headaches for hillary clinton. a renewed defense by donald trump for his campaign manager who is facing battery charge and outcry about criminalizing abortion and penalizing women who obtain them. the campaign trying to throw them down the memory hole just a few hours after. we're expected to be joined by hillary clinton, but first the latest from jim acosta who is in washington. take us through what happened today. the original comments from trump and the campaign kind of walking it back. >> reporter: anderson, donald trump adopted a very extreme position on abortion today only to walk it back just hours later. his comments came during an interview with msnbc earlier today when he said women who undergo abortions should be punished if the procedure were ever made illegal. and here's how he put it earlier today. >> should the woman be punished for having an abortion? >> look -- >> this is not something you can dodge. if you say abortion is a crime or abortion is murder, you have

to deal with it under the law. should abortion be punished? >> well, people in certain parts of the republican party and conservative republicans would say, yes, they should be punished. >> what about you? >> i would say that it's a very serious problem, and it's a problem we have to decide on. it's very -- >> you are for banning it? >> are you going to say put them in jail? the answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> yes. >> ten years? >> that i don't know. >> why? you take positions on everything else. >> i do take positions on everything else. it's a very complicated position. >> now at first to try to clean up those remarks his campaign put out a statement saying the matter should be left up to the states. then not too long after that, trump did a complete 180 releasing a statement saying it would be the doctors who would be punished, not women. now here's that statement. we can put that up. it says, quote, if congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal in the federal courts upheld this legislation

or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. trump goes on to say the woman is a victim in this case, as is the life in her womb. my position, according to trump, has not changed. like ronald reagan, i am pro-life with exceptions but the damage may already be done. not only did trump's rivals slam his remarks on abortion saying you shouldn't punish women who undergo this procedure. he united both sides of this very hot button issue, both sides basically condemning donald trump on this issue earlier today. >> senator cruz came out pretty quickly as well. >> that's right. he did. and that's who donald trump has to worry about here in wisconsin. ted cruz is fairly far ahead of donald trump in the polls right now. there's another poll that came out today that showed ted cruz ahead by double digits. and ted cruz is leading among those christian conservatives very key in this state.

this is a very big state when it comes to conservative catholic voters and cruz put out a statement saying donald trump has demonstrated he has not seriously thought through these issues. that's essentially echoing what many anti-abortion rights actvisits were saying in their statements earlier today. so a very big gaffe for donald trump. not one that we see very often in that he actually reversed himself on that gaffe. usually he sticks to his guns, stands has ground and doesn't budge any further. that's not what we saw earlier. >> reversed himself and yet said he's not reversing himself, he doesn't change his position. karen tumulty with "the washington post," kristen soltis anderson, a republican pollster and columnist from the washington examiner. she's not my long lost cousin. and david gersten is here as well. karen, does this impact donald

trump? his campaign quickly did try to come out with this same essentially trying to clarify what donald trump's position is. >> donald trump supporters are so loyal to donald trump. it's hard to imagine somebody who was thinking about voting for him and has now decided they're not going to because of this. but it does, i think -- i think ted cruz was right. it shows he's not thought through the issue and abortion is such a mine field that he ended up sounding like the way pro-choice people caricature pro-life people. he found himself really twisted into a difficult spot. >> there's been this proliferation of issues that touch on women in many different ways. you have the heidi cruz retweet. you have this question on abortion. and you -- >> corey lewandowski. >> corey lewandowski.

if you put them all together, the question is whether you reach a critical mass. when you have people undecided, and there are people who are undecided, who would vote for cruz as opposed to trump. and i think that's what you're seeing in the polils in wisconsin. his gender numbers have flipd. >> karen, you wrote an article about corey lewandowski. does trump benefit? trump has tried to turn this into, i'm the kind of guy who stands by people. i'm a stand-up person and stand by my people. does that, you think, benefit him? >> i think that he and corey lewandowski have had a bond. they are essentially, you know, kindred spirits politically. and corey lewandowski has been very, very loyal to donald trump. and donald trump is going to be loyal to him. i really don't think there's a political calculation going on. but you do see him now turning it into a character issue. >> but he does have a gender gap

