impossible for president trump to win the battle grounds and the electoral college. both poles are relevant. we are trying to talk to voters as much as you can. this is a very intense time. it's a very consequential election. we've got a lot of work to do over the next month. , his work isz available online. you can follow him on twitter. thank you very much for being with us. guest: it's always a pleasure to be with you. >> washington journal continues. host: henry olsen is a senior fellow. thank you so much for being with us. not only do we have the final month of this campaign, we have the senate battle over the

hearing of judge barrett. the senate will be in session for the next two weeks. what are you looking for? guest: i think we can expect the majority to move forward with all deliberate speed. they will conduct hearings remotely as they have been doing with other nominees. the members who have tested leadive won't need to their quarantine. i expect we will see democratic opposition and republican support and the movement forward confirmation sometime this month. host: you think it will happen before the election? happeni think it will before the election, presuming there are enough senators who can physically come to the floor to cast ballots.

that would be the one factor that could interfere with that. it does not look like there will be an issue with that. issuedhis statement was by chuck schumer. they are trying to slow down the process. your reaction?

good: they've got a very spin dr. who is writing this. the committee hearings don't have to be in person. they can be dealt with remotely. what has to be done in person is a floor vote. there's nothing that has to be done with a floor vote. this is posturing for a democratic electorate and is not something that a serious observer should take seriously. host: what is the state of this race with the president still in the hospital. there will be a time of quarantine. the vice president will continue to campaign. there is the debate on wednesday. guest: it's possible to see how the president and vice president pull this out. ofwill require a reversal

fortune that will be near historic. the president needs to have a job approval rating north of 47% to have a chance to win. he is sitting around 45% right now, which is high for him. it would foretell a significant defeat in the polls show that. i'm not saying it will be that way five weeks from now. it would require a recovery in the last month we've not seen since 1940. host: we are cautious to show national polls. it's the state polls. that showsnew survey the biden campaign with a 10 point lead over president trump. guest: reuters has tended to

have worse results for the president. points as the0 touchstone. i take the average. other polls tend to be more positive for the president. this would be in line with i expect to be an eight point national advantage. the president needs to lose the national vote by no more than three percentage points. go before long way to he can get to the point of inside strength he drew to win the electoral college. in cleveland,te did you watch? what was your assessment? guest: i was shocked and horrified like a vast majority of the viewers.

the initial polling data that has come out demonstrates that many people watched. most registered voters watched. it didn't move numbers very much. showed york times polls two thirds of respondents were disgusted or disapproved of the president's performance. changed to heads didn't very much from where they were before the debate. that suggest there is a lot of dismay. we have hardened lines in this country. that's one of the great things the president hasn't been able to break through. he hasn't been able to break through and get new supporters.

that's what he needs. host: this is what you wrote in the washington post. guest: biden was dismissive and atry, calling him a clown one point. the memes floating around were of two old men fighting. that's not a good look for the vice president. tried tonce, he distance himself from the left of his party. he demonstrated a fealty to many of their ideas.

it would be far to the left of where many people who don't like the president are. that's what i was trying to get across. democraticate from a packing the supreme court. he was against it. now he won't tell people where he stands. he is running to be president of the united states. the american people should know where he stands. he is less likely to be a leader and more likely to be a vessel. that scares many people. host: our guest is henry olsen. donna is on the phone from st. louis. good morning. caller: three things. debate, mostthat people on the planet would have a hard time not calling him

something worse than a clown. i thought biden showed great restraint. it would have taken me five but to talk about how trump has mishandled the virus crisis. as far as the debate, there's a good reason why trump interrupted and talked over biden. everything he says is a lie. -- trump couldn't take a chance on letting biden speak. yet that we can have a real debate is a mute button for when trump tries to take over biden's two minutes. countryle of this deserve a real debate. i wouldn't call that a debate. thank you. most people would

agree with that. i think most people would agree with that last point. it was not a debate. a shouting match. whether or not they would install a mute button, i think the president would be well advised to not do this again. if there is going to be another debate, he needs to be more respectful. the fact is trump is on the defensive are merely because of his behavior and his character. on his policies, there are more people that agree with him that agree with biden. even today, he gets majority support from people who they trust on the economy. the president should be told loudly from people that care about him that he screwed himself up with his behavior, and when he goes forward, he needs to let biden speak and obey the rules, and if he does not, he runs the risk of losing some of those soft supporters of himwho tend to grow sour on

