He has 42 percent to Biden's 33 percent. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gets 16 percent of the vote.
Our poll also underscores the challenges of incumbency and that voters, four years later, have a better view of Trump's presidency compared to Biden's. Fifty-five percent say Trump's time in office was success, with only 39 percent saying the same about Biden's presidency. And look, for a party breakdown, more people are calling Trump's presidency is success. The now, then in January of 2021, and that was in the wake of the Capitol attack by a mob of Trump's supporters.
The number of independents there going up by 7 percent. Now, Biden's team believes the numbers will change when voters begin to zero in more on the two candidates, a contrast he was more than eager to highlight that last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Donald has had a few tough days lately. You might call it stormy weather.
What the hell?
Trump's so desperate, he started reading those Bibles he's selling. Then he got to the First Commandment -- you shall have no other gods before me. That's when he put it down and said, this book's not for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: All right. There's a lot to unpack. We've got a great panel to break this all down this morning.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Astead Herndon with "The New York Times", and Sabrina Siddiqui with "The Wall Street Journal".
Good morning. It was a late night for a lot of us. Glad you guys are all here.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: We're all here.
RAJU: We're all here.
Let's break down some of the numbers because as we're reporting through this, one thing really stood out to me is really just the problems that Biden has with his base and believe the problems are being an incumbent and facing the fact that voters are judging him in his record, maybe view Trump's presidency a little different after the last four years. But this is what we dive a little deeper in here about the problems with Biden in his base, Democrats, 56 percent of Democratic voters are dissatisfied with the presidential candidates there. As you look at party breakdown, that is different than Republicans, 63 percent of Republicans are satisfied, just 37 percent dissatisfies. That's the base issue.
Then you talk about the number of Democrats versus Republicans, how they view the item versus Trump presidency. Seventy-three percent of Democrats view that Biden's presidency has been a success, sure. I guess that sounds good. But then you compare that to Trump's presidency.
[08:05:00] More Republicans view Trump's presidency is a success. It really highlights the dual challenges that Biden faces as he has since November.
COLLINS: I'm so glad you pulled this out because that was -- I was looking through this poll, that's also so what stood out to me is that essentially, it's which party is more united behind their candidate. And when you look at these numbers, Democrats view Biden worse than Republicans view Trump, which I don't think there's a surprising when you listen to what Republicans who have been saying they stand behind Donald Trump when it comes to almost anything.
But the question is, how does that hurt Biden's momentum going into November? What does that look like out in the campaign trail? I do think part of it is Biden is office right now and its easier to judge someone who is president at this time. I think people always have a fonder look at a past president and how his presidency went, because whether Biden's or whether Trump's presidency was a success and how people are viewing that now is quite high.
When you look at what the poll was right after January 6, truly days before Trump left office, it was much worse, much worse of an evaluation.
So, it also makes me think of what's being trotted out, what's in the public domain, what are we talking about Trump's trial related to trying to overturn the election is likely not going to go to trial before the election. How does that affect what voters are thinking of?
RAJU: Yeah, and how does it affect the Biden's campaign strategy to try to remind voters about what of all we think they would happen in the Trump years, remind people about January 6, remind people about those independent voters course is going to be so critical here.
But, you know, when you talk to ask voters in those poll, but the issues that are important to them, they say that the economy, which tends to dominate every single national elections, 65 percent, protecting democracy high up there as a big theme of the Biden campaign. In particular, immigration and crime right up there as well as other issues to his gun policy, health can abortion with 42 percent of voters view that is the most important issue for them.
But this is the challenge for Biden because then when you ask about how is he handling these? Big issues, he's underwater on all these main issues, and that is obviously one thing that's driving his challenges here in one of the things to, of course, is the economy as we drill down even further, inflation is still, sure, it's getting better, but people are still concerned about it. Just nine -- 29 percent of voters approve of his handling of inflation, that has not changed really since last year.