issue. you see it in the wisconsin poll. and the release of that video is damning for lewandowski's case. he says originally, i never touched her. when you hear donald trump talk about the nuanced issues in foreign policy, you can -- i'm not saying forgive him but you can understand why his language isn't right. he's new to politics. but as someone who was a democrat, then became an independent, now says he's a republican, there's a basic card you get. if you change your position on abortion, you have to know what to say. how do you define hamm nesty. what are your views on things. >> you think trump wants to continue talking about corey lewandowski rather than policy? >> i think this is his comfort zone, talking about controversy. talking about polling. this is a guy, i don't think, wants to talk about the federal reserve or education policy. wouldn't imagine that to be the case. i think he wants this. i think the most interesting

response from the debate, the town hall last night, was him saying, i didn't start it. he really believes that if he's counterpunching, he can do anything. any misogyny, any cruelty, any crudity. i think that's going to catch up with him eventually because that's not true with a national electorate eventually. this is a man who views masculinity, part of his definition of masculinity is bullying women. and i eventually think that women are not going to find that attractive. >> we saw a reversal of position on the abortion issue today, or reversal of his earlier comments at a town hall today. last night there were a number of contradictory statements. i want to play some of what we saw in realtime working through some issues. let's watch. >> it's been a u.s. policy for decades to prevent japan from getting nuclear weapons. >> that may be policy, but -- >> south korea as well. >> maub it's going to have to be time to change. you have pakistan has it, china has it.

so many other countries -- >> so some proliferation is okay? >> no, i hate proliferation. wouldn't you rather have japan have nuclear weapons when north korea has nuclear weapons? >> you are saying you don't want more nuclear weapons in the world but you are okay with japan and south korea -- >> i don't want more nuclear weapons. >> in terms of federal government role, you say security and health care and education should be provided by the federal government. >> those are two of the things. >> aren't you against the federal government's involvement in education? don't you want it to devolve to state? >> i want it to go to state. i apologize to my wife for not being presidential on occasion. she's always saying, darling, be more presidential. >> she's told me she's talked to you about that. >> she thinks i'm very presidential. >> kristen, it's interesting to see him. i don't know if it's just he hasn't talked about these issues a lot, hasn't given a lot of thought to them or isn't a professional politician. he does work through this in front of everybody. >> this excuse that donald trump

is not as well spoken because he's not a professional politician is just that. it's an excuse. his probably isn't that he says um too much or looks nervous on the stump. his problem is that the answer to things he's making up on the fly that are not necessarily rooted in having studied the issues thoroughly, having a deep reservoir of experience on most of these issues. and that's really reflected. what's challenging for his opponents is none of this seems to matter to donald trump's supporters. there's a new poll experiment where they tested a vaerriety o different things trump has said. when you tell them trump has said them his supporters will go from not supporting it to supporting it just because donald trump said it. he's got a license to say any range of statements and many of his supporters continue to stick by him. is that enough voters to get him wisconsin, states like california? enough delegates to get to the convention? and is it enough to get him a general election?

that remains to be seen. >> jeffrey, are you concerned about wisconsin, about sort of a tide turning? >> no. i mean, he may have a problem in wisconsin, but i do think the onward march continues. there's an underlying factor here that i think we're not taking any account. all of us here speak political language. the language of the political class if you will. most americans do not. and they are stick of it. and they view our world that i certainly have freely inhabited as elitist, as viewing average pe americans with contempt. they listen to donald trump and see somebody they believe is on their side. so when you get the kind of thoughts we're all having here, they look at this and roll their eyes and say, there they go again. >> right. >> but i do think there's a phenomenon with domd trump that i've never seen with any other politician. when you talk to somebody who supports them, they'll say i support him because he says what

i think and then you ask that same person about some outrageous comment and they'll say, well, he didn't mean that. >> they'll make excuses. >> it is the ability to sort of -- he's got this ability to sort of make people comfortable with those two simultaneous contradictory ideas. and i have never seen that before in a politician. >> but donald trump's problem is that he has not, at this point in the race, where he's the clear front-runner, has not been able to consolidate his support the way a usual front-runner would consolidate his support at this point in the race. and that's because of what melania keeps talking about, i guess, to donald trump, which is the sort of presidential issue. and the commander in chief issue. and i think voters maybe in the state of wisconsin as you go down the line, maybe more questions are being raised. i don't know the answer to that because donald trump supporters are so solid, as karen is pointing out, so solid and so in