. that is the last thing he needs. he needs to gain votes. host: supporters of the president coming out in force last night. this is a tweet from nbc news, last night, dozens of supporters of the president honking horns with american flags, all in support of the president. as you hear that, henry olsen, your thoughts? this is a live view from the facility. guest: the president is loved by tens of millions of people. it is something his opponents do not want to acknowledge or here or dismiss. the fact is he has many fervent supporters. the fact that they are coming out in his moment of need, his physical impairment, is kind of heartwarming. they have to recognize there are not enough of them right now.

there are not hidden armies or secret majorities. millions of people, and it is a couple million to view for him to win the election if it was held today. host: justine. caller: good morning. thetched the other night debate. i must tell you one thing, and i wish c-span would play it over. president, id the saw something physical that i never saw before. his eyes were so bloodshot. i thought this is a man who does not think. i mean drink, sorry. that is peculiar to me. how is it possible? that aside, the other thing that saturday,hink twice, they had a presentation of the candidate for the supreme court.

i thought very nice event. later on, the priest from notre dame had the virus. i said something is wrong here. that event became a spreading event. what saddens me is there are a lot of people like you have heard this morning. i do not have to point that out. who just do not believe. he even said it was by accident i got it. no, sir. not with any disrespect, it was not accidental. you have chosen to take a particular conduct by not following what they have suggested to do, to wear the mask. you ridicule biden on it. i hate to say it. it is like karma. please tell your people that they need to wear masks. is it patriotic? sure is. i do not want to see people suffer. 000 people dead.

how can you ignore that? host: josephine from new jersey, thank you. henry olsen. guest: it is clear that the president has been less than cautious in how he has personally conducted himself in the face of this. this is far from the first time that they have gathered on the rose garden lawn in the last noth with many people wearing masks. i understand that he does not want to wear a mask when he is speaking. ido not wear a mask when speak because it muffles your voice. it is something that makes you hard to hear. he could have had everyone wearing masks coming up. he could have insisted on temperature testing. he could have had people seated appropriately. he did not do that. hopefully, no one will die from the large number and presumably larger number of cases we will

discover that arose in the aftermath of that event. has ally, the president hospital conversion to adopting the guidelines of his own cdc and uses the last couple of weeks to demonstrate a more cautious and appropriate sense of behavior toward the coronavirus. it is serious. it can be fatal. he should be communicating that and not disregarding that evidence. host: there is a new nbc news wall street journal poll just released a short while ago. mark murray of nbc news with some of the headlines. let me share what he is reporting. the headline is that former vice president biden is up 14 points, and expansion of what the september poll had at 51-43. the president at 39%. in terms of the debate, 49%

saying biden doing better. .4% saying trump did better. -- 24% saying trump did better. 73% said the debate made no difference in their vote. your reaction to that? that is the first bit of strong national evidence of what republican strategists have been privately talking about, which is an erosion of support for the president in the aftermath of the debate. that would be consistent with what we have seen in the past, going all the way back to access hollywood and before, when the president acts inappropriately on twitter or national television, soft republican support fades away. hollywoodt in access when his numbers went down four

to six points. away, thatews goes support tends to come back. this is the last month of the election. if his behavior drove that support away, there is not much time for him to get that back. even if he gets it back, he still needs more people to win. find this is something that put him in a hole that is too deep to dig out. host: a breakdown of the numbers as we listen to jeff from new york. good morning. caller: thank you, steve. thank you, mr. olson. this question is for both of you. been -- toe has date, there has been no discussion about pandemic preparedness response. we have been warned about it for decades. why isn't this a top issue, especially considering covid is at the fore?