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. And I think that encapsulates some of these base enthusiasm problems. I just got back from Wisconsin where we were on a reporting trip that we are out of the Walmart actually, which is shutting down and we were talking to people about their sense of the economy and who they blame for this economic malaise as we were kind of hearing around a lot of it was a sense that prices are higher and that that kind of tangible impact on folks pocketbooks mattered a lot more than the job increases that we have seen, that even trickled down in places like Wisconsin.
And so when you're in these kind of battleground states where in places like Milwaukee, there is what 7, 8, 10 -- out of ten folks are Democrats. The questions about motivation really, but that is its really a tampering that down because people don't feel as if they've seen a real tangible benefit on the issue that matters most when we come to this, I think that attention gap is a really important thing here because oftentimes when we look at these old by them will do better among people who are most enthusiastic, most likely to vote.
But when you expand the electorate out, that's where Trump actually does the best, too.
And so, Biden's hope is that as that information gets out there, as they are able to target those messages, some of these people come back around, the issue is, I think some of that attention got might persist further and further through this year as people are tuning this out, Republicans had an active primary effort, right? They've re-elected, they re-nominated Trump more active simply than Democrats did.
And I think for a lot of Democrats, there is a sense that this was kind a coordinated thing that they has been forced upon them and they tune some of that out, at least that's what we hear when we're on the road.
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: You know, you also think about what has dominated the headlines over the last six months, and that is the Israel-Hamas war, which may not rank high as a priority for voters, when you look at the issues that you were just pointing to, that has been one of the key challenges for President Biden when you're talking about frustration coming from the Democratic base, it's not just coming from Muslim and Arab-American voters.
It's coming from Black voters. It's coming from young voters. It's coming from the exact constituencies that he needs to turn out to help propel him to a second term.
And, you know, you're talking about the coalition that he assembled. It was strong in 2020, was strong turnout from the base, and it was those independents, those suburban voters who swung from Trump to Biden. And so, it is striking is also those numbers that you see with independents now trending more toward former President Trump.
And, you know, the Biden campaign does say, look, its early, yeah, more people they say tend to tune in after the conventions unfold when you get closer to the election. But one counterpoint to that is that we're not talking about an unknown presidential contest here. It's a rematch of four years ago, so, you know, some views of these two former president and incumbent president are very much baked in.
People already know what they need to know. So it's really just now on President Biden and his campaign to focus on legislative accomplishments of the last four years and what he would do in a second term.
[08:10:00]
RAJU: And you're talking about the contrast and that's clearly what Joe Biden wants to paint, wants voters to focus, and not necessarily everything that happened last for years, but perhaps what happened in the last eight years and took some jabs at his GOP rival in last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.
(BEGN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Sleepy Don, I kind of like that. I may use that again.
Age is an issue. I'm a grown man, running against the 6-year-old.
Age is the only thing we have in common. My vice president actually endorses me.
Did you hear what Donald just said about the major civil war battle? Quote, Gettysburg, wow.
Trump's speech was so embarrassing, the statue of Robert E. Lee surrendered again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: You know, last night, it was jokes, but that's actually kind of a strategy here. They want to get under Donald Trump's skin.
COLLINS: Oh, Biden always uses these dinners to do that. You know, he knows anytime and it's a roomful of reporters. He does the same with these other Washington dinners, and obviously he is joking. Its not surprising he would take shots at Trump, but he is certainly going after him in a way that he thinks is effective, especially when the age issue where he was tackling that saying age is going to be an issue. I'm a grown man and I'm running it against a six-year-old, that is kind of how they're trying to frame it.
And I should note, Trump's -- some people from Trump's campaign were in the room as these comments are being. I didn't see them laughing at this. But I do think it speaks to what this dynamic is going to look like, and how Biden is choosing to go after Trump.
