Last summer the coolest place in the house was in your freezer this year It's time to level up reliance home comfort has over 155,000 five-star reviews for delivering the type of outstanding customer experience Canadians have counted on for over 60 years Right now Don't pay for 12 months on a featured air conditioner or heat pump calling the experts that know how to beat the heat Conditions apply see website for details It's Thursday trouble ahead for truck challengers new polling shows the former president up big over his primary rival Nikki Haley in South Carolina As president Biden hits the trail with an eye on November quoting union voters in battleground Michigan Plus abortion access and the deciders in 2024 our new election year series asks women voters in battleground Pennsylvania about the impact of the Dobbs decision and what it means for their decision this November and A major apology defense secretary would often opens up about his health It means he should have told the public and the president about his cancer diagnosis and his emergency hospitalization Welcome to me the press now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington with new developments in the Republican presidential primary and the Democratic strategy To try to hang on to the White House in November on the Republican side a new poll out of Nikki Haley's homestate of South Carolina Showing Donald Trump beating her by 26 points after losing the first two contests Haley said on meet the press she has to do better in South Carolina than she did in New Hampshire and this poll shows She has work to do with her candidacy on the line Haley's campaign hit the airwaves in the Palmetto state today trying to convince voters that their former governor should be their future nominee South Carolina Donald Trump's gonna have a harder time faultfully attacking me the great people of South Carolina No, I cut their taxes They know I signed the toughest illegal immigration bill in the country Meanwhile president Biden hit the trail today to meet with a key Democratic voting block union workers in a key battleground state Michigan that trip comes after a recent set of polls from Bloomberg news and morning consult showed president Biden trailing former president Trump in Michigan and Virtually every other battleground state though some are within the margin of error in a sign of the political peril facing the president of Michigan and beyond his Visit was preceded by demonstrations calling for a ceasefire in Gaza led by a group called abandoned Biden and this area Eight out of ten Arab and Muslim voters voted for Joe Biden Obviously Joe Biden does not represent those people anymore Now there's another warning sign for Democrats today from our new series the deciders focus groups We are collaborating with engages Syracuse University and Sago to highlight and hear from key slices of the 2024 electorate Our first conversations featured 15 Pennsylvania women who voted for Trump in 2020 But who opposed the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade Democrats are hoping these types of voters could swing close elections But if last night was any indication they are still overwhelmingly standing by Trump take a listen to what they said By the show of fingers who would say former president Trump is at least partially responsible for Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court So none of you would say that he's at least partially responsible for it. Maybe just a little bit I think each other own right to choose what they want to do with their bodies But I mean, it's not a number one factor on who I'm going to vote for either way It's not that important.
I hate to say it, but it's overall it's probably not going to determine who I vote for it It's not on my top three reasons to vote for somebody. It means nothing in the grand scheme of everything to me I'm going to vote for who I think was going to do the best for my family Okay, and abortion is not part of that consideration at this point now who takes Trump So I've got basically everybody except Michelle for a moment. Let's imagine that the election is tomorrow By a show of fingers how many of you would take Trump six of the seven Just fascinating, but there's a potential warning sign for former president Trump there were 2020 supporters of his in that panel who said they can't support him any more We're gonna delve into all of this. MBC's Ali Vitale is following the Haley campaign in South Carolina MBC's von Hilliard is with Trump in Las Vegas MBC's Monica Alba is with President Biden in Detroit and MBC's Amy Shausendor is here with me on set with more on those focus groups Ali, I have to start with you and Nikki Haley She got some tough new poll numbers out today after telling me last weekend that she has to do better in South Carolina Then she did in New Hampshire.
