that's live on c-span. at 6 p.m., or campaign 2020 cover joins vice president pence as a whole holds a campaign rally in cincinnati. on c-span two, the d.c. circuit thee argument regarding congressional subpoena for the president's financial records. the senate returns at noon to work on the nomination of michael newman to be a judge on the southern district court of ohio. and later at 7 p.m., the indiana governor's debate between incumbent republican eric holcomb, democrat dr. william myers, and libertarian donald rainwater. coming up in an hour, the national journal hotline editor on campaign 2020. indiana senator who formally introduced judge amy coney barrett to the jewish area committee discusses the upcoming senate vote on her confirmation to the supreme court. at 9 a.m., axios tech reporter

talks about social media companies approach to misinformation on their platforms. at 945 a.m., virginia senator tim kaine ♪ host: this is the washington journal for october the 20th. pennsylvania,p in vice president pence planned a stop in cincinnati, ohio. two recent polls suggest when asked about the impact of social media and political discourse, most people responded it had a negative effect. what about you? what do you think of social media's impact on the way we get information about politics and how we talk about politics? you can let us know on the lines

this morning. 202-748-8000 hooves --202-748-8001 who support president trump and mike pence, 202-748-8000 for joe biden and kamala harris. 202-748-8002 if you are undecided or support another candidate. if you text us, you can do so at 202-748-8003. our facebook pages facebook.com/c-span. those polls, one of them comes -- talks about social media's impact. here's a result of the survey saying by political party, there slight -- while 83% to republican do not believe most of the posts they read, 9% do not and 8% aren't sure. are --.mocrats, 75% another 10% say they are not sure.

they say social media platforms have had a good impact on politics and in contrast, 61% say the impact on politics is been bad. 28% say it's neither and 3% are not sure. pollu go to feel, a recent takes a look at a lot of topics. one of those is social media's impact, 64% of u.s. adults saying it's had a mostly negative effect on the way things are going. when it comes to specific categories. 20% said that a negative impact on disinformation. 11% say people believing everything and not knowing what to believe, 9% site censorship and bias. partisanship, polarization and division.

people are getting one point of view and then it goes down to anti-trumper anti-conservative views and down from there. talking about that impact on social media. you can let us know what you think about social media. when you -- 202-748-8001 if you support president trump and mike pence. 202-748-8000 if you support joe biden and kamala harris. if you are undecided or supporting another candidate, 202-748-8002. this came up during a topic in intelligence committee on the house side. one of the people responding with the democratic congress been -- congressman peter welch. saying not only does that impact social media, but even goes beyond that. >> i do believe the flood of trusted --ion is a

in a trusted democracy. believe what you want and is not just social media and it certainly not just rushing it is also a business example, fox an news were they basically do monetize a type of journalism that is largely, from my perspective, pretty fact free. what is absent in a more extreme way than the yellow journalism is any editorial function at all. that is the breakdown of institutions and the breakdown of any structure in media where there is some obligation to stand behind what you published. the platforms we have have

exemptions from any liability for whatever comes out of their platforms. that hearing still available on c-span.org. this morningpage where you can post is facebook.com/c-span. carly says it's good if all speech is allowed. at this time there only allowing speech they agree with. everyone should've -- should boycott that till it changes. saysl media -- david social media holds no real value. john says it would be good if sulfur media companies would stop censoring content. pageew on our facebook when it comes to social media's input and in -- and opinion. you can add yours to the mix on our facebook page and the phone lines. topeka, kansas, we will hear

from john on the impact of social media on politics. caller: good morning. i think it is terrible the way facebook and twitter have banned the new york post from putting up their comments about this hunter biden thing. i never thought in my country, i'm a vietnam veteran, i never thought justice would be so blind that we can have another opinion. of thisso afraid investigation, which it sounds to me like they pretty much have the facts, they have the recording of hunter biden from this thing he never picked up. and so now twitter and facebook decided since it doesn't agree with what we want to put out there, we are just not going to post it. that sounds a gay communist country to me.

i don't know what your opinion is. host: we will hear from patrick, and undecided viewer from lady lake, florida. as usual, c-span has some nerve talking about social media. amber through the whole obama administration, activist judges. the only two things the trump judges have in common is taking away abortion rights and gay rights. host: caller: social -- host: social media being our topic today. do you think it's good or bad for the politics. caller: do you consider yourself a social media? you just read all of these -- host: you've made your point clear when it comes to social media's impact on want to give you one more chance to comment before we move on. are lying oru telling the truth, that's bad. did you bring up the $850

million loan jared god? you always talk about biden cashing in. host: we will go to jeff in wisconsin, supporter of joe biden. media is think social good for discussion of politics because we were not allowed to discuss controversial topics like religion and politics in polite company and now, people are waking up to politics or what the meaning actually is, government policy and learning what our government is doing. yes there's been a lot of discourse, but people are starting to pay more attention, which is a very good thing. engage inou still these topics face-to-face? media -- onulfur social media, without name-calling and trying to discuss issues.

face-to-face, trying to keep things civil and not get too passionate about it. host: you heard our first caller mentioned the new york post story in the action of twitter and facebook about the distribution of that story. it was last week, they. and their interest in it. one of those senators, ted cruz. >> in the last few days, we have seen a remarkable development. we have seen big tech, we seen twitter and facebook actively interfering in the selection in a way that has no precedent in the history of our country. yesterday, the new york post wrote a story alleging seriously -- serious corruption of joe biden and hunter biden concerning ukraine the allegations in the new york post

story, if true, indicate the vice president biden lied when he said he would never -- he never discussed his sons business deals. that story, the new york post broke it, was blocked by twitter and facebook and anyone attempted to shared was prevented from sharing it on twitter or facebook. the new york post itself when it attempted to put out its story was blocked on twitter or facebook. the new york post has the fourth largest circulation of any newspaper in this country. have we seen active censorship of a major press publication with serious allegations of corruption of one of two candidates for president. >> the folks at newsweek have this story about the impact of twitter and facebook on the thing the senator just referencing grade while twitter's actions have little impact on the reach of the story

, data shows facebook's suppression of the article caused to reach roughly half the of the atlantic story and new york times story on the president's tax returns data. impact of social media on politics, political discourse. supporter of trump, marshall, texas. caller: good morning. results of the hyper political -- politicalization by social media. i hope you let me bring up one victim and that would be steve scully. i know c-span doesn't want to address it because they are involved in it. i have to say, i'm a long time listener and caller. i watched c-span religiously. i am a conservative or at least

libertarian. say, steve was probably the most unbiased man on your panel and i really wish you guys would bring him back. i don't even see what he did that was so terrible other than to make a stupid knee-jerk reaction mistake. i just think washington journal needs steve scully back. your point about addressing the issue, we did address this last friday. the day after the story broke. we put out two statements. one came from steve himself, one from the station. you can read both of those in fall and see how that issue was addressed. james from bristol, tennessee. i voted for joe biden, i

was a little torn between who to vote for. part about steve scully, i think he was a fair and honest person like yourself, not biased either way. the one thing i would like to say about social media, we thought about -- the party don't really understand is why in the beginning they couldn't have switches on the mike's and you can get your three-minute rebuttal injure one minute question. we all know mr. trump is going to put in like gangbusters and taking part of the dutch -- to news onit comes

politics or discussions on politics, is social media one of those avenues? >> i do look at it. one wayit should be it's a good thing. it's completely insane and stupid. in tennessee letting us know his thoughts. lasthange this week at the presidential debate about microphones, the wall street journal writing the prison 10 democratic president of nominee getting a two minute opening statement. and during the rest of the discussion in each block, the microphones will be open. campaign,rump criticize possible rule changes. saying it is unacceptable for anyone to wield such power. he also complained earlier the debate --

