Before it became clear that Super Tuesday would be an overwhelming success for liberal media candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, CBS News spent a few minutes talking up the coronavirus, wondering if it would it “infect” President Trump’s reelection chances. CBS also tried to tie the virus to Medicare for All. To borrow a Bidenism, this was not a joke.
CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell reacted to a coronavirus update from correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti by posing to chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett: “There is a lot of concern all over the country about coronavirus, and the question tonight — was it a factor in the Super Tuesday voting?”
Garrett revealed that they were able to ask it for exit poll respondents in North Carolina and Virginia if the virus was “a factor in your vote” with 74 percent stating yes. Fair enough. But he tacked on health care (click “expand”):
Now, that could mean they're thinking about who could be a good leader. They could be thinking about health care as general and as we know, Norah, health care has been a dominant issue throughout this primary campaign on the Democratic side.
Let's ask this question, “replace all private health insurance with a government plan.” This is not just in Virginia and North Carolina. This is across all Super Tuesday states. 57 percent replace private insurance with a government plan, 37 percent oppose. That is, overall, a generally good sign for Bernie Sanders, because that's where Sanders’s campaign has been. Joe Biden and those who recently endorsed him have been on the opposed side.
O’Donnell expressed exasperation at the “big number” while 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson righted the ship by framing coronavirus as an example of how an unforeseen crisis present “a test of preparedness” and “question of public trust” for presidents.
Once again, it was O’Donnell who extrapolated the virus to health care policy:
But doesn't it also converge with this issue of what if I have to go to a hospital and have an extended stay, paying for those medical bills? What if I'm not able to work and I'm dependent on showing up at work everyday? I’m not a salaried employee, I don't have disability insurance? Doesn't it converge with a lot of other concerns that voters have?
Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan boasted that the Wuhan-based illness has been “a hurt to the President's issue that he wants to run on” and a boon to Biden as he was in office during the Ebola virus outbreak.
CBS News contributor and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons piled on as well with the assessment that Americans “starting to lose confidence [in Trump] because he doesn't quite tell the truth all the time that, perhaps, they can’t trust what he's saying and I think we've seen that in the market.”
Before a commercial break, O’Donnell dropped the negative pun against the President: “And quickly, John, does the coronavirus infect President Trump's strongest argument for re-election?”
Dickerson replied that “it does if it's the market” and “if it looks like he's not a leader in this time of crisis — in this time when people turn to him, but I think to Margaret's point, I think for him, he's most concerned, obviously better, stock market, and the economy.”
To see the relevant transcript from CBS’s Super Tuesday coverage, click “expand.”
CBS News Election Special — Super Tuesday: High Stakes
March 3, 2020
8:38 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: There is a lot of concern all over the country about coronavirus, and the question tonight — was it a factor in the Super Tuesday voting? Major Garrett has the results from our exit polling. Major.
MAJOR GARRETT: Norah, this is also a time to have a little bit of a tutorial about how exit polls work. A lot of questions are the same from state to state, but sometimes when there's a breaking news story or a story of national importance, we fly a question in and because these exit polls are taken on paper clipboards, the question tend to be very general. Let's look at the question asked in two states on Super Tuesday, Virginia and North Carolina, very general question, “Was the coronavirus a factor in your vote?” In both those states combined, 74 percent of primary voters said yes, yes, it was. Now, that could mean they're thinking about who could be a good leader. They could be thinking about health care as general and as we know, Norah, health care has been a dominant issue throughout this primary campaign on the Democratic side. Let's ask this question, “replace all private health insurance with a government plan.” This is not just in Virginia and North Carolina. This is across all Super Tuesday states. 57 percent replace private insurance with a government plan, 37 percent oppose. That is, overall, a generally good sign for Bernie Sanders, because that's where Sanders’s campaign has been. Joe Biden and those who recently endorsed him have been on the opposed side. Norah.