we should be discussing what are we going to do to prevent this catastrophe. host: thank you. we will get a response. guest: that is an excellent question. it is something people have talked about. scare, 2003 to 2004, which was another covid but fires that did spread was not as easily transmittable. 16 years later, we have it happen, and the entire world was not prepared. it was not just us. the only countries that seemed to be compared were countries close to china south korea, taiwan. that should be on the agenda for the next president, which was what sort of things can we have in place to deal with a virus

pandemic, to identify when it arrives sooner and put things in effect to minimize its spread. do likee things you can south korea did to quickly identify and limit the spread of something that could have pandemic like qualities. the fact that it is not just the united states but almost entire developed world. we need to move that to the forefront of public policy. host: good morning, richard. welcome to the program. caller: hello. good morning. host: good morning. caller: i am just feeling that this spread that has happened with the president has come from the nomination and her family possibly still being contagious with the virus. another comment i would like to make, it seems to me the , generally if you

are a multimillionaire with business. it seems like if you are a business or corporation or multimillionaire, to give billions of dollars, but if you a regular person and unemployed, just cut off early on receiving part of the stimulus by the end of july, but the corpulent she was -- but the corporations went until the end of september. it seems to me the cares act should have gone until january for the ppp and an extra $600 a week because we are in a consumer driven economy. that money goes back into the economy from the consumer. i believe the republicans have messed up on this. it is going to cost them a good chunk of the election.

i'm independent, but i would never vote republican. most likely, i am voting for jo jordgensen. independento see an candidate was not on the debate stage. it is a shame. the viewers that are not familiar, jo jordgensen is the libertarian candidate for president. argued whatblicans the democrats were trying to do spending tocessary necessary spending. they have countered with a $1.4 trillion bill that would extend extend unemployment insurance, not at the $600 a week level. this is a partisan dispute. democrats want to have money that goes to support state and

local governments. republicans think that is too generous. i think it is sad the two parties cannot come together and find common ground for the american people. it is one reason why so many people, regardless of whether they lean democrat or republican, are fed up. our guest henry olsen, who has been on this program anytime. we always appreciate his perspective. he has been affiliated with the american enterprise institute. we will go to florida. thank you for waiting. welcome to the program. caller: good morning. i just want to ask a question about the polls. i saw one last night. trump lost by five points. now, i'm close to my end. winink trump is going to

this state by 10 points. i do not believe in polls. host: thank you. florida is critical. as tim russert said 10 years ago, florida, florida, florida. poll he is referring to is the new york times cno poll. the cuban community in miami is one where he is likely to do quite well, and it could be that the area in which the caller is from is an area where trump will win by 10 points. in floridapolls suggest the president is running behind. he is running behind because seniors are not as republican as they were more prone from as -- pro-trump as they were 4 years ago.

people who are older know they are likely to suffer serious effects from the disease and much likelier to die from it, and so they received the message of not wearing masks were taking risks much more differently than of people whoages are around the president who are 20 or 30 years younger than he is. that is a signal that has been costing him potential support. if the president were to change course on things like the pandemic and say he has been chastened by his personal experience, that would be something that could drive that miraculous last month recovery. the polls are consistent that it by aident who won little more than one point in 2016 are behind there.

host: just to be clear, you support the president, correct? guest: i am generally pro-trump policies. i am dismayed by his behavior. i have considered voting for him. i am unsure who i am voting for. i will not be voting for vice president biden. confirmeds christie he has covid-19. the president's campaign manager , the chair of the republican national committee, three u.s. senators, and this morning we learned that the president's personal assistant, they call that person the body man, confirmed he too has tested positive for coronavirus. hope hicks when this story first broke, it was confirmed she has covid-19.