his camp, that they are not going to be persuaded against him. >> is the march continuing? i don't know if we know. wisconsin has a big say in that. he need 5 5.3% of the remaining delegates. if he gets shut out of wisconsin and if ted cruz wins by ten points. and then it's by congressional district. if he gets shut out, he'll need 5 58%. every time he loses that's number gets greater and the probability of an open convention gets greater. >> you've heard newt gingrich, he's pretty favorable and ann coulter of all people, complaining he can't make the shift or pivot to become more presidential. he's mental actually, ann coulter said. that's a fairly big switch. he can't make that transition. he is who he is. and i don't think we're going to see people who expect a different donald trump are going to be perpetsually disappointed.

>> it's always about him. look at hillary clinton. she's already pivoted and running ads against donald trump. donald trump isn't doing anything about her. he's caught in his own scandals and even he probably thinks that's a good thing when everyone else around him sees that's bad. >> hold this thought. we'll pick it up after the break and talk about more of the headlines from our 360 town hall. and speaking to hillary clinton. she joins us shortly as well with her reaction to trump's abortion controversy. more on that and what karen tumulty has been reporting othe corey lewandowski controversy. and later, wisconsin and the democrats and the new poll which shows bernie sanders in the lead. bend me shape me, any way you want me

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so much of what the political world is buzzing about comes from our 360 republican town hall last night in milwaukee. all three candidates backing out of their signed pledge to support whoever wins the nomination to some probing questions from the voters. before we go any further, here are some of the key moments. >> if donald trump is the gop nominee, would you support him? >> donald is not going to be the gop nominee. we're going to beat him. >> he doesn't have to support me. i'm not asking for support. >> do you plan -- >> i want the people's support. >> do you continue to pledge whoever the republican nominee is? >> no, i don't anymore. >> you don't? you aren't ironclad standing by the initial pledge to support whoever the nominee is? >> all of us shouldn't have answered that question. it was the first debate and what the heck. >> after saying you were going

to spill the beans about heidi cruz you retweeted an unflat iriir i erring picture next to your wife. >> you are running for president of the united states. >> i didn't start it. >> with all due respect, that's the argument of a 5-year-old. >> i didn't start it. no, it's not. >> the argument of -- >> you would say that. that's the problem with our country. >> every parent knows the kid who says he started it. >> in your opinion, what are the top three functions of the united states government. >> the greatest function of all is security for our nation. i would also say health kacare, education. i would say the top three are security, security, security. nato is obsolete. >> donald trump says nato is obsolete. is it? >> of course it's not. that's absurd. >> what it means is that we target the enemy. there's a difference between islam and islamism. >> you did talk about patrolling

muslim neighborhoods -- >> sure. >> and a lot of folks, you kept saying that worked in new york but they made the police stop that. new york police have pushed back on that. chief bratton said that's complete bunk. >> if you want to stop radical islamic terrorism, the answer isn't to go hang out in random neighborhoods. it's instead to focus on neighborhoods where radicalization is a risk. >> do you trust muslims in america? >> many of them i do and some of them, i guess we don't. >> we'll have a religious test on who comes in the country. are you a muslim? come on, anderson. that's not going to work. >> quite a night. quite a conversation starter. ba back wither panel. it is interesting, sknrajohn, t donald trump reverse himself or have contradictory statements about nuclear proliferation. he's against nuclear proliferation, but for japan, south korea, developing nuclear weapons, which is against

longstanding u.s. policy. >> longstanding u.s. policy and the deals of the security arrangements. the u.s. will take of that. is he right to say we had this conversation when he made the comment on the remaining five about nato. did the other countries put up their fair share? it's been a conversation since the berlin wall kacame down, whh is what are their roles? i think some of the criticism is unfair. some of these other issues it's just clear he's not briefed on what current u.s. policy is or if you want to change -- if you go back and read the conversation last night in "the new york times" and interview on foreign policy, i think any political consultnt would tell you or any leadership school would teach you if you want to change so much, you better lead the people and give them an idea. he just says these things and in so many of them are just outside of the box that sometimes you just get dizzy trying to read them all. >> one of the things that makes him unique.

