of congress will pay the respect. accompanied by her family. congress will align the capitol steps. later in the afternoon at 2:00, 20 20 democratic vice presidential candidate senator kamala harris talks with the naacp of -- in some -- president derek johnson. the legal battle for president trump's tax returns continues before a three-judge panel from the u.s. court of appeals from the second circuit. at 1:30, president trump speaks ability toon his boost economic opportunities for black americans. policy can help restaurants and their employees survive economically. up next on washington journal, your calls and comments. at 8:00 eastern, a discussion on

the latest campaign 2020 initiative. and oakland university political science professor will talk about michigan is a key battleground state in november. ♪ good morning. it's friday, september 20 fifth. we begin with your reaction to president trump's remarks this week about a peaceful transfer of power. supporting the biden harris ticket dial in at (202) 748-8000. if you're supporting the president and vice president pence, bite -- dial in at (202) 748-8001. if you are undecided or supporting another candidate, (202) 748-8002. ,lso text us with your comments first name, city, and state at (202) 748-8003. or join the conversation on

twitter and facebook. call,we wait for your here's a question and answer from the president on a peaceful transfer of power from wednesday evening. init's win, lose, or draw this election, will you commit today for a peaceful transferral of power after the election. there has been rioting in many cities across this country, and your so-called red and blue states. will you commit to making sure there is a peaceful transferral of power? >> we have to see what happens. i have been complaining strongly about the ballots, the ballots are disaster. >> people are rioting. can you commit to making sure there's a peaceful -- >> if you get rid of the ballots you will have a peaceful -- there will be a transfer, frankly, there will be a continuation. the ballots are out of control. you know it and you know who

knows it better than anyone else, the democrats. the president on wednesday. he was asked if you would consider the election to be legitimate only if he wins. here's his response. [video clip] with have to be careful the ballots. it's a big scam. they found it ballots in a wastepaper basket in some location. it was reported in one of the newspapers that they found a lot of ballots in a river. they throw them out if they have the name trump on it i guess. them in theound river whether they had a name or not. the others had the trump name on thee want to make sure election is honest. i'm not sure they can. they are unsolicited and we will

see. if you remember, hillary clinton a week ago told joe biden to not accept the results of the election under any circumstances. but you don't ask her that question, you asked me the question. host: senators reacted unanimously, passing a resolution committed to the peaceful transition of power. your turn to give us your take on this debate. sean in florida, supporting the former vice president and senator harris. caller: good morning. president trump's statement that he will accept the results only if they meet his terms constitutes intent to overthrow the government of the united states. that's treason. host: in what way? caller: if you tell me that you are not going to accept the results of the election and you

are going to continue to stay in the white house and run the government of the united states, that's treason. that's not accepting the results of the people, host: and sandy, what are your thoughts? it will not be because democrats are cheating. if they don't except the results it's because the democrats are cheating. i have already cast my vote for trump and pens and i would do it again. i believe he is from god and he's doing the work of the lord. i thank god for him being our president. thank you very much for c-span for broadcasting stuff that we are able to see that is not biased and gives us a clear picture. thank you. duke is next in

stonington, maine. caller: good morning. do is to wants to become a dictator. he is the united states rendition of germany settler. italy's rendition of benito mussolini. this guy just wants to run everything. it would not surprise me that he would get his way eventually, if he gets back in again, it's a very dangerous situation. this country is not a dictatorship. i don't trust that guy. when you look into the face of that guy you are looking into the eyes in the face of satan himself. think about it. thank you. milwaukee,lle, in wisconsin. supporting the biden-harris ticket. caller: good morning. i'm calling because i don't understand how anybody in america can accept a president is like ad trump, who

dictator, who wants to be a dictator, who can literally tell to attack people at protests and have people in literallyf a man who had two people killed in wisconsin when they were trying to stop a man from running down the street with a rifle. i don't understand how america continues to support this man who controls all of these people who are so naive and want to have their race be in charge. when america is in america many different races. that's how we are. we are the united states of

it's not just a white american anymore. unfortunately, the white people brought us over here. i'm an african-american, and we are now equal and we should be treated equal. we cannot go back to the 1960's. lewis,luther king, john those people fought for our liberty and justice. why are we going backwards? we need to get him out of office so we can continue to strive like we were during the obama era. michelle, does his remarks over the past couple of days concern you? do you take them seriously? caller: i taken very seriously. i'm very afraid he's going to steal this election and the presidency. everything he says needs to be taken seriously. there can be literally a civil war under this man. att is what we are seeing

these protests when white people --e out to literally fight it seems like they come out and aggression towards white people because black people are trying afterht for their rights police shootings and racism. now white people are coming in with aggression against the black people and that's not what we're trying to do. we just want to say that we want to be treated equally. but because of trump, they feel they have every right to come out. this was all squandered years ago and now they are bringing all the anger backup. it's amazing how much control he has over people. yahoo! news reported this morning that democrats worry that president trump will hold in an action -- an election light need -- election night before ballots can

be counted in the mail. in a move the president has signaled could come, he has declared male balance to be fraudulent. place wherereate a lawmakers in pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin will cast electoral votes for trump. couldemocratic governors stand in the way, bringing in a -- throwing the process into dispute. they go on the report that trump's campaign, which is already burned through $1 billion of the $1.3 billion has spent roughly $30 million over the past two years on a legal team. the campaign has already challenged election plans and a number of states and ought to curtail voter turnout. they have fought to reduce eligibility to vote by mail and titan voter id requirements, reduce or ban the use of drop

boxes and discard ballots that have technical flaws or have arrived after election day. the washington times has reported this headline, four challenged in an alleged ballot harvesting scheme. four people were charged with felonies and an alleged ballot rving scheme while the justice department opens an investigation into discarded in pennsylvania. this comes as president trump voices renewed concern over the potential for fraud in widespread mail-in voting in the election. and at least once instance had schemers casting a ballot on behalf of the voter. they mark the box themselves according to a lengthy indictment. will go to lacey, in michigan. good morning.

lacey, what do you think about the president's remarks on a peaceful transfer of power. >> i think if we think logically. he would noto say believe the results. speakingernie sanders and talking about how president trump and all of these people have voted male and for so many years. and it's true but it's not true at the same time. they voted absentee which is different than what they are trying to do with the mail-in voting. they want to get rid of voter id. if i go to the store and buy cigarettes or alcohol i have to show id. why would i not need to show id to vote. i don't feel like president trump is doing anything wrong. i think he's thinking logically. you would not put $500 in the mail in cash and mail it across

the country. you are taught that as a kid because it might get lost in the mail. they always tell you to write a money order. so the concept of mail-in voting is ignorant. host: lacey, in michigan. pamela is supporting the biden harris ticket. i would like to say something to the poor lady who called yesterday. her name is teresa she changed her mind about trump and said she was one of the deplorable's and she was very upset with herself for supporting him. dear lady, you are not deplorable. you've just been misled by a con man and i hope you can see the truth and change your mind. say that if to potus decides to stay in office,

he's committing treason and he should be arrested and if the attorney general tries to protect him and come up with some scheme to challenge the validity of the election he should keep in mind that other attorney generals have gone to think sought -- the people should be held accountable treason. there could be an attempt to suppress voter turnout and they are creating this confusion to get us people worried so that they won't show up for the election. , thatt's remember covid seems to be something not mentioned. do we have to go out and risk our lives to vote? we should not have to do that during this pandemic which has been left to run rampant by the president. so i think you should be arrested. if he stays in the white house, he's a trespasser. host: before you go, what was your reaction to hearing that