It shows she has a work cut out for her Yeah, that's definitely the case here Kristen because over the last few weeks as I and you have asked Haley what the metric for success is here in South Carolina She simply keeps it vague instead saying she's got to do better here than she did in New Hampshire and her metric for success in New Hampshire Was doing better there than she did in Iowa, so they want to show a consistent upward trajectory But again, they are doing so against the backdrop of tough poll numbers Yes, there's those that just came out today But of course we have seen Trump with a sizable lead in this state over the course of the last several months of this primary The only thing that makes South Carolina I think feel a little different is the fact that Haley herself would call this her sweet state of South Carolina Because it is her home state. She's one here statewide twice in both of her gubernatorial elections She says that's something that's gonna help her here in this upcoming primary But the other thing that's gonna help her I think is the way that she's going out the former president Her only and she've rival at this point talking about his age talking about his mental fitness But I find it fascinating to see the ways that she's engaging on his legal troubles engaging with them In theory if not in substance listen to her earlier today And now it comes out our campaign reports have come out And he's used 50 million dollars of his campaign funds Unlegal fees His court cases have just started There are two more in March and it goes out for the rest of the year Do you really think he's gonna win against Joe Biden when he's spending all of that money on legal fees? He's not So Haley there christen mixing her regular electability argument where she looks toward the general and sites polls that show her doing better than Trump Against president Biden, but then also making this argument that we've heard now several times on the campaign trail that Trump has a split focus If he's focused on his court cases and his ongoing legal jeopardy He's not able to focus on the issues facing the country something Haley says she's capable of doing We have definitely seen her rhetoric ramp up in these recent weeks There's no doubt about that. Allie.
Let me ask you about another finding in this poll because if you delve into these numbers One of the biggest problems for Nikki Haley is her favorability numbers Which went down since this became a two-person race What is the campaign saying about this is this just the product of running one-on-one against Trump I think that is exactly the explanation christen We've seen this in other polls across early states The way that Haley's favorability has suffered when trump has put her in his crosshairs and landed multiple attacks on her We saw the same thing go on with florida governor ronda santis anyone who is the person against trump and in this case the binary That Haley has always wanted is just that they innately will have their favorability ratings impacted That being said for Haley the coalition that she's trying to build in south carolina in theory it tracks with what we saw in a place like new hampshire Trying to pull in maybe reluctant republicans, but certainly independence maybe here even some democrats But the demographics of this state are so different new hampshire was fertile ground for a coalition like that South carolina much super health decline even for someone like haley who it's our home state That's right. It's much more like an eyewear where you have a large swath of evangelical voters Absolutely part of what is making this such an uphill battle for Nikki haley fantastic reporting as always alia Tally thank you great to see you our von hilliard is out in las vegas following the trump campaign. He has the very latest Hey christen look Donald trump hasn't held a single campaign event in south carolina since his eyewa and new hampshire wins And this new poll from washington post and monmouth indicates why in south carolina that poll shows him with a 26 point lead over Nikki haley 58 percent to 32 percent for haley and he the folks that said donald trump They are a more enthusiastic group of supporters than those who said that they intend to go vote for Nikki haley in our home state And so these are just troubling signs for haley's candidacy at a time in which the republican national committee is very much trying to focus its attention On joe biden in general election i'm here in las vegas where the rnc is holding its annual winter meeting And i've had conversations with numerous rnc committee men and women These are key party activists from states around the country and they have very much indicated to me that they are very focused on Having donald trump to be the nominee and beginning to uh set up the joint fundraising operation that would formalize the fundraising Team between the trump campaign and rnc and fec filings overnight these new financial records show that in the last six months of last year Joe biden's campaign reelection campaign out fund raise donald trump's campaign But also the super pack aligned with donald trump almost two-thirds of its month Its money was sent to another organization that has been helping donald trump with legal fees Which is heightening concern because donald trump's legal quagmire is still very much To today and the months ahead is he still awaits for criminal trials in last year alone more than 50 million dollars going to legal fees and consultation And so for donald trump while he sees sturdy primary polling uh for him very much the concern turns toward the general election and the party apparatus This ability to effectively fundraise all while knowing uh trump still is using uh the affiliated super packs as he Legal big events and so for him, uh, this is a really an important spring here While niki haley still is trying to beat him in the primary not only in south carolina at the end of the month But uh on super tuesday as well on march 5th christen all right fun hill here Thank you for that monica. Let me turn to you now They're obviously some protests we're talking about surrounding president biden's visit to michigan This follows a series of protests that you guys were tracking last week when he was out on the trail So break down what are his goals of this trip?