The Stormy Daniels comment was interesting to me. Yes, it's a joke, but Biden campaign has taken a basically a vow of silence on the Trump trial that is underway right now in Manhattan. And so, it is interesting to see him kind of allude to it in a certain way, because obviously, Trump has been trying to claim that Biden is leading these investigations, it's obviously not. It's the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
RAJU: Yeah. It would have been surprising if he did not say something about Stormy Daniels, even though he's been silent, this seemed like be a perfect opportunity to take a jab at him here. But let's just zoom out about the presidential campaign because as Trump is in the courtroom right now, what Biden's campaign is doing, they're spending a ton of money on air trying to take advantage of this moment where Donald Trump does not have as much money in his campaign account as Democrats do, $29 million compared to $11 million. That's just presidential campaign spending in the last month and a half or so.
And then when you get down to Biden's versus Trump's challenges, this is not you guys. Biden has problems with these polls, but Trump has problems with polls, too, in some of these key areas. You look at the breakdown between college grad and non-college grad in this poll, Biden -- this has been consistent all along about how Biden has an advantage with college graduates.
But then you get zoom in even further about the results. How voters are voting in these primaries dates, particularly in suburban areas with some of the more educated voters. Haley's primary, Nikki Haley, his rival, she dropped out of this its race 16 percent in the last week's Pennsylvania primary, including in many suburban areas, still voted for Nikki Haley.
So, look, Donald Trump has a problem, too.
HERNDON: Oh, absolutely. I mean, it is interesting because these two candidates have problems that aren't really fixed by each other, right? Donald Trump's -- the impact of Donald Trump in these trials should not be minimized. I think for some reason, there's a sense that they haven't actually heard him, but they've actually been baked into his unpopularity.
For years now, he struggles with these independency struggles with these moderates. And that's cost him the last election. And it very well could cost them the next election. It is only such that because Biden has these kind of base problems, there's allowing him to steal further appallingly, but also Trump's problems have been in money, an organization, the impacts of these trials have stopped the RNC from really building out a campaign or organization.
And we look at Biden's possibilities. There are issues down-ballot that they think they can still propel them. We think about the abortion referendum in Nebraska, in Arizona or new possibilities in Wisconsin, there could be a reason that the bottom of that get fuels Biden at the top, even though that lack of enthusiasm is certainly a maintaining storyline.
RAJU: Very interesting, and that teases actually another assignment later in the show when we're talking about down-ticket issues and we're going to be talking about next, the inside the courtroom one week down of testimony in Trump's criminal hush money case, have prosecutors yet proven that Trump acted illegally? Our legal panel is here next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:18:46]
RAJU: This past week might have been one of the most momentous when it comes to Donald Trump's legal problems. He spent four days in New York courtroom and the first ever criminal case for an ex-president Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump's push to claim broad immunity and effectively derail two of his federal criminal cases.
Also, a federal judge upheld the verdict in a case ordering Trump to pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll after defaming her over sexual assault allegations. Now, on top of all that, a grand jury in Arizona indicted 11 of Trump's allies over their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, where Trump was named is an unindicted coconspirator. And he was also named is an unindicted coconspirator in a similar fake electors scheme alleged in Michigan.
So to help us unpack all this in this very important week, I'm joined by, again, by CNN's Kaitlan Collins, and CNN's legal analyst, Elliot Williams.
Elliot, thanks for joining us for this discussion.
So just -- you know, there's so much that happened this past week. You're on air a lot, a lot here on CNN, but there were several takeaways, just a viewers have a sense on some of the issues that people that happened over the past week, David Pecker, of course, he was testifying about the National Enquirer's scheme to help Donald Trump in 2016, talked about that so-called catch-and-kill arrangement.
[08:20:02]
There's Donald Trump's assistant talking about seeing Stormy Daniels at Trump Tower before Trump ran for president, there's discussions about the bank arrangements for Trump's so-called fixer at the time Michael Cohen. So but the question here, Elliot, I have to you, is, have prosecutors made the case that a crime was actually committed?
