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if you trust the system, call us at (202) 748-8000. if you don't have trust, dial (202) 748-8001. if you are unsure, give us a call at (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. we are on facebook at facebook.com/c-span, on twitter, and also on instagram. as you are calling in, i want to go over some recent polling about the issue of confidence in our voting system. first up is a poll by cnn. that poll found that 42% of respondents said they were

either very or somewhat confident that elections will reflect people's will. that included only 16 people who said they were very confident. but again, if you combine very or somewhat, it was 42%. 50% of respondents said they were a little or not at all respondent elections will reflect the will of the people. the new york times also had a poll conducted that act voters the question, does voting make a difference in how government works? 69% of respondents said voting makes a difference of about 28% said it does not. 3% said they don't know. when you look at even more down on the numbers, the faith in whether voting they say difference was least among the youngest voters.

an article here at new york times says the lack of faith is darkest among the young who have little to no memory of a time when american politics did not function as a zero-sum affair. nearly half, 40 8% of those surveyed between the ages of eight and 29, said voting did not make a difference in how their government operates. again, that is from the new york times. again, the number for you to call if you trust the voting system is (202) 748-8000. if you do not have trust, it is (202) 748-8001. if you are unsure, call us at (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. before we get to some of your calls, i want to bring up some video. this week, the house passed the

electoral count revisions to the electoral count act which would replace how votes are certified in congress after a presidential election. let listen t some of that -- let's listen to some of the debate before the house vote. [video clip] >> this bill will lick it hard to convince -- this bill will make it hard to convince people it is harder to overturn an election. the vice president's authority has always been administer real and always will be a ministerial, but what we saw in 2020, they sought to exploit otherwise. the bill will enact new electoral county rules for congress. a few will be able to derail the

proceedings with objections but that will no longer be the case. under this bill, no object will be heard unless one third of each house supports it, and the only objections permitted will be rooted in the constitution, itself a narrow set of issues. the bill also presents state and local election subversion. for example, governors will be required to submit their state law. to of appointment and courts will be empowered to force them to do so if they refuse. ultimately, this bill is about protecting the will of the american voters, which is a principle that is beyond partisanship. the bottom line is this, if you want to object the vote, you better have your colleagues and the constitution on your side. don't try to overturn our democracy. >> it is time we started being honest with ourselves with the american people. the facts are the president and his campaign filing legal

challenges in state federal courts around the country was not improper nor unprecedented. everyone is entitled to their day in court. those suits were considered by judges and ultimately rejected. the process worked. the rhetoric of former president trump following the 2020 was highly inappropriate. republican members of congress objecting to a state slate of electors is not unprecedented. the actions of the individuals who attacked the capitol january 6 was wrong. those individuals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. democrats have just as long a history as republicans of challenging and questioning elections, including attempting to overturn a duly certified congressional election in iowa. this is not a partisan issue. the processes in place have worked. in closing, i would just reiterate that people's faith in our elections is critical to the

long-term success of our democracy. it is time for house democrats to quit playing partisan political games and pushing false narratives just to preserve their own power. host: now let's go to some of your calls on the issue of whether you trust the u.s. election system. our first caller is vince in maryland. let me know if i pronounced that correctly, vince. you say you do trust the system. tell us why. caller: yes, you did. i do trust the system. i have confidence in the way maryland runs it. i voted by mail during the last election. it is easy. you get to choose the people you are voting for in the privacy of your own home with a ballot that looks identical to the one you received in a voting booth if you were to go in person.

and you have time to review the candidates and just drop it in the mail and they track it. you get notifications via email at different stages of the ballot being processed. you get a notification that, yes, your vote was received. and then once it is counted, you get a notification of that as well. i find it very trustworthy and have no issues with it. i don't know why anybody would. host: all right. next caller, we will go to cliff in oklahoma. i'm sorry. we will go to cocoa, florida. you do have confidence. go ahead. caller: yes, thank you for

taking my call. yes, i have confidence in the u.s. -- our voting system. as i have been voting now -- i am 65. i have been voting every chance i got since i was 18. the thing is though with the way this last election went, they are trying to make changes to it that makes it harder for what they call the minor party of the state to have their say so in it , so i do think it could use a little twitch to it to where the political parties cannot add their say-so to it. but other than that, over the years as you see gore did, rescinded his thing for the part and apologize, trump is not doing it but biden was still put

in office so i still trust the system. host: now let's bring up cliff in oklahoma. tell us, why do you not have confidence in the voting system? go ahead. caller: i think a voting system that allows harvesting and drop boxes is wide open invitation to fraudulent voting. there is too much question there from anybody when they don't have any legal way to know who votes and how many. most every state has where you can mail and ask for an absentee valid if you cannot be there to physically vote on the ballot.

i don't think it is a valid argument if you don't know exactly how many fraudulent votes were passed, and there are bound to be fraudulent votes cast. i do think anybody can say there was not a valid election because they don't know the actual amount of fraudulent votes that were cast. by the same token, i don't think anybody can logically say it was not inept to change the outcome. there is just too many ways to cast fraudulent votes in this country. host: of course, a lot of those states that had mail-in ballot thing had drop boxes. they say they do audits and make

sure all the votes cast were done legally, so do you not believe them? what are your thoughts about the fact that georgia and arizona said, we did study the issue and there was not widespread fraud? caller: well, they are saying there is not widespread fraud, but if they don't know exactly how much fraud, they cannot come up with a number, they cannot logically say that it would not affect the outcome. the lady that led georgia last time was claiming it was fraudulent, and she could be right for all anybody knows. the same thing with hillary clinton and the same thing with donald trump. there should be no question about american elections. we go to other countries to

oversee their fair election. let's make elections fair and traceable right here in this country. if a fraudulent vote gets passed, we should be able to figure out how many there were. host: all right, let's go now to thomas in little elm, texas. thomas, you say you are unsure if you trust the voting system. tell us why. caller: sure. absolutely. i mean, just like the gentleman said before me, you have the drop boxes that end up not people being counted. how many are legal votes or illegal votes? in other words, people that are doing maybe more than one vote or many more than one vote. that in itself means that we

have a big problem. if you look at the prior elections, i remember all the way back to president tos -- sorry, the vice president became president under fdr. when you look all the way back there and see the dimensions, you went to the voting booth, that was it. now, you had some military write-ins and some handicapped writings at that time, but they were very few. but when you have since i would say the 2020 election widespread dropbox voting going on and no accountability of actually how many votes were fair and how many votes were unfortunately

too say unfair, just like the gentleman, what he said. there is just no way we can continue like this because obviously every country in the world is watching what we are doing, and they are saying, look, if they are doing that, we can too. and that means we will have a whole bunch of bad guys not only here but over there in foreign countries. god help us if that happens. host: let's go down to mario in north carolina. mario, you said you have confidence in the election system. why? caller: well, i am in north carolina right now on vacation. i am really out of california. the drop boxes in california, there are several officials surrounding that box, anywhere from 4 to a dozen officials, so it is a little harder to put

fraudulent votes in there. our votes blech the gentleman said are also tracked, so one number per person can easily be tracked. you cannot put in a dozen numbers in there made up. they have to be assigned to an individual, so i have confidence at a local level. what concerns me is the federal level, where there are partisan politics that are vetting officials that are told by their president or someone else that they can change the electoral college. that is very concerning to me. host: all right. let's go to another caller now. we have timothy in sterling, illinois. to missy, tell us why you do not have confidence in the election system.

go ahead, timothy. caller: because it is obviously fraudulent. hello there. if you have electronic voting machines, it is obviously fraudulent. those are so hackable. can you hear me? host: yes. tell us why. what is obvious about the use of electric voting? turn your tv down. caller: if it is an electronic voting machine -- my tv is muted. host: ok. go ahead. caller: my tv is on mute. if it is an electronic voting machine, there are -- you can absolutely intercept that voting signal. if there is an electronic voting machine, it is possible to intercept that and change it and it will look valid.

it is done at the hardware level, so you will have to take apart these voting machines in order to find that. it is going to take an electrical engineer, a software engineer, a full staff to be able to figure this out, but i am telling you that if it is an electronic voting machine, it is fraud for sure. no doubt. no way those things are accurate. host: let's go down to lawrence in clementon, new jersey. lawrence, tell us what you have confidence in the voting system. caller: because the voting system is done on the county and local basis. all these people talking about the federal government are all these people who think they have some style of -- host: lawrence?

keep going. keep going. caller: it's -- host: lawrence, we are losing you. caller: the system itself is local. so the idea of cia and fbi and the guy down the street to interfere in the voting is silly. i vote from my house up the corner. host: all right, lawrence. you are going to have to call back. we are having difficulties with you. our next caller is sam in raleigh, north carolina. sam, why don't you have confidence in the u.s. election system? caller: thanks for taking my call. yeah. i don't have confidence because we only have two choices.

that is one more than china. back in 1992 when ross perot took something like 20% of the popular vote, i think that with the writing on the wall and we have not seen an independent on the debate stage since. i could be wrong. correct me if i am wrong. but i think that just shows you that this is a corrupt system and we cannot trust the voting system. thanks. host: ok. our next caller's steve in robbinsville, missouri. steve, tell us why you have confidence. caller: yeah. thanks for taking my call. i believe we need to cast a wider net over this whole thing. right now, yes, i believe the mail-in voting is the way to go. congress needs to step in. we need federal laws for voting.

we need to get rid of the electoral college. we definitely like the last caller said need an independent party. my problem is i believe the democrats stand pretty good for democracy, but a whole lot of their other ideals i do not agree with, but i agree with them more than i do the gop. until we get a third party and get rid of the electoral college , i don't even vote no more, so appreciate it. thank you. host: our next caller's angelo in cranston, rhode island. angelo, you say you are unsure about the u.s. election system. tell us why. caller: yes. this is angelo. host: yes, go ahead. caller: yeah. i am calling in regards to voting. by state, the laws are put in

place for how to vote and what you need to vote. it causes a problem when states do not have voter id, vote by mail, and they don't have a rebuttal by email that you received it. all these things in play from the last election, the question was the laws were taken away from some of the states because of the pandemic, and it caused not only confusion, but the people were uncertain if it was done right. that is what caused the issue with voting rights, you know. if the states make it more feasible that they have a guarantee that the vote counted

and was in correctly, it all goes away. that is what happened the last vote, people thought that it was done quickly and not by the law of the state, and everyone got upset, so what i think they need is the states need to be guaranteed that those votes count and are accurate and voter id is like simple reporting. host: angelo, are you advocating for federal voting standards? caller: no, not really. states in question, they should be thinking about why they were in question. is it because they changed the votes that year because of the pandemic? did we not have voter id in place? things like that are more important for the people like myself than federal coverage.

i am not one for federal at all. host: all right, let's go to the next caller. let's bring up neil. he is in scranton, pennsylvania. neil, tell us why you are having concerns about the federal election system. caller: good morning. it is basically i just don't have faith in the people. the appalling conduct of republican senators and all these people who still support the idiot trump and are willing to do his wrongdoing, like all the people trying to cheat in the voting because he says to do it. you still have millions of people in light of all of the appalling conduct trump has done. they still support this guy. that is the scary part about it. host: ok. next is kathy. she is in saint martinville. i believe that is louisiana.

