CNN’s Contrived Man-in-the-Street TILT Strikes Again: This Time on Decoy Dan

Noel King Audie Cornish Michael Warren Luke Thomas CNN This Morning 10-30-36

CNN has a bad habit of selective street interviews that neatly fit the network’s preferred liberal narrative.

In May, after Ken Paxton’s decisive primary win, CNN aired Manu Raju’s Austin street interviews with exactly two Texas Republicans. Both said they wouldn’t vote for him in the general—one declaring “Hell no,” the other “No, absolutely not,” and vowing she would “absolutely” vote for Democrat James Talarico. 

In June, ahead of Maine’s Democratic primary, CNN’s Danny Freeman hit the streets for CNN This Morning Weekend and found Democrats critical of Graham Platner’s scandals (including one who said he “of course” knew about his Totenkopf tattoo) but not a single one who said they would refuse to vote for him.

On Friday’s CNN This Morning, it was Alaska’s turn. The topic was the scandal in which, per an investigation by the New York Times, the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola arranged for a second “Dan Sullivan” to be placed on the ballot, with the goal of diluting the vote of incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan.

Host Audie Cornish opened with clips of two Alaskan voters. And—surprise!— they both said the “Decoy Dan” scandal wouldn’t change their support for Peltola.
 

An older woman in Anchorage called the Peltola campaign’s role “a real unforced error” but said it wouldn't change her vote: “And I think a lot of Alaskans, we’re a gnarly bunch. So we do what we do. You can’t hurt us. We’re a bunch of goats.”

A man, asked if it impacted his vote, replied “Not a bit.” He then explained he could still tell the two Sullivans apart—“You’ve got Daniel J. Sullivan, Junior, and then you have Sullivan, Dan, who’s a registered Republican and incumbent”—even without his glasses: “It’s pretty clear, it’s in black and white. It’s very clear.”

Cornish unwittingly let the cat out of the bag, mentioning that CNN had interviewed “several” Alaskan voters.  Yet the only two who made it on air said they'd still vote for Peltola. Wouldn't you love to know what the voters whose comments were left on CNN's cutting room floor had to say?

Panelist Noel King of Vox -- like Cornish, a former NPR host -- said she didn’t think the scandal would change many minds: “I wouldn’t imagine many people are gonna change their minds on who they’re gonna vote for. Like at this point in the game, you’ve made up your mind. You might not like it, that your candidate played a dirty trick, but I also think people can justify this to themselves by saying, look, it’s legal.”

Cornish downplayed the problem, noting that courts had ordered distinguishing markings on the ballot so voters could tell the candidates apart, then pivoted to the governor’s potential threat not to certify if Peltola wins. So, no biggie!

Just yesterday, my colleague P.J. Gladnick documented the identical maneuver at PBS/NPR-affiliated Alaska Public Media. In a piece headlined as drawing “mixed reactions” from Alaskans, the outlet’s citizen interviews produced only Peltola backers—including a registered Republican who called the Times reporting just another way to “slander Peltola.”

The pattern holds. When the candidate is a Republican with baggage, CNN finds party members ready to abandon ship.

When it’s a Democrat—whether Platner’s scandals or Peltola’s alleged ballot-stacking effort—the network’s street interviews deliver voters who acknowledge the problem but stick with their candidate anyway. The goats remain unfazed.

Let’s face it: if the combined crack reporting teams of PBS, NPR and CNN couldn’t find a single supporter of the real Dan Sullivan, looks like it’s going to be a historic wipeout on Tuesday: 

“CNN can now report that, for the first time in American electoral history, an incumbent senator failed to receive a single vote in his re-election bid.”

Note: Speaking of selective stacking, Cornish stacked today's Group Chat entirely with left leaners. The aforementioned Noel King, Michael Warren of the adamantly anti-Trump website The Dispatch, and Trump antagonist Luke Thomas, presided over by Cornish herself, also an NPR alum.

Here’s the transcript.

CNN This Morning
10/30/26
6:01 am EDT

AUDIE CORNISH: Voter turnout in Alaska is nearing a record, with one-in-ten Alaskans already having casted their vote.

CNN spoke with several voters about whether this new report would impact their choice.

WOMAN: That was a real unforced error, my, Mary Peltola’s campaign. 

REPORTER: Does it impact who you're going to vote for?

WOMAN: No, it doesn’t. And I, I think a lot of Alaskans, we’re, we’re a gnarly and [inaudible] bunch. So we, we do what we do. You can’t hurt us. We’re a bunch of goats.

REPORTER: Did it impact your vote a bit?

MAN: The latest news? Not a bit. 

REPORTER: Can you tell, can you tell who's who here?

MAN: Absolutely, yeah. You’ve got Daniel J. Sullivan, Junior, and then you have Sullivan, Dan, who’s a registered Republican and incumbent. And I don’t even have my glasses on. It’s pretty clear, it’s in black and white. It’s, it’s very clear.

CORNISH: Okay, that's CNN's [inaudible] in Alaska. Today in the Group Chat, however, we have Noel King co-host and editorial director of the Today, Explained podcast. Michael Warren, politics editor of The Dispatch, and Luke Thomas, journalist and host of the Morning Kombat podcast. 

Already, so one of the reasons that voter was able to make that distinction is because courts have already been discussing this in Alaska, and they said, OK, the ballot will be marked. This one, incumbent. This one, no markings whatsoever. So there is a way for voters to tell who's who. 

NOEL KING: Yeah, it was understood that this would be a concern --

CORNISH: But now it's a threat to certification if she wins. How does this change the calculus?

KING: Well, I don’t know that it does. Not for those voters anyway. This is one of those situations where—we discuss this a lot on the show—it’s legal, it doesn’t seem right. And so you’re gonna hear voters, I wouldn’t imagine many people are gonna change their minds on who they’re gonna vote for. Like at this point in the game, you’ve made up your mind. You might not like it, that your candidate played a dirty trick, but I also think people can justify this to themselves by saying, look, it’s legal.