CNN host Fareed Zakaria warned Democrats they need to face the reality that Joe Biden is going to lose to Donald Trump in November.
While Zakaria said he doesn’t want Trump to win, he admitted the former president will likely walk away with the win.
Transcript via Real Clear Politics:
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN: I have to admit none of this is playing out as I thought it would.
Trump is now leading in almost all the swing states. But behind those numbers lie even more troubling details. As someone worried about the prospects of a second Trump term, I think it’s best to be honest about reality. I understand that polls are not always accurate. But in general, they have tended to underestimate Donald Trump’s support, not overestimate it. I doubt that there are many shy Biden voters in the country.
The economy has been in a robust recovery for more than two years now, with unemployment hitting a 54-year low in 2023 and increasing only slightly since then. But Biden is getting little credit for it. The shift here is stark. On the question of whom voters trust more to deal with the economy, Trump has a 22-point lead over Biden, according to an NBC poll from January. This marks of a 15-point bump for Trump compared to the same poll in 2020.
Perhaps this is because inflation is a far more pervasive problem than unemployment, affecting all Americans every day. Perhaps it’s because people’s views on the economy now are largely derived from their broader attitudes towards the candidates. But whatever the reasons, it’s a stunning reversal in the midst of a relentless stream of good economic news.
On cultural issues, Biden and Democrats benefit from the opposition to the Republican Party’s position on abortion. But on the other great cultural issue, immigration, Biden is 35 points behind Trump as to who would handle it better. And I do wonder whether abortion will be as large an issue in a presidential race, given that reversing Roe v. Wade threw the issue to state governments and legislatures, and not the federal government.
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The news comes just weeks after a panel of CNN analysts agreed that the Manhattan case against Trump is all but doomed due to the lack of evidence.
David Chalian told his colleagues, “I’ve seen precious little evidence presented yet that Trump wasn’t floating above.”
“I mean, I’ve seen very little evidence of Trump’s direct involvement in getting this accomplished. Correct me if I’m wrong.”
“No, you’re right. A lot of that’s going to come from Michael Cohen,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said, the Daily Caller reports.
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BREAKING: Members of a CNN panel agreed that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has thus far failed to show significant evidence that former President Donald Trump was directly involved in the payments over which he is charged. pic.twitter.com/04zL8oA5uX
— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) May 3, 2024
READ: Dems Sound the Alarm: Biden Has No Chance of Beating Trump