How are they responding to the protesters? Exactly christen and the president is currently here in the detroit area meeting with united auto workers union workers specifically And really trying to build on that momentum from the endorsement But right outside of where that meeting is taking place We are seeing dozens of protesters who have gathered there in war in michigan to really make their position very clear And many of them according to our team who's been speaking to them Supported the president back in 2020 these are people who they say would have voted for him again But because of the biden administration's continued support of israel in its war against hamas They are saying that right now they cannot vote for joe biden and they are leading This movement that is called the abandoned biden movement to continually point out that they want to call for a complete ceasefire there Because of the high number of civilian casualties of palestinians and they are really doing this now In a way that you're seeing more often on the trail when the president is traveling and it's not just here in michigan But elsewhere but the reason that the president is coming to this critical battleground state is to make this larger economic argument That is bolstered by this key union support So you really see the president here trying to navigate the complexities of wanting to build on that domestically While really dealing with the foreign policy implications of his own decisions with voters that he will need If he wants to win a state like this or a state like wisconsin So you're really seeing both of these things and these competing interests on display here today christen We are and as you've been talking and giving us your great reporting monica We've been watching live pictures of those protesters some even holding signs that say quote genocide joe Which underscores monica I think the breadth of this political problem for president biden i've spoken to some of these supporters who say look One-time supporters I should say who say they cannot see themselves going back to president biden But what is the strategy to try to win some of these folks back monica? What's the campaign telling you about that? And this was really clear last week when the biden campaign manager julietovis Rodriguez came to dearborn michigan She was supposed to sit down with some key leaders in the arab american community There were some who said look we don't really want to sit down with you and have this conversation There were others who did so they were trying to make those connections and have these conversations The white house has said that in the coming days and weeks are going to be seeing some white house officials others Connected to the campaign and the reelection effort come back to michigan to try to have these discussions But it's clearly quite fraught because the president himself who is here We know for this union driven event is not sitting down with members of this community that we know of that's not what is planned Or in the schedule today But so far since the war began on october 7th the white house and the campaign say there have been nearly a hundred conversations between key officials In the biden orbit and these key community members and they want to continue that cadence But clearly there are calls for the president to reach out in a different way perhaps as well christen Yeah, that type of outreach could be key There's no doubt about that monica but thank you for your great reporting great to see you as always Let's turn out to you michaelson dory amish Great to have you here Let's go back to those voters who we heard from in the panel at the top of the show Just extraordinary to hear from them to hear them say that they are opposed to rovie wade having been overturned But they don't blame trump for that despite the fact that he appointed the three supreme court justices who made that possible And that for the most part they're planning to support him What does all of this tell us and what are the other big takeaways?
Well, this was really a fascinating fascinating focus group to watch And the big headline is that they do not blame for president trump for overturning rovie wade Decision that they do not agree with even though he of course was the one who appointed three justices who made it possible for rovie wade He overturned even though former president trump is on the campaign trail saying he's proud of the role he took They just saying you know, there are other things the democrats could have something differently former late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could have retired They said so there were all these other reasons other than blaming former president trump the other big takeaway here is that abortion is just not a top issue for These women now we should say this is a slight of the electorate, right? Either women who voted for Donald Trump will oppose ro in Pennsylvania That's the group But they said that they see border security and the economy as their top issues even as they said christen that abortion is a top women's issue Their personal issue and also they support a national ban on abortion up to 15 weeks So even though they agree that the job decision was wrong in their minds They do not agree with the idea that a national abortion ban would be a problem Which is a key problem make for democrats who have been really trying to motivate voters to support them making the case that oh If they're more republicans elected, there's gonna be this national abortion ban These women said as long as it's up to 15 weeks meaning that if it was 12 weeks or six weeks They wouldn't support that but up to 15 weeks. They're okay with a national abortion ban It's just fascinating because it challenges what we have learned in these past elections Which is that abortion has been motivating in the midterms in special elections that it has typically benefited What does this focus group say writ large about the strength of trump's support? What it says is that donald trump's support is pretty steady.
Um, these women even as they oppose ro are super pants fans of the former president Let's take a listen to what they said Lisa, what's your reaction when trump says that he's proud of the overturn road you wait? I don't like I don't like that comment. Um, I think it's terrible I like trump, but then I do disagree with that part of his beliefs But on the same sense I get his religious beliefs and I get a lot of the religious I understand a lot of people's religious beliefs on that situation So I'm so like torn in the middle where me personally I don't believe it and I can't believe he says it like that But on the other hand, I could see how and why he would be proud of that Okay Angie, what about you kind of gross grossly said it. Yeah, why?