i enjoy talking to him. i like interviewing him because you can ask him things that another politician, a practiced politician would not answer or, at least would not sort of think out loud in front of other people. >> and he does answer. and i completely give him credit for that. i think the issue is that sometimes it's a stream of consciousness answer. and on the issue of the top three, you know, the top three things the government should do, security, of course, but then naming health care and education are not exactly conservative orthodoxy. >> and against his own policies. he want it to go to the states. >> common core, big issue. obamacare, big issue. not the role of the government. when given a chance and to say this should devolve to the states. oh, yeah, i would take it to the states. so it's kind of like he's thinking as he goes along and while on the one hand you say, at least he's honest, on the one

hand you think a presidential candidate who wants to take the country somewhere ought to have thought these things through before. >> the concern among people who do not support donald trump sas president, he entire world hangs on your words and the words affect financial markets. the words you use affect, you know, countries around the world. and so as president, would he be more measured? can he be more measured? jeffrey, you've worked in the white house. can he be more measured in the use of his language? >> if you look at the aipac speech. you can agree or disagree with the substance of it. i thought that was a very presidential -- >> he was reading off a teleprompter. to. >> to the point exactly, he's learning as he goes. he's never done this in his life. this is clearly what's resonating with people out there. so, sure. i think he can. i have to say, every one of these candidates has become better at this. even the professionals who have been running. as we've gone along here. he has vastly improved as he's

gone along. >> a good speech writer. >> he's had two big interviews now with "the washington post" editorial board and "the new york times" supporters. he's proposing massive changes in american security policy based on epic endurance. this is someone who, where i have a friend who is a teach are at stanford university says, this is how a freshman sounds when they haven't done their reading, or their homework. he wants to blow up our alliance system. blow up the world trading order. blow up the anti-proliferation order. if you're going to do these things, these massive things, you need to know what you're talking about. he justice doesn doesn't displa kind of knowledge that would be the foundation for charges that large. >> were you surprises to hear all the candidates on the stage last night say that whole pledge of supporting whoever the nominee is is null and void? >> it doesn't surprise me. in large part because i always felt it was silly in the first place to expect that donald trump was going to.

if they treat me fairly, il never run as a third party candidate. that was always a very interesting clause there. whether it's that statement or the i promise i'll endorse the republican nominee, i always felt that was a little silly. it was waiting for the moment people would break away from it. we've gotten to a point where it's not just donald trump differs from the other folks on the stage on one or two policy or stylistic issues. the sorts of issue he's disagrees with not only members of his own party but the electorate at large are serious issues of national security. and that's the thing the president has most control over. domestic policy you have to go through congress and put together a consensus. >> kristen, i'm sorry. >> this is why the pledge is so inconsequential. what is more important? keeping a silly promise you made to the rnc or potentially backing someone who poses such a massive threat to our government? >> except this is, once again,

proof the rnc's only gun that they have backfires because they came up with that pledge to essentially mix my metaphors, put handcuffs on donald trump and keep him in the tent and now it's all the other guys trying to take those handcuffs off. secretary hillary clinton shortly ahead. also donald trump standing by his campaign manager. what do we know about his campaign manager? the bts rbattery charges not co lewandowski's first brush. hey america, still not sure

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welcome back. we're just make something final technical arrangements to speak with candidate hillary clinton. let's check in with john king while we do that. what are you looking at? >> i'll give you some democratic numbers. in wisconsin right now, bernie sanders comes out of the weekend with some momentum. he's won five out of the last six. the marquette poll shows senator sanders with a slight lead, 49% to 45%. that's within the poll's margin of error. you could call this a statistical tie. there have been questions about how hard hillary clinton is willing to fight for wisconsin. she was in new york state today focussing on the state where she was senator, the state she always home although she is heading back there for the weekend. very interesting. a fight for momentum. the delegate math still favors hillary clinton. if bernie sanders can win wisconsin, it will give him a bit of a boost in the democratic race.