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: They haven't made a case that a crime has actually committed, but they did what they needed to do in this first week of the trial, what they had to do was at least bring the jury in and start establishing the parameters of the -- of the crime that they're alleging. And the bigger thing and the bigger point for prosecutors is that there were no forced errors. There was no witness that came up and said something that people didn't anticipate. There was no witness that got eviscerated on cross-examination.
So I think prosecutors are happy with how the week went, but trials are long and it's not over yet.
RAJU: Yeah, and there's -- but there's also a difference about what's happening in the courtroom and what's happening in the court of public opinion, our new CNN poll talks about how 68 percent of voters nationally viewed Trump's treatment as more lenient, more harsh than other defendants, basically saying that it is not the same as other defendants. That's how public opinion that are viewing this is a little bit different then typically would double in cases.
How did Trump's lawyers, you talked to Trump's lawyers, Kaitlan, how did they view what is happening in court so far?
COLLINS: Well, will they completely disagree with how the judge has been handling this? And they are in a position of defending Trump when he's pretty clearly violating the gag order. I mean, that has really been one of the biggest takeaways of how this is affecting Trump outside of the core because he's continued to attack the witnesses in this case. He's commented on the jury itself, which is not allowed. Obviously, we saw weeks ago when he was going after the judge's daughter herself.
And so, that is kind of been the big question of how the judge is going to handle that. We may get an answer this week, he held a hearing last week and some judges, former judges, retired judges, had speculated that he was writing it, you know, last week in the evenings, we never saw the decision there. They have another hearing on other violations and Trump was talking about Michael Cohen in an interview that he recorded on his way to his gag order hearing about whether or not he had violated it by talking about Michael Cohen. I mean, his disregard for it is pretty obvious and we saw how Trump's attorney struggled to defend it.
But I think big picture, the campaign and how they're looking at this. I mean, look at what Bill Barr told me the other night. He is one of the biggest Donald Trump critics. He watched him as he was trying to overturn the election results and left the White House in the middle of that. Yet, he is still voting for Donald Trump come November, and I think it just kind of speaks to the climate that we're in. The question is how pervasive that is?
RAJU: Yeah. And you mentioned how Trump is making things difficult for his attorneys on the gag order.
"The New York Times" had a report this weekend about whether it's affecting this legal strategy as well. This -- it says this in this report: Others might concede personal failings, so their lawyers can focus solely on holes in the prosecution -- prosecution's evidence -- on televisions, it's often a version of my client might not be a nice guy, but he's no criminal. But that time honored tactic is not available to a defendant who is also the presumptive Republican nominee, a man who despises weakness and is allergic to anything but praise from people around him.
So is Trump's demeanor hamstringing his attorneys anyway?
WILLIAMS: His demeanor hamstrings his attorneys when he speaks publicly, and I wonder the extent to which they've gotten in his head each night, saying you have to stop the press conferences. It's one thing to be a candidate who was on trial. It's a political process and of course he's going to go out and bash Joe Biden and so on.
But you can't do that in a courtroom. You can be subject to the rules of the court, but moreover, you can start getting in the jury's head and damaging your own chances of getting off at this trial. And so, it's really -- I would love to be a fly on the wall and those conversations with his attorney because I just think different candidates are difficult in different ways and I just -- I can imagine he's probability itself.
COLLINS: That is 100 percent true. The question is, how does it affect what happens in the case? Because they believe that kind of this case is a foregone conclusion. They don't even know an acquittal. It seems completely far-fetched to them.
They're hoping for a hung jury. They're hoping to appeal to that one juror who can understand that what they'd been arguing, which is the merits of the case, don't even make sense. That is really what they had been honing in on.
How that looks and how that shapes out as, you know, you mentioned, who's been on the stand? David Pecker, who's spoken favorably of Donald Trump as a human, Rhona Graff, also spoke very favorably of Donald Trump. And now as a banker who is kind of going through statements, how does Trump react when it's Hope Hicks?
RAJU: Yeah.
COLLINS: When it's Stormy Daniels, when it's Karen McDougal, when it's obviously Michael Cohen?
RAJU: Right.