Um, I can believe that I said it Um, but it's just gross to think it that that somebody can even be that disrespectful but um Yeah, that's all So a reminder that even though they don't like that the Donald trump is out on the campaign trial saying that he's proud of overturning road They still will vote for him. So even those strong comments that you heard they really twist themselves in their pretzels making the case that they would support former president trump They said at one point. Well, you know, he's the generational guys older. That's why he talks about women in a way that i'm not comfortable with He's trying to ride with proud.
That's why he's saying this proudly doesn't really mean it They also physically sort of were just showing their disdain of for the former for the current president president Biden Which just shows you that even though they don't like the things that trump are saying There's no way that these group of women would vote for president Biden and that's a big problem for democrats It is a big problem indeed, and it's just so enlightening and each thank you so much Appreciate it great to see you here in person coming up work He take away from our focus group with voters in pennsylvania and what it says about the road to the white house plus the pentagon preparing for retaliation We'll have the very latest on the anticipated us response to the deadly drone strike that killed three us service members Stay with us. You're watching meet the press now They have a lucky billy. I have a lot more Welcome back defense secretary would also answer questions for the first time today Since returning to the pentagon following his prostate cancer diagnosis and subsequent stay at the icu after suffering complications The defense secretary called the diagnosis a gut punch that he wanted to keep private and took full responsibility for how the situation unfolded listen I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis.
I should have also told my team and the american public And I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the american people Now it comes as the us prepares what secretary austin described as a multi-tiered response to the deadly drone attack in jordan earlier this week That killed three us soldiers and injured dozens of other service members. Here's how the secretary described the current situation in the region This is a dangerous moment in the middle east We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in a region But we will take all necessary actions to defend the united states our interest and our people And we will respond when we choose where we choose and how we choose Joining me now is peter allexander who was in that press conference and i'm also joined by retired admiral james davridis former native supreme allied commander and mbc news chief international analyst peter let me start with you obviously there was a Lot of speculation about what might happen in the wake of secretary austin not being forthcoming with his cancer diagnosis today We heard him say he has the full confidence of the president. He fielded a lot of questions about this though peter What were your key takeaways?
Well, that's right and as you just played there really was a frank and forthcoming apology from the defense secretary loyd austin here He said his first instinct after receiving the prostate cancer diagnosis was to keep it private in effect He said he didn't want to bother the commander in chief with that given the president has so much other information on his plate But he did acknowledge that this was a mistake and he said it's one that he wanted to make clear that he got right moving forward He also viewed it as a missed opportunity to speak out publicly with sort of a public health Statement effectively saying particularly to black men in america that as he described a prostate cancer has a glass jaw He said that those men should get stream screen But to be clear, I think that the biggest significant statement he made christen was that he regrets the way This was handled and in effect that he ordered nobody to withhold it from the white house in front of commander in chief He took responsibility himself He did peter and it was really stunning to hear from him directly about this You were among those pressing the defense secretary about the response to the three us service members who were killed Talk about what you learned what did the secretary say about the retaliatory strikes? What were your big takeaways there? Well, multiple officials that we've been speaking to says say that the us is now preparing for what will be a multi target potentially multi week Campaign to take out iranian backed proxies militia groups throughout that region here is how the secretary himself describe the us effort ahead It's time to take away even more capability than we've taken in the past in terms of the use of term escalation We've not described what our response is going to be But we look to hold the people that are responsible for this accountable He said that those iranian proxies have capabilities, but in his words, I have a lot more present Peter before I let you go very quickly on another topic the white house announcing action targeting violent settlers in the west bank a new executive order What can you tell us about that? Yeah, this is the most significant move so far by president biden his administration specifically as it relates to Israeli settlers there in the west bank a united nations Group has provided details suggesting that there have been about 500 separate attacks since october 7th Including the death of at least eight palestinians at the hands of israeli settlers including one child by the way So what this will do this new executive order in effect will levy financial sanctions and even some visa bans on some specific individuals in the west bank Peter covering all of the angles for us from the white house after being in that news conference We'll let you go so you can work on nightly news and we will catch you then Peter Thank you so much and most of it is let me turn to you and let's talk about These retaliatory strikes as you just heard peter say there could be a multi-pronged response It could last for several weeks What are you anticipating and what do you make of the timing the fact that they seem to be giving time?