the senate unanimously passed the legislation yesterday. to commit to a peaceful transfer of power? caller: i would like to think there's a qualifier in there. there might be litigation and a peaceful transfer of power but the court will decide on the republicans will follow and that of course involves mr. trump aborting a supreme court justice which he shouldn't. so i want to know if there's a qualifier in that. i think it's great if they said they would accept if the majority wins without any litigation. but if they're talking about litigation. i think after january 20 mr. biden would be president than he should just kick them out of the white house underestimates necessary. host: here's a quote from the biden campaign. the biden campaign has assembled

the biggest voter protection program in history to ensure the election run smoothly and to combat any attempt of donald trump to create fear and confusion. we are confident that we will have free and fair elections this november and that voters will reject the president's failed leadership. this story goes on to say what pamela was just talking about, that he could come down the supreme court and the court. but they go on and and the article by saying state election officials say they were breaking -- bracing for legal battles and civil unrest. in north carolina the state board of affection has relocated operations to the state emergency operations center and the board considered evacuating its workforce on wednesday after woman called accusing democratic board members are trying to steal the election. warning that she and a thousand other conservatives were on their way to protest. some officials are preparing for

turmoil. the arizona secretary of state, democrat, said she has had discussions about how to police voter intimidation away -- in a way that does not make the problem worse. let's go to dan, who is undecided. good morning. presidentarks by the and what hillary clinton said about not conceding the election, does it concern you? caller: good morning. it does concern me. i'm leaning towards president trump but undecided. my concern is is a very legitimate point, not so much people fraudulent casting votes, but somehow people going in and saying if this note is for the itsident, i'm going to throw away or discarded. that's a valid concern. i think there will be some complaining and whining if he

loses the election but he will pass the baton over to democrats. werery clinton's comments -- he should not have made those comments. it seems like the democrats want to put this into a judicial decision as to who the next president is going to be and i think that's wrong. ok.: caitlin collins, who covers the white house for cnn has reported that mark meadows, the chief of staff, justify trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power by pointing to a deirdre statement about nine discarded ballots. saying that the doj had to correct the statement after saying all nine were for the president, they later said it was seven. on capitol hill, senator gary peters heard testimony along with other

members of the homeland security committee from christopher wray. he asked the director about voting by mail and any concerns. >>'s voting by mail secure? --[video clip] >> is voting by mail secure? threatske all election seriously. our role is to investigate threat actors. historically,en, any kind of coordinated national election,d in a major whether it's by mail or otherwise. seen voter fraud at the local level. becomments should not construed as minimizing how seriously we take our responsibility to investigate with the potential impact. it's on our radar to certainly

change the federal election outcome by mounting that kind of fraud at scale and it would be a major challenge for an adversary. but people should make no mistake. we are vigilant to the threat and we are watching it carefully because we are in uncharted territory. as far as risk assessment. cuccinellier to mr. that's really more in their lane. >> but you have not seen any widespread fraud by mail. that is something the fbi is watching continuously. host: you can watch that hearing on our website. going to sean next. what are your thoughts?

caller: i heard this on wednesday night and i did not go to sleep. , that's displaying that trump does not believe in democracy. those are dictator actions. we have seen this with belarus. we have seen this with other notons, where a leader has actually gone along with the vote. to some peopley, saying that hillary clinton says do not concede, she said do not concede on election day until all the votes are counted. report byn, i wrote a talkinges, who was

about how not only donald trump but the republican national committee is actually trying to find a way to overturn the vote counts for each state if things go on longer than november. up until september -- december 8. that's aonally -- major reason why i'm supporting biden and harris. autocraticisplayed tendencies. he has said that he would actually take any help from adversarial nations. cited -- sided with autocrats over our own intelligence agencies. i have no reason to believe he would actually peacefully transfer power if he loses, and if he loses he will try to

nullify anything and we see him doing it now. point. last whatever the republicans said yesterday, i don't believe. these are the same ones who said if this year the supreme court justice died they will wait until after the election. and they are on record as saying that. and look at how they are proceeding. richard,'s go next to in minneapolis, a trump supporter. caller: good morning. asked a loaded question. president trump did not say he powernot have a peaceful -- t did not say he would not do a peaceful transfer of power. he said he might question the results of some of the ballots coming in, if they are not postmarked. but let's repeat that. staffhas about 400 on

ready to fight it. biden is going to fight it. you have people in the street right now rioting. and if biden does not win they are going to keep rioting. give us a break. and you should not be letting people on that call them nazis. that is a swear word like the n-word. let's get real. let's have a two-sided conversation. please. host: we absolutely want people to keep it civil, you can disagree without name-calling. it is something that we want people to do. and it is not encouraged. let's go to the floor of the senate yesterday, where they have the unanimous vote on a resolution to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. here is chuck schumer. [video clip]

everyone from schoolchildren to the most senior among us know that the peaceful transfer of power is one of democracy's core attributes. like the rule of law, the separation of balance has learned that everything that is great and noble about our system and government, president trump has sullied, diminished, and now he has threatened to actually dismantle. the gravest threat to american democracy right now is donald trump. the president issued similar threats in the run-up to the 2016 election and he's doing it again now. win, he proposed, the election is legitimate. , argues the president. but if i lose, it's rigged. that is what he is saying now. if i win the election is a but if i lose, it's rigged.

oh and by the way, i may just stay in office and not count the ballots. unbelievable. the greatest threat to american democracy right now is president trump. thesave for a few, republican majority here in the senate brushes it by. they don't know the folk context. but the president says crazy things. maybe he was joking they say. willing to continue ramming a supreme court justice through, who the president said was needed, before the election because the election will be before the united states supreme court. are our republican colleagues? democracies at state -- stake. senator ted cruz, republican of texas told

reporters that there is going to be a peaceful transition of power, but the real threat is that joe biden has been explicit that if he loses the election he intends to challenge the election. i expect him to file the -- litigation to dispute the legitimacy. the winner of the november 3 election, this is from mitch mcconnell, will be inaugurated on january 20. there will be an orderly transition, just as there has been every four years since 1792. mitt romney said fundamental to democracy is a peaceful transition of power. without that there is belarus. any suggestion that a president might not respect this guarantee is unthinkable and unacceptable. the national review, the conservative magazine out of washington, d.c. also had an editorial board putting out a statement saying that president trump is not alone in his shameful rhetoric.

of the democratic party have insisted that he is a, which he is not. harry reid has argued that russia has change the vote totals, which it has not. and recently it was suggested that joe biden should not concede by hillary clinton, which he showed. none of these people are the president of the united states. none carry the extraordinary weight of that office or bear the responsibility that trump does. have passed a resolution reaffirming the commitment to the orderly and peaceful transfer of power called for in the constitution. in flat rock, michigan, you are supporting the biden harris ticket. how are you. caller: i cannot say that i'm doing well. when i heard the president of the united states echoed those words, it sent a shiver down my

spine and that night i could not sleep a wink. i am shaking thinking about it. constitution,he ripping it up, saying laws don't apply to me. and i honestly believe those words that came out of his mouth at that podium where his real words. it'snow how he always says a one-off. he just said it. but no, he meant what he said and those echoes of another four more years at his rally, that he is exposing all of his supporters to vote for this man. it is unbelievable. and america is truly at stake in this election because the bedrock of our democracy will be shaken to its core. bill, in tampa, supporting the president. caller: i would like to say

something about the peaceful transition of power. where was the peaceful transition of power when trump took office? immediately the resistance started in washington with obama , clinton, soros, to remove the president. elected,fter he got impeachment proceedings were brought against him. how is that a peaceful transition of power. also, all these democratic cities with the rioters. it's all democratic cities that are having problems. the democratic record speaks for itself. obama,en and barack before president trump brought this country down, depleted our military, brought in illegals. by the way this is a constitutional republic. it's not a democracy. democrats need to get that