COLLINS: How does that project in the courtroom?
RAJU: Yeah, good question.
If there's a gag order ruling, we'll see how that -- how he reacts to that as well? I do I'm eager to get your opinion on the immunity case that happened before the Supreme Court. The arguments happen there.
There's a question about John Roberts. Of course, he'll be so central in all of this. Our colleague Joan Biskupic had some good reporting about John Roberts really didn't speak much in that roughly three hours of arguments.
[08:25:03]
I'm curious -- you observe these arguments. How does he still this -- how do you -- do you think that any of these trials beyond the hush money case will come to a verdict before November?
WILLIAMS: I have a hard time seeing how any become a verdict before November, just because just based on where they all are in the process, including this one. That's all the way up at the Supreme Court.
You see the challenge for John Roberts is Donald Trump will lose in front of the Supreme Court. There will not be five justices in supportive his position. However, in practice, it's a win because ultimately, his trial will be delayed in all likelihood until after November.
The Supreme Court has the less lofty intellectual vision about the institution that what we just ruled on the facts and the law and a party one. Well, we live -- we don't live in fantasy lawyer land in this world. And there are real consequences when the Supreme Court takes its time and it will ultimately giving Donald Trump what he wants in practice, even if it's a legal loss. RAJU: Exactly, and polls do show that voters view those other three
cases more seriously than the hush money case really believe that because you disqualify him from the presidency as you see there from the CNN poll as well. That's one reason why he wants to delay those, and maybe he'll be successful.
All right. Coming up for us, campus protests are reaching a breaking point. More CNN new poll results on the political fallout.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:45]
RAJU: College campuses are once again a hotbed of anti-war sentiment. This time pro-Palestinian protests with young Americans' anger over Gaza boiling over. Arrests, some violence and charges of anti-Semitism have marred what have often been peaceful demonstrations of discontent over Israel's actions in Gaza and the United States' approach to the conflict.
And new polling this hour from CNN that shows why disapproval for Biden's handling of the war in Gaza just 28 percent of Americans approve. And that's down from 34 percent in January.
It's even worse among young voters. Just 19 percent of Americans 18 to 34-year-olds approve of his handling.
Now meanwhile in New York, Trump said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're having protest all over. He was talking about Charlottesville. Charlottesville was a little peanut and it was nothing compared to the hate, wasn't the kind of hate that you have here. This is tremendous hate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Of course, that little peanut he's referring to is that 2017 white supremacist rally that led to a woman's death. And although there have been some confrontations with the police and hundreds of arrests on the dozens of college campuses that have seen this uptick in demonstration so far there have not been reports of similar violence.
Sabrina, you cover the White House for "The Wall Street Journal". You been covering this issue for some time. What are you learning about what's going inside the White House and how or whether the president plans to address these protests head-on.
SIDDIQUI: Well, you heard the White House condemn incidents of anti- Semitism that occurred at some of the protests at Columbia University. But at the same time of course, they're supporting the right to free speech, the right to peaceful protests, and the large majority of these protests have been peaceful. But what they can't ignore is the anger that is at the center of these
protests over their continued approach to the Israel-Hamas war specifically, what has still been unconditional support by this administration for Israel.
You know, these students calling for a ceasefire, wanting this administration to stop sending military and financial initial aid to Israel and that policy isn't changing.
So now they have to grapple with how do they address that frustration? How do they address that anger? What's also been striking they haven't spoken out more forcefully about the way in which law enforcement has been weaponized by these university presidents and administrations to crack down on these protests.
You know, videos of police officers violently throwing students and even faculty to the ground. Now, you know, college campuses are going to break for the summer. So I think a big question will be, does this kind of temper down, but it does showcase again, just how much this is an issue for the president when it comes to support from young voters going into his re-election.
RAJU: That's a great point about the summer. But maybe they'll come back in the fall when they're back in school.