the president at walter reed in bethesda, maryland this morning. the president has obviously been taking risks with respect to the coronavirus in terms of having close meetings, having public events, and it has apparently come back to bit he him. the viruswho brought into his circle, but it has clearly spread through his circle. the president is 74 years old. he is somebody who is significantly overweight. physiciansident's said yesterday, days seven through 10 are the worst. depending on when you believe he contracted it, he is still not even into the worst period. let's hope that the president recovers from this because all medical evidence suggests things will get worse for him before they get better. that is what is going to

dominate the news this week if that is correct. 45 is what they are calling it, trump diagnosed on wednesday? ctals very oncerning. we will go to rudy in california. caller: good morning. i hope you get a chance to wear your referee outfit for the debate. is foren, my question the supreme court nominee process. i'm hoping that the democrats do not participate. it is going to be a sham. i just did not like the process of what they are doing compared to what they did in 2016. i have already called my senators in california, and i am definitely going to call the other seven or eight senators across the country.

i want to tell them, please, do not participate in this process. thank you. host: thank you for the call from california. guest: i think it is entirely possible that what democrats will decide to do is not provide rum, and that will put pressure on the republicans to produce healthy bodies because they do not have a remote voting system in the senate, which would be if there are republican senator suffering from the virus, they would have to be physically present, 51 of them at least. i would not be surprised if at least one democratic senator were to rebuff that. joe manchin is a democratic senator, but he is from a state that is overwhelmingly pro-tru mp. it would be politically reckless for him to participate in a democratic walkout in a pro-trump state.

nonetheless, that is likely to be something chuck schumer is considering. they cannot stop it if republicans want to move forward. the one way they can stop it is not to allow 51 senators to be present to constitute a quorum. their absence would force the um,ublicans to produce a quor and that could have an election backlash. host: the negotiations some of the contract between house speaker nancy pelosi and treasury secretary steven mnuchin yesterday. saying,ident on twitter our great usa needs stimulus. work together and get it done. let's go to andrew in ohio. welcome. caller: thank you, steve. about the debate, when joe biden said the green anddeal will pay for itself

a couple lines later he said i do not support the green new deal. crescent dunes was a solar energy failure. they always say the affordable care act. the average american pays over $10,000 in health care costs. that does not sound affordable to me. universalry with health care, we can win around these issues. when you have chuck schumer threatening kavanaugh on abortion restrictions, we can win. we can use these tactics against them. host: henry olsen, another reminder that by every standard, health care is a dominant issue in this election regardless of what side of the aisle you vote. guest: it is a significant issue. it is more significant to

democrats. it is one reason why president trump talked about trying to bring prescription drug prices the executive order, which many people does not believe have much affect, but sends the signal that he wants to control prices. republicans should be more active on trying to bring health care reform to bring costs down and provide access. givingack of action is democrats more room to make charges like the one chuck schumer makes on a regular basis. the washington post yesterday saying that hillary clinton campaign criticized for not even making an effort to reach out to the evangelical votes, the biden campaign trying to do so with this new ad.let me show it and get your reaction. [video clip] >> joe biden's faith has carried him through the dark times.

the loss of his wife and daughter. the death of his eldest son, beau. but he has never lost hope because joe knows what it means to be your brother's keeper. right now, that is exactly what we need. remain forlls us we the night, but joy comes in the morning. i am joe biden, and i approve this message. host: your reaction. guest: that is a nice ad. of points on a lot that would resonate across faith traditions. it is nondenominational. the biggest aspect that the democratic party has to do with with respect to traditional manytian americans is that of them view the democratic party as hostile. their positions on abortion, on lgbtq issues, their positions

with respect to what conservative christians call religious liberty are things thata bother them. ad does not address those fears and overcome those fears. unless joe biden is willing to way that demonstrates to a certain segment of evangelical or conservative churchgoing catholics that he has for them on the issues they care about and he is different from the people and his party who scare those voters come i do not think this is going to move votes very much. it will assure more moderate evangelicals that they have a role in a democratic coalition. host: we are talking to henry olsen joining us via zoom. we will go to maryland, pamela.

