Initially pitching it as the latest messaging from the Biden campaign, the Sunday edition of ABC’s Good Morning America embodied a Joe Biden campaign memo warning supporters not to get complacent and hand President Trump another election victory. “Meanwhile, team Biden warning supporters not to get overconfident” co-anchor Dan Harris announced at the top of the show. The network later hyped liberal celebrities heeding the call of former First Lady and Biden surrogate Michelle Obama to get out the vote.
Harris went on to note how ABC had “obtained” the memo from former Vice President Biden’s campaign manager warning, “the race is tighter than the pundits suggest.”
After touting how Biden had “deployed former primary rivals” like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to stump in his place Saturday, White House correspondent Rachel Scott shared the campaign’s warning as part of her report:
Joe Biden's campaign ahead in the polls, blasting out that memo to supporters warning them not to get complacent or get a false sense of security in this final stretch. His campaign manager saying if there is anything that the party learned in 2016, it is not to underestimate President Trump. Dan, they are still expecting this to be a very tight race in key battleground states that could decide this election.
The Biden campaign memo was the first topic on the docket when Harris brought on Clinton lackey and chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos. “Do you think it’s based on polling data or on a fear that somehow Biden supporters might get complacent because they’re looking at these positive polls,” Harris posed to his colleague.
Stephanopoulos immediately chalked it up to Democrats, like himself, feeling the sense of “PTSD” from 2016. “Democrats have a strong case, a profound case of PTSD from what happened four years ago. They're not going to take anything for granted this time around,” he told Harris.
Recalling the events of the 2016 election cycle, Stephanopoulos noted that Biden was outpacing where Clinton was nationally with the battleground states a lot closer:
Now, if you compare where Biden is to where Hillary Clinton was two days out four years ago, he’s got about three times the national lead, but the battleground states were close. And Democrats remember that at the last minute there was a surge in votes for the President. That is less likely to happen this time because he’s the incumbent. This time undecided usually break against the incumbent. They broke for President Trump four years ago. But the Democrats aren’t going to take anything for granted.
This prompted Harris to wonder how early voting could play into the outcome this time around. Stephanopoulos beamed while he answered:
It just changes everything, Dan. I mean, 26 million people – more than 26 million have already voted. That’s about 20 percent of the total vote in 2016. We have never seen anything like this before. It’s very possible that you’re going to see by election day 40 to 50 percent of the country has already voted.
To explain his excitement, he went on to note that Democrats “have the edge” in early voting.
Later on in the program, correspondent Alex Presha boasted about how Hollywood’s liberal radicals were answering the call from Michelle Obama to get out the vote. “Michelle Obama sending this challenge on Twitter to round up a voting squad. Celebrities responding in mass,” he touted.
Much of the report showed off liberal celebrities telling viewers to go vote, including a song from Lady Gaga and a soundbite from a video Biden did with singer Jennifer Lopez and former baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
ABC was surely doing their part.
ABC’s get out the vote effort for the Biden campaign was made possible because of lucrative sponsorship from Chase, which got a special shout out, and United Healthcare. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Good Morning America
October 18, 2020
8:05:23 a.m. Eastern(…)
RACHEL SCOTT: Joe Biden's campaign ahead in the polls, blasting out that memo to supporters warning them not to get complacent or get a false sense of security in this final stretch. His campaign manager saying if there is anything that the party learned in 2016, it is not to underestimate President Trump. Dan, they are still expecting this to be a very tight race in key battleground states that could decide this election.
DAN HARRIS: Rachael Scott, thank you so much. So much to talk about here. So, let's bring in our chief anchor George Stephanopoulos, who going to be host This Week later this morning.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah.
HARRIS: Let’s just pick up – Good morning. Well, let’s pick up on what Rachel was talking about with this Biden memo. Do you think it’s based on polling data or on a fear that somehow Biden supporters might get complacent because they’re looking at these positive polls?
STEPHANOPOULOS: PTSD. Democrats have a strong case, a profound case of PTSD from what happened four years ago. They're not going to take anything for granted this time around. Now, if you compare where Biden is to where Hillary Clinton was two days out four years ago, he’s got about three times the national lead, but the battleground states were close. And Democrats remember that at the last minute there was a surge in votes for the President. That is less likely to happen this time because he’s the incumbent. This time undecided usually break against the incumbent. They broke for President Trump four years ago. But the Democrats aren’t going to take anything for granted.
HARRIS: Where does early voting fit into all of this and what do you make of the long lines?
STEPHANOPOULOS: It just changes everything, Dan. I mean, 26 million people – more than 26 million have already voted. That’s about 20 percent of the total vote in 2016. We have never seen anything like this before. It’s very possible that you’re going to see by election day 40 to 50 percent of the country has already voted.
Now, the question -- Right now Democrats seem to have the edge in the early vote. But what we don't know is that cannibalizing votes of people that would vote for the Democrats anyway, but they are just banking those votes now and it gives a skewed look at what’s happening. We don't know the answer to that yet, but it seems like there’s almost no question that we are going to have record turnout in 2020.
HARRIS: Big debate Thursday night, who do you think has the biggest weight on their shoulders heading into that night?
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump has to change the dynamic. He’s going to go into that debate on Thursday night, the final debate of this campaign, behind. No question about that he’s going to have to do something that shake things up. Who knows what that will be.
(…)