straightened out. remember, democrats are the ones that started the kkk. they are the ones that controlled most of the slavery in this country. you can go on and on forever about what the democrats have done. the record speaks for itself. host: bill, in tampa. don, from carolina, sending this text, why wasn't there this outrage from accepting the results when hillary clinton said joe biden should under no circumstance except the election results and you heard that. let's listen. what thee a listen to former secretary of state had to say. [video clip] to have a massive legal operation. i know the biden campaign is working on that. we have to have poll workers. i urge people who are able to be a poll worker, we have to have

to own teams of people counter the force of intimidation that the republicans and trump are going to put outside polling places. this is a big organizational challenge. at least we know more about what they are going to do. concede, should not under any circumstances. out andthis will drag eventually i do believe he will win. his long as we don't give an inch. host: that was former secretary of state hillary clinton. the opinion pages of usa today, their editorial board knows that we need to find a way to count absentee ballots quickly, given trump's savage and unfair attacks, this scenario is not far-fetched, particularly because more democrats than republicans are expected to vote absentee. states and news organizations

need to make clear that voters may not get instant gratification on election night. but it's important for states to be as expeditious as possible. unfortunately, number of states have tied their hands with overly restricted laws. according to national conference of state legislatures, the three crucial states above, in alabama, kentucky, west virginia, and wyoming, prevent co-worker -- poll workers from processing more counting ballots until election day. those key battleground states are michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. in the next hour we continue with our battleground series. charles, in north carolina, supporting biden-harris. good morning. caller: good morning. all i wanted to say was first of all to the american people,

please, we need to realize what we are going through. -- don't bey scared, fear is not an option. we have to learn how to fight and have faith to know that we will come through. and second. donald trump is the one creating all of this. he is the one messing everything up. he's looking at you on tv every day, telling you what he's doing. thereu have people up with something he has not done anything about. he still wants people to come out in public to vote. i am a black american. i am going. i'm not going to walk out there. i'm going to run to the ballot box and let them know that we .an win we have to vote and stop being scared because we have to learn

afraid.ot be it's donald trump's people coming in. butave peaceful protest, you have people coming behind. realizing that it's the same. and they are looking at what he is doing. please, go vote. have a good day. , in philadelphia, supporting a trump-pentz ticket. am want to say that trump should not have responded to this. but he never responded as though he was never leaving office. he is the sitting president. i don't know what the panic about -- the panic is about. host: so you don't taken

seriously then? caller: this is nothing to be serious about. am just saying it's hypothetical question. you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. he still the president of the united states. presidentl a sitting and he's going to win again. a lot of people think that his who are white. i'm an immigrant, i'm a naturalized citizen. and we are voting for him. he is the best thing that's happened to the usa and we love him. paula, in tampa, supporting the biden harris ticket.

caller: this looks like it was done by design. this was done by design years and years ago, with trump and whoever wanted him to be in office. passed you know bills that the house put there. this was set up so that trump could be in office for four years. he set up the doj. they are in his pocket, they are filling the courts. they are causing chaos in the street. arenow that people peacefully protesting. but you don't see that on fox news. they only show people who are agitators. and most of those agitators are white americans. acting like covid does not exist. it's like they set it up to look over here. in the have some americans looking over there and they are not paying attention to what's going on. get your mind out of twitter and facebook and start reading news articles and laws that they are passing that they are not

showing you on the mainstream media. i am so scared that he's gonna be in office for four more years. he doesn't want people to vote by mail because they can do something to the voter machines and that's what people to go with. and one more thing. if there are any republicans working at that post office that are in love with trump and want to see him in office. i think they are the one throwing the ballots away. host: paulette, in tampa, florida. in other news, this is from the economy business section. democrats have begun crossing a new stimulus bill to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. the new legislation would be significantly narrower in scope than the $3.4 trillion euros act. recently, republicans say this is still too high. but in meeting with house democratic leaders. a new bill would be around.

there is an urgent need arising from airlines. package, it's expected to include stimulus checks, aids for airlines. as well as rental assistance. and election security and the u.s. postal service. that's the latest on capitol hill on those negotiations. in the wall street journal, jobless claims are stuck at a high level. streets is from the wall journal, senator feinstein likely used clout and university of california admissions for her son. banker penned a letter to the office that likely bumped a student off the school's waitlist and into the highly selective flagship university.

the region wasn't named in the .eport but he was identified as dianne feinstein's husband. and the president mentioned this watching his rally last night. federalist came out with this report yesterday about fbi text messages that were shared. the federal bureau of investigation was tasked by james coming to take down the president were so concerned about the agency's potential illegal behavior that they purchase liability insurance to protect themselves before the president was inaugurated. you can read more on the federalist.com. dan is supporting the president in new york. what do you think about his comments. trump madehink that the comments the same as hillary clinton made.

she told biden not to concede. so why wouldn't trump say the same thing, if there's any found playing. then he has the right. whyi just don't understand there isn't more about hunter biden and all of the money he took from russia, china, and the u.k.. and john, in virginia. good morning. who are you supporting and how did you react to what you heard from the president. caller: thank you for taking my call. whatot worried about donald trump is saying. he can say whatever he wants but i want to talk to the american listening. if you loses the election. i'm not worried that he will contest or not, he will leave office no matter what he says.

the problem that i have is the way that the media is covering this language. been voting by mail for years. the problem is that this is donald trump wanting to scare people so that people will not vote. i think if people go out and vote, donald trump sees what's coming. because he's never seen anything like this. miles lining up, forming to go vote. remember, they all want to see donald trump win. are two options, america or donald trump. which way do you want to go? it's about the rule of law in our country. i am an immigrant to came to this country 30 years ago.

i never seen anything like this. spoiled,ty is we are we are destroying what we built and now we have this president wants to destroy everything we stand for for three years. to wake up. america you have two choices. your country or donald trump area there's no in between. thank you. host: politico reporting on a new fox news paul. biden leading in pennsylvania. the president recently disparaged fox news paul lang. gina in mississippi. the president this morning. i would like to speak to america today. you have a choice between mr. man, sufferingly

with dementia. it is obvious. and the other choices a man who loves america and has done everything possible to better this country. and he has bettered everything that is important in this country. like the economy. and our military startup. you are being lied to by the mainstream media. it's a shame. i'm not surprised. host: the former vice president is 77 years old. president trump is 74. romney, in tampa, florida. good morning to you. this is going to get even more interesting. i feel that it is awfully

somebody wasthat maybe sacrificed everything coming to the country, deals that coming here may have been a mistake. i'm talking about the shining city on the hill, and the promise of america. i have been here all my life. i don't know any other culture or way of life other than the american way and those that abide by it and with it. i'm a republican. i was a democrat. programsed of seeing start and never have any finish. i figured let me get with some people who do not like to give up much but if they do you will have a beginning and an end. we are knocking to throw any money away. thrownseen so much money away into inner cities to no avail. create high school kids who cannot read or do math.

i can remember, as a child, when i went from elementary school to middle school. i lost maybe 70% of the people i went to school with. and when i went to high school i lost about 90. this has been going on in our country for so long. it's been stupid. and yes, populations are smaller in other countries and they concentrate on a smaller situation. and you want to know about this transition. it is something else. this has been planned for a long time. from day one it was like watch out. it's all rigged. this is america. have a hundred guys with you. uss there is 300 million of in america.

you will not change the way this country works. it but if we feel you finish your job you have to go home. you just have to go home. romney, in tampa, florida. there was reaction on the house side as well area hears kevin mccarthy of california. [video clip] >> there will be a peaceful transition. i hope you ask the same question of hillary clinton, who said to never concede the race. congresswoman own , alexandria ocasio-cortez says we need to radicalize ourselves. did that have anything to do with any police officers being shot last night. didn't have anything to do with that is putting out military weaponry. or shields and others to those

who want to protest in a different manner. that and the concern of the security of the safety. there will be a smooth transition and i believe that president trump will have a good inaugural and will reunite this nation instead of radicalizing this nation. the housespeaker of also had a news conference and she was asked about this. >> -- [video clip] >> that the president of the united states would place this in doubt as no surprise, it's no surprise because the president has been contemptible of science and government. 200,000 people have died. but i have confidence in the american people. that heve confidence will not get away with saying i won with the popular vote and that the vote in the mail does not count.