let me know if i am wrong about that. tell me why you are having concerns about the election system. caller: there is quite a few reasons why and it is not a democrat or republican thing. prior to the 2020 election ya had a lot of people calling in saying they would never vote democrat again. the other thing, the main thing is voter id. i think it is really important. the other thing is when you have more voters -- no, i'm sorry. when you have more votes than are registered voters in any area, that is very concerning. there was some canvassing after that election where they found people, 50 people voting from a

home address or people were voting from a po box. too many things happened i believe because of the pandemic, but i think the pandemic came up because of the election. i cannot be comfortable with it, and i think both parties had a hand in it because our elections are not elections, they are selections. host: let's bring up now hartman in seattle washington. tell us why you have that confidence in the election system. caller: well, i got confidence in it because it works. the problem is you got that supreme court there. they are not for voting rights. people like mitch mcconnell, they are not for voting rights.

that is where the problem is. you see, the thing of it is, these so-called republicans, people who voted for donald trump, that fool, they don't understand democracy. they just want this country to be ruled by minority. they don't want the majority to rule. that is why there is so much cheating going on. they have these guys that don't want nobody to vote. why are they scared? i will tell you why. because these so-called republicans, they cannot win on their policy. that is why they have to cheat, and that is why they don't like democracy. you see? and that is the problem. the system works. host: let's take up a call now from brecht in tennessee --

brett in tennessee. you say you are unsure. what? why? caller: well, i am not unsure about my local place near where i live but during the pandemic, certain states took liberty with the drop in balance, mail-in ballots. maybe a little too far-fetched. i don't live in though state so therefore i don't know everything that happened. i have been voting since 1972 and am democrats, but i have crossed party lines several times on the national election through the years. i have no problem with most of it. someone said something about the electoral college a while ago. i think the electoral college was put in by the founders because they were afraid of mob rule through popular vote.

there is nothing wrong with popular vote except they were instituting it where the states with people amongst each other when they made their votes count. may be the electoral college needs tweaking, yes. also, drop in balance, i am not sure how that works because i have never used it, and i always went to vote in the voting booth. i do know down here during the pandemic, even our local area that i trust so much, i heard some people talking about their dead grandmothers getting ballots. that is all i have to say, thank you. host: our next caller is dallas in belleville, new jersey. dallas, tell us why you called in. caller: thanks for taking my

call. i would like to go right to the head of the problem. let's face it. in 2020, when trump lost, he said, let's cut this out and make it a little bit easier. let's move the ballot boxes. that is what his people did. i worked there as an observer in our election in new jersey. i watched things. people work hard to try to make the elections fair, but they know what they have done. they have done, the republicans, let's not get the blacks to the polling place. let's move some of the ballot boxes, move half of them away. they move the place where i voted the last 10 years and did not notify anybody. that is the underhandedess of what is going -- the underhandedness of what is going on. why? because they put biden in. if we don't say what it is, they are going to get away with it. so at this point, we need our legislature to fight that and

congress to put things in perspective so these things don't happen, so they can prevent us from voting. thank you. host: we are taking your calls today about your trust in the u.s. voting system. just as a reminder, the number to call if you trust the system is (202) 748-8000. if you don't have trust, call (202) 748-8001. if you are unsure, (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. we are going to go to more of your calls. next up is gary in florida. gary, you say you do have confidence. caller: yes, because in georgia in 2020, they counted the votes three times, twice by electronic machine and once by hand. the headcount absolutely matched the machine counts.

and in arizona, they did a month long forensic audit to determine the count was accurate. those are two states donald trump questioned. both of those states had accurate counts. i worked in mail order -- i work in mail order. i know people can vote by mail. i can track someone's package. someone can call and say, where is my package? i can say you ought to get it here or in two days or something like that. also, i know the mail system did slow down leading up to the election. host: all right. that is giveon florida. our next caller is christopher. christopher, you say you are unsure about the system. tell us why. caller: well, i am a big fan of historical figures. you can't know anything.

ignorance is people. i am not exactly 100% sure, but i watch c-span quite a bit and watched an interview with pat buchanan. if i am incorrect, pat buchanan ran nixon's campaign against jfk, i am pretty sure. and in the interview, he asked him about illinois. and i guess jfk's father was famous for saying i am not paying for a landslide. anyways, during an interview, they asked him, why didn't you contest the election when you knew kennedy stole illinois? if i remember correctly, pat buchanan said, because we still kentucky. i don't know if the elections are correct or not. i have no inside information. but these kinds of things do worry me when i hear them. host: christopher --

caller: hold on. host: what would make you confident? i know you talked about some historical things that make you question it. what would make you confident in this upcoming election? caller: that is a good question. that is an excellent question, right? sunlight is always the best disinfectant. making sure people see everything, right? not just -- i heard people talking about ballots. make sure people see who is on the ballot and who is not. let them see the list and check them. let individual citizens be snooped and say that is wrong, correct it. we don't have enough correction in this country. ok. there is a great little clip of elon musk. i am a little bit of a fan of him. he is doing an interview with this youtube guy and the guy says, what about this? he says, oh, that is wrong, we

are going to fix that. a couple months later, yeah, it is fixed. that is what we need. when we see the problem, we do have to fix it. we can't -- hey, this guy has the better idea. socrates said ignorance is people. we cannot be ignorant. host: that is chris. i want to show you guys the national council state legislators, which is a think tank for state and local governments, has a kind of primer for governments about 12 ways to boost election accuracy with little partisan impact. and i want to scroll down all the way to the end. the last three recommendations. number 10, share accurate, complete results. they also say, use compliance reviews and audit results. this is a nonpartisan think tank with recommendations for state and local governments.

let's go back to the fold lines now. we have john. john is in port jarvis, new york. you are saying you are not too confident. tell us why, john. caller: good morning. i think the counts and everything are correct. the count is counted. my problem is identifying the people, assuring the people that these are the ones actually voting. i have seen people take social security cards and of dead people and get their vote count. or some other kind of assurance that that person there is voting. there are so many times when you hear this person has voted three times, four times. in all these counts are out of whack. i think all of the election votes get counted, but the

problem is assuring that the one that is voting right now is that person voting. that is my opinion. host: our next caller's place in new jersey. liz, you say you are confident. why is that? caller: excuse me. good morning. i have been voting in new jersey, my home state here, since 1972. i never had a problem being registered and voting. i think this fear that was ginned up of the mail-in voting or the dropbox vote, that was all basically to reduce people's access to the polls, especially lower working class people who have limited time to be able to cast their vote due to their work hours. they cannot leave their jobsite

to cast a vote. i always say we should be making sure every u.s. citizen, every american has ample opportunity to cast their vote. and all the restrictions in a lot of the states, particularly the southern states, what they have been passing, that is not following the constitution. that is trying to obstruct the vote. we need to stop passing such legislation. i listen to the guys making it a more honest vote, but it is not . it is just there to restrict voting at the polls. in the last few years, i have switched and i do it by the dropbox -- i have switched to the mail-in voting and i do it by the dropbox. you can track and trace it

and there is no fraud there in my opinion. i do think one thing we need to consider is doing away with the electoral college because we are getting cases time after time, particularly with the republican party, where they fail to win the popular vote, but they win the electoral vote. so when you have a president who only won the electoral vote, that is a weakened presidency because most people did not vote for that person. our vote has to really reflect it and who does when and who doesn't lose. host: we are going to move on now. thanks for your call. we'll have to move on forever next caller. we have kurt and mount union, pennsylvania. you say you are not sure about your trust in the system. tell us about that. caller: yesterday good morning

to you. host: good morning. caller: my problem is, and i cannot quite figure this out. i know when i go and vote, it is anonymous. what i mean by that is no one knows what my vote was. now i have to register as i am going in to vote, but when i make that vote, no one knows who i voted for but meet unless i tell someone. so if you were to have a case of fraud, and you say x, y, and z, this person, this person, how would you be able to detract from anybody who received the book because you don't know who they voted for? host: ok. let's go to our next caller, doug in muskogee, oklahoma.

you say you are not confident. why is that? caller: no, i am not. i am sad to say that, but anyway, because the machines can be manipulated. what i would suggest is paper ballots and having maybe at least one day where people can take off work, maybe to not have to go to work, make the whole day a day of voting so people can get there. and maybe even provide some transportation for somebody that wanted to go vote. make it easier to vote, not harder. the gerrymandering of the districts really does concern me.

we know which party does that. that would be -- i would do that by having the secretary of state. that would be a political thing. that would be something i would think about. how you would stop the gerrymandering. host: all right. our next caller is bernard in north carolina. bernard, you say you are confident. caller: yes, i am confident in the system the way it is right now. can i say something first? what is your name? i don't know your name. host: my name is tia. caller: each state has their own system of validating the votes.

you showed the article where it also shows where the states show their process. there should be a show of republicans only and the question should be, is there anything that will convince you the last election was not a fraud? because these guys will believe it no matter what, to me. it is a complicated process. sitting there saying something is fraud, it could be or could be, but the system is from the state. they showed the system was not that fraudulent to where the president lost the election, so it should be saying, republicans only, is there anything that is going to convince you the last election was not fraudulent? i bet you all of them will say no. just my opinion. thank you. host: we had an informal poll on

our twitter account where we asked our twitter followers, do you trust the u.s. election system? 52.5% said yes. 35% said no. 12.1% are unsure. that is an informal poll on our twitter account. let's go to more of your calls now. angela is in virginia, unsure. tell us why. caller: well, for one, the election process has gotten way too long. it used to be election day. now you have all of these days and weeks when things change all the time. i am tired of hearing some of the people call in saying the republicans did not trust the last election when they spent $40 million and i don't know how much money saying president

trump really did not win the election. it is like they have selective memory. they talk about january 11 like summer 2020 did not exist. and so it is ok for them to prosecute the president, said he did not win, find out that hillary has been colluded and all of that, but we cannot question the 2020 election? i think the 2020 election based on from what i understand about it, that there were a lot of state legislatures that did some underhanded stuff and changed election laws in order to not play fair, but they did change the election laws but did not change them fairly. that is what they did not do right. we should be able to question that. it is ok for the democrats to

question president trump for four years all over the tv, the talking head politicians, celebrities, everybody was questioning. he did not win. he did not win. but we cannot question whether biden won or not? host: after all the lawsuits and questioning trump and his allies did, those lawsuits have all been settled and courts generally cited against president trump, so now do you have confidence in the 2020 election results? caller: ok. again, again, there you are being selective because a lot of the -- they would not even here the evidence. they just said they did not have a case and they would not hear the evidence. i would not go because they were not allowed to present evidence, and people like you go along with whatever the media says. we know they were not allowed to

present the evidence. so there we have it again. i try to be fair-minded. i try to be fair-minded. i know the various state legislatures, they changed some of the election laws, but they did not do it right. and i will say the state legislatures did it. i think it was the state attorney general's. they did not go through the state legislature. so again, it is ok for you to question me about president trump, but will you question anybody about whether president trump really beat hillary? see? you all are fair-minded. host: our next caller is edward and fort collins, colorado. edward, you are saying you are not confident in the election system. caller: no, i am not.