and asked for a change in topics. the campaigning commission agreed months ago the moderator would choose the topics, adding the president in one face more questions about the coronavirus. good morning, c-span and thank you for giving us this platform. it is the only way that we have to express our opinions and i really appreciate having it. as far as social media goes, , ing this election came up completely disengaged from it. with cancel culture and everything going on, it's almost where it is dangerous. they are making so much money media,us by using social they have to make money, and understand that, but whenever they decided to start canceling

conservative views, it is totally obvious, especially on twitter. and i'm really disappointed in the republican leadership in not addressing it sooner. it's time for the election and now they are going to call them in to testify again. what is that going to do. it's not going to accomplish very much and i wish they would address it much sooner. host: joe biden supporter from kansas, good morning. it is interesting this morning, it's fantastic. your remarks about steve, he is the most unbiased. you all are really. very subtle but you're very nice. if one thing first of all is

you're always looking back when you are trying to move forward, you're going to walk into a wall. goes, i'veacebook never been on it. very few people know this, but brad parscale, who is gone now, is from topeka. manager forpaign .he president the washington post said the reason trump won the close states like michigan and wisconsin was because of brad. facebook for mined his own interest. he got where he was in 2016. ago, the police attacked them in front of his

house because he threatened to hurt his wife. social media is bad. host: this story concerning the new york post produced two tweets you can still find online. one of them from the op-ed editor at the new york post who iste in response saying this a big tech information coup. this is a digital civil war. i can post one of our own stories the details corruption by major party presidential candidate joe biden. that is the tweet they came out. and then jack dorsey, who heads up twitter, on his own personal twitter feed said this. straight blocking of urls was wrong, we updated our policy and enforcement to fixed-rate our goal is to add context and now

we have capabilities to do so. if you go to some of the major papers, it is a full-page ad by mozilla and they declared an open letter to facebook and twitter this morning and here is some of the things they are calling for. you missed a critical vulnerability in each of your platforms. a feature that allows disinformation election influencing to go viral. we are calling on facebook and twitter to immediately turn off two features that can amplify disinformation. facebook's group recommendations and twitter's trending topics. this would solve an urgent and unmet goals while protecting against bias. you can find this online. it is from the company that produces mozilla and the browser. martha is up next from louisiana. a supporter of president trump. caller: i would like for all the

people to call him by his name. barack hussein obama. it is his affordable care which my daughter had a $5,000 deductible and could not get a way to pay for that when she had a miscarriage and had to stay home. call him by his name. host: the topic is social media and if it's good or bad for politics. what do you think about that? in on: i have never been social media. i listen about it. half of it is not for me. pennsylvania is in , where the president will be today. a supporter of joe biden. hello. anymore, i decided i'm going to support the president. not only are we witnessing a coup against the entire nation by the democratic party, we are witnessing a violent overthrow

of our government. host: have to stop you there only because we tried to set aside these lines so people who take the people they support can get on the line and have a discourse that way. we can get out the public. i apologize for that. callers, if you are calling in, pick the line that best represents you. you can call the numbers, 202-748-8001 if you support president trump and mike pence, 202-748-8000 if you support joe biden and kamala harris. or areare an undecided supporting another candidate, 202-748-8002. again, a media's impact on politics. -- social media's impact on politics. caller: good morning. first of all, by the president's using social media so frequently, he has almost made

it so that we have to engage on social media if we want to get out our opinion. medialy that, but social has allowed a lot of things that aren't true to be fact checked and stories debunked. we shouldon't think be going against -- mediae the social debunked hunter biden story. but joe biden isn't going against the president's children further foundation being -- for their sound -- foundation being shut down. i just think we should all stop this with the children and stick to the candidates themselves. host: when it comes to the diet so to speak of social media, what is your practice? what do look at? caller: if i read something that

doesn't make sense, i'm on the internet, i can go and look it up. we are all on the internet. it is not hard. there are good sources. we have to -- we have the facts in hand, we just have to look. we can just look at the trending topic and take it as gospel. you have a responsibility if you're trying to inform yourself to make sure you have good sources. it is all intertwined. it's a very useful tool. i really think the reason why we have such early voting lines and large people voting is because social media, people are aware. connecticut,n

let's go to alabama. supporter of president trump. caller: good morning. i'm in favor of the social media especially for politics. when barack obama won his election, they considered him some kind of a genius and i didn't quite understand that. trump use hear donald the facebook and social media and now it's almost like a crime and you are trying to silence conservative voices like you adjusted to patrick in pennsylvania. host: well he called in on the wrong line. just to specify that. donald trump, he's a genius. he is a genuine world shaper. he is a force of nature. host: do you learn more about the presidents directly from his twitter feed than other means? caller: i'm not on twitter any

social media. i just follow along with the regular media and i can see the bias throughout the corporate mainstream media. their views are one and the same. and now that donald trump has mastered, like he mastered any fruit -- everything, social media. jack dorsey and zuckerberg and the other one from google, even amazon hates donald trump. liberalos, who is very and the owner of the washington post. host: you seem to know a lot about social media without being directly involved in it. caller: yeah, i've learned a lot. especially what a cesspool it is. god bless donald trump and god bless america. keep america great. host: let's go to leroy, a supporter of joe biden. caller: good morning, how are you today? host: i'm well, thank you. i'm 66.i'm old,

my kids and grandkids live in social media. i like it because no matter what the candidates say on any topic, i can check it myself. i can actually get away and find that statement and really scrutinize what they are saying. i think it's one the best things that happened. now the social media is the best thing out there. you have to be careful because there's a lot of false things on it. it allows you to go and investigate for yourself. if you read something and suspect it's false, or do you go from there? i will ask google the question.

example, thet other day i was telling my wife mckinley ran for president and 2008, fred thompson. she said i never heard that. i said it was 2008. and i said google, when did fred thompson run for president. , google is not a person, it's getting all the facts together. so when i hear something on social media i'm not sure, i will ask google the question. host: that is leroy in maryland. this poll had this link and i will shared with you, you can find online about twitter users particularly. the headline says small share of highly active twitter users, a

majority of whom are democrats, saying it's the top 10% of tweeters creating 92% of all tweets from u.s. users and then going beyond that saying of the top 10% of tweeters, there's 69% of those who are democrat or lean democrat and then republicans, a 26% saying they are republicans or lean republican break -- republican. a supporter of president trump in virginia, hello. caller: how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: social media, i don't do the twitter thing. i do have a facebook account. anyone who thinks republicans can get their message out there is living in some kind of silly land. republicans cannot do nothing on facebook. you know it, i know it and everybody knows.

the man before about google, that is so false, that is 100% false. i can't figure out why you didn't correct him right there. host: that was an experience per die will ask you about your experience of what you're saying as far as republicans putting things on facebook. is that your personal experience of things being taken down? caller: not me, i don't put stuff on facebook. i've got 1512 followers and every time somebody put something up about the president, it is blocked or it says we fact-check this. who are these fact checkers? host: they are usually employed by the companies themselves. caller: the companies themselves that are to be subpoenaed to capitol hill. what people need to realize, everything that's happening on social media, it's not playing into the biden's hand, if the silent majority that's going to

take over. i'll call you back on november 4. i know i'm going to be right on this. here, the last four years i've never seen nothing like it in this country. if mr. trump would've done with the bidens had done, you could never do, see or read anything about it on social media because it's blocked. they are playing right into the trump campaign. host: you're welcome to call back in 30 days, that's usually when we ask people to hold off from calling in. libertyville, illinois. an undecided voter. caller: good morning. said if youn before are on google and you google climate change and you are in , it sends things that are

pro-petroleum. if you google climate change in california it will send you two to sites thatyou are anti-petroleum. there is an algorithm that covers that. kids are not even allowed to be on social media because of all this. i think if we cannot agree on -- facts, thank you. facebookgaret from says if it were possible to sift out the truth, it would be a good thing. ,s that is, it is a bad thing inundated with lies and information. living in an echo chamber is not a way to broaden your opinion.