here thatm i missing people are just not saying. know who he admires. he admires putin kim jong-un. erdogan in turkey. aredmires people who perpetuating their roles in government. korea. are not in north you are not in turkey. you are not in russia. .nd you are not in saudi arabia you are in the united states of america. it's a democracy. try, for a moment, to honor your oath of office to the constitution of the united states. host: vladimir food has called on a reset, with no inaction -- election meddling on either side.

calling for an agreement between russia and the united states and in -- to not engage in cyber meddling. brian, in illinois. good morning. crazy. it's kind of pelosi is sitting there instigating all of this trouble as the democrats burned down there's -- with nt for polling boxes. transition,aceful tell me what's a peaceful transition when this goes on. tell me who is instigating the separation of our country. the democrats are, every time you get up to speak. when they call the president a nazi. come on. that's ridiculous. he has a peace deal. he's been nominated for two

liberal peace prizes. he will not get them. it's going to be a sticky situation come voting time. the democrats are doing everything they can to cheat. that's my opinion and i'm sticking with it no matter what. i see what's going on day after day. host: understood. here are some text messages and social media comments. one viewer says that i think trump will do anything to remain in power. follow -- biden loses he should follow clinton advice based on trump's own word. says that theewer election will be contested regardless and he never said there would not be a peaceful transition but this changes the narratives in trump's favor.

he's motivating his face. i will vote for trump this year and republican for the first time. hasara and i will, trump absentee voting because leaves a paper trail and that's why he doesn't like it. and kirk in michigan says that nobody points out that the question was poorly structured. president trump would not contest a win but a draw would contested. the question would be whether he would contest if he were to lose. president trump answered the core question. and our next caller supporting the biden-terrace tick -- the bite and hide -- the biden-tear -- the biden-harris ticket. caller: the biggest problem we have is that trump should realize that words have power. he isat he is saying is

upsetting the american people and he should be trying to calm the people and understand that there are concerns about what he does. i think biden has never said that he would contest and they are trying to use hillary clinton's words when she's not even a presidential candidate. he should be trying to calm the country down. not upset it. those are my comments. jim, in new york, supporting the president. caller: good morning. i just had a couple of comments. with all of the resistance that trump had after he was elected. there was a secret coup trying to take him out and resist him and suddenly trump is being told

that he is resisting. the question posed was whether you win, lose, or draw, you promote a peaceful contest. who would concede if they won the election or how to draw. i don't understand the question. but the other thing that really areers me is that you deliberately skipping over one of the biggest stories that came out. hunter biden, the senate finance committee and homeland security just highlighted a lot of really terrible financial transaction and you did not even mention this. jr. is doing this it would have reflected negatively on trump. when will you reported equally.

on and talk about how he has lined the pockets of his family with this money. campaign caniden be extorted and be bribed because of some of the money. when will you cover hunter biden's financial ties and what joe biden is doing to cover it up. briefed abouts his son's involvement according to hunter biden's report. this was on fox news's website. ofy writes that reaction democrats downplaying the report after you -- two u.s. senate committees and the senior editor said there's truly breaking news in this report. the report states that in october of 2015, a senior department official has raised concerns with vice president biden that hunter biden's

position on the board enabled disinformation efforts and risked undermining u.s. policy in ukraine. so that's from fox news and you places ast in other well. the new york times headline says that republicans have found no evidence of wrongdoing by biden in an annual report and it was little more than a rehash of unproven allegations of russian disinformation campaigns. you can read those sources and decide for yourself. reportingennessee, joe biden. caller: good morning. as to to say, i'm lost what the question is. trump willieve that have a peaceful transfer win or lose. even if he wins, he's not going to be satisfied.

son,alking about biden's he's got nothing to do with this. with all of this stuff that trump has done and is doing in his family. i would not care what he does. trump should go. he's a con man. his own niece is saying what he is and what to expect. attorney telling us. i believe them. he has shown a suit he is and what he is and he is not fit to be the president of the united states. he needs to go. reedy, in union, washington. you support the president. caller: i support the president and his policies and his integrity. i don't support the corrupt press. here's an example with respect to a treat -- a peaceful power transfer. imagine if beijing biden were in the off on february 12, this

year, he was on a cnn hosted town hall where the question was asked about the second amendment in a revolution. how important it is that the people have guns, hypothetically to oppose their government. here is the exact quote. he says gunowners with ak-47s cannot beat the governments f-15s with hellfire missiles. there was a caller from maine who called trump a tyrant and waiting who wants to be a dictator. people go to law enforcement today.com or google that fate -- that phrase, gunowners with ak-47s cannot beat the governments f-15s with hellfire missiles. is that a tyrant and waiting or not? armament from the military like tiananmen square, rolling tanks into the streets.

that's if beijing biden were president. i want people to really listen to the man's own words and ask himself is that we want to elect for president? too.e need a military if this power transition does not happen, i say military, get rid of trump, get rid of biden, get rid of every single sitting representative and have a new election with a criteria of if you have ever been a politician or ever worked for the government, even if you are a dogcatcher, your disqualified. we need a whole batch of people from the military to get a new election and go home peacefully. >> --host: good morning. caller: thank you for having me. i just wanted to say a couple of

things. is on record that donald that hewo days ago said would not honor a peaceful .ransition of power and that there would be a .ontinuation of his presidency and if that's not a desk but i don't know what is. i don't recall any other candidates, including president obama, ever, using inflammatory language like that. his words have a huge impact on his base. he wantsy sounds like to create unrest on election night. host: host: the national review says

this, one of the peculiar political dynamics has been this president's dogged termination to play into the hands of his opponents and make fears worse. there is no chance this president, any president, will remain in the white house having lost an election. a careful parsing of his words he is going tot try. but a careful parsing of his meandering answer should not be necessary. there was no reason for him to complicate the answer. even small children are capable of saying yes and moving on. we are going to take a break. coming up, we are going to turn our attention to the state of michigan. we have been looking at all of the key states. today is michigan. we will begin with the detroit free press correspondent and

then talk with oakland university political science professor david dulio. we will be right back. >> i believe we should be stronger than we now are. we should have a stronger military force. we should increase our strength all over the world. and i do not confuse words with strength. when the president of the united states is doing something that is right, something for the purpose of defending the security of this country against surprise attacks, he can never express regret or apologize to anybody. >> 60 years ago, americans watched the first ever televised presidential debate between john f. kennedy and richard nixon. sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern, we will look back at the event with the university of virginia miller center's barbara perry, with a live discussion on how the debates came to be, the issues, the candidates, and how the debates set the tone for

future presidential campaigns. the nixon-kennedy presidential debates, nine :00 a.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. author of "if then." other titles include "the secret history of wonder woman" and "the book of ages." join in on the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. sunday, october four, eastern on book tv on c-span2. journal"ngton continues. host: we continue with our battleground states, looking at the key states that could play a crucial role in this year's election.

we turn our attention to the state of michigan, and we begin with detroit free press washington correspondent todd spangler. where do things stand right now in the state of michigan? 's leadlooks like riding in michigan is still pretty solid -- looks like biden's lead in michigan is still pretty solid. the last one had him at eight points up. looks like he is doing well. not as big a lead as it was a month or so ago. host: why has he lost that edge? guest: frankly, as we get closer to the election, we always expected a tightening of the race. during the summer, the height of the black lives matter protests and some of the actions being taken by the administration, that number balloons, at one point as high as 16. we expected it to come down. considering an election the four

years ago trump won michigan by .2%, eight is still a pretty big number. we expect it to come back down and narrow even more before the election. campaigns are the two focusing on? what issues are they finding works in the state of michigan? guest: it is michigan, so both sides want to talk about auto production. at a rally recently outside saginaw, the president came in and made a bunch of really wild claims about revitalizing the auto industry, about opening tons of new plants. that has not happened. even before covid, auto employment in michigan, manufacturing in michigan, was down slightly from where it was when he took office. i do not think the auto industry was doing badly pre-covid, but it is cyclical, going through changes.