good morning to you. host: good morning. caller: my first wife was named tia. i will not hold it against you though. host: thank you. caller: i am just kidding. i have just kidding. all right, so i don't think anybody believes the president of venezuela, maduro, got voted in honestly. i don't think anybody believes that. we happen to be using a lot of the same voting machines he used. a lot of us are using the same voting machines they use. it is really not the voting machine. it is the fact whether the voting machine is hooked up to the internet. that is a big problem. there was a ballot box stuffing and all of that and people throwing many votes. one person throwing many votes into the ballot box. there was that going on, but i don't think that would give joe biden 81 million votes,

campaigning from his basement. there is just no way. he got the most votes in history campaigning from his basement. none of these voting machines should be hooked up to the internet at all, wi-fi, whatever. i'm sorry, i think that is what we are falling into. the democrats want to win at no cost. host: our next caller is living in lewisville, texas. lately, you say you do have confidence. tell us about that. caller: yes. i trust the elections. the people calling in and questioning the integrity of their elections, look at every state that they had questioning that they thought was stolen from trump. they did an audit. every single audit came out correct based on the republicans doing the audit, spending my tax

dollars to do the audit, and it still came out that biden won. if they look at trump's history, every time trump lost something to lost the enemy to "the amazing race." he claimed it was fraud, that he was cheated. he lost the primary in ottawa to cruz. he claimed he was cheated. every time he lost, he claims there was a cheat. the republicans, congressmen, senators, they are on the same ticket trump was on that won. nobody claimed that their thing was stolen. you did not hear democrats say they stole it. no. the republicans that won, they are not saying they did not win. where was the fraud there? if there was fraud, there was fraud across the board. i believe there should be something done about the electoral college. i don't think it should be done

totally away but there should be some adjustment there so the popular vote is the vote that counts. again, any time trump lost anything, he claims he was cheated. he claimed there was fraud. host: our next caller is xavier in maryland. xavier, you say you do have confidence. tell us about that. caller: yeah, that's correct. so, you know, i had the privilege of voting in a couple different states. in every state i have lived at and voted in, i have been required to show id to gain the ability to vote, right? that, to me, basically debunks a lot of the theory about hidden components, the voting machines,

trying to compromise things. i have also looked into how voting machines work. a few do not connect to the internet. the person was saying before me, they were counted and verified and audited the results many times. who knows how many? but the process i guess to me is fairly stable, whether or not there are any kinks in it. a gentleman earlier brought up a very good point, which is accessibility. i lived in a few different states. one of those states was actually georgia. a few years ago, stacey abrams was running for governor, and i remember distinctly people i

worked with, i remember people i worked with in rural communities complaining. they live in predominately black and latino communities. i looked it up and verified. at the time, someone was overseeing an election that he himself was in. at the same time, politics are very complicated. people will do anything to rise to power. but i think the issue with voting is -- host: all right, let's go to another caller now. we have paul in chesapeake, virginia. paul, you tell us you are not sure about the election system. why is that? caller: well, it's not the u.s.

election system per se. that i don't have trust in. because each one of these, there is 50 states, territories, and each one has their own laws, so to me, the question should become a number one, do you trust your state's election laws? or viability. the last thing i will say is the gerrymandering was mentioned. you know, it depends on what party is in power because i have seen the gerrymandering under democrats. i have seen it under republicans. as a matter of fact, my district

has changed due to the 2020 senses, so you know, it is not so much the u.s. election laws. but again, it draws into question, like here in virginia right now, we have early voting going on right now. election day is november 8. you are talking a month and a half of voting. that is ridiculous. that is ridiculous. so to me, they either need to narrow that down -- i don't have anything against early voting because i have had to do it before because i was going out of the country. so, you know, one, two weeks ahead of time, maybe. now when it comes to the u.s.

election, why is the speaker asking for states to extend remote voting to november 10? so, you know, that tells me that somebody is trying to weather manipulate or whatever or try to alleviate their concerns about who is going to remain in power. host: all right. our next caller is john in latonia, ohio. john, you say you don't have confidence. caller: no, ma'am, i do not. we get corrupt elections because we have mostly corrupt officials and it all boils down to money. they get the people in power they want to. until we have term limits, they

love playing badminton back-and-forth. they argue on the floor and then go back in the back room and have cocktails afterwards, my opinion. it is funny. elections all over the world -- first of all, we talk about the russian influence. first of all, our government tries to control or influence every election in the world. we get upset when another government tries to influence what is happening here. first of all, if you would tie a social security number to a ballot and you can only validate it one time, that could give you a clean election. there are too many ballots out floating around. i do vote and i do believe there are some good politicians out there. i think the really good ones get reelected because the big old power, the 30, 40, 50 year long politicians, they don't want people with new ideas.

host: ok. our next caller's steve in rosemont, minnesota. steve, you say you are confident in the election system. caller: i am. i vote by mail. we don't have any valid areas of army so they do is mail you a ballot. it will be done next week. you seal the envelope, and you have somebody witness saying they signed the envelope and they sign the envelope. you get another envelope. it gets mailed back. when they look at the ballot, they look at your preregistration, i don't know what you call it. and they look at your signature, that signature, and the signature of the person that validated it. you are able to track it. i have been doing it for 10

years. there has never been any fraud with me. i just think it is ridiculous that these people are calling in and saying the election is rigged. all the steps have been taken care of. people listen to the wrong people. you can't fix stupid. that is all i have to say. thank you. have a good day. host: our next caller is calling in waddington, new york. you say you are unsure. what is that about? caller: well, i guess i could have called in on all three lines because i believe that most of this problem is that neither party will put up a candidate who is the best candidate. they only put up the candidate who can get elected. politics now is like a game or between parties for control. it is simply awful.

you don't have two political opponents who can stand to look at one another and say, i think you would do a good job. i just a guy would do a better job. no one can say that braided or trump was the best of candidates for the election. didn't vote for trump or biden. they say that you can change elections, that you can change a candidate. you can vote for six, half a dozen. it is not really changing the candidate. i am just disappointed in the whole system. host: we are going to take a quick break and we will be back with two political pollsters who will join us to talk about the political election will be joined by a republican and democratic pollster. and later, migration policy

institute's andrew steele he discusses the conditions driving migration from venezuela and other parts of latin america. we will be back after the break. ♪ >> author, tv host, and aprons media founder -- will be our guest, talking about the american legal system today. the author of several books including lincoln's last trial, the trial of jack ruby, and the latest, martin luther king jr. and the criminal trial that launched the civil rights movement. join in on a conversation with your phone calls, facebook calls, texts and tweets.

at noon eastern on in-depth, tv, c-span2. >> the january 6 committee returns wednesday for its night. ahead of the release of the written order expected by the end of the year. you can watch the hearing live beginning in 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span three, c-span now, or anytime on demand. incorporated in 1884, a small coal mining town in the appalachian mountains of eastern kentucky. tonight, on q&a, a former reporter shares the impact in the coal mines and recent flooding has had on the city.

>> appalachia flag behind the rest of the country when it comes to almost every socioeconomic measurement. kentucky lags behind appalachia. we are talking about the region of appalachia that has generationally --. >> the book " twilight in hazard" on c-span q&a. you can listen on the free c-span radio app announcer: campaign 2022 coverage is your friend proceed -- front row seat. meet and greet during the races. you can take it with you on the go with our free mobile video

app or go to c-span.org/campaign2022 for all our midterm election coverage on demand or state-by-state maps. campaign 2022, your unfiltered view of politics. >> 7:00 a.m. eastern and the congressional hearings and other public affairs events throughout the day and weekdays at 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. eastern. listen to c-span anytime. just tell your smart speaker "play c-span radio app." washington journal continues. host: republican pollster brian

-- and democratic pollster -- are with us this morning to discuss campaign 2022 and the political news of the day. good morning to both of you. so i want to start off asking you, brian, you are a republican pollster. we are weeks away from the midterms. how do you rank your party's chances when it comes to having control of the u.s. house? do you believe the conventional wisdom that republicans will take back the majority? guest: i do. certainly a combination of both redistricting and places picking up to take control. 43 of those seats are held. just 16 by republicans.

the seats in a more even wafer republicans just seems more likely. host: nancy, how important is turnout going to be? we hear a lot about -- i want to say that you lead a campaign- coordinated team in the research practice. you've also been a senior pollster and strategist for the democratic camp name, so again, turnout and enthusiasm, how important will that be? guest: that is essential in midterms and that is what makes or breaks it. look at all of these -- that came with the process in 2020. such heightened turnout in november, in reaction to

democrats, overturning roe v. wade, among other things. that will be incredibly important. one thing we are watching very actively is the -- of partisan. there was a motivation for republicans up until a couple months ago. now we are seeing that has dissolved. democrats now have the enthusiasm advantage. host: and we are going to get to some of your calls, questions and comments when it comes to the 2020 midterm elections. you can go ahead and start calling in. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. i want to bring up -- there was some pulling out about joe biden's job approval. it is currently, according to

the real clear politics pulling averages, he is at about 43% approval, but on the economy, he is at 58% disapproval. then there's about 64% of voters who say that the country is headed in the wrong direction. also on the generic congressional ballot text, 45.3% of democrats, 45.3% of democrats want democrats on the ballot to win. i want to start with asking you, nancy, about biden's approval. and how that still seems so stuck no matter what he tries to do. what do you ascribe that to, and do you think there is anything he could do to pull those numbers up? guest: what is really

interesting is that if you look at presidential approval at this point before the midterms where it is the president's first term, historically, joe biden's numbers are pretty much in line with every other approval rating with the exception of bush sr. and jr. which we can talk about later, circumstances right after 9/11 is not tremendously different, but that has also been the case in those years. we found the party that was in patter -- power. this is going to be a referendum on joe biden in particular because even though he is not historically worth another folks, what we do see is increasingly their people who voted for joe biden who are pulling back. younger people who are neutral or disapproving of him but the

reasons why they're doing that actually have to do with politics that make them fun to let ashburn a mentally different from decided voters who would be the kind of voters that republicans can appeal to. it would never vote for a republican. host: brian, let me bring you into the conversation. what do you think it means to candidates of both parties going into the midterms that biden's approval factors into that? guest: i think the second one you brought up about economics, the commitment to america, it was really heavily focused on the kitchen table economic issues. inflation, rising costs, gas prices, energy independence. being able to paint a picture of your suffering from inflation,

things cost more, it is harder to pay your bills, i think it is a significant play that most republicans are making. we've been doing better on inflation, on gas rises. host: let's go to some callers now. queens ville, new jersey, democratic line. you are up. caller: joe biden, his approval rating is kind of appropriate with the things going on in ukraine. that adds a great -- for the situation. but i think most of these

situations, i do believe that -- will research, no doubt. host: what do you think could contribute, brian, to the fluctuations in biden's approval? guest: part of it is sort of progressives and liberals who are frustrated with thinking he is not doing enough. he is not old enough for their liking. in the last few weeks with some other things, bringing those people back in the fold, but those are still things that republicans were not going to get either way. it paints a poor picture for the economic party. host: let's talk now to lauren in new york. republican line.

caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i believe it is going to be a red wave, and i will tell you why. people are so sick and tired of the high gas prices, food prices, immigration. everything the democrats have done since they have taken charge has gone against the working man. and i believe there is going to the red wave and it is going to be a daytime red wave they have to get these borders straightened. in the economy, the working man cannot -- it is going to be even worse. that is why i believe it is going to be a red wave and a daytime red wave. host: i will start with you, nancy. red wave, big red wave? caller: it guest: guest: is

looking increasingly less likely that that is going to happen. as i mentioned earlier, there is more motivation for democrats, in large part in reaction to the decision is for the changing the game. biden's legislative agenda, things like student loan forgiveness, that has really helped the democratic party come together. they are drawing contrasts with republicans with actual election season where people have a choice. unlike other midterm elections, we are not in a position of having to fill seats that donald trump carried in 2020. we just have to win seats that joe biden carried in 2020 in large part in order to maintain control. that is going to look very different from some of the past. host: based on your polling, do

you think democrats lose a few seats, or do they keep the majority? guest: it is too early to tell. i'm going to keep watching campaigns. people pay a lot of money for us to do campaign work because we have to -- to voters. we are going to be conducting polling in all these districts. post: brian, are you really do make a production at this point -- ready to make a prediction at this point? guest: if they have as much enthusiasm as that color from new jersey. more a medium-sized wave is my guess. host:host: our next caller in orange park, florida, on the democratic line. caller: i believe this. the question that you can ask,

this person says this, this person says that, how about this? what is your major issue, the economy or abortion? if you want free elections, if you want abortion, you can't vote for a republican to say that i believe in god, then you are going to transfer innocent kids to a state and say i want to take care of the kids? whose kids, just yours. we need to wake up and ask the questions. host: i see you shaking your head nancy. what are your thoughts? caller: he is right. many people are concerned about many issues. the biggest issues right now are abortion and the economy. people are hurting right now and people are very angry about the decision that was made by these are. as going to be among the top issues.

host: the next caller is john in connecticut on the independent line. go ahead, john. caller: yes, good morning. -- if elections are going to be fair. secretary of state got the power to put the votes where they want to. that new law, i think democracy is the most important thing right now. you lose democracy, we build the autocrat system, the autocrats are not staying in the country no more. host: brian, i want you to respond to that because he brought up the fact that in red states and conservative areas, there is a lot of concern about the election. do you think that is something that could affect turnout in the midterm? guest: it kind of goes two ways.

you certainly have voters who are frustrated. but on the same token, we are telling people your vote doesn't matter where there is so much fraud in the system is a tough situation, but i think most, it has been about making the system more free and fair. kind of being able to root out corruption in any service nefarious activity. host: up next we have florida on the republican line. caller: yes, ma'am. i would like to address my comments to republican strategist. essentially, there is no party to vote for. the republican has become

something that i don't recognize anymore and i've been able to confirm long time i cannot believe that i have candidates like matt gaetz and marco rubio to choose from, neither of whom will admit to what the e x-president did as a crime. i don't think the january 6 fiasco and the mar-a-lago stuff -- i mean, you guys have left me no choice. for the first time in my life i'm going to end up voting for val demings and whoever is running against matt gaetz. host: your thoughts, brian? guest: val demings i think is a much -- candidate to marco rubio.

house republicans kind of rolled out the national agenda. to me, a longtime republican, so the economic policies to bring down inflation, securing the border, looking at things and not giving into mar-a-lago and the other sort of things, they are meaningful in real ways that make things cost less, makes gas cost last. protect the police, these types of things that republican candidates are better served on. host: let's take a pause now and listen to a little bit of kevin mccarthy's remarks friday on the republican party commitment to american agenda.

>> washington uses political power to go after people for their own political beliefs we watch children get left behind. that is what happened with the democrats, because they control washington. they control valves, the senate, the white house, the committees, the agent is. it is their plan, but they have no plan to fix all the problems they created. so, you know what? we created a commitment to america. [applause] what we will talk about today, an economy that is strong. that means you can fill up your tank. you can buy groceries. you have aft money left over to go to disneyland and save for the paychecks grow and no longer shrink.

we have a plan for a nation that is safe. that means your community would be protected. your law enforcement would be respected. your criminals would be prosecuted. we believe in a future that is built on freedom. that your children come first. and we believe in a check and balance, that government should be accountable. special interest should work for you, not the other way around i can is today. host: later on friday, president biden gave a response to that agenda, during a speech at a democratic national committee rally. biden: earlier today after opposing everything we tried to do to stop progress for the last two years, house minority leader

kevin mccarthy went to pennsylvania and will something called the commitment to america. that is a series of policy goals with little to no detail that he says republicans will pursue if they regain control of congress. in the course of an hour, here are a few of the things we didn't hear. we didn't hear him mention the right to choose. we didn't hear him mention medicare. we didn't hear him mention social security. so let's take a look at what kevin said today. he said they want to preserve the constitutional freedoms. that sounds great, i am for doing that as well, we all are. but look at. republicans just cheered and embraced the first supreme court decision in our entire history, the first one in our entire history that failed to preserve constitutional freedom and actually took away a fundamental right that had been granted by the same court to so many americans. the constitutional right to

choose. host: nancy, we just heard kevin mccarthy talk about his commitment to american agenda, then we are president biden say there were things you didn't hear in that agenda that should give voters pause. what do you think the republican agenda is outlining their priorities? do you think that will have an effect on people? guest: kevin mccarthy is making my job easier. it is nice to talk about what your values are but in the reality that this is, those people are deeply unpopular. we are talking about a national abortion ban. we are talking about tax cuts for the wealthy and operations. we are talking about ending medicare and social security as we know it. we are talking about policies that are going to raise the cost of prescription drugs. these are deeply unpopular policies that are out there with ink that republicans really want to do.

they are going to dress that up anyway that sounds appealing like talking about economic security and freedom, but at the end the day, those aren't going to help people with inflation and they certainly don't help women who are trying to fight for reproductive freedom. host: brian, i want to bring it back to you and the caller in florida who says what he is hearing from republicans no longer resonate him do you think the commitment to america agenda will reinforce some of those misgivings that some people have about the republican party? guest: i do. and what has been proposed, it is not about abortion or ending social security or things that happen unpopular. these are broadly popular policies about bringing down inflation, bringing down gas

races making a commitment to law enforcement, commitment to securing the border. host: let's go back to the phone lines now and you can get in on the conversation with our democratic and republican pollsters on our channel. (202) 748-8000 democrats,. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003. our next caller is jeff in indianapolis on the democratic line caller: i just want to say one thing. i am so proud of our president joseph biden. i am so proud that he made this speech in philadelphia where he called out the republican for what they are.

he called them so i fascists -- well, i would've dropped the semi. the same parties: democrats socialists and communists, and they all get out of shape when joseph biden called them out for what they are. the republican party is no longer the party of abraham lincoln, dwight eisenhower, or even ronald reagan. they are now the party of qanon, the proud boys, and alex jones. after january 6, they should come nowhere near the white house, the congress at all. they are now beholden to extremists. to extremists. barack obama did with donald trump did. took classified, top-secret information to his home. the maga crowd were trying to organize a lynch mob. the whole world is going through economic crisis.

canada, europe, japan. china is in really bad shape and russia is basically a third world nation with nukes. they say it is all biden's fault. biden has no control over the gas prices. the whole wide world is going through this. i am so sick of the crowd, the republicans telling us they are now a threat to democracy. and when they attack women's rights to choose, they want to create a blade runner society. thank you. host: let's let a republican pollster way and on that. guest: sure. i worked for lots and lots of other candidate called extremists. i certainly think both parties have very strong members at the edges, but the candidates, the people for governor are people who are going to work to try to get things done.

it is not about what is or isn't happening in mar-a-lago. it is about trying to do the best they can for their constituents. host: let's talk to sam in vancouver, washington. independent line. caller: yes. i've been watching politics a long time president eisenhower back in the 50's. as far as i'm concerned, i am a trump supporter, and i will tell you why. there's only been two presidents in the united states that refused to accept a salary. one was john fitzgerald kennedy and the other was donald j. trump. you can have a lot of jackasses that claim this man is trying to get money. he gives away his whole salary. he lost hundreds of millions of

dollars as the president. a lot of people -- and i've also heard, i remember back in the 60's, they said he would never be president. my theory is this. they don't want a rich man to become president because they cannot buy them off. they cannot be bought. there is so much corruption in this government is pathetic. you people treating politics as middle-class. why would you spend $20 million, $50 million for a job that pays $170,000? people are so naive. i voted for a democrat once, i voted for a republican once. host: we are going to have to move on to our next caller now. that is jeff in south carolina. jeff, tell us what questions or comments you have. caller: good morning.

just a couple of comments. did you hear about the inflation? i mean, i am back where i was when i graduated high school. i mean, i was getting out of high school and going into the navy when inflation was this high and gas prices were this high. we haven't learned anything about running an economy. so how am i supposed to recover? the strategic oil reserve, that is at the lowest in 40 years. of the question i would have is as far as the polling, if i understand right, biden has a 40% approval rating. based on what i've seen, ghosting our allies and in a stand, the terrorist attack that killed those soldiers, the

highest rate of integration ever, are we saying that four out of 10 americans like that stuff? i don't trust these polls. host: let's go now to nancy. there are a lot of things pulling biden down including the economy. where is that? guest: it is incumbent on democratic candidates to say what they are for and to inform voters of what the republicans are offering instead because elections are about choices. nobody has all of the answers, but we get to present to voters are two different options. and i believe that we have more options and better options than the other side which is offering more tax cuts for the wealthy and on the other hand, we have democrats where doing things like reducing the cost of prescription drug prices. for so many years people have been talking about rising costs

and the things that they are most concerned about is things like health care costs. finally, something has been done on that. so we get to make a pitch to the american people to say we are actually doing something to reduce cost. that, in combination with the view of the corporate price gaucher's that republicans are saying give them more tax cuts --we will be there to compare and contrast. host: brian, your thoughts about whether the economy and other issues are going to weigh down biden. guest: for most voters, inflation and things costing more is a real detriment to their day to day lives. when you are looking up is economic policies, if you're

looking for alternatives, i think that is probably the top thing, bringing down inflation with domestic production, bringing down the cost to the detriment of 70 voters. host: at this point, nbc news did some holding on different issues that shows that voters in general give republicans the advantage on a lot of issues. border security, the economy, immigration, crime, protecting rights and even cost-of-living. when it comes to other issues like protecting democracy, education, abortion, even health care, that is where they give democrats the edge. again, that is pulling from nbc news. let's take another caller now. this is kathleen in chicago. kathleen, you are on the democratic line. caller: thank you. this is a republican as well as

