♪ host: good morning. welcome to "washington journal," this friday, october 20 five. we are less than two weeks away from election day. former and vice president harris are making their final pitches

to voters. this morning, we would like to know from you, is gender a factor in your 2024 presidential vote? republicans, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents (202)-748-8002,. you can also text us at (202)-748-8003. or and on x with the handle @cspanwj. let's begin with a recent poll done by "the new york times." this is what they found. right now, 56% of women say they support the vice president and 42% of men say they support her. the former president received 53% of his support from men and

40% of women are supporting him. this morning, is gender a factor in your 2024 presidential vote? here's the vice president on a recent podcast, talking about abortion bands and the former president's treatment of women. [video clip] >> former president trump recently told women, you will be protected and i will be your protector. what do you make of that? vice president harris: when he had selected members of the supreme court with the intention to undo roe v. wade, and they did just as he intended, and there are not 20 states with trump abortion bands, including bans that make no exception for rape or incest, which we just discussed, which means you are telling the survivor of a

violation to their body that they don't have a right to make a decision about what happens to their body next, which is a moral, so this is the same guy that is now saying that, this is the same guy who said that women should be punished for having abortions? this is the same guy who uses the kind of language he does to describe women? so, yeah, there you go. [end video clip] host: here's a headline to go with that, nbc news, a big advantage for women among young voters, with men divided. is gender a factor in your 2024 presidential vote? let's listen to the former president in pennsylvania last month, talking about what he will do for women. [video clip] >> we have to talk about this, i always thought women liked me.

i never thought i had a problem. but the fake news saying women don't like me, i don't believe it. you know what? they like to have strong voters, they like to have safety, nothing personal, i think they like me. thank you, i love you, too. thank you. but i think they like me because they represent something very important. i make this statement to the great women of our country. sadly, women are poor than they were four years ago, much poorer, are less healthy than they were four years ago, are less safe on the streets than they were four years ago, are paying much higher prices for groceries and everything else than they were four years ago, are more stressed and depressed and unhappy than they were four years ago.

and are less optimistic and confident in the future than they were four years ago. i believe that. i will fix all of that, and fast, and at long last, this nation, a national nightmare, will end. we have got to end this national nightmare. i'm your protector, i have to be your protector. i hope you don't make too much of it. as president, i have to be your protector. i will make you safe at the border on the sidewalks of your now violent cities, in the suburbs where you are under migrant criminal siege, and with our military protecting you from foreign enemies of which we have many today because we have incompetent leadership that we have.

we will no longer be abandoned, lonely or scared. you will no longer be in danger, you will no longer have anxiety from all of the problems our country has today. you will be protected, and i will be your protector. women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. [end video clip] host: the former president at a rally in pennsylvania. "the usa today" headline, donald trump doubles down on his lead with male voters. he interspersed his features with curse words, and attended an nfl game to hold onto that key constituency. the strategy that involves

doubling down on residential nominees most earnest supporters, emphasizing turnout against low propensity male voters with a hyper-masculine style. what they call a corrosive version of masculinity. is this a factor in your 2024 presidential vote? by the way, the former president today will be in texas. he will appear on joe rogan's podcast and the latest outreach to young male voters, he will be in texas on the podcast. he also will be talking to the press, sure to be bringing up the border there, as well. we will talk about the campaign stop for the candidates throughout today's washington journal. more on that coming up, but, first, is gender a factor in your vote? andrew, new york, democrat. caller: yes, hi, it is a fact in

the sense it is hard to believe we have gone this far back in terms of making the right to choose, not so much to have an abortion, but will, the right to choose has been sidetracked and is now against the law. and may i make a strong statement, i will be careful about it because he has not killed anybody, this man, trump, but he did involve the name of hitler, and if hitler's had sold more paintings, maybe that would not have happened, if this guy had been given buffalo bills, maybe this would not have happened. i met him when he met 18, and he was upset i was doing the scoreboard coverage that day, but we had no big operation. he told me to call the next day. he did not come to the phone. here's the scary thing, they are having a rally in new york, i don't know what -- why, he will

not get votes in new york, but there were moot -- meetings in the 1930's supporting the nazis in new york. host: i'm going to leave it there because we are focusing on gender and whether that plays a role in how people vote on november 5. the former president will be in new york sunday, madison square garden, where he is holding a rally. today, as i said, the former president, austin, texas, 1:30, part of our live coverage, austin texas today at 6:30 p.m., the running mate of the vice president kamala harris, tim walz will be in scranton pennsylvania. that is part of our live coverage here on c-span, c-spine now and online at c-span.org, and then the vice president will be holding a reproductive rights rally in houston with beyonce at 9:30 p.m. eastern time. she is expected sometime around