salmon california text us, a social media -- sam in california texts us. carolina saying for the most part it is good, you that's notormation in the mainstream media. however the claims of suppression are based in fact. social the effects on media on clinical discourse are positive, the bad effects far outweigh the good. social media causing disinformation. att us if you wish to 202-748-8003. our facebook pages facebook.com/c-span. social media is our discussion today. if you want to call us on the line, 202-748-8001 if you spread -- if you support president trump and mike pence. 202-748-8000 if you support joe

biden and kamala harris. if you are undecided or supporting another candidate, 202-748-8002. a couple of stores from about read newspapers. saying the court on monday night that pennsylvania election officials to count all mail-in ballots they had received up to three days after election day, refusing a republican request to stop the pandemic related procedure approved by the state. court theupreme court's actions involve a seemingly arcane voting practicing carried outsize importance because of the states pivotal role in the upcoming election. the pages of tampa bay times, early voting starting in florida yesterday. saying thousands of others flocked to cast ballots on that first day. counties reported unprecedented numbers for first day early

voting even with heavy afternoon showers. it is compared to fewer than 19,000 on the first day of early voting in 2016. if you go to the milwaukee journal sentinel, the headline reads some communities already surpassing half of their 2016 turnout. the village of reached twolls thirds of its 2016 presidential turnout as a friday. or than two weeks before election day. reachedn near madison nearly 60% of its turnout. other communities have hit 50%. then, in ohio, this is from the

cleveland.com site, saying it were fedy two weeks -- to ohio voters, thousands are still waiting for their ballots due to a cleveland-based printing company serving 16 counties. onwest direct is keeping mum how many ballots are delayed. at least one unspecified board of elections has submitted an additional request for 14,000 ballots last week. that's just a sample some of the stories. two social media, it good or bad for politics and political discourse. a supporter of joe biden, we hear from bonnie. caller: hello. how are you? i just wanted to say i feel like it is bad just because other countries can get involved with our elections.

trump isthe fact of having to have all of this stuff fact-check, that says a lot. texas, a supporter of president trump. hello. caller: good morning. media is very bad for the political scene. they wantto put what on there and not what the people want on there. putting things about the president when all of the things were going on and they were impeaching him for this and that , they were blasting it. but now, all of a sudden, when everything is going on with biden and his son, they want to pull it. everything they charged trump with, it was the democratic party that did it. but they charged him for it. computer,bi had the that's why they brought up about ukraine.

they know biden and his son and china own social media and twitter and google. do you stay on social media largely? do you look at some of it? ? what percentage you think if you personally? all of it is personal to me when it comes down to silencing people speech. host: how much do you look at? caller: i don't take in that much. are china,now they socialist, communist just like the democratic party. host: we hear from stephen maryland. an undecided voter. caller: like anything in life, it has a positive and negative aspects. it was highlighted by the election of donald trump, i had a neighbor who had a resist flag

up and was quite confident he was going to be an authoritarian dictator. i think the use of social media by him is the exact opposite of dictatorship. he puts his ideas out there. some good and some really stupid and a common guy like me can go on and badmouth him and there is no retribution where his real third word to desk third world dictatorships, you do not have that freedom -- third world dictatorships, you don't have that freedom to question things. i like it from that aspect. you go to the publication media post which deals with social media and statistics and analytics, the story about facebook and you can find it said itaying facebook removed 120,000 pieces of content for violating voter interface policies prior to u.s. elections for the social media site tag warnings of 150 million

misleading posts related to the election and 2.2 million at submissions they rejected because they failed to complete the authorization process. the news amidst mounting pressure from facebook to stop misinformation at of the u.s. election. it cites the former u.k. deputy prime minister, facebook vice president of global affairs and communications sharing the numbers with a public broadcaster. we heard if you are mention this. elections that take place worldwide and the documentary "the social dilemma." of joe biden, hello. caller: good morning. social media is a social thing. people talk all the time about deafblind making them ansell's bigger than what they are. what this guy does. you can't believe everything. some of the so-called fox and

then the house news, they messed up their numbers, you have to search for yourself and look around. host: if you are doing searches, where do you look at when you see a store you question, where'd you go to verify? caller: most real news stories. host: such as what? msnbc, different articles in the paper and stuff. twitter iscebook and just kooky. have a good day. columbia,a in maryland. a supporter of president trump. caller: good morning morning. i wanted to say i think social media has the potential to be really a great thing for our country. unfortunately it's being run by political activists.

this joe biden story, people are already saying it's debunked and yet we have this year's of russia collusion conspiracy andry and it still goes on in the minds of a lot of people, it's this big story. it's divided families, it's added to the violence in the streets. it is really dangerous if we curators ofeutral the information being put on the web. even google, when you type in certain topics, it is dominated, in whole first page or two or three to five pages sometimes of liberal opinions on every event occurring. right now, they are absolutely trying to suppress this story about biden and there is so much to look at their that you can possibly say it's debunked. host: aside from the hunter

biden story, what was your level -- how much did you take in as far as social media for your information about politics? i don't trust the people that decide what information you are discussing in the first place. it is nice to talk to people with different points of view, but i find that everybody in their corners and if i was running a social media company, i would have different points of view. they don't want that. host: do you actively engage on these points of view on social media? caller: i have, but right now where i used to post things, they aren't letting people comment whatsoever because they don't want this story coming out. this is blowing up. if you change the channel or look at other things, you would know that this is really bad news for joe biden. they can't hide from the story. host: that is linda in columbia,

maryland. from maine, an undecided viewer. this is joe. joe in maine. na in baltimore, maryland. so first off i want to say that a russian disinformation is not a conspiracy theory. it has occurred and continues to occur. you can just look to the intelligence analysts who serve these nations -- this nation every day and look at their reports they declassify and go through a lot of work to create to see the hunter biden story is currently being investigated and has not produced anything of relevance. the thing about social media that is insidious and conspiracy theories on social media is they put in a kernel of truth.

they put in a bunch of disinformation with the fake emails. it's hard to suss out what is real and what's wrong. i think that's the biggest trouble with social media is that it does allow disinformation to spread. it is really hard to suss out what real -- what is real and what's not if you are not looking deeply. host: what do you trust to make those decisions on if something is sure not? caller: i don't usually go on social media. what i do is read something on social media and fact-check it on a fact checking site, nonpartisan one. oral go to reuters or bbc world that is not -- or i will go to reuters or bbc world. the director of national

intelligence commenting on the hunter biden story highlighted in the washington times about -- under the headline. this directly said there is no evidence hunter biden's explosive emails have any connection to moscow and specifically called out representative adam schiff and chairman of the house select committee on intelligence for spreading the baseless conspiracy theory going on to say it's funny some of the people who complain the most unintelligent being politicized are the ones politicizing the intelligence. mr. iraq made those comments on fox news. you can find that story if you want. the pages of the washington times related to that. it was the house and told chairman that hearing last week. disinformation as he calls it. qanon coming up in that discussion and what he labels right wing groups. >> it should surprise no one