a democrat pollster. i'm sick of people talking to me about republicans and donald trump taking over the house. give me one reason why they should take over the house. since president biden has been in office and everything he asked nancy pelosi to pass, that woman has passed it. she passed it with flying colors. how many republicans -- how many republicans voted for that? when elections are won, they can get together and work with the president that is in the white house. republicans, all they have to doing for the last year or so, no, no, no. they don't help the people here in this country. what american people are you talking about? nobody has done nothing to help

the american people in this country other than just say no. no, no. if we had had two republicans with democrats in the senate, nancy pelosi passed everything that she should have passed. guest: let's get our panelists some time to respond. >> 20 where a politician is very frustrated to see action against you, but i think these economic policies biden is enacting, even his own people have said this is going to lead to inflation, aided did. as a republican, i don't feel bad about saying these policies are really hurting your family's budget. a strong alternative to this, i think you can look at some of the real crises we are facing right now, you have to look at

what some of the democrats have enacted. host: and what do you see? guest: one of the things the color was talking about is the idea that we are not going to be able to get anything else done because the republicans are going to say no. so what will happen if the republicans are in charge of the house? first of all, they are not going to pass their agenda because we are going to have joe biden in the white house for another two years. so let's say what they do is present progress on things that people actually care about. there will be a litany of investigations, is not going to lead to anything productive. if you want to continue to make progress on things like costs, you want to actually do some bipartisan -- bipartisan things like bipartisan infrastructure,

those are all passed on a bipartisan basis. was having with joe biden. post: up next we have marquette, michigan, independent line read go ahead. caller: yes. in your last segment you had a caller calling and saying he was tired of the parties not putting up the best candidates, and i agree totally with that man. i can't believe we had hillary clinton and donald trump and now joe biden and donald trump .please, put somebody up that actually knows how to run a country and that actually can do the job. thank you. host: i want you to respond to that, nancy, first and then brian. you've worked with candidates and the finance system is the primary system, but it does lead to sometimes extremists on

either party. what are your thoughts about candidate quality and how that affects our election system today? guest: this is a great question. immigration is not something that is new. there are a growing number of people who limit the candidates that they have to choose from, that is the kind of point of the primaries. i've heard a lot more people lately say i need to do a better job of showing up in those primaries because that is how i make sure that i get the people that i want on the ballot. often times, the candidates themselves, they actually do a pretty good job of winning their districts. that is why they typically have higher approval ratings than a generic democrat or republican with approval ratings like the democrats in congress, the republicans in congress.

but because you're reacting to a person and people have a personal brand, that is in part what we do with candidates. we help them to tell their stories and they reflect back the of their district. host: brian, candidate quality. guest: one thing and you about myself, media coverage has come to a national fever. there is a lot of yelling and screaming about national candidate seeing them, candidates were seen as somewhat controversial in the senate or fairly bipartisan. they have spouses and families and friends, they are nice, decent people. when you are under this kind of crucible and there is a lot of

scrutiny about your behavior, that can kind of leave you to think -- about them. but i think in general, we have candidates that by and large want to do good and have the best of intentions. host: up next we have virginia on the republican line. go ahead. caller: yes. right now, the biggest issue is equality, nothing else. fat is the biggest issue. -- that is the biggest issue. in the democratic side controls congress, the senate, and the white house. ukraine is a crisis. and then you turn around and blame the republicans. you attacked donald trump.

you have to bear responsibility because you are not solving problems. you are creating problems. and we are hurting. host: nancy, i will give you a chance to respond. guest: a lot of people i speak to agree that people are hurting and if there is anything that is going to prevent democrats from being able to keep control of congress and other state and local offices, it is going to be the presumption that democrats are responsible for the pain that they are feeling when they go to the grocery store or fill out the gas tank. we need to do a better job of actually telling people what it is that we've been doing. because we've done a lot. we've cut the cost of prescription drugs, for example. that is a huge driver of cost. and we need to tell them what

we're going to do for them in the future. tell them what we are actually offering. to help people like our caller who are really struggling. host: and the republican side? guest: he is right, the bad economic times, that is why you see republicans consistently pushing that issue. improving supply chain, more domestic production, production domestically. it could be done with a meaningful impact. host: our next call is randall and washington, d.c. on the democratic line. go ahead, randall. caller: well, republicans are at a standstill and they are in office. this done except legislation passed for the rich.

but then you get down to joe biden. inflation was undermined under trump. slowed down the fighting, inflation. i heard the other day that natural gas, we actually have a surplus in america and that needs to be looked at and talked about. so with the winter coming, we will be ok. and then trump kind of undermined himself by running for president because the businesses and the corruption that he has been involved in over the years, i think the democrats want to make people's lives better and enhance their liberty. republicans only focus on a small minority, wealthy. and they do the majority of republicans into voting for them but have nothing for them,

essentially. obamacare the whole time, their focus is off. it is not on the people, it is on grievance is. we need people who passed legislation for the people, and that is democrats. host: brian, i will you respond first. guest: sure. i certainly don't think of myself as a wildly rich person, but somebody with four kids in catholic school, the trump tax cut included preferential treatment to pay for k-12 education which allowed me to subsidize my kids education, and there are thousands in the country who have kids and sums of educational charter system, which is something signed by ted cruz. these are two people who i think make that a priority.

i think you can point to a lot of the things that the republican party saw a lot of success with economic growth, certainly my grocery bill was lower. everybody buys groceries, everybody fills up the gas. and you can be frustrated that maybe it looked like his policies were not benefiting you personally, but i can assure you there are many who got benefits from that. host: i want to bring up a tweet now from one of our washington journal listeners. he is in pennsylvania and he says could you give me your insights into pennsylvania's eigthth district matt cartwright. he is a democrat running in a trump district. nancy, what are your thoughts on that? guest:: i'm actually doing a lot of pennsylvania right now.

i will say that it has been really interesting to see how well things are going at the top of the ticket. there is a lot of hope, perhaps, for some down ballot democrats. we have talked so much about inflation, and there's also some really important local issues in pennsylvania. in pennsylvania, there's a lot of people concerned about protecting public k-12 education funding, for example the -- these are the things we usually don't talk about when we talk about the issues, when we are talking about these state legislative races. public education, protecting abortion rights. and that is not necessarily

always going to be benefiting republicans like you might think. they also want gun safety to be part of that. violence as well, that is part of crime. host: biden, is a democratic incumbent with a slightly trumpedy district. do you think there could be a way to speak to them? guest: i don't really know enough to give you any sort of answer about it, sorry. host: democrats in these tossup seats that are a little bit red, you know, how can they keep the sea, or what are republicans doing to flip those seats? guest: when you are in this kind of districts, it is a real challenge. as the incumbent, you want to hyperfocus on the issues in the district, getting out and being with people.

and your challenger is going to want to talk about more of a referendum on the president, his policies. guest: in pennsylvania specifically, people really get to know those candidates. it is much easier for them to be able to make a pitch directly to the voters at this the guy next door, the woman who has the small business that you go to. there is that personal connection and build trust with your voters. host: we have another tweet for you guys. steve says inflation is not policy, it is an opinion. what other policies are supported to bring down inflation? that the federal reserve has more influence than congress? what is the gop plan to fight inflation that differs from the democrats? guest: generally, organizing

production, part of inflation has been a lot of government money that has gone into the system at a time when it wasn't really needed. so having a government that does less, spends less, gets less involved in angst, i think is a real, tangible way you can bring down wishon and control valves, control the budget. host: and nancy, on inflation, doesn't the federal reserve have more influence in congress? we know the congress, president biden has received a lot of the blame inflation. do you think it is more, and what should be the democratic message on the issue? guest: when i ask voters who do they blame for ration, the

president at the bottom of the list. covid used to rank in the bit higher, but now it is further and further away from the pandemic. that would be in the 40's, and that looks like the strong republican-based voters. beyond that, what do more people say that anything? price-gouging. so we need to make this a conversation about that as well as policy because more people care about corporate price gouging then joe biden's policies or regulation of the environment. or even the pandemic. host: let's go back to the phone lines now. we have ned in annapolis, maryland on the independent line. caller: first of all, thank you

for taking my call. you've done a terrific job posting. you are engaging but you are not showing any bias. it is great to have two politicos who are rather attached and not emotional and polarizing. not yelling and not -- host: thank you so much. caller: people have basically said everything i want to say. i was a republican, i tried to put myself in peoples' places but i can't do it with senator mcconnell or represent of mccarthy. i see what happened, it is just hard. what i wanted to ask you all is i have a feeling that there is not a tipping point, but an

inflection point around 1932. the reagan revolution is over. it is exhausted. and it was great, but it has been gone for three years. something new is boiling below the surface. something will emerge, something more traditional. just tell me what you all think. thank you. guest: that optimism is often not what i hear what i am talking to voters. where do they think we are heading, concerned and dismayed and so overwhelmingly pessimistic. i hope he is right.

i think a lot of people are actually quite concerned and don't share his optimism, unfortunately, because if you look at the numbers he started the show with, a lot of it is because of the things we don't share. we've become so polarized. a majority of people believe that in the next 20 years, we could have a civil war in this country. it is quite scary. guest: bipartisan stuff, they tend to vote like you, they tend to have your political views. and so it was not so much -- as

self-selecting. we looked at voters who pretended to be optimistic. what does it look like for people who don't describe themselves as a very conservative democrat or republican. there's a lot -- to the extreme. moving in this bubble, you are not hearing -- host: up next, we have bill in pennsylvania on the republican line. what are your thoughts? caller: thank you very much for accepting my call. i don't understand how make

america great again is a negative aspect. i am an american first, i am an american. and donald trump actually made his devotion to america and that is what is most important. our inflation would not be anywhere near what it is if we were continuing to be independent in our energy and we shouldn't be having immigration invasions. all i can say is use your head. thank you. host: your thoughts, brian? guest: republican voters feel a personal connection to trump and they are really frustrated when it comes to inflation. i think the focus on those issues is going to make for really good numbers for us. host: on the line now is ed in jamaica, new york.

go ahead. caller: good morning to you. i guess i am addressing brian. here is why i cannot vote for republicans. one, republican candidate have no integrity or character. he has as much spine as a bed of wet kelp. he cannot admit that president biden is genuinely the elected president of the united states. so that is one reason why i can't vote for republicans. the other reason is a lot of those candidates are pretty dumb. herschel walker, you have lauren boebert, and you have marjorie taylor greene who talks about jewish space lasers.

so i'm really disturbed and i'm afraid if the republicans get in, you are going to get rid of social security. you're going to get rid of medicaid. there was a call several callers ago who said trump -- big deal. 296 times in four years and always charged the secret service for a total of $143 million. that is one reason why i'm voting democrat. host: i want to make sure you respond to the part about concerns that if republicans get control, we know biden would veto it, the concerns that

republicans would try to dismantle medicare and some of those safety nets. we talked about the contract doesn't necessarily say that but nancy brought up earlier, they won't necessarily not do it, either. people are concerned that if republicans get control, some of these things will be dismantled, and that worries guest: i think that is probably an unfounded fear. we have people in the party who would look to a privatized system, i think so. i do not know of any mainstream republican who is talking about -- host: scott has it in his agenda, right? guest: i think he was talking about a more privatized system. i do not know that there is a really groundswell among republicans. host: nancy, what are your thoughts about the fear that if republicans get in, some of the

things they might not be addressing directly, but the worry they could dismantle some safety nets? guest: let us be clear, consistent to the republican party's conservative economic agenda. this is par for the course. to say they will bring protecting medicare to social security, the leader of the republicans in the senate has said this is what they want to do. just listen to them. that is what they say they want to do. this is, by the way, the top concern about the republican agenda. people really care about protecting the benefits they have earned in their retirement. host: we are going to have to leave it there, our guests were republican pollster brian nienaber and democratic pollster nancy zdunkewicz, thank you both for joining us. guest: thank you. host: we are going to be back to hear your calls, open phone lines, whatever you want to talk about.

later, we will discuss the factors driving medications to the united states with migration policy institute andrew selee. be right back. ♪ >> shelton has been appearing on c-span since 1989. her first visit was on book notes to discuss her book the coming soviet christ. since her first appearance, she has been in and out of politics. she worked for a time with three presidential candidates, including bob dole, carson and donald. it was president trump who nominated her to serve on the board of the federal reserve, her selection to the fed was controversial and eventually president joe biden's administration withdrew her nomination in february 2021.