8:30 p.m. central time, the hill newspaper with a headli, beyonce to join harris at houston rally. we are asking if your gender plays a role in how you are going to vote in campaign 2024, or if the issues that impact play a role in how you will vote. lou, democrat, ohio. caller: good morning, i would say gender has nothing to do with my decision on who i vote for. more importantly, trust is the most crucial item i consider, and i definitely trust kamala harris to be president. i do not trust donald trump, look how he has treated people over the years, his own advisors. the generals that run our armies

he demeans, how can we even trust him? no, gender has nothing to do with it. host: what is it about trump, lou? when you say you trust the vice president, to do what? caller: to make decisions for our country. we are going to face some huge issues in the next number of years, the middle east wars, russia, wars in ukraine, and i think she is intelligent, and addressed intelligence way more than i trust gender. host: is the fact that she is a female play any role in your vote? caller: absolutely not. she has been in very important roles in her career, and she has done those jobs well. host: thomas, independent, south

dakota. caller:caller: hi, gretchen. i just wanted to let you know that you do a great job, and c-span is my daily news were i get everything. and i would like to let you state, that in 1964, the gender about the male dominated, lbj won that race against goldwater, but the male gender, it has not happened since, where the male dominated that election, and johnson won, but getting to the point this time, i do not vote by the gender at all, but i do think, i do project a really, really surprising, surprising turnout among the female voter. therefore, it will not be like 1964. i believe that ms. harris will win because of the reproductive

rights issue and i would like to say to her to c-span for allowing me to visit. host: what do you base that on? is it because you are talking to people or what do you base that prediction on, that women will turn out in arch numbers because of reproductive rights and issues? caller: i basted all the way back in 1976, i worked on a president -- presidential campaign in my life, and i really do see a really strong wave. and i talked to many women. and they are fired up. i do project a major reason why ms. harris wins. host: paul, colorado, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. host: is gender playing a role? in how you plan to vote -- a

role in how you plan to vote? caller: absolutely not, and i feel it should not be. i think reproductive rights are an issue in this campaign, as well as others throughout the decades, but i believe, i believe, personally that reproductive rights should be enforced. for example -- host: enforced, what do you mean? caller: i think a woman should have the right if she was raped, incest, those issues are very important to women, but i do not believe that reproductive rights should be an issue in this campaign, and that women should have -- and men also -- should have a right to terminate the

pregnancy because of choice. people can have birth control. they can have choice of six or having six, and they know what the repercussions are. people can get pregnant, that is why, if they have six. -- if they have sex. so they need to make choices. host: so how are you going to vote? caller: i'm going to vote for donald trump because he is for reproductive rights that include all women in that situation, but not for women that use abortion tests to form birth control. that is wrong. i think we all as adults 18 and older make a decision to have sex, and if we get pregnant --

host: to your point because i would like to show our viewers with the former president has had to say, these candidates have been appearing on the podcast earlier this month, and this is what he had to say about the issue of abortion. [video clip] >> you said you think arizona went a little too far. if you think they went too far, would you use a little influence? >> i would back it. >> it is important for moderates to hear. >> i would back it. the people in the state will not stand for that. there are some states that will say under no circumstances, you have a daughter, and by the worst, most violent criminal in the country, and you cannot get her, you cannot -- she has got to live with this. and the father is a monster.

he is from an insane asylum because he killed 50 people, and you are going to have that baby? i cannot believe people are forced to do that. and right now, it used to be a much bigger segment. i think they have done a good job in a lot of ways because that convinced people. it has always been tough. but we have come a long way without issue. just bring it back to the states and give you the vote of the people. they talked about the length -- >> the width protections for women. >> to me, ronald reagan for a long time ago was with those three protections. and that was a long time ago.

host: the former president talking about abortion recently on a podcast. we'll gender play a role in how you vote election day? it is less than two weeks ago. dennis, iowa, democrat. will it play a role? caller: no, it does not play a role. trump is a joke. when he was president, made national news and the republican state of iowa [indiscernible] got murdered buying a legal and trump sure as heck did not protect her. he is an idiot. host: dale, california, republican. good morning. caller: i called on the wrong line, i'm actually a democrat. host: that's fine. caller: i think characters are most important thing.