warren, michigan, about two weeks ago, also talking about an auto plan. he said he can create new jobs by encouraging the transfer to electric cars, hybrids. that move is already underway. there are a lot of new models coming out that are electric, hybrid, in the next few years. they are both making that kind of message. on the negative side, obviously, biden is trying to hit trump hard on his handling of coronavirus. we had a big spike in michigan back in march, april, trying to hit on that. governor whitmer and trump have sparred over this issue over and over again. health care generally has been a big issue for biden and the democrats and will continue to be, with the argument that the trump administration are not serious about protecting

pre-existing conditions. they areump side, really trying to hammer home biden's support in the 1990's for nafta. nafta is blamed in michigan for a lot of jobless in manufacturing and the auto industry through the 1990's, through the 2000's, and had long been looked at something that hurt the economy and hurt manufacturing. trump did succeed in renegotiating nafta in the new deal with canada and mexico. we have yet to see whether that will pay dividends. amocrats had been calling for renegotiation of nafta, including biden, for a long time. took a republican president to push that through. there were a lot of republicans opposed to that you no longer are. it did happen. democrats played a key role in changing that negotiation, making sure that mexico would

live up to some more environmental concerns, labor concerns. but trump is hitting by the heart with that nafta message in michigan. host: where does and with which voters does the supreme court vacancy resonate in michigan? guest: sure. very activee is a antiabortion, pro-life movement in michigan, without question. those voters are out there. president trump already had those voters. little question about that. the real question in michigan is going to be whether or not a ish to seat a justice who is goingrly pro-life white,e hurt him with noncollege women who actually might support him otherwise who are pro-choice and believe in abortion rights. there is some evidence that it could.

now whether or not this becomes -- if it becomes an election about the supreme court, in michigan, given certain democrats among suburban women, particularly, among women of color, that is going to really ramp up enthusiasm to vote against donald trump, even if they get this done before then. even more so, because there is going to be a feeling that in the senate and in the congress, if something can be done legislatively to enshrine those rights and take other actions, that will overwhelm the supreme conservative6-3 majority. i think that will help the democrats in a state like michigan. todd spangler, how much time or each of the candidates spending in michigan, and how much money are they spending? guest: in terms of money, the trump campaign really just turned back on the spigot for ads.

here through the mother of august, they were basically dark, leaving it to outside groups to handle -- here through the month of august, they were basically dark. but they are spending and trying to make a play for michigan, without question. president trump had a rally outside saginaw about a week or so ago. rally, flew in on air force one. biden himself went to warren. those have been the only two trips we have seen recently from the candidates themselves. both have been sending surrogates in. senator harris was in for the biden campaign. jill biden going up north to traverse city here in the next few days. the trump campaign had some numbers of the presidents family. singer, artist who supported trump in the past, he

said he was considering a run for the u.s. senate two years ago. he did not run. he was at a rally. we expect more things like that. from keynotesee candidates again. president trump ended the 2016 campaign in grand rapids. it was an early morning election day rally, which was wildly attended in grand rapids and he ended up winning the state and was in michigan twice the we can leading up to the election. we certainly expect him to be back. we also expect biden to be back. but will we see them as much as we might if michigan were a two or three-point state, that remains to be seen. host: you can follow todd spangler's reporting in the detroit free press. you can also follow him on twitter. thank you very much for your time. guest: thanks for having me. host: we will dig deeper into

the state of michigan with political science professor at oakland university david dulio, author of "michigan government politics and policy." ulio, 2016, the president won narrowly. where did he win, and how did he get the victory in the wolverine state? guest: when the difference in the margin in 2016 was less than 11,000 votes, you can find that margin in a lot of different places across our state, and i will point you to a few. one is simple, turnout. and that is for places where well,icans generally do turnout was up. in michigan, we would refer to those places as up north. so if you drew a line sort of halfway down the lower peninsula, everything north of that is up north, strong republican territory. not many voters up there. romney's improved on

vote totals, and turnout was up sometimes 3, 4, 5 points in some of those counties. on the flipside, in wayne county, home of detroit, turnout was mainly flat. but in that county, hillary clinton received 80,000 fewer votes than barack obama did just four years before. so democrats in wayne county simply did not show up for hillary clinton. another factor is -- and i think that your viewers should hone in on this in the next six weeks or so -- places like macomb county, michigan, made famous 40 years thein the 1980's with reagan democrats, individuals who considered themselves democrats but voted for ronald reagan because they liked his stances on some particular issues but generally liked his demeanor, thought he was tough, thought he stood up for the little guy. and trump had great success with

those folks in macomb county, blue-collar workers, union workers, and in that county long, trump got 35,000 more votes than mitt romney did just four years before, and clinton got 30 5000 fewer votes than obama did. does that mean that there are 35,000 people in macomb county that voted for obama and that voted for trump? no. but 5000, 6000, 7000? sure. the rest is created in turnout differences. some of those obama voters did not show up, and trump brought out some voters that had not voted before. guest: you mention some who voted for president obama and switched and voted for president trump. are they up for grabs this time around? guest: that is a great question, and i think that is one of the outstanding questions, one of the uncertain questions that remains here in michigan, to see if trump can repeat the coalition of voters that he put together in 2016.

and i think some of them certainly are still with him. trump's base is, as you know, heavily white working-class folks, and that is not the only folks that vote for donald trump, of course. but in places like macomb county, saginaw county, those are two of the 12 counties that had pluralities vote for obama and then vote for trump in 2016. those folks are still with the president. his strength in the base of white working-class voters is incredibly strong here in michigan. then whatd dulio, does vice president need to do differently than hillary clinton? you touched on it a little bit. and do you see signs at the campaign is doing that? guest: sure, i would point to a couple different factors. trump'sry to hold down advantage in places like macomb county. in your conversation with todd

spangler, he mentioned joe biden was in warren just a couple weeks ago. that is an attempt to try to eat into trump's lead in those kinds of areas. and couple that with increasing turnout in wayne county, specifically the city of detroit, that can put biden in a really strong position come november 3. again, it is no surprise to see senator harris visit the city of detroit in the last couple of days. and those are things that hillary clinton never did in 2016. that campaign made a terrible mistake strategically by really ignoring the state of michigan until the very last minute, and by then it was too late. into thetrying to eat lead that trump has some of those blue-collar union workers, increase turnout in detroit, in general, get their voters to the

polls better than the democrats did four years prior. host: we want viewers to join the conversation. if you support the biden-harris ticket, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001. undecided or supporting another, (202) 748-8002. michigan voters, we want to hear from you, (202) 748-8003. mr. dulio, what is the president's campaign doing to try and re-create the win from 2016? guest: continuing some of the messaging that was successful for him in 2016. again, i will refer back to your conversation with todd. a lot of it is about trade and manufacturing. that was a, as i said, a very successful message that resonated with voters here in michigan, and i think that he is going to continue to do that, especially around the usmca, the

renegotiated nafta. i think the president is going to come here and say, i told you four years ago that i was going to get rid of nafta and put something else in place that is better, and i did that. he is going to claim credit for that, and it is too early to know if it is better, but i would note that in an interview, vice president biden admitted that he thought that usmca was better than nafta. and i think the trump campaign may try to use those words against the former vice president. host: "new york times" this money, trump struggles on gop turf as women favor biden in poll. are you seeing this play out in michigan, as well? guest: we already have, to some extent. ande were between 2016 2018, there was a pretty big shift, and a lot of that shift was seen in well-educated,

suburban female voters in places like oakland county. affluentounty is an place with white-collar workers, pretty affluent, highly 2016,ed, and we saw, in more of those voters marked their ballot for donald trump than many thought. but then in 2018, the vast majority of them did not support republicans here in michigan in the midterm, especially in our state races for governor, secretary of state, attorney general. topsaw democrats sweep the of the ticket, flipped two congressional seats in michigan, the eighth and the 11th. one defeated an incumbent, one

an open seat. much of that has been attributed to many of those -- affluent,cated, suburban women leaving republicans and voting for democrats. so we have seen it the question is, can the president get some of those voters back? host: nancy is in rochester, michigan. good morning. caller: hello there. yes, home of oakland university. i am just calling to say that i am one of those educated women of m,.s. them -- from u and i am a trump person. i liked him and voted for him, but this time i am so pleased with what he has done. the posts inigan, michigan, i feel like i go down to the arenas, detroit, lake st.