>> on this episode of book notes+, available on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get podcasts. ♪ >> middle and high school students, it is your time to shine. you are invited to participate in this year c-span student documentary competition. picture yourself as a newly elected member of congress. what is your top priority and why? make a five to six minute video that shows the importance of your issue from opposing and supporting perspectives. do not be afraid to take risks with your documentary. be bold. amongst the prizes is a $5,000 grand prize. videos must be submitted by january 20, 2023. visit our website for competition rules, tips,

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our first caller is on the republican line from pennsylvania, tell us what is on your mind. caller: i just missed the last, the guys hung up on me. that is ok. you want to talk about fascism, none of the people from pennsylvania want to debate if they are fascists. you should be able to see fascists so easy, they are not going to beat them. also, talking about the green new deal and infrastructure, the infrastructure is not going to be done for another 10 years. saying about infrastructure for donald trump, it will be 10 years where joe biden -- with the medicine and all of that, that is not going to be done for three years. anybody thinking they will get your medicine cheaper right now, you are going to have to wait three years.

with gun control, all those republicans who signed up got sanctioned by their own people in their own states, they will get purged from the party. host: the next caller is wesley and washington, d.c. on the democratic line. you are on. caller: good morning. i agree with the previous caller, i think you're doing a great job as host for c-span. americans, if you sit up here and vote what i call deranged republicans and the numbers give them control of congress, you deserve whatever rights they take away from you. their plan to shut down the u.s. government if it things do not go their way. can you imagine the spineless, self-absorbed kevin mccarthy as a speaker?

their so-called commitment to america is crap and allies and not with the papers printed on. women and people of color, you have been warned. that is what i have to say. the last thing for the republicans, trying to downplay mar-a-lago. mar-a-lago is a bona fide crime scene. donald trump is what i consider to be a criminal. plain and simple. have a good day. host: let us bring up out of west virginia, the independent line. go ahead. caller: i have two points to make. number one, it is the bias in the media when it comes to politics. one example, we had the man that ran over the teenage boy because he said he was a right wing extremist and killed him, he was

out on bail the same day. you have not heard anything about that on the news. i think if it were the other way around, it would have been on every hour, 24 hours a day. but number two, they talk about term limits. yes, i agree, we need term limits. but they are not going to do that because of the salary. but i think they should have a required amount of time in the house they have to be there, because i watch -- when c-span goes off, i watch a lot of the programs where the house comes in session, and they bring the bills forward. 90% of the time, nancy pelosi is not there. there is someone else standing in for her. and yet, we pay the speaker of

the house a tremendous salary. whether they are on the left or the right. i think they need to be there, that is why the public, that is why we pay them. they work for us, they need to be there. people should require that. but every day, that is what they say. she says this one can stand in for her today. host: the next caller is david in arizona, you are on the republican line. tell us what is on your mind. caller: hello. your last guest, nancy dump truck-owicz -- host: be nice to our guests, go ahead. caller: her condescending voice and attitude is just beyond me.

i really do not understand how she could be so blind as to the real problems we are having, which are immigration problems, destroying this country. all of these policies that are being brought on by bidens administration, backing ukraine, things that are really causing us all kinds of issues that they are saying as democrats say this is not their fault, this is all stuff that was carried over from trump. it is a joke. do you really think americans believe, for one second, that four out of 10 voters are voting republican -- any democrat? this is ridiculous. host: the next caller is in miami florida, you are on the democratic line. go ahead and let us know we want to talk about. caller: good morning. during the last segment, the

pollsters, one of them mentioned people believe a cause for the high inflation is price gouging. something i really have not heard during all of this discussion the past year about inflation is the previous president installed all of these tariffs, taxes on imports from china and wherever the aluminum and steel come from. perhaps from japan. but the companies, back then, they did not raise prices. i guess they ate it up in terms of profit. now with covid, there is a lot of cash out there. i guess the corporations might be take get vantage of that and raising prices to make up for the tariffs they've been eating out. it essence -- in essence, all of

these tariffs passed under the previous president are being passed on to us consumers. in q. host: on the line is roger in milwaukee, you are on the independent line. what do you want to talk about today? caller: it is ironic. when you look at this show, which i love you guys. you are terrific. there is a need for a show, that is great. the example is, you have three call in numbers, yet we only have two parties. i used to be a republican, up until age bush. after that, we win the two directions. i voted for ralph, i think he would have been tremendous for one of the callers earlier this morning productive of people who

do not want to take a salary. there is also a point where you get what you pay for. but i think now, when i look at what is going on -- i have to roll my eyes at the 20% of the magas and a squad to take people on the democratic side, there are so many moderate republicans and so many moderate democrats. i have been trained to get a hold of the lincoln project -- trying to get a hold of the lincoln project. i think this is the perfect time to have an independent party. there are a lot of democrats who do not like what is going on on the extreme side of our party, or their party, because i am an independent. i think there are a lot of republicans who are very discouraged with what they see on the maga side of the republican party. this should make for the perfect marriage of democrats and republicans that fall into the middle.

host: up next on the democratic line is lawrence in new york, you were on. -- you are on. caller: i want to know -- robbing the older people, data is not looking into it. host: i think we are losing you. we will have to come back. he next caller is dennis in texas, you are on the republican line. tell us your thoughts this morning. caller: i am sitting in the emergency room, i was a marine, served in vietnam. what i saw biden do with afghanistan just melts me away. i was embarrassed to be an american. other than that, you cut off the oil line, that started the

inflation going. actually, he has light a lot. people do not catch it, the news does not catch it -- lied a lot. i watched all the congressional meetings. the federal government jested an investigation against the fbi. if anybody wants to watch it, watch it. he proves there is bias, he stopped the investigation on hunter biden. they are bought, they are sickly for him. if they would not have done desk strictly for him. --strictly for him. if they would not have gone to president trump's place, 89 days they could have been illegal before an election. they could have done this way back.

the presidential record act protects the president for all the stuff in there. host: we will go next to tom in oceanside, california. you were on independent line, go ahead. caller: yes, my biggest concern is about the schools. teachers teaching the children pornography. we have trouble with sex trafficking throughout the world , women, young children. now, they are working on the small children, educating them about it. it worries me. what is the purpose of that? to prime them for their future? to be sex trafficked? this is sick. host: that will wrap up open form for us today. 2 million arrests have taken place at the u.s. southern border in fiscal year 2022. up next, we look at the factors

driving migration with migration policy institute's andrew selee. we will be right back. ♪ >> now available in the c-span shop >> now available in the c-span shop, the congressional directory. this book is regard to the federal government with contact information for every member of congress including bios and committee assignments. also contact information for governors and the biden. order today or scan the code with your smart phone. every purchase helps support c-span's nonprofit operation. >> there are a lot a place to get political information.

only as c-span do get it straight from the source. straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on the issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> the january 6 committee returns wednesday for a night of hearings ahead of the release of their written report, expected by the end of the year. you can watch the hearing live, beginning at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span three, c-span now or anytime on demand at c-span.org. ♪ >> life sunday, october 2 on in-depth, author, tv host and a

ceo dan abrams will be our guest, talking about u.s. legal history into the american legal system today. he is the author of several books, including lincoln's last trial in his latest, alabama versus king. join in on the conversation with your comments, texts and tweets for dan abrams, life sunday, october 2 at noon eastern -- live sunday, october 2 at noon eastern. >> washington journal continues. host: migration policy institute president andrew selee joins us to discuss the conditions driving migration from venezuela and other parts of latin america, plus the uptick in migrant encounters at the u.s. southern border. good morning, things for joining us. guest: great to be here.

host: you are president of the migration policy institute. can you remind our viewers what that organization is and who funds it? caller: we are -- guest: we are think tank, we understand migration flows and how countries including the united states can have sensible immigration policies that balance the need for people to come in and have immigration as part of society, but also have some controls and a sense of who is coming in in the process. host: u.s. customs and border protection has tallied more than 2 million migrant encounters so far this fiscal year. can you explain what this figure means in terms of unique individuals, but also how many admissions versus apprehension? guest: that is complicated. it sounds simple, but it is a complicated one. we think it is around 1.6

million unique individuals, we are not quite sure. just facebook information they gave us. some people are repeat crossers, they've been encountered to her three times. so about 1.6 million people. we do not know how many have been let in verses returned, probably a majority have been returned either to mexico or country of origin. some have been let in to pursue asylum cases or other measures. host: we will be getting to your calls shortly, we want to know what questions or comments you have for andrew selee. the number for democrats is (202) 748-8000. republicans (202) 748-8001. independents (202) 748-8002. if you live in a border state, we want you to call us at (202) 748-8003. can you talk about current border policies, especially title 42, and explain to our

viewers what that is? how are they playing into those numbers increasing, particularly at the southern border? guest: title 42 is something that was started under the trump administration and has been kept under the biden administration that allows the u.s. government to return people to mexico. mexico will only take back mexicans and a certain central americans. that was the bulk of people coming to the border a couple years ago, three years ago when it was implemented. those people often try to cross again, which is why the repeat numbers have gone up a lot and why the numbers look a little inflated. other people come from other countries, which is an increasingly large number of folks, are dealt with under title eight. the u.s. added reports them back to their country of origin, allows them into pursue asylum case, or something else. but they can't return them to mexico. host: one more question before we get to call us. government officials have noted emerging patterns of

immigration, according to the customs and border protection bureau. 35% of unique encounters in august involved people coming from venezuela, cuba or nicaragua, and increase of 175% from a year ago. almost doubled. -- more actually, triple. can you help us understand why this is happening? guest: it is unfortunate, but fascinating. the biggest numbers are mexico and central america. mexicans are fewer than they used to be, still the biggest country, but a lot fewer. mexico is doing better, people do not come in the same numbers. central america went up, which we predicted 10 years ago, we knew that would happen. those patterns were developing. a lot of people, it was a better opportunity to come to the u.s. the other countries with a surprise no one predicted. venezuela is in a deep political

and economic crisis, cuba the same. real backsliding. also, a deep economic crisis. nicaragua is the same. terrible political and economic crisis. also leaving because those countries are in crisis, but they have also learned the u.s., because we have been putting pressure on those countries, does not have diplomatic relations or limited diplomatic relations. we cannot deport people back. which means if they make it to the u.s.-mexico border, they are most certain that almost certain to be able to stay in the united states. host: let us take some calls. we are going to go to mike in california on the independent line. what question or comment do you have? caller: ok. good morning. guest: good morning. caller: i hope you do not take what i'm going to say personal, i am generally speaking.