For for Iranian back to militia some of them to leave countries like iraq seria and yemen Before I go there, I just want to commend loyed austin for standing up taking responsibility apologizing boy We need a lot more of that when people make mistakes. I have a lot of respect for loyd In terms of the retaliatory strikes, I think we're doing this the right way Which is that the administration has tried for a couple of months to dissuade the Iranians from pushing the proxies to conduct these attacks Both at sea and ashore that has not been sufficient So now you ratchet it up you escalate I think the big difference this time person is going to be in two ways one it will go on longer And number two, I think these strikes will go not just against Iranian proxies But against the Iranian revolutionary guard who are ford deployed outside of iran but are actively supporting these militias I think that will help send a stronger signal to the Iranians final thought if that doesn't work The administration is going to have to consider strikes inside iran We don't want to end up there. Let's hope the moulas will be listening to this next round I'm so glad you bring that up because I want to get your response to what we're hearing from iran iran is warning quote No, us threat to iran will go on answered How should the united states take that warning and to your point there is a scenario where the us could potentially have to strike inside iran Wouldn't that lead to a wider war admiral? It would and we want to avoid that on the other hand Simply saying oh now we're frightened that iran has said don't attack us Let's not do anything is not a good option either So we're going to play the ball down the middle here come in very high Hard but continue to strike outside of iran if we have to go into iran That's a whole different conversation a lot of different options at play there You probably would go after Iranian ships their maritime capability They're at sea platforms and by the way christen you can also add cyber attacks to this mix Which would have impact inside iran as well as outside again I think the administration is making the smart move at this point Let's hold that card of attacking iran directly back at least thus far Let me follow up with you on this idea of cyber attacks Do you think that that that is one of the options the administration is considering and and is there a concern that iran will retaliate regardless of What the us does what the next steps look like?
Yeah, a hundred percent certain that in the package of options the president is receiving There are offensive cyber attacks both outside iran going after the militia groups and their infrastructure But I suspect also potentially using cyber means inside of uh iran itself in terms of should we be afraid of the iranians? Responding I would be concerned about it But not as concerned as I would be if we were going offensive with cyber in china or russia They have a lot more capability to retaliate I think we could overmatch the iranians and cyber quite easily and admiral just before I let you go Let me ask you about one more thing that secretary austin said He basically was asked about whether this would lead to withdrawing us troops from the region He said no that that is not under consideration right now Is that the right move and is there something that could target the us to potentially start removing troops? It is the right move for us not to withdraw troops particularly in the face of iranian aggression and let's keep this in perspective We have 2,500 troops in iraq may be 500 in seria. That's 3,000 troops At one point as you well know when I was the pre malite commander of nato I had 150,000 troops under my command in afghanistan We had 170,000 troops in iraq This is a minimal presence doing good work counter-terrorism working with the iraqis against the aslamic state The last thing in the world we should do is pull them out because the iranians tell us to all right Well, we always appreciate your insights and your perspective retired animal dreams to free this Thank you so much for joining us.
You bet christen coming up next the question of the day on capital hill deal or no deal We'll tell you where things stand you're watching with the press now Welcome back. We want to head to capital hill now where those bipartisan senate negotiations to address the crisis of the southern border Appear to have resulted in a final deal potentially because senate majority leader chucks you weren't going to the senate floor this afternoon to tell members that They'll soon be able to read it for themselves along with the broader national security legislation It's part of listen I want members to be aware that we plan to post the full text of the national security supplemental as early as tomorrow No later than sunday That will give members plenty of time to read the bill before voting on it But even if the bill passes the senate it faces a roadblock in the house where republicans are loudly opposing it It's former president trump hopes to make immigration a key 2024 issue Meanwhile the house overwhelmingly passed a tax package that includes an expansion of the child tax credit But that bill's path in the senate also remains uncertain in part due to presidential politics in some very frank comments Reporters republican chock grasley said quote passing a tax bill that makes the president look good mailing out checks before the election Means he could be reelected and then we won't extend the 2017 tax cuts the bill includes tax credits not checks But grasley's comments reflect a recurring theme of how electoral politics complicates policy-making especially an election year joining now for capital Hill is nbc's ryan nobles ryan good to see you. Thanks for being here So let's talk about what we just heard from chuck Schumer He says that there could be legislative text as early as tomorrow as late as sunday is someone who has a sunday show We hope it comes out before sunday But what are your expectations here? What are you hearing?
