CNN’s Phil Mattingly got testy with analyst Errol Louis on Monday, with the latter arguing Democratic voters will “come home” to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election despite a new poll showing Biden is facing some big hurdles.
The New York Times/Siena College poll found Biden trailing former President Donald Trump in five out of the six crucial swing states (Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan) at a margin of three to 10 points. Biden narrowly leads Trump in Wisconsin, though his lead falls within the margin of error, according to the poll.
CNN analyst Errol Louis argued that while the poll results may be jarring at first, Democratic voters will “come home” and vote in the 2024 race.
“Errol, you’ve talked to some Democrats, and they, again, look at the [inaudible], and say, ‘Look, our coalition comes home, and when it becomes a one-on-one race, and we have the clear contrast, and we have Donald Trump every single day that everybody’s focusing on, the picture will change dramatically,'” Mattingly said. “‘There’s just no way, whether it’s young voters or black voters, in particular, that these numbers stay static or even remotely close to it.'”
“That’s exactly right,” Louis said. (RELATED: ‘I Mean, Wow’: CNN’s Poppy Harlow Stunned To See Trump’s Gains Among Black Voters In New Poll)
“Is it, though?” Mattingly shot back.
“Yeah, of course–”
“What if it’s not?” Mattingly pushed.
“Democrats like to worry, but yes, you gotta call them home, or they won’t come home,” Louis said. “That’s number one. Number two: With the black vote — frankly, I would ask the pollster, ‘Look, check your sample a little bit,’ because the last time a Republican presidential candidate got more than 17 percent of the vote was in 1960, right? So, this is not something that you could take all that seriously, that particular number. Likewise, with the Latino vote, the notion that Trump could almost catch women voters close to Biden on the abortion issue? I just don’t buy that.”
“But now, what this does do is it suggests that Democrats have to get out there, they’ve got to talk to their younger voters, the 18 to 29s are the ones, I think, they should be worried about, because they get their information from different places, they’re getting it from TikTok or wherever,” Louis continued. “You’ve got to also talk to women and sort of get into the coalitions, the activist coalitions, that form the base of the Democratic Party: the labor coalitions, the environmentalists, the women’s groups. You’ve got to do it, you’ve got to work them. You’ve got to make it so that everybody’s on message.”
“Now, there’s a timing issue here, and Biden knows this, I think, better than most politicians in America. You can start too early, too — you can blow a lot of money, you can spin up a lot of issues, but then you really got to hit it hard next year, next June. So, we should have this conversation in six months and see where they are,” he added.
Biden’s campaign spokesman, Kevin Munoz, told The New York Times the Biden campaign will win in 2024 “by putting our heads down and doing the work, not by fretting about a poll.” Biden remains the current frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.