Apparently, the liberal media didn’t learn their lesson about too much trust in polls after President Trump’s major 2016 upset, because they’re still touting some (less than a year and a half out from the 2020 election) that show him down against Democrats.
Last week, CBS Evening News hyped a Quinnipiac University poll that showed the President losing to former Vice President Joe Biden by 13 points. On Monday, CBS was back to celebrate a Fox News poll that showed Trump losing to Biden and four other Democrats; including Senators Bernie Sanders (VT), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Kamala Harris (CA), and South Bend, Indiana’s Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
“One poll released last night shows as many as five Democrats topping Mr. Trump in a hypothetical matchup,” reported CBS political correspondent Ed O’Keefe. No candidate broke 50 percent; Biden and Sanders had 49 percent, Warren 43, Harris 42, and Buttigieg at 41. The liberal media have a habit of smearing Fox News as untrustworthy, but apparently, they'll make an exception for this.
Despite the fact that polls are guaranteed to be unreliable this far out from an election, O’Keefe seemed to quip about how “the President is urging his supporters to ignore early polling. And he disputes internal Trump campaign poll numbers leaked last week, showing him trailing Biden in several key states.”
“But this weekend, the [Trump] campaign fired the three pollsters responsible for the internal surveys,” O’Keefe continued. “Amid the shake-up, Mr. Trump is set to formally launch his 2020 reelection bid Tuesday in Orlando. Florida is a must-win state for the President if he hopes to keep the White House.”
The rest of the report was dedicated to the horse race that was the Democratic primary. “Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is surging. So is South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg,” O’Keefe noted, before marveling at how the Mayor “raised an impressive $7 million in April.”
And while the CBS “Battleground Tracker” still had Biden edging out other Democrats in early primary states, “there was some skepticism about Biden's standing after his appearance at a forum on poverty in Washington.” That was according to interviews O’Keefe did with attendees.
O’Keefe concluded by reporting on how important healthcare could be in the 2020 election: “Our poll found that more than seven in ten Democrats say they want to hear from candidates about plans to cut healthcare costs. Several are running on the issue, and President Trump says he plans to release his own plans soon.”
Again, there's about a year and a half away from the 2020 general election and months away from the first Democratic primaries, meaning these polls have little predictive validity. Rather, they were a ripe opportunity for CBS to do a little chest pounding for the left.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
June 17, 2019
6:39:31 p.m. EasternMAURICE DUBOIS: Our CBS News/YouGov 2020 Battleground Tracker has Joe Biden ahead among Democrats nationally in all the early primary states. But, likely Democratic voters tell us they are considering other candidates, as well. Ed O’Keefe has more on the race.
[Cuts to video]
JOE BIDEN: And I believe we can win Texas and Florida.
ED O’KEEFE: For the first time since launching his campaign two months ago, former Vice President Joe Biden shared a stage with fellow contenders today.
BIDEN: I plan if I'm your nominee winning Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, believe it or not.
O’KEEFE: The new CBS News Battleground Tracker poll finds Biden remains the first choice of Democrats. He also leads in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. But there was some skepticism about Biden's standing after his appearance at a forum on poverty in Washington.
(…)
O’KEEFE: Meanwhile, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is surging. So is South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. A virtual unknown six months ago, his campaign raised an impressive $7 million in April.
PETE BUTTIGIEG: I think it's safe to say I'm not like the others.
O’KEEFE: One poll released last night shows as many as five Democrats topping Mr. Trump in a hypothetical matchup.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I haven't even started yet. We're getting tremendous polls.
O’KEEFE: But the President is urging his supporters to ignore early polling. And he disputes internal Trump campaign poll numbers leaked last week, showing him trailing Biden in several key states.
TRUMP: Those polls don’t exist. But I just had a meeting with somebody that’s a pollster, and I'm winning everywhere.
O’KEEFE: But this weekend, the campaign fired the three pollsters responsible for the internal surveys.
Amid the shake-up, Mr. Trump is set to formally launch his 2020 reelection bid Tuesday in Orlando. Florida is a must-win state for the President if he hopes to keep the White House.
[Cuts back to live]
Our poll found that more than seven in ten Democrats say they want to hear from candidates about plans to cut healthcare costs. Several are running on the issue, and President Trump says he plans to release his own plans soon. Maurice
DUBOIS: Ed O’Keefe, thank you very much tonight.