also, individual rights. and i do support kamala harris. i think she is a good candidate, intelligent. i think she would do a good job. donald trump is a person of no character. you could not believe anything he says. host: democratic caller, dale and california. we will go to estonia, north carolina, independent, welcome to the conversation. caller: hello, i am no party affiliation. i have to believe that gender is going to be a factor, only to the regard set most men are going to vote for her because of the whole vote thing. though it. -- go ahead. host: why do you think that is an issue, the whole woke thing with the democratic party, that is a turnoff to men, why do you think that is?

caller: because they are underestimating how most men feel about that. you assume that everybody on the left believe that there are multiple genders, so you make a lot of assumptions. and you will find it surprising that most folks or men do not really [indiscernible] democrats are underestimating that. it pushes a lot of people away. you underestimate that. they don't believe in a lot of that. that is my opinion. host: i would like to bounce this article off of you from the conversation.com, and this is what they say about why harris

is underperforming with white men compared to former president joe biden, almost entirely having to do with support with young men. one of the reasons young men are flocking to trump is that they have moved more to the right in general, in between 24, young men are more likely to be republican and call themselves conservative in the past, while the most progressive groups this year our young women. gaps between young men and young women in the politics they believe has almost doubled the past 25 years. young men may be drawn to trump because he pushes on the side of pressure that may need to be apologetic for being themselves. almost two thirds of american men believe men should be represented and valued more in society. what do you think about that? caller: exactly. you all are pushing something that is not there yet. i'm sorry. i'm 62.

people younger than me to not want to be pushed to something they don't believe in. but, you want to believe it at the election. that is all i have got to say. host: are you voting for the former president? caller: i'm doing a protest vote, unfortunately. i just like trump better than her. i will vote for her before i vote for trump, so i'm just doing a protest vote. host: but you are going to vote? caller: i always vote. host: why is it important to always vote for you? caller: it is always important, not just for me, but for us to make a choice. that is your right to make a choice. that is only right you have as a citizen of this country. exercise it. host: that is our caller from

carolina, a battleground state here in the washington journal, we have been talking about the battleground state and we will continue to do so on "the washington journal" with a deep dive into pennsylvania. on the campaign trail, more coverage. this time on c-span2, our c-span now video app and online at c-span.org, 1:00 p.m. eastern time, we will be live with joni ernst and kimberly gilroy, campaigning for the former president on a bus tour through pennsylvania, the battleground state. at 2:30, following that, jd vance will be in north carolina to speak to voters at a rally. a reminder, you can watch all of our campaign 2024 coverage on c-span now or online at c-span.org caller stephen,

washington state, democratic. caller: it does not matter to me -- i'm sorry, what was the question again? host: is gender playing a role? caller: no, it does not play a role in how i would vote. i'm fully democrat, yes, i have voted in the past for republican, which you did a good job, back to voting for kamala harris because of the fact that honestly, in my opinion, i'm 71 years old, and i think we had one president. i believe in her thoughts and the way she is doing things. host: it sounds like it is plain somewhat of a role if you think

it is time to see a female president in this country. caller: i think it is about time we had one. we cannot do worse than all the men we've had so far. host: democratic caller in washington state. let's listen to the vice president who was recently in an interview on thursday, downplaying the gender gap we showed you. here is what she had to say. [video clip] >> why do you think you have star support among women than the former president -- stronger support among women than the former president? vice president harris: that is not what i see in terms of my rallies and on the ground. what i am saying is an equal measure of men and women talk about their concerns about the future of our democracy, talking about the fact that they would like a president who believes in optimism and takes on the challenges we face, either it be grocery prices or homeownership. so i'm not actually seeing that disparity, and i intend to be

the president for all americans. that includes paying attention to a fundamental freedom that was taken away, the freedom of a woman, to make decisions about her own body, and in equal measure to prioritized economic needs of individuals and families in america, and what we also must do in terms of imposing our strength of standing on the global stage. [end video clip] host: the vice president wa asked about the gender gap in polling, and she said she doesn't believe it. take a look at the "new york times" see, pull at the beginning of the month, finding that 56% of women say they support the vice president and 42% of men say they are supporting her, and the former president is garnering 43% for support from men and 40% of that from women. embattled ground states of michigan, this is from a quinnipiac poll done this week that found that there is a