But you know, as we talked about the polling, one thing that was interesting was from this Harvard Youth poll this past week about the issues that concern 18 to 29-year-olds the most. Just 2 percent said that it was the Israel- Palestine conflict here. And 27 percent on the economy -- clearly that's a driving issue. And then the CNN poll gets a little further into this as well, talking about how just 38 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds are satisfied with their personal financial situation.
Astead, you recently spoke with young voters for an episode of your, your podcast, "The Run-Up. Do you think the Biden campaign truly understands the depth of their issue with young voters.
HERNDON: Yes, I think this is an important question because the issue is kind of deeply rooted here when we were focusing on what next-gen America' polling was saying about 18 and 34-year-olds.
It's Joe Biden with just a nine-point lead over Donald Trump in a hypothetical matchup. It showed R. Kennedy pulling ten to 15 percent of people.
And to your point, that wasn't all just about Israel and Gaza. A lot of these other issues are still top issues for people who think about the economy, abortion, democracy.
But there are still some deep-rooted problems. Young people are not identifying with the Democratic Party in the same numbers today and specifically are rejecting the lesser of two evils argument that we hear the White House continuously go back to.
And you'll hear the White House and Democrats say well this is just activist. You're really just thinking about a small group of young people when we look at these college protests.
[08:35:00]
And I think that's important to point out, not all young people have the same concern. but I would also say that activists matter. I mean, when we think back to 2020, it was those young activists who are creating a kind of permission structure for other young people to vote for Joe Biden.
I mean, we think of 18 and 34-year-olds, they did not like Joe Biden in the last presidential primary and they were kind of brought around to it in the end. And that was partially because there was a concerted effort, kind of people leading on social media, voices that matter in politics to say, ok, there's a threat to like eventually back this guy over Donald Trump.
If those same voices are making the opposite argument going into 2024, I think that that can really be a shift in what the environment is around young voters. So I don't think they should dismiss activists even though their concerns should not be extrapolated to the young electorate at all.
VAUSE: I want to say -- first, before you jump in, Kaitlan, about just the Democratic hand-wringing about how the president should handle this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Talking about all the angst (ph) that we're seeing in college campuses and what this may mean for the president in November especially as we're seeing uncommitted vote in state after state.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): It's not about politics, it's about doing what's right.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I hope they will give the president time to show that his leadership in the Middle East ultimately will prove out to be aligned with American values.
SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): I think we've got to have an Israeli government that understands that the risk of escalation is really severe and I do think the president has to be more direct publicly, not just privately with Netanyahu.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: He was saying, I think the president should be more direct publicly, not just privately with Netanyahu.
Now, Biden's tone has changed a bit over time. So take a listen to how he's shifted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm sure innocents have been killed and it's the price of waging a war. But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are
using.
The conduct of the response in Gaza strip has been over the top.
They have a point we need to get a lot more care in to Gaza.
I condemn (INAUDIBLE). I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Kaitlan.
COLLINS: That comment was very confusing to me because it wasn't clear what he was saying.
It wasn't a very strong condemnation of what has been happening on these campuses. And a lot of it has been incredibly anti-Semitic. I mean, you can say that what's happened, you can differentiate what's happening. There is nuance here of the people who are protesting the war in Gaza. And it has been an incredibly motivating issue understandably for young voters.
The comment there about, you know, I condemn the anti-Semitism. I think that's what and then in turn spurred Donald Trump to weigh in, which also confounded his advisers who weren't sure why he was bringing up Charlottesville?
RAJU: Yes.
COLLINS: One of the weakest moment in his presidency. But overall on this issue and how the White House handles it. There were pretty significant protests outside the White House Correspondents Dinner last night. I've never seen protesters outside and it was specifically on this issue.
I don't think Democrats have properly decided how Biden should best handle this and what is the best route for him to take? And I do think there are six months before the election. It could be an incredibly significant issue only in the margins. Maybe it's only 10,000 voters that could have a real impact on the election.
