CNN data reporter Harry Enten said Monday he would “take a roll of the dice” on Vice President Kamala Harris as a replacement for President Joe Biden on the ballot if he were a Democratic donor.
Biden has resisted calls to step aside after a poor performance in a June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump on CNN, during which the president froze and made multiple verbal gaffes. Enten told “CNN Newsroom” host Pamela Brown that Harris performs better with independent voters in polling. (RELATED: ‘Here’s The Issue’: MSNBC Data Guru Lays Out Obstacles To Dems Replacing Biden)
“If you take a look at the average of polls, in fact, she does slightly better than Joe Biden against Donald Trump,” Enten said. “While Joe Biden is trailing Donald Trump by three points nationally in an average of polls, Kamala Harris is only trailing Donald Trump by a single point. And the reason for that is, remember, we have the left part of this country, Democratic, we have the right part of this country, Republican, but elections tend to be won in the middle, among independents.”
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“And look at this difference: Among independents, when you match up Joe Biden against Donald Trump, and Kamala Harris against Donald Trump, Donald Trump leads among independents when he’s against Biden by four points,” Enten continued. “Look at that match-up, though, against Kamala Harris. In fact, Kamala Harris is up five points. That is the big reason why Harris is doing better in the overall numbers against Donald Trump than Joe Biden is. She, simply put, does better with those voters in the middle.”
Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas was the first Congressional Democrat to call for Biden to withdraw following the debate. Democratic Reps. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Mike Quigley of Illinois and Angie Craig of Minnesota have also issued statements calling on him to step down, and four additional Democrats, including New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, did so during a Sunday phone call with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“I will note, too, there are far fewer voters who at this particular point have an opinion of Harris than of Biden, and all of those voters tend to have a negative opinion of Joe Biden,” Enten said. “The fact is, Harris, simply put, in my mind, can’t really do any worse than Biden is, given how unpopular Donald Trump is, and that is, in my opinion, why independents are flowing, flowing to Harris in comparison to Biden against Donald Trump, because the fact is, Biden is so unpopular amongst them.”
Biden currently trails Trump by 3.3% in a national head-to-head matchup, according to the RealClearPolling average of polls. Trump’s lead grows to 4.9% when independent candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are included. (RELATED: ‘They Don’t Want Him To Quit’: CNN Data Guru Says Dem Voters Want Biden To Stick Around)
“If I were a Democratic donor, if I were a Democratic activist, I might be willing to take a roll of the dice because at this particular point, Joe Biden is doing significantly worse than he’s ever done against Donald Trump, and that is specifically true among independent voters,” Enten concluded.
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