clair, and that, and all ucr trump signs, trump flags on the boats. and we had a huge boat parade just for trump. they just nonstop. i feel the enthusiasm here in michigan. i was a little down may a month or so, two months ago, but not now. i feel that there has been a big change in michigan in the last month towards trump. also they have got things going where there will be car caravans up the state here for trump. and the ground game here in michigan is much better than the democratic ground game. host: talk about that, professor. makes sure, i think nancy a great point about the strength of trump's base. his supporters are fervently for the president. i am not sure that that is the

campaign.the biden certainly, democrats are for him, but the veracity with which the trump supporters support their candidate is not matched. signsether it is flags or -- and i will tell you, one defining point for me in 2016 was driving through the middle trump state and seeing sign after trump sign after trump sign, and it had to make you think, boy, there might be something to this, that the trump folks think he can win michigan. and he did. it was by a razor thin margin, but he won, obviously. it remains to be seen whether or not he can repeat that or the support that he has, the enthusiasm he has with his base, if that is enough to put him over the top again here in michigan.

and what the caller referred to may be what we are seeing lead to tightening in those poles that you and todd mentioned. the free press poll has biden up eight, but others have biden up two or three. a recent poll has a trump up two here in michigan. so it is close. host: a call from detroit. welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning. vp, he saved the auto industry. and donald trump said that the auto industry felt. if we would not have let the auto industry fail, then america would have failed, because michigan is the place where you got union jobs to help grow your family, but at the same time, trump said, let it fail. that was my statement.

what ision to you is, it that donald trump has done for michigan, michigan ians, in the past three years that i have, almost four years. i have not seen any growth. i live in farmington hills. thank you, and have a blessed day. host: professor? guest: is that a question for me for a trump supporter? i think the president's team would .2, first and foremost, to the renegotiation of nafta for folks in michigan. i think they would point two the strong economy that everybody agrees was in place. all of the major indicators of economic growth were quite high early in 2020, then to be derailed by covid-19. and you hear that to some extent in trump's messaging, when he

talks about the great economy that we had and it obviously faltered with coronavirus. but i think that they will point to those as successes. host: the president has raised concerns about mail-in voting. what is the process for mail-in voting in michigan? guest: sure. we have no excuse absentee ballots here in michigan. l like somell mai western states have. but we do have no excuse absentee balloting that is, frankly, new to the state of michigan. voters adopted a constitutional amendment in 2018 to move to no excuse absentee, and we are huge rise expected, a in the number of absentee ballots that have been requested, well over 2 million. some of the clerks here in michigan estimate that we will see roughly half of pallets cast

in november come through the absentee process. host: what are the requirements for getting your absentee ballot in? well, that is a point of contention here in michigan at the moment. the general requirements are pretty standard. one has to request an absentee ballot that is accompanied by a signature, and then when that ballot is received, it is filled out, you have to sign it again, put it into a privacy sleeve, and send that into your clerk. questions we are seeing across the country about mail delays and counting of absentee ballots are the same here in michigan. so there is a push or get people to -- if they want to use an absentee ballot, to get them returned early or to drop them off at a clerk's office or a

dropbox that is secure and placed around the state, usually at city hall and places like that. but we are also seeing a court challenge about when those ballots must be in to be counted. the law in michigan is that they must be received by election day. well, they are-- unions, a group of unions under the umbrella of another organization have challenged in court victorya just in the last week or so that would allow those absentee ballots to be counted well beyond election day. i believe up to two weeks. so with an election result that is likely to be close and having potentially absentee ballots counted well after election day, we in michigan may not know the

results for many, many days. i would say that court challenge that i mentioned is -- the plaintiffs are an organization has a heavyoard union presence. the defendants are actually the state of michigan and the democratic secretary of state, and they have said they are not going to appeal that decision. the republican legislature here in michigan wants to be able to join that lawsuit as a party so that they can challenge that decision up the chain, and they have been denied that so far. but there is an appeal on the question of whether or not republicans can join the lawsuit coming up here pretty soon. we will see if they are able to and what might transpire if more courts get involved. host: decker, michigan, brian. who are you supporting this november? caller: donald trump, fisher. i would -- donald trump, for

sure. i want to know what is being done in michigan to correct the border fraud? 2016, a candidate asked for a recall, and they looked at voters at 125%. i think if it was 100%, trump wins big. thanks a lot. host: professor? guest: a couple things. the caller is right that in 2016 there were questions about totals matching the number of votes cast, and we saw that in our august primary here in michigan when a significant number, significant percentage of precincts in the city of detroit did not have their poll book totals match the votes cast. under michigan law, when that occurs, no recount is possible. and that is a problem. because of that, the secretary of state's office has stepped in and said they are going to try to help the clerk in detroit and

her team be ready for november 3. in terms of voter fraud, well, i mean, that may be what has happened there. does it happen? sure. does it happen as much as the president says? i do not believe it does but there is no question that people have tried to cheat the system. i will point you back to our august primary when, according to the democratic secretary of state's office, about 900 people tried to vote absentee and vote in person. and maybe we give them the benefit of the doubt when they say they did not think there ballot was counted when they sent it in or maybe they forgot they sent it in and showed up at the polls. these was discovered that 900, roughly, people tried to vote twice. joe, olympia, washington, supporting the president. question or comment? caller: comment.

and i am 84t trump, years old. i have voted democrat for the majority of my life. my family and community have been mainly democratic also. but as a boy, i father taught me the dangers of communism and socialism for a republic with a democratic government based on individual freedom, free-speech, privacy, religion, and so forth. now the democrats are accepting a socialist ideology, a marxist socialism that uses violence, assault, killing, and stabbing of individuals and police and destruction, arson, robbery of property in an effort to overthrow our democratic republic. success by the left means a government of unlimited power above and beyond our constitution and trades the

power of our people for an overpowering central government. our constitution provides the basis for a rule of law. if the constitution is considered just a piece of paper, there will no longer be a base. host: all right, joe. professor, the president's remarks and comments about law and order, about socialism in this country, not just something that appeals to the base, perhaps. perhaps it appeals to older americans. guest: well, and i think joe in olympia is indicative of many americans who think maybe that the democratic party has left them, that they thought they were squarely in the democrat's camp but have seen the party maybe shift left over the years. and now they are looking for a new home, and folks like joe have founded with president trump. host: reaction to the "wall street journal" and the president yesterday, saying