--t controversial extreme or engenders the strongest engagement for conspiracy theories and misinformation to cross the internet fringes into the mainstream. this has come to a perilous head with a set of evolving conspiracy theories, delusions and twisted beliefs under the banner of qanon. they echo anti-semitic tropes, often amplify white supremacy, all while positing the existing of an all-powerful cabal of people you lead to traffic children and must be defeated. thenst the backdrop of global pandemic, associated lockdowns and preventive measures, the movement has witnessed a huge spike in visibility and followers. emic videoous pland

was boosted by qanon supporters and earned some 8 million views prior to removal from social media. host: that hearing took place last week. you can find it online when you go to our website. thehis part, comments about hunter biden story of the new york post, that was a topic brought up directly by the house republican leader kevin mccarthy. >> the biggest social networks are selectively censoring information. if you are a citizen and posted information of the story, your account was locked. last night, other public and house judiciary committee posted the story on their website. a government website. this morning, twitter has censored it. mediag tech censor the and americans when they posted about the unverified and later debunked steele dossier?

did big tech censor the media in america when they posted about trump's taxes, which were obtained illegally. did big tech censor the world's largest sponsor of terrorism, the supreme leader of iran? the answer to all three questions is no. if social media companies intend to use the protections provided by congress for some americans but not others, we should remove those special standards altogether. standards,f those known as section 230 of the communications decency act which means no provider or user of an interactive service shall be treated as a publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. if you are interested in those topics, join us at 9:00. will talk about that as well as what's related going on in the social media. -- going on in social media. caller: good morning.

segment should be called you support censorship or do not support censorship. not the issue of our -- are you opposed or do you support the president. entire issueay the the took place regarding pennsylvania. the postmark ballots must be postmarked no later than 8:00 p.m. on the election day. they can be counted up to three days later, but that's because the postal service delivery system. host: people can find that on their own if we wish, we are discussing if you think social media is good or bad. what do you think? caller: the political discourse that you are speaking about is opinions. cannot take and post an opinion anymore because it gets shut down if the social networks

are not like it. andsame thing goes with cnn c-span as an extension of cnn. host: we are not an extension of cnn. let me stop you right there. we give at least 60 people a show their chance to air views on opinions. as far as being able to express those things, that's what we shoot for every day with the amount of people get a chance to comment and discourse on a wide variety of topics. a couple of people from social media on this topic. this is julie. findg it's mixed, it helps great writing and interesting people, but it is time-consuming and the way algorithms are constructed, they are better at reinforcing one's views than challenging them. twitter feed saying it's easy to be uncivil on social media use insults and attacks to divert from a subject.

abuse take only so much of insult before i go to the block. , theher twitter feed current document of the oval office has made social media a must rebuttals to his falsehoods as fact and this is james texting us this morning saying it clearly shows big tech is bias. there censoring of conservative ideas is reprehensible. monopolize the media and are not being held accountable by antitrust. the politicians can scream all they want, but that's all it has been, talk. if you want to text us, 202-748-8003 is how you do that. austin and virginia, an undecided voter. i've got two points i'd like to make. one of the main concerns with social media for myself is it

makes it too easy for uninformed citizens, specifically older demographics, to only use social media as their outlet for news and political facts. because of that, they are susceptible to a lot of fake news and the twisting of news and they are not really fact checking anything. host: how did you come to that conclusion? what drives that? caller: honestly, this is being driven by my social media and seeing how people in my network operate, including family members and family members or friends. -- of friends. point is more the effect it has had on people of 20's, itaphic, early

has a lot of these individuals living in a false reality where social media is more important than the actual reality they are living in in their day-to-day lives. i think that has had a horrible effect on my generation. host: are you on social media at all? do you limit it? what is your approach? caller: i do limit it. i recently deleted twitter that i had through high school and college. i do not go to social media at all for any source of news. it is strictly to keep up with friends and family. i do use facebook and instagram, i'm rarely on twitter. when i am, that is mainly for sports updates. host: joni in pennsylvania, a supporter of joe biden. caller: thanks for having me.

you are my social media. on the one person who doesn't have a computer. -- i'm the one person who does not have a computer. i think social media is bad for politics. i think donald trump's tweeting account needs to stop. i like a leader, not a tweeter. you don't know whether to believe him or not. one minute he says taken for his word and then both, he did not mean that. the last thing was he wants to open up hillary clinton's emails and then they said he didn't really mean that on twitter. because they would have to redact the whole report. now the judges waiting on him to get back saying what you mean. -- what did you mean. this is not good.

i won't vote for trump, i'm not voting for trump. the last four years, the whole country -- he's been treating people terrible and we are going against one another. we are all americans. host: when it comes to political news, since you don't do social media, where do you get it from? caller: my newspapers and magazines, and the tv. cnn, msnbc and fox. thing, maybe some of it is right, but not all of it is right. it is way out of proportion. host: let's go to pamela in michigan. an undecided viewer. caller: good morning. i find that social media is very biased.

one of the reasons is i have google news on my phone. i did not ask for it, but it came with my android. and all day long i'm getting blown up with stories. trump andtories about the republican side. and nothing about biden. they don't give the accounts of any of trump's accomplishments since he has been in office. at this time, we are back at where his campaign began with corruption, with joe biden and his son. story that started the impeachment trials and all this other foolishness that has been debunked. on none ofot report biden's activity. or kamala harris. host: let me ask you this

because you called in on our undecided line. have you decided on a candidate or not? caller: not really, because all of it is foolish. media, most of the tv news channels are one-sided. it's like a cool going on. it makes me wonder, what are they trying to hide? host: that is pamela in michigan. to let you know about the nomination process the president's nominee for the supreme court, on thursday we expect the senate judiciary committee to meet to negotiate and vote that out of committee. thursday if you want to watch that process play out, 9:00 in the morning is when you can find that. also on our radio app. when it comes to eyeing a final vote of the full senate, next monday, a tober 26, a week

before the elections is that data, the story adding gop senators and aides stressed the timeline was not locked down. cooperation from democrats could speed things up but they are planning a rare weekend session that would set up a vote as early as next week. one more call on the topic of social media and if it is good or bad for politics and discourse. this is debbie from michigan. ironic i find it kind of how it was the trump administration that called in truthfull media to be and to report truthfulness on social media and yet when it is trump in his administration who are posting and tweeting and such the lies and they are taking them down, then they are having a problem.

it is kind of a two-sided coin here. you cannot have it both ways. as far as social media. there is a lot of fact checking sites that you can go to and check out your resources and find out who is telling the truth. i think it is a good thing to ,ull the negative, false themthful posts and pull down off of the site so that people are not taking them as truth. if it can be proven as being false, then it should be removed. michigant is debbie in . last call for the segment. two weeks until election day, we will get a lay of the land not only for president, but for senate races.