>> in new york they're committing resources and money there, the clinton campaign, they probably would have liked to commit elsewhere. >> that's probably true. one other thing from this wisconsin poll, she goes back this weekend. bernie sanders is now making the case, and he's going to new york as well. he'll fight for new york. he'd like to debate there, too. bernie sanders in wisconsin can make the case that he's the more electable democrat in the fall. look at these numbers versus donald trump, bernie is up 19 points. verse u.s. cruz in wisconsin, up 13 points. versus john kasich, a statistical tie but plus two. 19, 13 and 2. look at hillary clinton. she beats donald trump by two but is in a tie with cruz and loses to kasich. hillary clinton, who came into this race saying i'm much more electable than bernie sanders, it's late march, again, senator sanders has not faced the national scrutiny secretary clinton has. at the moment she's weaker

against cruz and trump and kasich in wisconsin. >> that's one of the things the clinton campaign has been saying. not only has he not faced national scrutiny but there haven't been large organizations donating resources, money running negative ads against him which the clinton campaign would point out they have against secretary clinton. >> she's been on the national stage longer. she is well known to voters. republicans have been helping republican-funded superpacs have been spending attack ads against her and senator sanders has not been vetted over the years as secretary clinton has been. those are all fair points. sometimes politics is won in the moment. and he gets a lot of spice and joys in rallies when he incites numbers like this. remember when i came into this race how far behind i was. at the moment he can make the case he's stronger. >> joining us by phone is the democratic front-runner, form secretary of state, hillary clinton. thanks for being with us. you expressed outs rage after donald trump's initial comments

on abortion today. he put out a statement saying if federal or state laws were changed to make them ellegal, the woman would be considered the victim. the person who performed the abortion would be held liable. what do you make of that distinction? >> not very much. this is about whether abortion is legal and whether women make our own health care choice. it's very clear that donald trump wants to repeal that fundamental right, just like all the other republican candidates. and when he was asked whether women should be punished, he said yes. and that is absolutely unacceptable. it is outrageous. >> do you think he simply misspoke or do you think he hadn't really looked at the issue and that's what he actually believes? >> well, let's be clear. all of the republican candidates want to milwaukake abortion ill. john kasich has defunded planned

parenthood in ohio. ted cruz opposes abortion in all cases with no exception for rape and incest. they all want to dictate a woman's reproductive health care decisions. so, you know, the choice is really clear. the republicans all line up together. now maybe they aren't quite as open about it as donald trump was earlier today, but they all have the same position. and if you make abortion a crime, you make it illegal, then you make women and doctors criminals. >> one of the big pushbacks from republicans has been against the suggestion that the gop is engaged in some sort of war on women, which is a phrase that democrats have used against them. do you intend to double down on that argument? will you use this new controversy about trump, his statements, to criticize the republican field more broadly? >> well, i think it's a real reminder of the stakes in this

election. and i think women and men, in fact, all americans, need to pay attention to this as well as a lot of the other claims that the republicans have been making. why is it, i ask myself, republican candidates want limited government except when it comes to intruding on women's health. women should be free to make the very personal decisions for ourselves, and, you know, people better stand up and protect that right and all our other rights before the republicans do more to erode them and take them away. >> you are aware i'm sure of the controversy surrounding donald trump's campaign manager corey lewandowski. when you see that video, is that part of the narrative against women? do you think this says something? because even some of his challengers on the republican side have tried to link this to his leadership, to what it says about his campaign. >> well, i think it is clear

that, as i've said numerous times in the past, he has been provoking actions by his followers and those who attend his big events. he's been inciting aggressive behavior. he's been applauding violence. he, you know, said he would pay the legal fees of the man at his rally who punched the protester who was on his way out. you go through the last months and there's just a lot of evidence. his behavior has been inciting violence. >> you are obviously trying to fend off a primary challenge from senator sanders. you have this new ad up in new york that clearly takes aim at donald trump, criticizing him for his views on immigration, violence at some of the rallies. that would seem to indicate you believe, obviously, he'll be the person you're going to be running against. you obviously will be the