millions of seniors would get a discount card, the cost likely in the billions. how does this play in michigan? guest: i think it plays in michigan as it does across the country, where folks are concerned about health care generally. prescription drug costs have been an issue for years and years and years. by theis an attempt white house, by the trump campaign -- i should not conflate those, but it is a proposal that, if it goes through, would have meaningful impact, i think, for a lot of americans. whether or not it causes them to change their mind on who they are going to vote for, that is an open question. host: judy is on the line. caller: i am definitely voting for biden-harris. i am very concerned about the rule of law under trump. haveso concerned that i

every month written a letter by hand to the chief justice of the supreme court. we mustonstantly said not do the political thing. we must do the right thing. and i have never done that before in my life, but i feel so inongly about rule of law our democracy that that is what i have been doing. thank you. host: professor dulio, your reaction on hearing that from judy? guest: i think it is great that judy is taking the opportunity that is afforded to her and engaging in her democratic system. i would also say i think you could find a number of trauma voters who would make also -- almost the same statement about being concerned about the rule of law. host: battle creek, michigan. edward, good morning. caller: i am concerned, as well, about the transfer of power, and i just cannot believe what trump said -- what was it, yesterday,

the day before? i think it was yesterday at a press conference. he said -- i have got the quote pretty much -- he said, i have been complaining about the balance, and we have got to get rid of the -- i have been complaining about the ballots, and we have got to get rid of the ballots. he went on to say would not be so much as a peaceful transfer of power as a continuation of power. that kind of rhetoric to me sounds fascist. i know that the right is going to call biden a socialist. biden is a moderate democrat, the most centrist democrat we nominated. get ridp, the quote is, of the balance -- is that not what you -- get rid of the ballots. is that not what he said? and then he said a transfer of power? host: i do not know, but the point being, we will take it. professor? guest: and i do not have the

full quote in front of me either, but i do not think that was the entirety of the statement. it was not a very good answer to the question that he was asked. and i think you read part of a national review piece earlier in the show, and i think that that really points to a number of important components here. and one is that, as we said, that was not the full statement, and you have to kind of -- if you are going to give the president the benefit of the doubt, you have to read between the lines a little bit to see that what he was talking about when he said there was no transfer, he was, i think, saying that because he thinks he is going to win, so it will be a continuation because i am going to win. he did not put those words in there, but again, we have to maybe think about what was going through his mind, which is always a tough thing to do, right? we are not mind readers.

host: eve in grand rapids, michigan. caller: good morning, c-span. knowssor, i would like to -- i just heard the young lady that called in about all the signs for trump out everywhere. i do not see that many here in the grand rapids. but at the same time, everybody you know,the peacock, fluffs his feathers, and we can see it from a mile away. but at the same time, can that peacock do anything? i would like to say also that the reason why hillary did not win the last election here in michigan is because the eastside did not vote. and when the eastside does not vote, we do not get a democrat governor or democrat anything out of michigan. it does not go purple or blue. but i want to warn them that the

east side, which is detroit -- i am in the grand rapids, consider the west, but when the eastside votes, oh, michigan will go blue. and this time the eastside, they are on their market, and they are ready. everybody that things michigan is on donald trump's side, well, no, not this time. host: ok. professor dulio? guest: right, i think eve is right, that when democrats on the east side show up, democrats have a much better chance. i do not doubt that eve does not see trump signs in grand rapids. grand rapids is an interesting part of the state. it is in kent county in west michigan, which has traditionally been very republican. a different kind of republican, if you will. and folks might not like that i

call it this, but if there is a bible belt in michigan, it is out west. and you get more christian conservatives over there, for instance in the 2016 republican primary, ted cruz won many counties out west. but can't county is changing, mike -- but can't county is changing, much like oakland county on the east side -- kent county is changing. they are becoming more diverse and, with that, more democratic. so it does not surprise me that there are not trump signs and i grand rapids, but i bet if you go out in concentric circles, you will see a bunch of them in the further reaches of kent county. host: another call from michigan. kevin? caller: that last caller saying not seeing signs in grand rapids, i am in a county north of kent, and i guess she does not get in the outskirts of the town's.

because in, like, wyoming and granville, there is all kinds of trump signs. i mean, twice or three times more than there was last election. from new a go county north, nothing but trump country. that is all i wanted to say. thank you. host: professor dulio? guest: yeah, i think that is accurate. one exception maybe or two. i think if you get into muskegon, which is an industrial town on the west coast of michigan, and we had a caller which isanau county, generally a democratic county, more affluent, folks from downstate, many have second homes up in leelanau county.

that is a place that has some democratic support, but the caller was right, the further north you go, if you get up into the northern part of the lower peninsula and certainly the upper peninsula, lots of trump support, that fervent trump support with signs and flags, outwardly supporting the president. host: who are these voters, the demographics? guest: white rural is really the two key ones. i would leave it at that, right? that is the kind of country that is up to the north. lots of farming, lots of agriculture, as well. host: hartland, michigan. michelle, good morning. caller: morning. host: go ahead. caller: yes, i am voting more so against socialism. i am voting against illegal immigration. i am voting against infanticide.

therefore, i have decided to vote for trump. my biggest concern in michigan will be the amount of voter fraud that we will have. we have a democrat governor, a democrat attorney general. i just saw on another station that a huge batch of votes were found in the trash. coincidently, they were all trump votes. so my belief is that michigan will do whatever it takes to legal,a win for biden, illegal, or whatever they have to do. they will lie, cheat, or steal, but they will make sure biden wins this state. host: professor dulio? guest: i am not sure if i saw the same report, but i did read, i believe, this morning that there were some ballads that were found to be discarded -- toe ballots that were found

be discarded, and the number was seven or 12, and several were for trump. i read that this morning. not sure if it is the same report she referred to. i will also say, here is, again, a female voter who maybe we would not assume would vote for donald trump, but the issues that she cares about match up with the president. host: saginaw, michigan, eddie. who are you supporting? caller: well, i am a natural democrat, which i have been voting democrat all my life. but trump you look pretty good. one thing i can say about trump, he is not your everyday politician. so you know, he is not that. and we have been so used to seeing a straightlaced politician doing the same thing every four years. but my question to dave is, where do they be getting these poll numbers from? is takingny people

this poll? i mean, do they go from state to state? how do that work? i stayt like dave said, in saginaw like on the east side, but when you start venturing out towards midland, friedland, them rural areas, like he said, it is trump, trump, trump signs everywhere. and up around my area, i don't even hardly see no biden signs or trump signs. you know, not as much as i would if i drove out to friedland, michigan, or midland, michigan. i would like to know, when it comes to these polls, i be hearing these different stations talking about the polls. biden by three or trump by four. how many peoples do they pick or get to come up with this decision? thank you. a greatddie, it is

question, one that has been on the mind of a lot of voters since 2016 when the polls, at least in states like michigan and pennsylvania, wisconsin, even ohio were off the mark. they did not get the result correct. some of them may have to do with the number of people who are surveyed. two point to that particular answer, eddie, it depends on the poll. sometimes you will see, in the free press poll todd spangler talked about earlier, there were 600 voters. sometimes you will see it up to 1000 or 1200. and the key part of any poll, when talking about trying to predict an election result, is a sample. and the most important piece of that is to predict what turnout is going to look like on election day. , orollsters have to guess

estimate, how many people and what kinds of people, with what characteristics, are going to turn out on election day. and that was why the polls were often they michigan in 2016. before election day had oversample relative to turnout, over sampled wayne county and under sampled paces -- places up north. host: gwen is in detroit. caller: good morning. you know, i woke up election morning when trump won, but i was not mad at trump. i voted for hillary. we had a problem with our clerk and with 70% of our absentee ballots being thrown out because they cannot be counted. it was a hot mess. votes.nly won by 11,000 if they could have counted any

of our votes -- they could have andted half of the votes, hillary would have been president of the united states. now we have got to make sure in detroit that that does not happen again. hillary did not come here. ordid not set up booths some people knocking door to door, she just assumed she had the votes. at least biden is more liked than hillary. i'm a bernie sanders supporter, and i do not know why all of these people are talking about socialism. we have social programs in place right now that they enjoy. so that is my take on it. have a great day. i think i would agree with the statement that biden is more well-liked than hillary clinton. that is here in michigan, as well as across the country. i have not seen a report that indicates that 70,000 absentee ballots were not counted in

detroit. that is not to say that there were not issues with election and election administration in 2016. there certainly were. but i do not believe that i have seen any evidence that would indicate that 70,000 votes were not counted. host: david is also in detroit. good morning. caller: good morning, greta and washington journal. and to our friend from oakland the wrong, you are at university. you should come down south to the university of detroit. anyway, what i want to say is, like, last night and went and got my signs, so my signs are proudly displayed from my house and says biden-harris. and there is no scientific poll that you can prove out that signs will drive people to the ballot. and let me just say this, my final thought on this, in 2016

