Following in the footsteps of its first two voter panels each of which featured a sample strongly slanted to the left, CNN's New Day on Thursday unveiled its third gathering of voters, this time featuring a lone conservative pitted against four liberals in a group from Iowa which also included as its sixth member one Republican who did not express any ideological views.
Additionally, CNN viewers were treated to Democratic voters who eagerly defended Hillary Clinton's integrity, praised socialist Bernie Sanders, and lectured Republicans about how best to win over independent voters. The only self-identified independent in the group -- which included three Democrats and only two Republicans -- clearly leaned left as she declared that she "would love to see" Senator Sanders "go far" in the presidential race:
JOHN BERMAN: Christina, you're an independent. Do his ideas -- he's pretty far left. I mean, this is a guy who's actually a self-identified socialist.
CHRISTINA FERNANDEZ-MORROW, INDEPENDENT VOTER: Right. You know, I'm glad he's in there because he's putting ideas in people's heads about what they should be expecting from other candidates, so I like it. I kind of feel like he's an agitator. And I would love to see him go far.
And to top it off, CNN's John Berman, who conducted the pre-recorded session with the six voters, made sure to label the one clearly identifiable conservative in the room as a "self-identified social conservative," while all the liberal members were left without ideological labels.
The closest thing to moderation from the liberal members came when one Democratic participant asserted that he was considering voting for Jeb Bush, before he proceeded to advise Republicans on how to win over independents:
JOHN BERMAN: Himar, you're a Democrat, but you say you're considering Jeb Bush.
HIMAR HERNANDEZ, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: Well, Jeb definitely has an appeal for Latinos. If I was Republican I would say it would be stupid for the Republican party not to go after Jeb Bush because he's the only one that's going to be able to get the independent votes. All the other ones are too far right to get anybody in the middle.
After the pre-recorded piece finished airing, CNN co-host Chris Cuomo praised Berman for allegedly doing a "good job" with the segment:
You did a good job. You really helped these people come out and express what's going to motivate them with the debates right around the corner for the GOP. Important time to have that.
The first of CNN's recent voter panels, selected from New Hampshire, aired several weeks ago and bizarrely included a Republican who spoke positively of far left socialist Bernie Sanders. A second panel featuring voters from South Carolina showed one Republican who oddly complained that moderate Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is "super conservative."
Below is a complete transcript of the segment which aired at about 8:20 a.m. on the Thursday, July 9, New Day on CNN:
MICHAELA PEREIRA: Well, the 2016 presidential field is certainly filled with a variety of candidates -- Donald Trump all the way to Hillary Clinton. What are voters thinking and what do they have to say? John Berman got some answers in the state where all political eyes are focused. Fresh back from Iowa.
JOHN BERMAN: Fresh back from Iowa. Boy are my arms tired. Now, look, the caucuses are just about six months away. It's pretty soon relatively for them. They are paying attention and they are checking out these candidates one by one and putting them through the motions.
BERMAN (PRE-RECORDED): You hear a guy like Donald Trump, for instance, get up and say things on immigration that make it sound so easy. Basically, build a wall on the border, he says. He says that the people coming over, among them are rapists and criminals and murderers. When you hear a candidate use words like that, does it make you stand up and listen? Or does it make you shake your head?
CHRISTINA FERNANDEZ-MORROW, INDEPENDENT VOTER: It makes me shake my head, I mean, and I think to myself this man has all this money, and he is on this platform just spewing such ignorance. I believe that he is saying what a lot of people are too afraid to say. It's not a PC thing to say. That doesn't mean that he's saying a fact, and it doesn't mean that those people are believing what is true.
KESHO SCOTT, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I think his comments are -- reflect a cultural insensitivity that the diversity movement for the last 25 years have been trying to reverse.
BERMAN: Could anyone at this table under any circumstances see themselves voting for Donald Trump?
ADAM VANDALL, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes.
BERMAN: Why?
VANDALL: He's a very shrewd businessman, you know, so I think he would be able to at least guide Congress in a little bit better way to maybe perhaps pay down the $18 trillion debt that we're incurring.
BERMAN: Barbara, you've met him?
BARBARA DETERMAN, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes, I have. I've met several of the candidates, and I'm holding all judgment on all of them because it's way too early.
BERMAN: You're listening to what he says?
DETERMAN: Oh, of course. I listen to all of them. I would be very closed minded not to listen to every single one on both sides.
BERMAN: Himar, you don't want to listen anymore. You're shaking your head.
HIMAR HERNANDEZ, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: People need to be responsible for their comments and actions, and we cannot say you can say whatever you want in a free country and say nothing is going to happen to you. I think-
DANIEL HOFFMAN-ZIMMEL, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: There's repercussions.