nominee. how much do you want to pivot toward donald trump now in this campaign, even though you're still facing a tough battle from senator sanders? >> look, i'm going to keep focussed on the primary. i'm going to go after every vote in every contest that i can possibly earn. but i also think it's important not to stand silent when republican candidates say some of the offensive and dangerous things they've been talking about, whether it's barring all muslims from coming to our country or racially proifiesing muslim neighborhoods in our country, or, in this case, taking a shot at women's rights in a way that is really troubling. so i don't think we should allow

those kinds of comments to go unanswered. and you know, anderson, it struck me that all of this turmoil in the republican party about who is their nominee, no other republican candidate really took on donald trump because they fundamentally agree with him. and the issues that he is hitting upon. and i think this latest incident demonstrates that. and i just want americans to understand what the stakes are and to be really alert to what the consequences of this >> just a final question. you're in new york campaigning. a new poll out in wisconsin shows senator sanders leading you 49% to 45% in wisconsin, within the margin of error. are you at all concerned about how wisconsin may turn out for

you? even though the dealt gatt math is in your favor that senator sanders could have a resurgence that takes this all the way to the convention. >> i'm going to fight hard in wisconsin. i'll be going back there over the weekend. it is within the margin of error. we're going to, you know, do everything we can to do well there. but i know we've got a lot of contests ahead of us. i feel good about where i am. i've gotten more votes than anybody. 9 million votes. a million more than donald trump. 2.5 million more than bernie sanders. i have a significant lead in delegates, pledged delegates, which is actually more than senator obama ever had over me in the '08 election. i'm looking forward to the upcoming election, the primaries that we'll be competing in. and i feel very good about my

chances to obtain the nomination. but as i say, i'm going to run my campaign. i'm going to do everything i can to draw the contrast between me and senator sanders. but i'm proud of the campaign that is being run on the democratic side. yes, we have -- in a campaign, you should point those out. we share a lot of the same goals. but we have different ideas about how to, you know, get there and how to help people get real results in their lives. but compared to the republicans nominating process, a real, i think, tribute to the democratic party for the kind of election we are running against each other. >> secretary clinton, thank you for talking with us tonight. we'll be back in a moment with reaction from the panel.

a moment ago, democratic front-runner hillary clinton made her thoughts plain on what donald trump said today about abortion and how the other republican candidates have dealt with the trump phenomenon. back with our panel. secretary clinton sees an opportunity here to make as much hay as possible about donald trump's abortion. >> she's going to make it -- one of two things will happen. donald trump will win the nomination and she'll run against him or donald trump will not win the nomination and

she'll make whoever wins the nomination has donald trump and run against that. >> clearly trying to paint donald trump to represent the entire gop. >> she took on john kasich. >> saying they are all the same. >> this all gets to the part of the problem here. a lot of people in the base of the republican party have. they think their nominee, mitt romney, et cetera, don't fight back. most certainly, donald trump fights back. that's one of the things they like about him. that's what would be so interesting in a campaign against him. >> the other candidates didn't go after trump early on because they all essentially agree with donald trump. on many issues they do not agree with donald trump and there were other reasons they didn't -- >> she's doing what donald trump should be doing now as a long standing front-runner in the republican party. she's running against the republican party. the republicans haven't figured out how to run against the democrats. i'm noticing how free she was in that interview. she did a phoner for a primetime cable show to capitalize on news

of the day. this is hillary clinton giving lightning speed compared to maybe a few months ago where she was still uncomfortable. she's capitalizing on donald trump's mistake so quickly. this is a good preview of how formidable she'll be. >> let's play briefly what she -- some of her -- what she just said before the break. >> this is about whether abortion is legal and whether women make our own health care choices. it's very clear that donald trump wants to repeal that fundamental right. just like all the other republican candidates. and when he was asked whether women should be punished, he said yes. and that is absolutely unacceptable. it is outrageous. no other republican candidate really took on donald trump because they fundamentally agree with him. and the issues that he is

hitting upon. and i think this latest incident demonstrates that. >> it's also interesting, kristen, she's clearly pivoting away from the individual comments of donald trump about women should be held responsible, should be punished, and his backtracking on that. and basically enlarging it out to the issue of abortion in america and keeping abortion legal in america which is a much broader issue and one that probably has more resonance beyond just today's news cycle and trump's comments. >> for the last couple of years, democrats have started to believe in the kulculture wars, this is an issue trending their way. if you look at polling, america is more divided than that. it's not a clear slam dunk issue for the democrats. you have a lot of republicans running for re-election in though senate in blue states. states like new hampshire and ohio, wisconsin. places where the democrats believe that not only do the demographics of a presidential year favor them but if they really push on some of these divisive issues and link