she will join -- concerning social media in on howgram, ashley gold big the social media companies are preparing for election day and beyond. those conversations are coming up on washington journal. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] ♪ presidents, available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book. there are biographies of every president inspired by conversations with noted historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. as americans go to the polls to decide who should lead our country. this collection offers perspectives into the lives and events that have forged each presidents leadership style. , visitn more

c-span.org/the presidents and order your copy today, wherever books are sold. we are weeks away from election day, november 3, when control of congress and who occupies the white house will be decided. stay with c-span to hear president trump and joe biden make their case to the american public. watch debates in some of the hotly contested house and senate races. campaign 2020 coverage, every day on c-span. c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. your place for an unfiltered view of politics. ♪ >> i have a choice to make, do i let my people run it really well or badly. if i run it badly they will probably blame me, but more

important how want to help people. >> he has already cost 10 million people their health care that they have from their employers because of the recession. >> less than two weeks before the 2020 election, watch the second presidential debate between president trump and joe biden. from belmont university, in nashville, tennessee. live coverage begins at 8:00 eastern on c-span. listen live on the c-span radio app. to can listen to live on spent -- on-demand streaming of debate coverage. washington journal continues. discuss --ng us to before election day, we have the askarinam, she is hotline editor. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: remind people about the work of the hotline. guest: we follow the presidential race, the federal

race, and now state legislative races in addition to governors races. there are a few newsletters that you can sign up for in addition to our subscriber newsletter. we also have one for nonsubscribers on new -- at noon. host: let's start with the top of the list. the presidential race. what's the best way to look at who has the lead and the things to watch out for, especially as we go towards election day? guest: the best way to orient yourself around the current trends in the presidential race is using the first presidential debate as a mark in time. probably the lowest points for republican through the cycle. in presidential polls and also down ballot. who were at all tied to trump, which is every , tendedan in the party

to see a downturn in their numbers. so now we are seeing whether or not trump is going to be able to recover, and whether republicans can recover. --t that will look like there's a spectrum. on one end, trump has completely turned things around and could win the electoral college. i think it's difficult to imagine how he could win the popular vote. in the other, he loses the presidency but maybe saves some republicans in the house and senate who would be dragged down if his numbers continue to crater. host: a lot people talk about path to getting the electoral college. talk about that for not only the president but joe biden. guest: for joe biden, the big state is pennsylvania. .hat's the must win and the averages at this point, he is favored to win pennsylvania.

for trump, there's a few different ways he's trying to go. if you states to watch out for, especially on election night start with north carolina. that's one that trump needs to win, along with ohio. but that blue wall that we saw ,umbling down in 2016, michigan pennsylvania, wisconsin, minnesota, biden needs to be in good shape and all of those states. which means he could take the traditional democratic path to the presidency through that wall and potentially expand that through places like north carolina, arizona, and the more where republicans are frankly struggling. aggressive campaign schedule by the president. joe biden stopping the campaign at least until thursday. how much sway is in those

decisions, would not only the president stepping up since getting over the coronavirus but joe biden coming off a week from the trail. tost: it's important separate the personal from the political. president trump enjoys being out on the trail. he enjoys having big rallies and talking about the numbers at those rallies. those are all things important to his base and to him personally. so when we see him on the trail, often flouting social distancing seeing how i'm not he expands his base by doing that. meanwhile, joe biden is able to stay out of the limelight and let trump take center stage. right now, the election is taking shape as a referendum on the president, which frankly makes sense with the first election after your first term in office.

that's how you expect it to go. if it is a referendum, that works out better for biden at this point. trump is taking the limelight and wanting to be the center of attention is probably not a problem for biden. host: our guest will be joining us to talk about the issues of campaign 2020 but also other factors. you can call and ask her youtions, (202) 748-8001 if support president trump and mike pence. (202) 748-8000 if you support joe biden and kamala harris. (202) 748-8002if you are ifecided --(202) 748-8002 you are undecided. in 26 teen we saw paul telling us one thing in a different result happened. where are we as far as the polls people should be -- the trust in polls? guest: i try to get people to focus on state-level polls rather than national.

that's one of my causes. the national popular vote is obviously not actually what decides the presidential election. at this point, joe biden is doing pretty well in the national polling, getting to those low double digits. but more important is where he stands in places like pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. one of the key differences between 20 and 2020 is that there is stash between 2016 and 2020, there's not a major tendency or enthusiasm for a third-party candidate this year. in 2016, gary johnson and jill stein did siphon off enough of the vote to lower the threshold that trump or hillary would need to hit. they did not have to get 50% because third-party candidates would take 1% or 2%.

this time the threshold is ,igher because jo jordgensen especially on the libertarian side, is not gaining as much traction. we are seeing in key battleground states, particularly promising for democrats, joe biden's polling over that 50% mark. keeping in mind that there is a margin of error, this is taking down to 49 or 48. i did look up some of the polling averages last night. in pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan, joe biden is polling over 50%. that means he's less susceptible to the lens of undecided voters. in 2016 what we saw was hillary clinton polling closer to 47% in those states, and trump polling between 40 and 45%. in the end, bunch of undecided voters went to trump. this time there are fewer undecided voters and even if

they do change to support trump, biden is already over the 50% mark. what trump would need to do is convince people who already say they are supporting biden to switch parties. which is an incredibly tough task, especially this late in the game. and let's factor one thing that might be different than the last cycle, early voting. what is it telling us? guest: in every state the rules are different, which is important to keep in mind. there's not one hard and fast rule. but what we do see consistently is that democrats in polling and where they are already processing ballots, democrats are more likely to be voting by mail and earlier. that is not necessarily mean there's a major advantage, but it does mean that republicans have more pressure to turn out there voters on election day.

republicans need voters to turn out on the same day in the middle of a pandemic, which could resent a challenge. but assuming that things go relatively smoothly, then republicans should be able to get to the polls and vote. i think in general at this point we are seeing an increase in turnouts. our guest joining us for this conversation, our first call comes from north carolina, supporterom billy, a of president trump. go ahead. caller: good morning everyone. i would like to say c-span, you've done it again. i don't know where you come up with these folks that have all these opinions. i would like to say that one, as far as what she's talking about, trump might as well throw in the towel now, but i will tell you , enthusiasm isve

so great for trump and the people around, and we have all ,eard that most of his rallies they're not pulling any biden supporters are democrats. a lot of the rallies going on now, there's at least 10% democrats that are coming in that have an open mind, instead of one track. biden did have that right and a lot of folks could follow him off the cliffs and the country can go down in flames like losey. i think trump has a good chance that to take this and everyone like yourself will sit back and go over what exactly happened. good day c-span. host: thank you for the call.

guest: let me pick up on your point about enthusiasm. you are right, donald trump in terms of polling and what i am looking out for the most part is numbers and people who see more numbers than i see. keep in mind that there's a lot of private data. in public polling you are seeing that republicans are more enthusiastic about support -- supporting donald trump and democrats supporting joe biden. democrats are motivated to president trump and republicans are supporting president trump. you are right. donald trump can win. that's not a question for me. the question is, looking at all the past two the 270 electoral college votes, who has more paths?

at this point it's joe biden. that's just following polling and numbers. the argument might be well the polling was wrong in 2016. but when you look at most of the polling in 2016, it was accurate. if you look at the national polling averages from 20, where there were polls, for the most part, they were accurate. and in the midwestern states, where support was underestimated, pollsters have for the most part been trying to go in and adjust their mistake. keep in mind that they get paid when they do their job correctly. they are going back and making sure that they get hired again in order to make sure that they actually have these numbers right. you said, i'm think of when play monopoly and all you need is to not get two sixes are all you want is two sixes, that's absolutely possible. and it's a possibility for trump

to end up winning reelection. looking at the numbers on the polling as somebody who looks at this not through the lens of who i want to win but in terms of just following the numbers, joe biden has a better chance today than donald trump does. oliver, in falls church, virginia, supporting joe biden. caller: i live in northern areania, in the metro d.c. , i lived here all my life. i have never in my life saw president who is as dangerous as donald trump is. the gentleman that called in a minute ago, i know he was from north carolina and talking about the support that president trump has in north carolina. i want to let him know that the support for joe biden up in the northern part of this country,

northern virginia and up the east coast, i've got family in new york and massachusetts and unitedicut, we are all and pray that we can get donald trump out of the white house because we are worried about our country. i wish people would read the mueller report. it said the donald trump was colluding with a foreign government. he already said he would do it. he was colluding with a foreign government to be hillary clinton. i don't know how people can support that. host: thank you. guest: your comment in the previous caller kind of prove that it is hard to change voters minds at this point. people feel incredibly strongly about their particular positions