-- i always volunteered, knocked on doors, put signs in front of people's houses. yes, i would have to agree with the lady from detroit two speakers before me, we were very anemic here in detroit, but i do not see that in 2020. i see enthusiasm and can feel energy. i can feel the people here in detroit are going to get out and do what they're supposed to do. we are going to drive people to the polls. and i believe that if we can turn out detroit, i believe that michigan will go to blue. i do not believe that took place in 2016. for all of you people who live north and you feel this passion about a man who is taking advantage of you, a man who would not give anything for you -- i am a veteran and was very offended when that comment that came out in "the atlantic" that said we were losers, and my son

is in the air force. no, i do not believe in trump. i do not believe in nothing that that man said. and if you're one who would take a schechter and you want to vote for him, go ahead. if covid gets you, that is too bad. host: professor dulio, his first remarks about the state of play in michigan guest: sure, at first i would say to the caller, thank you for your service. really, the state of play, the caller said he went and got a sign and is now proudly displaying it in his yard. i think that, again, is some evidence, at least with this one individual, to say there is some energy behind the biden-harris ticket and that was probably not there in 2016, certainly citywide in detroit there was not the enthusiasm for hillary clinton that they needed.

another question is, was that an orchid the clinton campaign have -- was that inherent or could the clinton campaign have bumped up there numbers by paying more attention to detroit? they generally ignored the state until the very last minute, and then they were in the grand rapids, which does not make any sense to me. that is a republican stronghold, except for the city of grand rapids, but the clinton campaign should have been in detroit the weekend before election day, and they were not. the biden campaign and the democratic party, by all accounts, are doing things to try and not repeat the scenario. host: who are the surrogates that each campaign is relying on to energize and get out there voters in the michigan? guest: sure, we have seen jill biden here. couple of the

president's children here. reallythers, but it has been the candidates and their closest surrogates that have been here in michigan. host: polly in rochester, michigan. caller: yes, what is all this propaganda that i am hearing? i called this number that they showed me on tv to support trump, and then i get all of this propaganda. what is this? is this the wrong number to call to support trump then? host: you are a michigan voter, so we put you on the line for michigan voters. that absolutely say who you are voting for. caller: yes, trump. host: ok. caller: absolutely, but why was all this other stuff on when i was holding, and i was listening to all these people who are so misinformed, they do not understand -- host: polly, you are listening to other people's opinions, people who do not agree, i guess, with you. that is the nature of the program. caller: i thought that this

number, i would just call it, and my vote would go in for trump. i do not want to hear anybody else's misinformed -- host: then i suggest you turn the channel because on this program, you will hear alternate types of viewpoints. thomas in michigan. caller: i am calling to let you know, everybody talking about all this stuff, but they forget to talk about coronavirus. over 200,000 something people, and nothing to be done. and the fights over ppe equipment and all the other stuff, and trump did not put on executive orders. take it from there. that is the way it is. i am a biden supporter. if you like nothing to get done about coronavirus is -- about coronavirus and thousands of people dying every day, go for it. host: professor dulio? hit onyeah, the caller

an issue that is also really important here in michigan, the coronavirus response. i think that michigan is a little different in terms of the politics here, because we have criticize ourent governor, governor whitmer, and governor whitmer has not been shy about punching back. we have seen that basically from march through yesterday when she signed a letter asking for congressional inquiry, along with governor cuomo in new york, over the president's handling of the coronavirus. has prettyr whitmer strong standing here in michigan. the free press poll todd spangler talked about earlier got-- showed that she has 55%, 57% job approval, but that does not mention has been without criticism during the

response. one of those criticisms had to contacta contract for tracing during the early months of the pandemic that and it shall he went to -- that initially went to a tied into democratic candidates that was going to have a bunch of data about people that had been contracted or that had contracted covid-19, and she eventually had to cancel that. there is some debate over who had signed off on that. i am not sure we really got to the answer on that one. the governor has taken some heat lockdowns and severity of the lockdowns, what some would call severe here in michigan. i think, too, that some will look at the nursing home policy that was put in place, i believe, over about one-third of all deaths in michigan from

covid-19 have been in nursing homes. so there are certainly questions to be asked of the governor and the administration. and that really just leads into more of the back-and-forth between the white house and the governor's office, between president trump and governor whitmer, as well as other folks here in michigan. host: another call from michigan. who are you supporting? caller: there is only one person .o support, joe biden i cannot support a criminal. he is a criminal. all these people, you can tell where they get their talking points. they are fox people. they drink the kool-aid. callll as the northern -- them northern rednecks. there is no population up there, nobody with any brain cells up there. donald trump is a criminal. they say, oh, he is a great businessman? six bankruptcies. he is a failure. and covid? he is a failure, disgrace to this country.

first to worst, donnie. that is what you have done to us. great job. there is only one candidate, along with the 500 people in the intelligence that say he should never be elected again and should have never been elected. thank you. dulio,ll right, david let's end here because the house is going to gavel in for a pro forma session in a few minutes, by just going over what you're watching for on election night in the state of michigan and where our viewers should be watching in the state. think there are a number of factors and dynamics that are important. turnout is at the top of the list, and i think that turnout in some key places. the city of detroit has got to be at the top of that list. if democrats get their numbers, their targets in detroit, they are in a strong position. if the president can drive turnout in places where he is strong, it is good news for him.

and i think that in michigan, this is a turnout election. whoever does a better job of turning their people are probably wins. i think you have to look at those 12 counties, like mccombs, that had a plurality vote for obama in 2012 and then flipped to trump. do they stay with trump? do they go back to blue? what the margins are there. so i think it is really about turnout really. the comingabout weeks before election night, what will you be watching? guest: well, i think the messaging from both candidates, the attempts from the biden campaign to eat into the trump lead in some places of the state, as i mentioned, like macomb county. and i also note, too, the number of absentee ballots that are turned in. 2 millionat well over

have already been requested. that number is probably going to still go up. we will have to track the number that had been returned to know how many are getting close to ift election day cut off or the courts, if the current court decision stands, if absentee ballots can get counted beyond election day. our secretary of state, a week or two ago, said something to the effect of it may not be election night but election week here in michigan. so we may not know who wins michigan's 16 electoral votes until well after november 3. host: down ballot, what are the key races to be watching in the senate and house races? guest: we have a hotly contested u.s. senate race between john james, republican challenger, an incumbent senator gary peters. that race has tightened. there is a pretty significant air war between the two campaigns, as well as their allies. over issues like health care and

economy. pretty standard issues. but that is a race that is probably also going to go down to the wire. we have two congressional races competitive,ably one by democrats, eighth district, 11th district, that were held by republicans in the prior congress, flipped to democrats. they are trying to keep those seats. fight off challenges from republicans. and then there is one race out west that has a republican, an open seat. justin amash giving up his house seat, a battle there. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] host: thanks for your time. the house is going to come in for a quick pro forma session. we will bring you there now. when we return, we will talk