i believe that at the border, and all of the problems, i have a solution i wanted to throughout back in the 90's. now, multiple times worse with all the different things like you said. venezuela, all these other countries. nothing personal, but i think having the people that don't never have a say so about the border, which is african-americans, you guys really want to fix that border. you let some african-americans run the whole shebang, dude. nothing personal. but the whole thing is messed up. the only thing i saw that african-americans on the border are there guards on the horses, beating them haitians, whipping them and stuff. from the minute reagan opened the border and let all the people come over here and attack

all the african-americans, the called about jobs. whose jobs you think they took? host: let us go to our panelist. do you consider, especially the southern border, are american borders open? why or why not? guest: they are not open, but the reality is we have limited ability to control who is coming across. we have some ability. it invaded the same way -- it evaded a trump the same way it invaded biden and obama. some think it is all about democrats or republicans, but this is more structural. it is a long-term issue that invaded a lot of people -- evaded a lot of people. most americans are really favorable to immigration, when you look at the polls this is consistent. most americans know that immigration is good for the country. we have labor market needs, immigrants could be useful in meeting some of those needs. at the same time, polls tell us americans want to know who is

coming across the border. the weather to be control in this is that when they are coming across, they are coming legally. we are not the extreme of we do not want immigrants or anyone can come. most people are in the middle. they want people to come, but legally. we have struggled for a long time to figure out -- and we can talk more about what would need to happen, but there are things we could do over time that would make a lot of difference. just to the caller's comment, i think under the obama administration, one of our best secretary of homeland security was jeh johnson who was african-american area -- african-american. he was on face the nation last week. he will also say it is difficult to get control of the border. it is not impossible, he was able to do it partially. but there are always huge challenges, and there are changes in who is coming over time.

the numbers of central americans have gone down, which is amazing. that was a big focus of the biden administration, they went down quite a bit. but suddenly there is other people coming. we constantly have to adapt border policies for new people coming for different reasons. host: mary and illinois on the republican line, what are your thoughts? caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. during the course of this morning and every other sunday morning that i have watched c-span, i get the feeling -- this is my feeling -- that c-span is pretty pro-democrat. i will give you an example. this morning, every single republican that cold in except one, bash the republican party in one way or another. specifically trump. they cannot vote republican anymore. that is not what i am seeing in

my district. i am hearing republican people and independent people are just tired of the socialist leaning way this government is being run , and they want to go back to the way it was. i am not saying the way it was necessarily with trump, but in 2019, almost everybody i talked to has said they made more money than they have -- host: mary, tell us that immigration policy. that is what we are focusing on right now. do you have thoughts on that? caller: yes. i think everybody does. i think that -- i think that should be monitored. i think we have many ways that we can do that. could finish the wall, we are leaving all those materials laying dormant. could do that, we could do it electronically.

there are many, many ways. this is a crisis. people are coming across the border, we know for a fact from venezuela they're emptying their jails. we are going to have more crime, i think that is a big issue, along with inflation, crime and the border. host: andrew, she mentioned building the wall. is that one of the solutions you think could help us monitor who is coming across the border, keep track better? guest: here is one of the things we have to get beyond partisan politics. building a wall across the whole border would not help that much. but there are parts of the border that do need some sort of reinforcement of the existing fencing that is there, or the wall that is there. there are some parts that need new fencing. this is one with the extremes tell you we need a wall across the whole border, or we do not need a wall at all. the reality is, some areas need to actually have barriers. a little over a third now, almost a half of the border does

have barriers. but we need additional barriers, need repairs in some areas. in reality, three things need to happen. we can go more in depth later. we need to think about how we can bring more people legally. we have a very inflexible immigrationbuilt five decades ae 1960's that's not to purpose today. we have labor market needs. we have an asylum system the can determine with venezuelans, many of whom are persecuted. we need to be able -- that needs to make determinations about who to stay in this deserve to stay in this country with protection. we have exceptions for those who will be persecuted. we need to make that decision efficiently and fairly and we don't have that. need a better enforcement system. we need to put the agencies

working on this under the same group -- rupert they have divided jurisdictions and don't necessarily talk to each other in real time and that seems a get technocratic fix but it really matters when you're dealing with large numbers having all the agencies in the same place in the state agencies and nonprofit groups that work on the state and federal agencies need to be in the same area. a big campus type so they can talk to each other. host: let's bring up algernon in trenton, new jersey on the democrat line. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. the border migration issue is really one people do not think about rationally paired it is emotionally. i have to say much of it is based on kind of a racism. people would not be as upset

about migration if they thought it had more to do with white people. people are mostly upset because they see other people, cross. brown people and they say it's going to destroy the country. your guest pointed out in several times that there is a labor shortage in the united states and these people could actually help with that particular issue. building the wall, it's always been said a few build a 10 foot wall there's an 11 foot ladder. it's not to stop people coming in. the border policy under the former president stay in mexico was rather inhumane, it forced people to stay in squalor on the others the border where they were preyed upon. but there is this idea and it comes from -- the ironic part is most people complaining loudest are descendants of immigrants themselves.

yet everyone gets upset and the idea that we are being invaded by these brown people coming across the southern border. host: let's go to my panelist. the caller just brought up there have been criticisms that countries are treated differently, you often hear about wet foot, dry foot, the difference shooting haitian and cuban immigrants in florida. the difference in asylum-seekers versus non-. how does your institute deal with the disparities in how different types of immigrants are treated and do you agree with the criticism that there are sometimes racial disparities or certain -- i'll let you answer. guest: we did a roundtable on haitian migration in the way we treat them and one of the things i said and i'll say again is in a society founded on racial --

were racial disparities exist in every system with her to labor market or in criminal justice, it would be strange if we didn't have those immigration policy. we do not tend to talk about them but they are there. i think it's a huge question. we have 100,000 ukrainians approved to come to the u.s. right now on a temporary permit, no one has raised any concern about that and at the same time enormous concerns on central americans and haitians. these things hit different buttons in a society that has racial disparity. you can look at asylum numbers and it seems to reflect that as well. i think anyone who's lived in american society shouldn't be surprised their racial disparities. i think there are certain people motivated by racism, there's no question in the idea of

different people coming across scares them but i don't think that's a majority of americans. most americans, and i will go back again. most americans recognize immigration as part of what makes this country successful. they see it as an asset, they know right now their help-wanted signs out there. and at the same time they want to know people are coming in legally. they worry when they see the border numbers and they see people that are allowed in and they are not sure why they are allowed in and who made that selection and how it's happening. democrats need to pay attention to those concerns and republicans need to pay attention to the fact that americans are supportive of immigration. political leaders sort of press the outlying opinions on this. host: up next is eddie in los angeles as someone who lives in

a border state. what are your thoughts. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. our creator created everyone in the of a right to be here. but the people coming here -- nine times out of 10 they end up in our neighborhoods. in our community and you not have -- have not provided any housing, any means for these people in it's crazy. someone is going to be left out. if you letting 200,000 people and you don't have homes for them, where the going to sleep? we talk about inflation. inflation is what, demand. creating the situation with all these people coming in here not providing for them.

you look on tv and you see the smash and grab and all this violence, but if you told black youth? free education is literally five, we can give reparations for what our families went through. host: i did not mean to cut you off, my apologies. andrew, your thoughts. guest: you are right, i think one of the big questions and one of the reasons why americans rightly worry about people coming across the border without deciding, not a decision of who's coming at the border cross but are just coming on their own and some are being allowed through and don't really control that. it does put a burden on the whole community. in california you actually have less chaos at the border because there's a lot of bussing out of

san diego and calexico to other parts of the united states. it's done very quietly. but it's alleviated the burden on border communities. they are certainly feeling the numbers right now. education, people don't get free health care. this emergency services but education, we are not counting for people coming in and the federal government is not making some allowance for those school districts that are dealing with increased numbers, that makes a huge difference. it makes a huge difference for the kids who are already there. one thing we know is immigrants tend to commit far fewer crimes than native born this country. that's something we don't have to worry about. education we do, it puts a burden and on housing. a lot of -- communities that have gotten a lot of people very quickly, that matters.

intuitively when many americans think about this they think there's a lot of people coming across. it's one thing when we say people are coming across with the visa we more or less know who's coming in, we have some control over this. this is happening it feels out of control, it's not quite as out-of-control as it seems but it somewhat out of control and it has secondary effects in local communities. and it affects people who are already dealing with quality issues for example. you get more kids who may not speak english or haven't -- aren't literate at a certain age. that puts a huge burden on schools. host: we are talking with migration policy institute president andrew seeley. democrats call 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents, your number is

202-748-8002. if you live in a border state, we would like you to call us at 202-748-8003. let's go to more of your calls. of next is kathy in union bridge, maryland on the republican line. caller: good morning. i just have two questions. nobody has talked about the fentanyl coming across the border. i would like to know a little bit about that. to hear different things from different news channels. and also do you feel that right now it's a national security issue with the amount of people coming across? guest: thank you. fentanyl is brought in by the drug cartels. immigrants are brought in by immigrant smuggling rings for they are different groups for the most part but the immigrant smuggling groups do pay a tax essentially to the drug

traffickers to be able to get across the border to take people across. there are people who moonlight between one and the other. so they are separate groups generally the same people bringing in immigrants are not bringing in fentanyl, but it is a huge issue. the border is overwhelmed and u.s. authorities at the border overwhelmed. also less capacity to do with drug trafficking. so that's a huge interactive effect. the ability to do that does slow down. the other question -- host: she asked about fentanyl and then asked about national security. guest: i don't think it is a national security issue in the sense immigrants mostly are going to make it in, they will eventually do well but commit fewer crimes, though eventually do well in american society. it does undermine the integrity of the immigration system. it makes americans less comfortable with the notion we can choose is coming into the

country and that we have some role in that. it puts a burden on individual communities that have numbers of people arriving. so national security it probably doesn't qualify, what it is issue the federal government needs to take seriously. the problem is there is no lever you can pull and change this overnight. some -- some democrats say there's something -- we can do. the first surge happened under the trump administration. in the u.s. economy tanked and the numbers slowed down. it was happening before the biden administration. there are solutions but they are knocking to happen overnight. and they are expanding the number of people we bring legally, having an effective asylum system and being able to do enforcement. when you have the number of people coming in legally, you take out the people are coming