for the most part in the selection, which means -- which makes persuasion really tough. i don't think either of those collars could be persuaded to vote for the other candidate. really what it comes down to is a small segment of the population still trying to decide which way to go. what we are looking at are probably former republicans living in the suburbs, that college-educated demographic that we talk about a lot, but also those obama trump voters who did not like hillary clinton, or just want to change and now want a little less change and want things to be steadier. it really does come down to a small segment. that's part of what makes trying to guess what will happen so difficult and makes it much easier to look at with happening now and try to take a snapshot in time. host: from a supporter of joe

biden in florida, this is wayne. --ler: good morning sees c-span, how are you? guest: good morning. caller: the republicans continue to talk about packing the court, has joe biden never reported that he was going to pack the court? or anyone that you know that said he was going to pack the court? the only people i keep hearing say that is the republican party . and false news, msnbc has not set it, i follow all three news broadcasters and i have never heard any democrat say that he will pack the courts. it was started by the republican party and the people are eating this up like joe biden has said it. until't make the decision he gets into the presidency. i don't know why they keep

asking him about it. virus, i remember back when they were impeaching the president, a report came through the news about the virus and he was so busy arguing about the impeachment, then nobody really jumped on the report about the virus. host: we will let our guest respond. previouslybiden has said he does not support packing the court or adding more justices. he he has since then said would offer a clear answer before the election, depending upon how the confirmation hearings go. the reason why i think it's been hard to pin down and dancer is fourth --e biden is

is forthright and he does not want that conversation. he wanted to be squarely on the fact that republicans are confirming injustice now, when they would not do the same thing in 2016. that's not my personal reporting, he has said that multiple times on the record. i think it's part of the republican overall method -- message that joe biden might seem moderate or like he's not part of this, but he will be supported and pressured by people who are self-described progressives and democratic-socialist. that's been the republican message for three years now. as well as during the midterms. they mostly use that message in terms of health care, at least until the pandemic. most of what they were talking was the so-called radical

democrats with socialized health care. but now with the supreme court opening there is a new opportunity for republicans to take that same message and formulate it in a different way. which is honestly not different from what we have seen democrats do, trying to take their health care message which they have been running on since before the midterms and readjusting that message to fit the supreme court hearings, consistently bring up that the affordable care act could be on the line the week after the election. asked thisu are has question, can uss the top battleground senate races? specifically mentioning south georgia, arizona, texas, north carolina, and could senator lindsey graham lose? guest: the senate map, the reason i just laughed is because

it specifically mentions six races. at the beginning of the cycle this was not supposed to be an incredibly chaotic senate map, maybe five or six races two years ago, now more than a dozen. at, the top to look races to look at on election might are going to be alabama, that determines how many other seats democrats need to flip, need to pick up in order to get the majority. doug jones, republican, is running for reelection and that will be a tough race for him. if he loses, the number street -- the seats democrats have to pick up where -- pick up increases to 45, depending on if joe biden is president and therefore vice president kamala harris would be the tiebreaker. he wants to look at colorado and arizona. seats that have

slipped but that does not mean the democrats have the majority, flipnk they are likely to but those are not bellwethers. going further we are looking at maine, north carolina and iowa. if those three -- if republicans lose those three states, it's bad news for the senate majority . even losing two of the seats, looking at the rest of the map, democrats have expanded the map to include kansas, south carolina, alaska, and while i don't think all of the states are going to flip, they are forcing republicans to play. and if they are playing in six of them, its general probability that they will probably win at least one. that's why democrats are better positioned to recapture the majority today than they were a couple of years ago.

in terms of south carolina specifically, that came on the map pretty late, jamie harrison, the democratic nominee, has been a star candidate throughout the entire cycle. but what we have seen is that are candidates sometimes good at generating fundraising and enthusiasm and even building party infrastructure, but frequently have trouble getting over the finish line, like beto texas senatehe race. but now looking at the way the national environment has shifted , south carolina has become more attainable for democrats. right now lindsey graham is going to struggle with the same thing that other republicans are struggling with in terms of trying to make sure to consolidate the base, trump supporters, while getting suburban republicans who have

not been supportive of trump's style but maybe his policies. lindsey graham has his own unique position. as he has mentioned on the record multiple times, he has a lot of political enemies who are happy to fund raise to help oust him. he has a real race ahead, jamie harrison good when. that does not necessarily mean that he could -- that he is favored to but it's worth watching. host: we want to show you some of the ads taking place looking at the senate race. the first is from the national republican senatorial committee which is against theresa greenfield and iweb. the second -- in iowa, and the second is jj hager. [video clip] out-of-state liberals are flooding iowa with money, over $70 million to elect teresa greene yield because greenfield supports their extreme agenda. thatrefused to say

crossing the border illegally is a crime. and she supports a government controlled health insurance which would force rogue route for all hospitals to close. theresa greenfield is too liberal for iowa. [video clip] >> six months since the senate has done anything. texas out of work and getting sick. small business is shattering and john cornyn has no action or leadership. he when his party talks rushes through a supreme court nominee. i did three tours in afghanistan, earned a purple heart and i'm raising two kids in the middle of a pandemic and he thinks that i'm going get pushed around like he has? i approve this message because it's about time that texas had a senator as tough as we are. host: here's richard, from clarksville, tennessee. wondering, back in 1980's,'s through the the elected people running for

senate or president, they did not use a lot of slander. i suggest that slanders against the law isn't it? guest: we are going into the intricacies of slander and libel , which we mostly learned about in journalism school and we have to be careful of that. politicians don't have to be quite as careful. to be fair, there's a long history of politicians fudging the truth in order to get across a particular political message. that's not necessarily brand-new in 2020. of course, now there's multiple and new ways to get that information across, especially with social media, multiple tv, i to get news on the think it's the ability to fudge exacerbated byis

the current environment and the different ways we are communicating. in general, there are major andtrations with washington the way that washington behaves. the of that comes down to way they might take a position that goes along with their party lines. we are seeing that not only is the country more polarized than ever, but the senate and house are pretty polarized. that is something that donald trump was able to leverage, that frustration, to win in 2016. and then democrats took a bit of the page of that frustration in 2018, running a bunch of candidates for the house who did .ot have clinical backgrounds people who are hard to peg us democrats or republicans. we even see a handful of

democratic nominees who are technically registered independent candidates like froma, trying to get away the narrative of the party and trying to show an individual separate from politics. i guess slightly in the vein of trump, but with a pretty different style. especially these democratic senate candidates who, as you heard in texas just a minute ago , tend to be pretty safe. you don't hear them talk about political party a lot. you don't hear them talk about nancy pelosi or chuck schumer, even specific policies are absent. what you hear our general pledges to work across the island get things done and fight for their constituents. host: a supporter of president trump in grove city, ohio. hello. caller: god bless everybody in

this great united states that we live in. i was watching the nixon-kennedy debate just before this first debate. they were so professional and so courteous with each other. i could not believe the disrespect from both sides of this first presidential believet from both sides of this presidential election or debate. and i polled quite a bit of people c-span. i asked them food won the debate. everybody said nobody won that debate. i hope this next debate is way more professional than the first one. the problem with this country is the two-party system. it is like the engineering and the conductor are in two different unions and the keep of those unions on each other's throats at all times.