RAJU: Yes. And very quickly --
SIDDIQUI: And that's just a really important point because when I talked to Democratic pollsters what they say is if this is even the top or most motivating issue, like 2 or 3 percent of voters in a state like Georgia were young voters were and were along with "Black (INAUDIBLE) key. That state was separated by about 11,000 votes.
So it could actually make a difference if you're looking at a close race and some of these key battlegrounds and yes, the majority of young voters, you see a little bit more nuance in the polling.
But with young voters who are Democrats, that's where you see the biggest drop-off in the president's handling of this war. And that's a real problem.
RAJU: Of course, we'll see if anything changes with the war as we get closer to November, also the big impact as well.
All right. Next, new reporting on whether Trump is an asset or a liability in some key senate races. How the parties are playing it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:43:21]
RAJU: The race for control of the United States Senate goes straight through red states with Democratic incumbents. The two main battlegrounds -- Ohio and Montana, which Donald Trump carried twice.
And where Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester will need a significant amount of split ticket voters to hang on to their seats.
New this morning Senate GOP officials tell me they plan to nationalize the races in those red states by going after Tester and Brown's past criticism of the former president, all in an effort to deny the Democrats push to win over Trump voters.
In other words, expect to heavy ad campaigns promoting comments like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): I don't have much use for Donald Trump. No surprise to this crowd. I think he's been a terrible president who's betrayed workers.
Some call him a racist, which I agree with.
SEN. JON TESTER: You got to call it for what it is. It's racism and quite frankly, its dividing the country. That's how he hopes to win, I guess.
And I don't think even in states where Donald Trump won big, that it does you any good running away from Donald Trump? I think you need to go back and punch him in the face.
I mean, the truth is, is this guy is bad for this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Meanwhile, top Senate Democrats tell me their focus, carpetbagging and character issues. They believe voters will judge the Democrats on their own unique brands and records, regardless of where they stand on Trump as they try to poke holes and raise credibility questions about the GOP candidates in swing states across the country.
RAJU: Our panel is back. So I put these questions directly to Brown and Tester in this past week and asked them about their past criticism of Trump and whether they're concerned that could hurt them.
Here's Sherrod Brown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:45:00]
RAJU: Just quick question with Ohio. Just the fact that it's a Trump state and you were so critical of Trump.
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: Is that going to be -- is that going to be hurtful. Is your position on Trump going to be hurtful come November?
BROWN: I do my job and I'm not focused on the presidential and we're ready.
I think it's clear I've won by good margins by standing up for our workers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And I caught up with Jon Tester, also similar question to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: You've been critical of him. You voted to convict him twice. Is that going to hurt you in your race?
Your criticism of Trump, your votes against him. How are you going to win the Trump voters?
TESTER: We're going to do everything we need to do to win. We're going to talk about everything, what I've done, for conservation and veterans and making sure this this country is secure. And we've got a long, long list, it's a long one.
RAJU: What is a Trump-Tester voter. I mean someone who votes for you, voted for Trump --
TESTER: Yes.
RAJU: But you've been -- as you have been critical of Trump, how do you break that?
TESTER: Nobody's perfect 100 percent of the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: (INAUDIBLE). It's perfect, 100 percent of the time we're walking with (ph). And just to give the viewers a reminder of what happened in those states.
In Ohio, the 2018 Senate election results -- 53 points -- that's how close it was Brown. You want to get a different candidate through a different election cycle is not presidential elections. Jon Tester much closer -- but Trump won those states pretty-handedly.
And the question here is about split-ticket voters. Do they exist to a significant degree amid this very, very polarized electorate.
HERNDON: I mean, they exist in fewer and fewer numbers and we know that a lot of candidates say, oh, I'm going to take this out of the national race. I'm going to make this locally. We should have some skepticism about that.
(CROSSTALKING)
HERNDON: But with these two candidates specifically, I do think they have a good claim to that. You know, Sherrod Brown is someone who has proven consistently to have a kind of different type of electoral (INAUDIBLE) in Ohio than a lot of other Democrats have had.
