Grasping at straws in the post-misterms election aftermath, the cackling coven of The View spent parts of their Monday show brewing up false narratives about what the exit polls showed and an unsupported assertion that GOP leaders were going to put forth legislation to raise the voting age to 28. Of course, none of what they said was supported with evidence and ABC News’s Standards and Practices department did not force a correction or clarification.
Near the top of the show, racist co-host Sunny Hostin suggested that exit polls showed just two topics were on the minds of voters last Tuesday and none of them were the economy or inflation. “[T]he voters made it loud and clear that the first thing that was important was that democracy was on the ballot and the second thing that was important was women's rights to health care, and that's it,” she proclaimed.
This wasn’t the first time Hostin made this claim. On November 10, she asserted: “[I]f you look at the exit polls, the two biggest issues, number one, saving our democracy, number two, women's health care rights.” Both times she refused to cite what exit polls she was talking about.
Contrary to Hostin, CNN reported that inflation was the by far the number one issue for voters. “Soaring prices were top of mind for voters as they cast ballots in this year’s midterm elections … Nearly a third of voters said inflation was the issue that mattered most in deciding how they voted for House candidates. And more than 7 in 10 of them opted for Republicans,” they wrote.
Hostin’s comments strangely came during a conversation about former Vice President Mike Pence’s interview with ABC chief anchor David Muir, in which she voiced an obsession with Pence tapping his foot (click “expand”):
HOSTIN: All I kept on looking at was Mike Pence's right foot. Did you see how he was just tapping it and tapping it?
SARA HAINES: I didn’t see it.
HOSTIN: Yeah, he was just tapping it and tapping it and tapping it. He seemed like a robot to me.
(…)
HOSTIN: And so, he can say whatever he wants with his tapping right foot, but I just – didn’t take a lot.
A few minutes later, Hostin praised how young voters supposedly came out in force for Democrats and helped them hold back Republicans. “Younger voters were the only voter group by age to overwhelmingly support Democrats in the midterms. 63 percent of voters voted for Democratic House candidates,” she touted.
Citing no evidence, she insisted that that support was why the GOP wanted to supposedly raise the voting age to 28. “[T]hey delivered key wins for the Democrats. Younger voters aged 18 to 29 which by the way, now the Republicans want to raise the voting to age 28,” she proclaimed.
NewsBusters scoured the internet trying to find what on Earth Hostin could possibly be citing and all we could find was an article from the left-wing Daily Beast making the same assertion. The only instances they cited were a tweet from activist Brigitte Gabriel saying “raise the voting age to 21” and radio host Peter Schiff, who said, “Let’s raise the voting age to 28.”
No reasonable person would argue that just two people represented the legislative agenda of congressional Republicans, let alone the entire party. Hence why The Daily Beast and Sunny are peddling the narrative.
And as for young voters supporting Democrats, even The New York Times wasn’t so sure about it. “The youth vote turned out, especially in some key swing states Democrats won. But some experts say reports of a surge in young voters were overstated,” they wrote. They reported that there’s a question about that support because the youth vote was actually down from 2018.
These false narratives about the midterm elections and GOP were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Macy’s and General Mills. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
November 14, 2022
11:04:00 a.m. Eastern(…)
SUNNY HOSTIN: All I kept on looking at was Mike Pence's right foot. Did you see how he was just tapping it and tapping it?
SARA HAINES: I didn’t see it.
HOSTIN: Yeah, he was just tapping it and tapping it and tapping it. He seemed like a robot to me.
I also think that certainly it does take courage to uphold the law, but it doesn't take a whole lot of courage to come out with your story when your book is coming out tomorrow for which you made $3 million to $4 million. So for me, he again, is not the savior of the GOP. I suppose he's going to try to run again. I know my dear friend [Alyssa Farah Griffin] here is going to disagree with me because she worked for him.
But I think the voters made it loud and clear that the first thing that was important was that democracy was on the ballot and the second thing that was important was women's rights to health care, and that's it.
And so, he can say whatever he wants with his tapping right foot, but I just – didn’t take a lot.
(…)
11:09:05 a.m. Eastern
HOSTIN: But I will say this, just like the Latina saved the Senate, young voters saved this country.
HAINES: Yes.
[Applause]
HOSTIN: And we need to really understand that we are supposed to leave this world in a better place than we found it. When you look at the youth voter turnout in the 2022 midterms, they delivered key wins for the Democrats. Younger voters aged 18 to 29 which by the way, now the Republicans want to raise the voting to age 28. Younger voters were the only voter group by age to overwhelmingly support Democrats in the midterms. 63 percent of voters voted for Democratic House candidates.
I think my friend, you know, Cornell Belcher – and you know Cornell as well – He says there are really two electorates. One older and one younger fighting to take this country in very different directions.
The Republican Party has to get with it. They are dying out, and they are being extremist, they are not young –
HAINES [interrupting]: We are going to talk more about that Sunny. We're up on time here.
