It seems as though CBS News finally got their months-old wish – to have coronavirus “infect” President Trump’s reelection chances – granted, according to their new 2020 battleground tracker poll. As anchor Norah O’Donnell morbidly celebrated during Monday’s edition of CBS Evening News, “The pandemic is reshaping the presidential race!”
“Our new CBS Battleground Poll shows Joe Biden with a six-point lead over President Trump among likely voters in Florida. In Arizona, it’s a tie. And in Texas, Biden is within a point of the President. Mr. Trump swept those states in 2016, but now all three states are inundated with infections,” she bragged.
CBS political correspondent Ed O’Keefe was tasked with sharing the network’s grotesque excitement. “Joe Biden’s suddenly strong showing across three sunbelt states, including in the Republican stronghold of Texas, is due in large part to the President's handling of the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.
Adding: “The more concerned someone is about getting the virus, the more likely they back Biden. Roughly six in ten think their states reopened too quickly, and most say that is because of pressure from the Trump administration.”
Stoking fear was where the opposition media was working the hardest.
O’Keefe also followed the Biden campaign’s instructions to pump the brakes a little. “But Biden is urging his supporters to ignore the new polls. Democrats worry about becoming overconfident and know the numbers will tighten in the fall,” he said.
And, of course, CBS closed out the segment with O’Keefe reveling in how “the President’s reelection team is struggling”:
Biden's advantage comes as the President's re-election team is struggling. A rally scheduled for Saturday night in New Hampshire was scrapped in part because of the risk of a smaller crowd, like the one Mr. Trump spoke to last month in Oklahoma. And in Florida, the President's support among senior citizens, usually a key GOP voting bloc, is slipping amid coronavirus concerns.
This disgusting excitement for the deadly coronavirus came after the network hoped for it on Super Tuesday back in March.
Though she was talking about the economy, it was O’Donnell who was looking for help from the virus:
O’DONNELL: And quickly, John, does the coronavirus infect President Trump's strongest argument for re-election?
JOHN DICKERSON (60 Minutes correspondent): 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.
Meanwhile, CBS still has yet to fact-check Biden’s lie that “over 120 million” Americans have died from the virus.
CBS’s morbid excitement for Biden was sponsored by Allstate and Consumer Cellular. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
July 13, 2020
6:45:53 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: The pandemic is reshaping the presidential race. Our new CBS Battleground Poll shows Joe Biden with a six-point lead over President Trump among likely voters in Florida. In Arizona, it’s a tie. And in Texas, Biden is within a point of the President. Mr. Trump swept those states in 2016 but now all three states are inundated with infections. Here's Ed O’Keefe.
[Cuts to video]
ED O’KEEFE: Joe Biden’s suddenly strong showing across three sunbelt states, including in the Republican stronghold of Texas, is due in large part to the President's handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
JOE BIDEN: Our President wasn't prepared for this pandemic.
O’KEEFE: The more concerned someone is about getting the virus, the more likely they back Biden. Roughly six in ten think their states reopened too quickly, and most say that is because of pressure from the Trump administration.
PRESIDENT Donald TRUMP: We did the right thing. Now we opened. We got to get it open.
O’KEEFE: But Biden is urging his supporters to ignore the new polls. Democrats worry about becoming overconfident and know the numbers will tighten in the fall.
Biden's advantage comes as the President's re-election team is struggling. A rally scheduled for Saturday night in New Hampshire was scrapped in part because of the risk of a smaller crowd, like the one Mr. Trump spoke to last month in Oklahoma. And in Florida, the President's support among senior citizens, usually a key GOP voting bloc, is slipping amid coronavirus concerns. Ed O’Keefe, CBS News.