we keep each party in this country on each other's throats continuously. the house of representatives was set up for population. in 1909, they stopped adding to the house of representatives. if you did the math, we should have like 5300 house of representatives, not 5200 lobbyists. for votesing money and money being controlled in this country to sway people to vote their way is what is wrong with this the biggest part of the problem with the country. host: thank you. guest: what we see in the cycle is kind of a paradox, where candidates are promising not to a,.e money from pac part of that is because it is frankly necessary to win these races, in terms of trying to establish your name, and trying

to get on the air, trying to pay for polls, which are tens of thousands of dollars sometimes. it has only become more and more expensive. mentionedf the debate in the beginning, a think in general that has been the consensus, that nobody wants that to be. the issue is that joe did not need to win that debate. donald trump did need to win the debate. i have been speaking to republicans about what would need to happen for trump to turn his fortunes around, because as an incumbent during the pandemic, no matter how he behaved, this was always going to be a really tough race. this was not a position in the incumbent president wanted to be in. over and over again, i heard joe biden during the debates showed that he is basically not up to

the job. that he would embarrass himself on stage and that would be what ultimately turned those undecided voters away from biden into trump. but what we're seeing is that biden may not have won, but trump did not come off any better. the second debate was called off, which would have been , when trumprtunity was diagnosed with covid and then refused to debate virtually. so now we have this final two weeks before the election and the stakes are incredibly high, but also, people are already voting. before, mostned people are not changing their minds at this point, things are pretty big -- baked in. seems like that would have been a good opportunity for the trump campaign and it is hard to imagine what else could change its 14th around in the next two weeks. that said, it is 2020, i will

not predict what will have in, it has proven to be pretty unpredictable. host: you mentioned the final debate this week. what do you think the format change of microphones is going to add or subtract from the debate? guest: the number one thing is the muting of the microphones when candidates are not speaking. it will -- but interrupting will be a little bit muted. there will be more of an opportunity to hear. my concern is that afterward, basically any kind of control from a third party could be blamed for what happens, or any gaffes on stage. i am thinking that is how voters respond.

this could really help trump especially if not given the opportunity to interrupt, which ended up being the thing most people were turned off by. if he is not able to do that, to his fortunes improve? may be. we will see. host: from alaska, an undecided viewer. margaret, hello. caller: i would like to ask this lady, is she a democrat? best is sheeak speaking as a democrat? guest: i am a journalist? caller: are you representing biden? host: she has a ready said she is a journalist. though you have a comment or question? caller: i do have a question. not mentioned the medicine -- i am 80 years old, i have social security. this going around of -- they

want socialized medicine -- do you know what socialized medicine is? guest: so, let's have the conversation about socialized medicine, because it sounds like you're hearing about dust a bunch of mixed messages which have been going out for years. that is one of the most potent messages republicans believe they have this cycle, is the idea that democrats, who have proposed universal health care and things like medicare-for-all and single-payer, let that will create a social least system -- socialist system. republicans' main point going through this election is that that is the risk of electing democrats. the tricky thing is that, making the election a referendum on democrats when the president is up for reelection is really tough. there are going to be i think

individual republicans in congress, especially people who are well known in their districts, who are going to be able to use that message and harness it and survive even if trump loses their district. that is something i expect to see. -- i think it is something republicans wish donald trump would speak about more to get the attention off him and on to democrats, which is their main hope for improving their fortunes before election day. host: a supporter of president trump in pennsylvania elaine. caller: good morning. my thing is the economy. president trump was doing so well with this economy prior to way,avirus, which, by the he is not responsible for the

virus. the thing that bothers me is we live in the usa. you cannot find a label that says "made in the usa." president trump is bringing businesses back to this country, where we can have more pride, we can produce, we can keep building the economy. how can you not want that for this country? polls.he thing about the as they say, it's not over until the fat lady sings. there are a lot of republicans waiting to vote at the polls, and i know that from talking to them. republican. i am waiting and i am going to vote at the polls and so are a lot of republicans, so all of your numbers are not in yet. the undecideds could include those of us who are waiting. we are decided, we just have not

voted yet. respect for of president trump. he did not divide this country, as everyone is trying to blame him for. he is a good president. he is good for our economy. he provides jobs. guest: that economic message is that, when i talk to republicans about the election, it is something they want to talk about all the time. basically that before the pandemic, trump had a booming economy behind him. the argument is that he is best-positioned to bring in the united states back after this pandemic that was not in his control. that is the main message republicans want to talk about. the challenge is that trump is not the most disciplined messenger. so we will hear him talk about a

rally, or what ends up making news, or what he ends up tweeting about is stuff like the pandemic, or about fauci, about a whole bunch of different not getting to that main point that you are touching on, the one that you like.ting on, it sounds it seems like for trump supporters, that is a huge part of the reason why they are supporting him. and republicans want those undecided voters to make that same decisions, to be looking at those same factors and coming to those same conclusions. the issue is that with the pandemic, with people out of donaldnd the fact that trump is the incumbent when all of this is happening, in the last yearat existed is not necessarily front and center for people at this moment. at this moment, it is the fact that, their kids aren't in school, or health care

potentially, a whole bunch of different things that people are focused on that i think republicans want trump to talk about basically what you just spoke about right now. host: is there a sense of when the final election will take place, given not just the people andshow up at the polls, given all the early voting in place. guest: trump supporters for the most part are voting on election day. we can expect to have those numbers pretty early, those are the kind of first ones we will be able to see. but there are states like florida and texas, where we will start seeing numbers in the evening. basically -- you can actually add ohio to that -- basically, if it is a sense that biden best bet there is a democratic landslide, we might know that on election night.

if things are closer, it might take a little longer. but is when we might the waiting days or weeks to get the final did results -- to get the final results. host: from pennsylvania a supporter of joe biden, liz. caller: thank you for taking my call. president trump is in town tonight. i am not planning on being anywhere near there. he has been so divisive as president. the rest of the country needs to pull together and get back to what america stands for. he has left erie with a $40,000 bill that was basically campaigned. i am wondering how many other cities he has done the same to. it is not right. that taxpayers should be paying for his campaign. thank you and have a great day. host: patty in massachusetts, supporter of president trump.

caller: good morning. in response to the democrat color who said that the mueller report guaranteed that the president colluded with the russians -- i thought it was the opposite, that he was proven innocent. the report said there was no evidence he colluded. the maintaining is that he kept years.over two over the 2018 elections, demonizing the president so he lost the house to nancy pelosi. that was the atrocity of the mueller report. thank you. host: will go to larry in michigan, supporter of joe biden. hello. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about, you know, people are losing sight of the obvious. are you better today than you were four years ago?

the answer will obviously be no. there is 40% of the electorate that are idiots. you know? these guys are voting the party line. factnow, they know for a that trump screwed everything up. verything he -- host: can't use that term. the idea at least as far as personal economic situation, particularly covid and how that could sway votes, leah think?am, what do you guest: i think it is interesting how each of these individual issues are more important in defining these individual rather thans allowing a new topic to come in that would change voters' minds. we are revisiting some of the biggest news stories of the last couple of years.

depending on whether you can support trump or you can't stand trump, you believe basically two different sets of philosophies, sets of facts. i think we are seeing that through these callers talking about the mueller report. just the cultural divide. the general distrust of another part of the country or another part of the political spectrum. set a think that as much as we are talking about this through the angle of an election, and the electorate is divisive, yes, the election a divisive but it is also a reflection of the fact that our country is incredibly divided. you can't have one without having the other. i think what we're seeing in terms of the most fervent supporters on both sides is that they really are baked in their beliefs. see ifard to

political message or debate or even a fundraiser changing people's minds, which will make those undecided voters so incredibly important. host: tell me what you are watching for over the next two weeks. guest: number one i think is north carolina. the senate race there has taken a few twists and turns. , the republican incumbent tom tillis was diagnosed with covid around the same time president trump was. meanwhile, the democrat admitted to having an extramarital affair, and republicans believe their path to keeping the seat. we are seeing millions of dollars going into the state basically attacking cal cunningham, the democrat's character. basically, cal cunningham has been running on being the, like a lot of these other democratic senate candidates, kind of a safe alternative to tom