Yeah, it would be terrific because I don't you have a lot planned for this weekend for you to be able to react to real time to that legislation by sunday Morning you do get the sense that they are very close to getting something over the finish line that negotiators I have been working on this pretty diligently for the past three weeks And they're in a place now where basically all the big hurdles have been crossed And they're now ready to put something else to put something out for the rest of their colleagues to digest And you know when we say that there's a deal on capital hill that's always with an aster Right because once the deal is hatched with the negotiators it then has to go out to the broader membership to get allowed Then the chance to weigh in and that's part of what senator shim was talking about today He wants to give a couple of days for lawmakers to take a look at this before they actually begin the process of voting sometime midweek But there is optimism that this will be enough to get the 60 votes in the senate The broader question then becomes christen as you rightly point out is this something the house will even take up It's important to point out that while speaker johnson has been very critical of what he's heard about the legislation He has not looked in on the specificity of what is actually going to be in this text yet So he's left himself for some wiggle room that once this bill comes out that is it is perhaps something he could support So there's still a lot that needs to be done here But there is a chance that this could eventually become long in your future Which would just be remarkable given how intractable the issue of migration and the border has historically been But let's just take a step back and remind folks that part of the broader goal here is to tie this Defending for a to israel and a to ukraine ryan Where does that piece of this stand is it possible? We could see a process where they split it up into two or maybe even three bills I think it is possible christen and it really depends on what happens with the border piece It for weeks They've been telling us this is all or nothing and just basically yesterday We started to see lawmakers open the door to the idea that if they can't come to an agreement on the border package Then there needs to be a separate conversation about funding to ukraine and israel And I think that's because there is a real reality here that while Congress has been fighting over immigration for decades the situation with in ukraine has a very direct and real A short-term necessity in which it needs to be addressed now That doesn't mean it's gonna make it any easier part of the reason they packaged all these things together christen Was because they wanted to use the leverage to drawing conservators that cared about immigration But maybe we're nervous about ukraine and connect them with those who are really concerned about ukraine But we're maybe nervous about a tough border package So you're not gonna have that leverage anymore if you separate these pieces out So it doesn't make it any easier to separate them but to answer your question they're at least open to that should this supplemental That's all together fall apart all right Well, it certainly is complicated. Thank you for helping us understand it ryan nobles We appreciate it. We know it's gonna be a busy few days for you as you tease We have a big sunday coming up speaker of the house mike johnson will be my exclusive guest this sunday on meet the press Do not miss it lot to discuss with him and just ahead mind the gap another new poll shows niki haley way behind donald trump is haley And says she's in the race through super tuesday even if she loses her home state you're watching meet the press now Welcome back.
We have more from the first in our series of deciders focus groups women voters from pennsylvania who supported donald trump in 2020 And opposed the overturning of rovers is weighed the moderator asked them what it means to be a trump supporter and a feminist take a listen to what they said Tell me what it means to be a trump voting feminist Why is it contradiction? Because as we've all seen trump doesn't necessarily treat women as equals well, that is sort of like an oxymoron but i look at his generation and in business back in the set 60 70s and 80s was so different and nowadays you know that it's turned around You know the me to movement everything else and i'm hoping that he's adjusting To really how to treat women. He does have a good part. He does have his own strong part So I will put those ahead of my feminist beliefs Join me now on set is a kayla garter white house reporter from bloomberg news former florida democratic congresswoman Stephanie murphy and former pennsylvania republican congressman charlie dent.