republican candidates, in my view, unfairly, to the rhetoric of donald trump, not only can hillary clinton win the white house but pick up a significant number of houses in the senate. >> if you have a trump/hillary clinton race, there will be a lot of groups in the republican coalition that are loosely attached to the republican side. including some that are concerned about social justice and may not have completely pro-choice views. they have been pushed away from the democratic party in recent elections. you used to have governor casey of pennsylvania and others who were pro-life democrats. there was some voice for those views in that party. if they could re-establish that, i think they could mix up politics in a way that would be very favorable to the democratic party. >> thank s on the panel. conservative talk radio in wisconsin is buzzing. i'll talk with someone from the #never trump movement who interviewed trump just a few days ago.

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a new marquette university poll shows ted cruz leading.

charlie thanks very much for joining us. really fascinating interview you did with donald trump two days ago. latest polls, ted cruz with a 10-point lead. what do you think is behind that? just last month trump was leading in the state. >> if you look at his numbers, his numbers are solid. donald trump has been about 30%, which means 70% of republicans are anti-trump. the field has been winnowed and the field is now coalescing around ted cruz. voters in wisconsin are savvy, engag engaged, they've never bought what donald trump was selling him but now they've made the decision that they're willing to get behind the one candidate that can beat him. >> could you think in wisconsin he has problem with women voters?

if you do, how do his comments about abortion today play with conservative women? >> it's not going to help. thac that was the point when i was talking him the other day beep ha -- we have a history of civility, and he is deeply underwater with women right now he has 70% disapproval rating statewide and that is being driven by conservative women in part who are -- it's not about the issues. they're repelled by his attitude and treatment of women. anderson, have i to give you a shout out foring him out on his juvenile response, the whole he started it thing. in a state like wisconsin, that does not play well. >> you know, i was reading the transcript of the interview you

did with him today and i should give you a shout out because you're the one who actually pointed that out first. i think you said it was a 12-year-old's comments, i said it was a 5-year-old's. but you raised the same point. the decency and civility -- is that a hall mark that you find in wisconsin? because i was really struck by just how gracious the audience members were with the candidates, with me and everybody. >> yeah. it's very much a part. we're not minnesota nice necessarily and it doesn't mean we are not strong and we don't push for strong reforms but this is a certain culture here. at one point on my show i said scott walker should be more like chris christie. i regret that now.

and in his book scott walker pointed out why that wouldn't work here. people like paul ryan and other leaders here in wisconsin always tried to have a certain level of decorum. there's a real jar when someone like donald trump comes in. are you going to pivot and get away from the petty insults and start being gracious? what struck me was he was never going to apologize. he's not only not going to apologize, he's not even going to change his message from day to day even after it turns out to be embarrassing. he wants to be president of the united states and yet he does sound like a playground bully. voters in wisconsin who have been very engaged and very informed have been paying attention to this for a long time, which is why he's so de

deeply underwater and why he's going to lose in wisconsin. >> thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> we'll be right back. erin: dear freshpet, when i first got max, my main goal was to feed him a quality diet. i decided to give freshpet a try. dexter: there's real chunks of vegetables and chicken in it. raul: and, if the food is in the fridge, you know it has to be fresh. patrick: he's a happy guy when he has his freshpet.

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quite a night after quite a day. we saw a new poll signaling trouble for donald trump, as well as for hillary clinton, saw a renewed defense by trump of his campaign manager, who is now

facing a simple battery charge, a misdemeanor. that does it for now. thanks very much for watching. time right now for "cnn tonight" with my colleague don lemon. there has never been a candidate like donald trump. listen to this. >> do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle? >> the answer is there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> yeah, there has to be some form. >> this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. since donald trump said that, he put out a statement it's doctors that should be punished, not women. is the gop front-runner making it up as he dgoes along. >> this is not something you can dodge.