HERNANDEZ: There's repercussions. And I think the problem with Trump if he became President is he has zero credibility now in the world now that he's presented himself the way that he did.
BERMAN: Let's talk about Hillary. Six in ten voters, they don't exactly say they trust Hillary Clinton. They say they're not sure where they trust her. Hillary said people should and do trust me. Is she right?
SCOTT: I think in Iowa people generally trust Hillary Clinton because she has a record in connection with what's happened in the last several years, in terms of education, in terms of being critical of the foreign wars. So I think they do.
HOFFMAN-ZIMMEL: She's someone that I've always respected and trusted all along, and so I think she's done a great job as Secretary of State when she was Secretary of State. And I think Iowans believe that they can trust her now.
BERMAN: So, Bernie Sanders, he is drawing thousands of people. What do you all think of Bernie?
HOFFMAN-ZIMMEL: I think he has a lot of great proposals for people that are coming of age and going to college. That's something that I really respect.
BERMAN: Is he for real?
SCOTT: I think that he will do what whips do in political elections, and they will push the other candidates to be more clearer. And I think in that he should be taken more seriously.
BERMAN: Christina, you're an independent. Do his ideas -- he's pretty far left. I mean, this is a guy who's actually a self-identified socialist.
FERNANDEZ-MORROW: Right. You know, I'm glad he's in there because he's putting ideas in people's heads about what they should be expecting from other candidates, so I like it. I kind of feel like he's an agitator. And I would love to see him go far.
BERMAN: I'm going to talk about the Republicans now. You guys have a dozen, couple dozen, three dozen, four dozen people running. Barbara, what do you make of the field?
DETERMAN: I think it's great. It's absolutely great because we get to talk a lot of different issues. And at the end of the day it's going to come down to a person who is a strong leader for me and a strong person in a lot of different areas.
SCOTT: But what I want to add to that is what I think is exciting is that we have a large number of Republican candidates of diversity. And in my lifetime at 62 we haven't had that diversity.
BERMAN: You have Ben Carson.
SCOTT: Absolutely.
BERMAN: You have, the guy is a brain surgeon, African-American brain surgeon.
SCOTT: Absolutely. From Detroit.
BERMAN: You have Carly Fiorina, a female executive.
SCOTT: So I think that they will be able -- what's exciting about that is that they will be able to have conversations about things like race, violence, immigration, that are important to people of color. And I'm interested in having those conversations when I've been in elections in my life where no one ever discussed race, right? So I think that's what's exciting. You're right, it's too early to tell, but it's going to be exciting to hear.
BERMAN: Adam, you have got -- you're a self-described social conservative. You got a lot of them running in the field right now.
VANDALL: We do. My top candidates right now would be Ted Cruz, I'm still looking at Mike Huckabee. Rick Santorum's kind of on my radar, but Bobby Jindal's really exciting.
BERMAN: So that leaves out, right now, the top tier, to an extent. Scott Walker, it's Jeb Bush, it's Donald Trump, Marco Rubio's up there. Rand Paul is up there. There are five guys who you say you're not considering. Why not?
VANDALL: They haven't necessarily backed up -- I mean, Rubio supported amnesty without building a wall or doing anything else. And Jeb Bush, he's a complete and total moderate.
BERMAN: Himar, you're a Democrat, but you say you're considering Jeb Bush.
HERNANDEZ: Well, Jeb definitely has an appeal for Latinos. If I was Republican I would say it would be stupid for the Republican party not to go after Jeb Bush because he's the only one that's going to be able to get the independent votes. All the other ones are too far right to get anybody in the middle.
SCOTT: In terms of being in Iowa, the largest ethnic minority here are, you know, Latinos. And so I think it's going to be really important to them as a Republican candidate to speak to their issues. Cultural competency and also representation. And I think, in that way, Jeb Bush in the strongest Republican candidate. And although I have voted Democratic all my life, I would give him a vote of fantastic. (Kesho Scott pats herself on the shoulder.)
BERMAN: So you wouldn't actually vote for him, but you'd pat him on the back?
SCOTT: Absolutely.
BERMAN: You know what he'd say to that? (with sarcasm) "Thanks a lot."
BERMAN (LIVE IN STUDIO): It was really interesting to see. Now, you got to remember in Iowa, you know, the caucuses, and the Democratic caucuses and the Republican caucus, not many of the Republicans are going to go -- even consider a Democrat. Not many Democrats really in the end are going to consider a Republican. But they're each looking at their own parties and they're taking the measure of the candidates. So many of the people I was with, they met the candidates. They make sure they meet the candidates and check them out individually.
CHRIS CUOMO: You did a good job. You really helped these people come out and express what's going to motivate them with the debates right around the corner for the GOP. Important time to have that.
BERMAN: I appreciate it. Thanks so much.