Thank you all for being here kayla I want to start with you Obviously the margins are so important when you are talking about the suburbs of philadelphia Which is where these voters are located. What do you make of what we heard? I think this is just evidence that you know abortion is not always a single issue for voters both for democrats and for republicans And I do think that these voters can exist in the trump coalition partly because he's admitted that abortion has been a weakness for democrats He's acknowledged that the midterms not all of his candidates that he endorsed did well And so I do think there's some room here for some of these voters in his coalition Well, that is going to be I think the question can buy and charlie win over any of these voters This discussion suggests they can't a kayla's right abortion This discussion about abortion shows that these are not single issue voters But what were your takeaways you obviously don't pencil vaney very well These were trump voters that they were talking to so i'm not surprised that many of them said they would not change their votes But uh, the real problem is going to be on the abortion issue for republicans is these are these swing voters You know who aren't wedded to either candidate who will be impacted by this who will who will be affected I was a last republican in the house. We voted not to defund plan parenthood and I go against 20 with abortion ban And so I can tell you this is a real vulnerability for republicans I get it trump was always never seen as an ideological doctrine air candidate And so I think some of his voters will give him some slack But the problem is going to be with those swinging independent voters Stephanie, what do you make of this and The fact that abortion as charlie is saying has been seen as a vulnerability for republicans democrats feel is though It's something that can help energize their voters swing voters independent voters moderate voters Is anything that you heard in that panel changer thinking, you know, I actually think democrats have taken the Moments when abortion has been on the ballot by itself and those wins there They've gotten the wrong message from it in those vote those elections people were able to vote for say a republican candidate And then vote their perspective on abortion and they took that to mean that if abortion is Tied to a candidate the votes will be the same and I don't think that that's true And you see a little bit of heat of it here where people can rationalize their support for trump His base is incredible at doing that.
So your messages don't over index. Oh, and that's correct this issue I want to play something that these voters said about Nikki Haley, which is also revealing is we're about three weeks out from south carolina primary Who would take Nikki Haley over president biden if they were running against each other in november and trump were not part of the picture at that point Who would take Nikki Haley over president biden? Just three of you buy a show of fingers who would take Nikki Haley over president biden If they were running against each other in november and trump was not in the race Who would take Haley over biden assuming trump's not in the picture So i got seven of you so everybody but it's a daisy not you but everybody else It's definitely it's so interesting because the polls showed Nikki Haley does really well against president biden But these women in this focus group were a little less enthusiastic. I think yeah, I think that was hilarious that woman Yeah, great and I think that's going to be the challenge for Nikki is that she just doesn't have the enthusiasm where we know that trump's voters are incredibly enthusiastic Incredibly loyal to him and we've seen it in the primary races today.
It's been hard for her to overcome that Yeah, it's notable because she has really stepped up her rhetoric charlie. Yeah, we got this new round of polling today including this National poll which shows trump leading Haley 70 percent to 19 percent That comes on the heels of the poll that we got out of south carolina Which shows trump leading by nearly 30 points and charlie? What's notable is Nikki Haley has really intensified her rhetoric her attacks against former president Trump and the big question I think for everyone is this strategy gonna work? Well, she's intensified those attacks belatedly I'm glad she's doing it, but I think there's a problem that donald trump has we don't talk enough about there He has some real base erosion.
Yes, he's he's clobbering Nikki Haley in that poll But I think there's gonna be a significant of republicans Maybe as many as 20 percent who will not vote for him in general election and the problem among independence for donald trump is even worse We're not talking about that enough and that's why when Nikki Haley makes the electability argument I think that resonates with a lot of people because you see these polls showing that she performs much better head-to-head against Joe Biden than does Donald Trump absolutely trump has a very low ceiling Akhala, what do you make of that? I think what's really interesting about the clip that you just played those were obviously all women voters and obviously Nikki Haley is the only one Lessening in this race, but that has not been able to energize republican voters the way that it has for maybe like a Hillary Clinton But what's been really interesting about Nikki Haley is she continues to bring in donations She fund she had more fundraising than trump in the fourth quarter But it seems that wall street continues to back her billionaires continue to back her But she has not been able to grasp the electorate that trump has and that's ultimately what you need to win an election Notice that she's making a case that he is spending 50 cents on the dollar for every donation that he gets paying off his own legal Bills as opposed putting that to a general election whereas for her she doesn't have that overhang that's right And she says she's in this she told me last week She just needs to do better than she did in New Hampshire We'll see if she can do that. Let's talk about President Biden again Let's look at the latest polling that we have in a Biden Trump matchup Trump beating him in this latest poll 49 to 45 Percent that it has already set off alarm bells. We know inside the Democratic Party We have President Biden out in Michigan today talking about the economy there.