in unauthorized and that enforcement work much better. right now anything you throw at it in terms of enforcement is going get overwhelmed. we don't have the resources. we spend more on immigration enforcement than we do on all federal dish other federal law enforcement which is amazing. we have lots of local law enforcement in this country but we spend more and the federal level on immigration controls and we do on law enforcement. i'm not sure the american public will go for tripling or quadrupling. we need to get smart about this and figure out how we reduce the number of irregular entries and unauthorized entries i allowing some of them to come in legally and making some determinations about those who have protection and sending others back home and they can choose to get in line legally. but again that takes time. this is sophisticated work and it doesn't matter if a

republican is elected or biden takes his sudden switching direction on the border, all of this will take time in reality. host: let's talk to gl in tucson, arizona. she lives in a border state. jill, what are your thoughts or questions? caller: good morning. my questions are the following. do the people coming across the border usually come with money or is the expectation that they will be taken care of when they reach our country? how long before the individual is able to actually get a job and work and what are they doing in the interim. how are they supported monetarily? and who is -- is anybody assigned to do the work to

address this current issue and the government that you are aware of. guest: almost all people get a job pretty immediately after getting here. for central americans and mexicans they almost always, and cubans as well, they have family members here. so by the time they get here they know the jobs they will get. i've interviewed a lot of people both at the border and in communities where they leave and it's impressive. i've yet to meet anyone who doesn't know what they are going to do when they get here. the exceptions of the venezuelans and nicaraguans. they don't really have communities here in the same way or their communities that are much wealthier and the people coming here less wealthy and they tend not to have someone waiting here to hook them up with a job. when i say that. -- moses of the time they know they're going to work for. occasionally it is my cousin is on the couch and says he will hook me up with a job they don't quite know what it is but they

work in construction so they're pretty sure will be construction. most of the time they really know the exact job. this is why immigration -- the border is so affected by the u.s. labor market because when the economy goes down as it did in 2021, people don't come in the same numbers. they're getting signals from relatives that they can help right now. you are knocking to get a job. i'm struggling to keep my job where they cut my hours back, please do not come now. when the economy heats up in the united states in particular the u.s. economy heats up and things are bad in latin america and the caribbean as well. there is suddenly a huge pullback and people know where people will be working. we see a lot of venezuelans on the buses from texas and from florida, they actually are the ones who do not know where they are going to go. they're more likely to end up in a shelter and ask for some sort

of assistance. they can get federal assistance. generally they are on their own. there stuck with a nonprofit organization helping membrane that's a smaller and much newer group. host: let's go to maria in massachusetts on the democratic line. caller: good morning. you just answered a little bit of my question. when an immigrant crosses a border -- when any legal i guess crosses the border. what steps are taken? like you said the families help them. supposing you don't have families here, what happens to those illegals? what are the steps for them in the opposite, if you could tell me how do those illegals become legal? what's the process for that? how long does that take. the reason i'm asking is i'm an

american citizen and i did marry someone, i went to europe and married someone from europe because of love. but the policy i think was years ago, i'm not sure now, that when you marry someone that's an american, do they become a legal after five years to become a legal citizen meaning they don't have the green card. now these people crossing the borders, they are illegals. how do they become legal citizens of the united states? guest: let me say that destiny start with the first one. people tend to come with relatives here. that's a majority of people coming. the exception of the newer venezuelans and nicaraguans. but most others are coming with someone who's a relative who

will stay at their house and get a job. the others do end -- these newer ones, these are force. venezuela nicaraguan -- nicaragua has been collapsing economically. host: if they're coming for asylum are they considered illegal immigrants? guest: yes. that is where i was headed. so those folks are in a different place. and that's more like a refugee flow. the traditional refugee flow might see syrians moving to turkey. they don't necessarily know where they are headed. people when they get to the border get all sorts of status. some people, most are being sent back to mexico or their own country. people being allowed in her most always being allowed in because there's some belief they have an asylum claim. and they're given what is called parole and a notice to appear. it allows people to come in legally for a period of time

and then they have to go to an office of ice to prevent -- present their case for asylum or something else. so they are legally in the country when they are allowed in. some managed to get through illegally. those people truly are unauthorized. but a lot of people are given at least a temporary legal status while they fight for asylum there also legal in this country. under this they can take three to seven years. so people are sort of legally present in an undetermined status. how do they become permanent. one is that they win their asylum case. see a lot of venezuelans probably succeeding. these are countries in turmoil. people are often individually persecuted by the government see are likely to see some of them winning their asylum cases. other others if they get married

to american citizen is in the case of your husband, also a case of my mother who married my father who was a u.s. citizen. they are likely to be able to get citizenship and sometimes people through work will be able to get citizenship or legal residents and then eventually citizenship. so some of these people will get there. others won't. we have one weird cork in the system. i think it's one of the things we don't talk about. for anyone that's been deported they have a bar for coming back and they actually cannot get legalized through other means for that amount of time. we think somewhere around 1.6 to 1.8 million people who are married to u.s. citizens green card holders cannot adjust that. who would normally be able to come residents but because they've been deported or they think they've been deported. sometimes they weren't but they weren't sure how they left the country.

and they don't dare check. that's the population we should be thinking about. people who are already married to an american or someone who's legally here they'll most always have u.s.-born children as well. we should be thinking about how to give them a pathway to legality. that's one of the groups where you can get republicans and democrats, of these are american families. host: do you have an estimate from your organization, how many people who cross that southern border did it by sneaking in, they are considered illegal versus the people who came through and are trying to get asylum status and we consider them legal. is it half-and-half. guest: what we do know is there's been about 11 million people here without documents. and it's been a fairly steady number for a long time. it's between 10.5 and 11 million. the number that's coming in.

and it started at the trump administration. all of these things are really bipartisan. as much as the new sounds are democrats or republicans did something, these cross administrations. the system got overwhelmed under their public administration and people start getting allowed in to make the case for the simply couldn't process people. that continued under the biden administration. we don't actually know what the mix is. we assume a most anyone who was allowed into the united states was given parole and a notice to appear. we don't know if they applied for asylum. we don't have those numbers in those numbers as near as we can tell aren't public yet. and we do not know how many people have gotten in across the border. but i would assume there is a mix. host: let's go to the phone lines pray john is in arizona, one of those border states paired what are your thoughts. caller: well it is chaos down

there. i come from a family with seven green cards presently in the family. they are as upset as i am. if we go according to the rules it would be fine but the thing is every time i hear a democrat they say the border is secure. well a sieve is secure. it maintains its integrity but you can get a glass of water from a sieve because when you pour the water in it goes right through. that's what we have on our border. the situation i feel is that we need to go back to the rule and the laws that were established and i don't think we are doing that arid when you're talking about the old rule of 11 million, how many years ago was

that? guest: about 10 years ago. caller: this year alone he had 2 million plus coming across the border. i have two young ladies in my family, one worked in texas, of the other worked in arizona, one was an rn, they went down there because they could double their pay to work. they won't go back there. they did their time and said it's chaos down there. host: let's let our panelist if there's anything you want to add before another caller. guest: i think you're right in the border communities this is really noticeable. it's less so in san diego because busing is help people get out quickly to their final destination. i think that cord needed final destinations is definitely i

think it would be good to support border communities so people are not as visible. when we say 2 million people of come to the border, those are encountered, probably 1.6 to 1.4 , 81.8 by the end of the year. most are returned to mexico or deported. we don't of the final numbers that get in. when we say 2 million people the border it's less than 2 million most are sent somewhere else but there are other people making it around that are not being seen by u.s. authorities at all. the problem is there is -- we say return to rule of law, there isn't really a magic switch here. we talked about chaos and 2019 under the trump administration and chaos in 2022 under the biden administration. we need to be smarter rather than pointing fingers and sit down and say this is a long-term issue. how do we look at one of the measures under sums of real

control here. it would be a lot better if we had an asylum system operating that could make those determinations rather than letting people in long-term and then seven years from now if there's a negative situation on their application we won't send them back. need to do something more sensible without we make these determinations. host: we received a text message from judith which said how much does illegal immigration cost the american taxpayer from providing school for their children, health care etc.. >> this been some good studies on this and it's fascinating. overall there's a net advantage to the u.s. of immigrants authorized and unauthorized. if you look at the long-term, over the lifespan of an immigrant coming in and especially if you add in their children there's a huge net gain to the united states. it is fascinating when you see that.

that said there is a disparity on who actually that's the benefits and who pays the costs. so school cost of the biggest costs because most people can access public benefits, they can get some emergency room care so there is some effect on hospitals for example. they can access other benefits so generally speaking there isn't much cost. but school is a big cost. so a lot of the costs are in fact paid by local taxpayers where is the benefits over time accrue to a mix of local, state and federal agencies. and it's distribute it much more broadly. one of the conversations we have not had enough is how the federal government has a responsibility to support local government in this instance particularly to be able to absorb the number of people. even if there's a long-term benefit, that is a real upfront cost. host: let's take another call.

william in katy, texas on the democratic line but also on a border state. caller: am i on? host: yes, go ahead. caller: i have two questions. if he can explain to me what would happen if joe biden decided to send ice to texas, arizona, new mexico, florida, mississippi, alabama and started knocking out people that weren't immigrants. i think the border would shut down completely. texas is run by immigrants. everything could do in texas is immigrants. the building of the roads in the houses and i'm sure it's like that in new mexico, arizona and california. i was in over the road driver for 32 years. those states cannot live without illegal immigrants. host: let's let you have some quick final thoughts andrew. guest: our caller gets to some

of the thing underlying dynamics we started off with witches the u.s. needs immigrants. candida considers immigration part of an economic development policy because they know they need a labor force, candlelight the u.s. is getting older. the population on average and they need workers to come in. as a part of making sure the economy works. i think there's no question we don't want to -- we need some of those people to come legally and enter the u.s. labor force. what we need is a wider pipeline of people who can come in legally and we have not done that. we have not been assertive and congress has to do this. we need a wider gauge of people coming to this country and being able to work illegally. that will make it easier to control the border. people know here's a line to get into. right now there isn't. if you're in honduras and you

want to come to the united states legally your chance of doing that is minimal. . the legal side matters. but it's also good help on the border because on the border right now there is no way for the democrat or republican to be able to stop a number of people coming unless we have a set of people willing to choose the legal route and take them out of the equation. then you can say we gave you an option and you didn't take it. host: we've been talking to migration >> appalachia as a region lags

behind the rest of the country when it comes to almost every subcu economic -- socioeconomic data and we are talking about the region of appalachia from the economic standpoint that has generally she will he struggled. >> the book "twilight in hazard" tonight on c-span skew in you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our free c-span now app. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television companies and more, including charter communications. >> broadband is a force for empowerment. that is why charter invested billions building infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting us.

>> charter communications supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> monday nasa conducts double asteroid redirection, the aim is to strike an asteroid and study whether the asteroid's path can be redirected in space. live coverage at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> secretary of state antony blinken joins counterparts for a security council meeting to discuss alleged russian war crimes committed against ukrainians. this was held the day after russian president vladimir putin did a partial mobilization of additional russian forces and vowed use all