exposedthis virus has the disparities between the common man and trump and his minions. he did not believe in this hoax virus, and now it has jumped on him despite being in close in enclosedorld -- being in his own world. to do away with health care for millions of people while the president has access to state-of-the-art care is unconscionable. to try to suppress the right to vote in the midst of a pandemic that has already claimed over 210,000 souls, and it is going to claim more because of the president's mismanagement and denial. i would like to ask c-span if there is any way you can get the young man fighting in the pennsylvania state legislature right now against republicans

who are trying to do a sneaky tactic who want to create a last-minute committee who would have oversight power during the election. if they can get away with this, all the other legislatures in swing states are going to join the movement. host: we will write that. thank you for the call. expressedhink she has what many democrats believe and feel. it is one of the things that drives the enthusiasm of their voters and one of the reasons why we are going to have a huge turnout election. she summarized what many people in the democratic party believe. host: we will go to barbara, oklahoma city. caller: thank you. good morning to you. i'm just curious why these people that are for trump, he

has been there for years. he is still saying the same thing. he is going to make a health care plan. he has never made one in four years. know he is in the white house? he is president right now. do his followers not know that? this is not someone who is going to go in there for the first time. he has been in their four years. he has done nothing for the poor and working class. he has done nothing but work for the swamp. it gets me that he keeps saying he is going to. do it today. cleanup the streets. these are your streets that are in chaos. you are timeless you can do better than this. well, you are the president. do it. host: thank you. we will get a response. guest: i think the president's

supporters would say he has done a lot of things. before the pandemic, employment was at a record high. wages were going up faster for people at the bottom, and the income distribution. surveys showed that people were more optimistic about getting a good job in the neighborhood in the trump administration than they had been at any time during the george w. bush or barack obama administration's. s. i think they would say the president was doing a lot for the working class and the poor. the president has not put forward a comprehensive health care alternative. he has done little things here and there. done what he said he would do, which is totally reform health care. i think that is a blemish on his presidency that he has not tried, and his party have not

tried to address serious health care issues in a comprehensive way. host: would you say health care has been the president's greatest missed opportunity? guest: i think it is one of his greatest missed opportunities. i think one of the greatest missed opportunities is his behavior. had the president -- the president can be combative. people recognize what he says, that he has faced an unprecedented assault of vi triol. he often crosses the line. that has repeatedly prevented him from gaining support throughout his presidency. he found a middle way lquetoast get a mi along person, which is how his supporters perceive previous thinkican presidents, i

he would be on his way to reelection. on policy, the lack of a health care solution, the lack of serious messaging opportunity and alternative that provided vision, that is a serious missed opportunity. host: we have about a minute left. richard from texas. quick question. ethically it responsible for the media to be d if we are constantly tearing ourselves apart as a country? i think that just contributes to it. host: thank you. think there are a lot of people that see the media as being biased in one direction or another. some networks being perceived on one side and others on the other side. behoove all of us to think more as americans and less as partisans. it is great for ratings in the

short-term, but we have to live with each other as a country. that means finding some common ground and ability to talk. if we cannot see each other as fellow citizens, we cannot have a shared nation. 4, andt is only october it has been a year like no other. what are your thoughts about that? guest: i wish this were the old soap opera dallas where i can wake up and it is the dream season that 2020 was just a dream. this is arguably been the worst year for the world since 1939 or 1929. let's hope that our world leaders here and elsewhere are able to react better to the challenges that are before us. host: henry olsen, you are always gracious with your time, coming on c-span on many occasions. we appreciate it. >> and continuity of government

at michigan state university. c-span's washington journal live on monday morning. be sure to join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, text sieges, and tweets. -- text messages, and tweets. >> earlier today, senator majority -- minority leader chuck schumer reiterated his opposition to the republican plan to move forward with the supreme court nomination hearing.