There were protesters there He's facing a lot of headwinds. He is we've seen back-to-back polls now showing Biden trailing Trump And I think the issue here is he's been weak among core Relations that could be black voters that could be young voters air of Americans that obviously he's in Michigan today Where there's a large population of the Muslim community there that have really been almost telling voters telling telling the press essentially that They will not support Biden because of his stance on the Israel Moss war So he has these really core weaknesses with some of these groups that really helped him win in 2020 And he needs them to come out again for him Stephanie I think that Kayla hits the nail in the head of why Democrats are so concerned because of these core groups who seem to be Turning their backs. Yeah, so while Trump's base is solid and behind him Biden's base is fragmenting in large pieces And the fact that he's being protested essentially by his base He's trying to talk about the economy and they were shouting him down And if this continues how is he going to be able to campaign and get his message out when his own people are creating chaos at his events? Charlie does he have enough time to come back?
We're less than a year out. Yeah, he does But you know a lot of people voted for Joe Biden voted for him because they dislike Donald Trump That's that's the harsh reality. Trump supporters are much more motivated for him Like I said, I said a few moments ago Biden's big hope here is that you know these independence And these soft Republicans come his way. That's what he's banking on now.
He's also got another problem. They both have a problem They're gonna be a lot of people who are voting for neither You know these guys they think one's too old one's too crazy and this poll shows a crazy being old But that's that's true, but a lot of them aren't gonna vote for either candidate and you're gonna see an enormous number of people voting for someone Other than you still that's why we're watching so close it to see if there's a third party candidate great conversation Thank you so much a Kayla Gardner Stephanie Murphy Charlie dense. Thank you for being here still ahead this hour a Georgia election trial No, the other one we are live in Atlanta for closing arguments in the case over the state's voting machine systems Well, let's play and you're watching with the press now Welcome back turning out a Georgia we're closing arguments in a years-long legal battle over election machines just wrapped up With a judge set to rule in a civil case that could potentially have major repercussions for the upcoming election cycle In a lawsuit initially brought by an advocacy group in 2017 The plaintiffs argue that dominion voting machines used in Georgia are vulnerable to hacking and errors and that their use could violate voters Rights state election officials have doubled down that the system is safe and secure and have testified overhauling the system in an election year would be Quote nightmarish Georgia's presidential primary is slated for March 12th Joining me now to discuss this from Atlanta is embassy's jane Tim jane. Thanks so much for joining me So you've been following what's happening inside the courtroom as closing arguments for the case take place today What can you tell us?
President this case is dominions these controversial voting machines in Georgia their biggest test yet And we should say there's no actual allegations or proof of real fraud in this case for the most part But it's about whether or not the risk of fraud is so profound that they are vulnerable so vulnerable that they violate constitutional rights of the voters here Now the state says in the real world these hacks that you're talking about these vulnerabilities They just earned a risk where they're a managed risk They say that the kind of things that we've seen in this trial Which included someone hacking a machine with just a big pen Wouldn't happen in real life. They say this machine is secure But this judge she tossed the last voting system here in Georgia back in 2019 And if she does it again, it will even cast doubt on this system in a contentious election year Uh, it's gonna cast out on Georgia's election system overall It's gonna make voters feel less secure because a federal judge has come out and said these machines are real hackable Well, good job talking over those sirens jane. We have about a minute left Let me ask you just to put this into a big picture. This actually dates predates I should say the 2020 election.
Why is this case so important? You know this case is historic not just because it got another election system tossed out one that election experts pretty broadly agreed It was completely unauditable But because Georgia's elections so good elections here so the rest of the country If a federal judge tosses these machines they will be used to cast doubt on other election machines all around the country And as you said this was also predates trump and his allies turning on the election machines claiming they were hacked and they're all these flip votes But you know the ruling is going to happen in an environment where trump allies are using it to make hay no matter what she says Well, we appreciate you're being there and breaking it all down for us We know you'll continue to watch it closely jane dim. Thank you so much for your great reporting Emmys news now coverage continues with my friend holly jackson right now I'm craig malph cheers. Cheers.
Cheers. I've always been a glass half-hole kind of guy And now i'm talking to some people who look at the world that way too Some really fascinating folks who shared their defining moments their triumphs the challenges their stories are funny And if I can't it so I hope you'll join me each week who knows you might just come away with your own glass apple Search glass apple with craig malphoon from today on youtube and wherever you get your podcast