O’DONNELL: Alright, Major, thank you. We want to bring back in our political panel, Ed O’Keefe, Margaret Brennan, Jamal Simmons, and John Dickerson. That's a big number, saying that coronavirus is at the top of their list of issues of importance and you know that Mayor Bloomberg tried to capitalize on some of the concerns about coronavirus with buying a three-minute essentially infomercial campaign commercial on two networks on Sunday night to make the case that he's the only one with the preparedness or the management experience to be able to tackle this.
JOHN DICKERSON: You know, I interviewed Condi Rice, the former secretary of state, national security adviser for George W. Bush and she said what I want to ask these candidates when they're running is: what's the thing you don't expect and how are you going to deal with it? And a pandemic or an outbreak is the kind of thing that surprises president and it's a test and so if that's on people's minds, it will be interesting to see how they process that. If they — who there in — that’s running could handle this kind of a test? It's a test of preparedness. Are you thinking about the kind of challenges you're having before they hit? But then it's a question of public trust. When you speak to the country, are you giving accurate information that makes people feel they have control, even if the situation is dire.
O’DONNELL: But doesn't it also converge with this issue of what if I have to go to a hospital and have an extended stay, paying for those medical bills? What if I'm not able to work and I'm dependent on showing up at work everyday? I’m not a salaried employee, I don't have disability insurance? Doesn't it converge with a lot of other concerns that voters have?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Absolutely, and it converges with the candidate who we haven't talked about, the current President, who faces not just the issue of public trust, but he’s looking at an economy that he says is his best chance in terms of platform issue to run on for re-election. What did you have today? You had the federal reserve come out — they are far more powerful than any president — and lower interest rates by half a percent. What does that mean? They're juicing the economy because they know they need to make money cheaper to get companies to go out and spend, meaning American businesses are looking ahead a few months and they are worried. They are getting more worried about what is happening with the state of the economy.
O’DONNELL: But it didn't juice the market. In fact, it backfired.
BRENNAN: Exactly. In fact, it actually showed, at least in terms of how traders reacted today, that they need a little bit more convincing because so much is unknown. So this is a hurt to the President's issue that he wants to run on. It's something that plays into Biden's playbook because he can say, “look what we did with the Ebola virus when I was in the Obama-Biden administration,” but it also just sort of raises uncertainty. Recession isn't necessarily a good thing for any candidate
ED O’KEEFE: Right but, you know, and not to discount the obvious concern and the urgency of the coronavirus outbreak across the world, if this election had been held a few weeks ago after the situation with Iran, we would have been asking the question, “was Iran on your mind today?” And the answer would have been overwhelmingly yes. The point being, there’s going to be all sorts of crises, whether they're global, whether they're domestic that come up. The Democrat, whoever it is, or the Democrats, plural, will continue to raise it as an issue of competence and management as Biden did last week, as Bloomberg has been doing and Sanders, even, to some extent as well.
O’DONNELL: This was the first question we posed at the CBS News debate, was the question about who is best to handle the economy, President Trump or which of the candidates on the stage? Because 65 percent of voters had said in a poll several weeks ago they thought Trump would be elected because the economy is working for a majority of Americans.
JAMAL SIMMONS: You know, in every election I've seen, there are a couple questions that are always on the ballot — fear, hope, and then which one of these people do I believe in the most to handle those things for me and my family when they go in the Oval Office and close the door? I think — and that fundamental question is about leadership. And I think that’s really when you get past the issues where people are trying to find is — which one of these people can I just hand over and trust they're going to do something well? And one of the things you see with President Trump is that people are starting to lose confidence because he doesn't quite tell the truth all the time that, perhaps, they can’t trust what he's saying and I think we've seen that in the market.
O’DONNELL: And quickly, John, does the coronavirus infect President Trump's strongest argument for re-election?
DICKERSON: Well, it does if it's the market. It does, also, if it looks like he's not a leader in this time of crisis — in this time when people turn to him. But I think to Margaret's point, I think for him, he's most concerned, obviously better, stock market, and the economy.