Jon Tester is certainly had that true in Montana. And, you know, as we go around, I think there's space for Trump voters to be open to some criticisms of him.
And there is an understanding, even among Republicans, that this is not a fully perfect candidate. And I think that's particularly true when there's issues of agreement that they can find with other Democrats elsewhere.
And certainly Brown has made kind of economic, kind of worker empowerment, part of is, I think you're going to see democrats trying to make abortion part of that overlap two.
And so I don't think that it's out of the question that they can pull some of this stuff off. But the reason Republicans are trying to nationalize this race is to just say that these areas are top red in general to overcome those personality differences.
But you know, I was just in Wisconsin, another place where they have a difficult time and the number one thing that comes up for that Senate candidate Eric Hove there was about to (INAUDIBLE) from out of state because the fact that he seems like a missed bagging --
HERNDON: Carpetbagger, 100 percent. And so I'm saying there is a Republican candidate problem that they have on their own, even as they're trying to flip it on --
(CROSSTALKING)
RAJU: And that's exactly the strategy. Democrats want to go race by race, candidate by candidate. It's a terrible map, there was nothing. It's a very the uphill climb just because of those states where Democratic incumbents are trying to hang on in red-state that Trump won.
And just to get a sense on the candidate-by-candidate issue, by issue, (INAUDIBLE) sense of the ad campaigns that we're hearing in these key States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tester joined with President Biden and rolled it with the liberals again, to help President Biden stop building the wall.
Another millionaire out of stater, Tim Sheehy has got no Montana routs. And no idea what we're all about.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sherrod stood up to the drug company and capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. He cared so much for the people of Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last year, our daughter blessed our family with this cute little nugget. I'll fight for him and for your children to have a better future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: This strategy is pretty clear.
SIDDIQUI: Yes. And look, you have actually seen Democrats, especially in red states pivot to the right on issues like immigration because of some of the pressure that they're feeling from Republicans on border security.
But I do want to say to Astead's point on ticket-splitting. I mean not only are Tester and Bronw, particularly popular in their home states, but we are doing about former President Trump's problems with Nikki Haley voters.
The fact that in some of these Republican primaries, you know, he has struggled to appeal to moderate or Republican leaning independents. So that does show that there is still room for Democrats in Red states to potentially prevail against these efforts to tie them into their criticism of former president from.
RAJU: All right, Well see how it plays out.
Thank you guys.
Coming up. Stay tuned for the best jokes from last night's White House Correspondents.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:53:46]
RAJU: Last night here in Washington journalists, politicians, and celebrities gathered for the annual tradition that is the White House Correspondents Dinner to celebrate the importance of the free press.
President Biden was there taking shots at his rival on the campaign trail and no one was off limits for Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COLIN JOST, COMEDIAN: Before I begin tonight, can we just acknowledge how refreshing it is to see a president of the United States at an event that doesn't begin with a bailiff saying, all rise.
The Republican candidate for president owes half a billion in fines for bank fraud and is currently spending his days farting himself awake during a porn star hush money trial and the race is tied.
I was excited to be up here on stage with President Biden tonight, mostly to see if I could figure out where Obama was pulling the strings from.
It's also wonderful to be back in Washington. I love being in Washington. The last time I was in D.C., I left my cocaine at the White House. Luckily, the president was able to put it to good use for the State of the Union.
[08:55:00]
JOST: I'm not saying both candidates are old, but you know Jimmy Carter is out there thinking, I could maybe win this thing. He's only 99.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: But there were some serious moments from last night, including when the president called on Vladimir Putin to release Americans detained in Russia, including "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Putin should release Evan and all those immediately. Yes, we're doing everything we can. We're doing everything we can to play home journalists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY, you can follow me on X @mkRaju and follow the show at INSIDE POLITICS. If you ever miss an episode, you can catch up wherever you get your podcasts, just search for INSIDE POLITICS.
Up next State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Dana's guests include Senators Lindsey Graham and Bernie Sanders. Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