-- thom tillis. republicans think they have a point against him and his trustworthiness. we want to see how this will play out in the polling. after those messages end up being on the air for a few days. the reason why that race in particular is also because that could be a bellwether for the majority in the senate. but i will also be looking at individual members of congress, especially republicans, who have started to put a tiny bit of space between them and the president. we saw that with senator john cornyn, republican of texas a couple of days ago, saying that he preferred to talk to trump about his disagreements with him in private. we are beginning to see that some of these incumbents feel like they can't criticized trump, but they are starting to put just a bit of distance between him when asked things

president?upport the i want to see about trend continues. it gives us a sense of whether republicans are seeing numbers that show trump's numbers are continuing to fall. and it could give us a sense of, if that is the case, if some republicans are able to distance themselves enough to win reelection even if trump loses their constituents. is theeah askarinam hotline editor for "national journal," talking about the last couple of weeks in the elections. thanks for your time today. guest: thank you for having me. host: the house comes in for a pro forma session at 9:00. up until then, when we returned from break, we'll have a few minutes of conversation with senator mike run of indiana. connieoduced judge amy barrett during her confirmation hearings last week.

plus, axios tech reporter ashley gold will talk to us about what social media companies are doing to combat online misinformation before and after election day. that is coming up on "washington journal." ♪ >> "the contenders." about the man who ran for the presidency and lost by changed political history. tonight, governor of alabama and pro-segregationist george wallace. this week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. >> with the senate confirmation hearings for judge barrett concluded, watch for the next steps in the confirmation process. the senate judiciary committee votes on judge merrick's nomination on thursday. friday on c-span two, the. and it begins debate on her nomination. watch live on c-span and

c-span2, and more on demand at c-span.org or listen on the, c-span radio app. ♪ >> the competition is on. be a part of the sears c-span student -- be a part of this year's c-span studentcam competition, by making a five to six minute documentary exploring the issues you want the president and congress to address in 2021. be bold with your documentary. show opposing points of view. 500,000 dollars in total cash prizes including a grand prize of $5,000. the deadline to submit videos is january 20,2021. , andll find tips, more information on how to get started on our website, studentcam.org. ♪

>> we are just weeks away from election day, november 3, when control of congress and who occupies the white house next year will be decided. stay with c-span to hear trump and joe biden make their case, and watch the debates in some of the hotly contested house and senate races. campaign 2020 coverage every day on c-span, c-span.org, or listen on the c-span radio app. your place for an unfiltered view of politics. continues. journal" we are joined from capitol hill by senator mike braun from indiana. you may remember he was the one that introduced judge amy coney barrett at the start of her confirmation hearings. thanks for your time, senator. we appreciate it. guest: my pleasure. host: do you have a timetable

for confirmation should it happen for the judge? guest: i think it is pretty well mechanical at this point. we will have the committee vote this week. i think maybe as early as next monday. i think that vote will come to the floor. if we stayy, disciplined, it should all stay on track. i think from the tone of what we have seen in the hearings, it was kind of litigated in a much different way than the kavanaugh hearings. i think most of the opposition was about what might happened to policies that are important to them should amy be voted in as a supreme court justice. so i think the process is pretty well baked in. so i am hoping, at least from my point of view, given the outstanding qualities of the herself, that we don't

see in a drama similar to what we saw a couple of years ago. host: i was going to ask you, you said it looks like it is on track. what potentially could take it off track? guest: some obscure procedural things that would have to maybe even involve a lapse on our end. it is very remote that that occurs. don't rule it out. i think every attempt, including throwing the kitchen sink at it, will be made. those options are not many. i think as long as we stay steadfast, we should see a fairly predictable outcome. heard thehave criticisms of the judge from members of the senate judiciary committee. overall, what did you think of those critics? guest: i think it is just about as mild as you can find in this day and age, which i view as kind of the hatfields and the mccoy's, i have only been here

two years -- policy wise, that is true. while you do have one side of the aisle that is comfortable with activism at the judicial level, it all makes sense why the nomination is so important to both sides. heri think when you look at intellectual capabilities, her judicial merits, where her values are. -- where her values are d, that is why you have to change it to what she might do in terms of ruling and possibly taking the court to a place where it will not be as difficult to maybe have some things happen from a more conservative, originalist, textualist point of view happen on the court. that has not been the case not decades.ntly, over

host: when you hear criticism that her presence on the court would lead to the dismantling of the aca or roe v. wade, what perspective do you offer when you hear those criticisms? guest: i came here primarily focused on trying to reform health care. i think that is position in list -- that is sensationalist. the fact that every republican believes in covering pre-existing conditions, i was disappointed when i covered pre-existing conditions and no caps on coverage in my business 20 years ago. that ship has sailed. when you frame things politically in the way, it is disingenuous because it is not the case. on the other hand, we as republicans were slow footed not to embrace fixing the number one issue that this most businesses and individuals, and that is the dysfunction in our health care. but i do believe that when you make the case but she will be

the determining factor that would derail what they are interested in politically, that is just not true. host: one of those other criticism from democrats particularly was the closeness to the presidential race. what you think about that, if this were switched to the other side, would you accept that? guest: i think you just explained why and how we are doing it. if the same conditions were in place and the democrats controlled the presidency and the senate, it would be done at the same dispatch if not more quickly. i think there is a bit of hypocrisy there. that is part of the ultimate result of elections. i think that is why it is so important what is going to happen here in two weeks. but i think that is mostly a faux argument as well. doesn't mean that whoever is against whoever is in there, or whoever the candidate they would not like to see in place, you

will see it as part of the process or the game, but i don't think it is an effective argument. host: while we have you, senator, what is the likelihood that some type of second or another coronavirus relief package will pass on capitol hill? guest: it would be a great likelihood if we did what needs to be done, and that is focus on the particular parts of the economy that are still struggling, get rid of the extraneous things that are in the pelosi h.e.r.o.e.s. act and what they are potentially negotiating currently with the white house. it would be a slamdunk. 53 republicans voted for repurpose thing some of the money that wasn't spent, addressing the individuals that are still out of a job, the businesses better still hurting, take the other extraneous stuff off the table. we will probably vote on that again. it as 53 republicans for

few weeks ago and all democrats against it in the senate. there is no chance that a broad cross-section of republicans vote vote for what is currently being discussed between the losey and the white house. it still may make it through because there might be 13 republicans will go for it, it just wouldn't get the bre adth of our conference behind it. if we get something targeted and .ocused that we can afford, host: we could do that quickly as far as what is being floated by the senate majority leader, scope out a bit of what that involves and why you would sub it.red or maybe not support guest: i think if you go back to what we voted on to a three weeks ago, it will be basically the same. extended ppp to be for small businesses that were left out in the cold. it would address individuals still hurting because they lost their jobs through no fault of their own. it would be focused on covid-related issues, not a

broad grab bag of other political wishlist items that pelosi has in her package. i think it is what we can afford. it would help those most in need in many places if you did not take the approach of blanket shutdowns, one-size-fits-all. the economies are bouncing back robustly. in my home county in indiana, down.loyment is in the state, it is under the national average. we are already under national unemployment than we were in the 2009ion back in 2008, during that recovery. the economy is strong. host: senator, we appreciate your time. guest: you are very welcome. host: we now go to the house of representatives. omnicati from the spker.