gender gap there in the battleground states of michigan. women, 57% to 30% are backing the vice president, while men, 56 is 70% -- 60% are supporting the former president. men supporting the former president 59% to 30% in wisconsin, is gender factor in your 2024 presidential vote? our conversation here on "the washington journal" this morning. in maryland, republican, mark. caller: good morning, greta. a couple of things. i think i have three or four points but i will try to be quick. one thing is men and women are built differently. that is an objective science. the woman tends to be more empathetic and sympathetic to

what we consider to be underdogs. that is why when you look at the democrat party, you tend to see a coalition, a bunch of disparate groups who see themselves as victims, and democrats use empathy as a weapon. that is why you see women saying things like, well, a man cannot carry a baby, therefore, he should not have an opinion on abortion or it is less important. i have to remind you, if you got cancer, would you not want a doctor to treat you unless they themselves had had cancer? there is a logical fallacy there. a baby is a human life, and it is an objective thing to not want that unborn child to be murdered. that has nothing to do if you are a man or woman.

host: before you go on, when you look at the issue of why you are going to vote the way you are going to vote, where does this issue of abortion rank for you? caller: it ranks pretty low, but i will say this, this is the thing that i think, kratz and the media in general have a hard time wrapping their head around. republicans care about ideas, not who has them. democrats live in a world where everything is identity, and this is why marxism, which has been around a long time, used to be a class issue, but in the 1960's, democrats realized people were being lifted out of poverty by the free markets. you could just point at class is away to reach voters, so they had to turn to the politics. everybody has a grievance in the democrat party. that is the basis of why people

vote the way they do. host: hang on the line. i would like to show you and ad put together by a group that is against the former president, the lincoln project, a group of former republicans or a group of republicans who are opposed to the former president, featuring actor sam elliott. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> i cannot believe we are having this conversation again. here we go. you know who the candidates are. you know what is at stake. one candidate promises a divided america builds with lies and hate. and one stands for change. kamala harris has more courage, more honor, more guts than this guy ever had, so you decide, are we really going back down this same broken road or are we going to move forward towards hope, towards freedom, towards change?

>> we know a strong middle class has always been critical to america's success. >> there is promise that lies in change, and the time for change is now, so what the hell are you waiting for? because if it is the woman thing, it is time to get over that, it is time for hope, for change, it is time to be a man and vote for a woman. [end video clip] host: mark, i will start with your reaction first and other viewers can react, what you think of that, time to be a man and vote for a woman? caller: i think you played an example of your average hollywood dimwit who cannot wrap his head around the idea that it might just be that she has terrible ideas, has nothing to do with her chromosomes. host: don, san antonio, democrat

-- john, san antonio, democrat. caller: good morning. i don't think gender plays a role, but there are some remnant societal biases in voting for a woman president, where some republicans may see the leader of the country to be some kind of charging figure, like george washington or theodore roosevelt. in this day and age, gender should not matter. it is not one of my voting issues. that is my analysis upon the matter. host: libby, and sylvania, republican. -- pennsylvania, republican. are you there? i'll write. we are going -- all right. we will move on to massachusetts. john, independent. caller: hello again, greta.

gender does not have a factor, but due to democrats even know what a man and woman is? they don't know gender, so they might as well give up figuring that out. i would not vote for a woman because it is time for a woman, any woman? to reprint any of these crazy women out there? you want to put kamala harris? she is absolutely no good. she is a horrible politician. she cannot answer a question, she's absolutely terrible. talk about identity politics, she is a woman and that is why you would like to vote for her, thanks a lot. host: sounds like the former president, why are you voting for him? caller: he says what he means and he means what he says. she just meanders around, cannot answer a straight question because she is afraid how people will react. like i said, i could hang out and want to vote for a woman, absolutely, if she was qualified

and if she did not sleep or way to the top with willie brown -- host: what makes are disqualified? caller: she doesn't have any good ideas, she did not fix the border, nothing she has done has been productive, and everybody said it doesn't matter for the vice president, she is just the vice president read she should be doing something and have some kind of influence on her administration. she is number two in charge and doesn't take any blame. and she gets away with a lot, and they give her a pass because she is a woman and they are afraid to say anything bad about her, especially the democrats. host: john, do you think -- do you like the way the former president speaks? this hat -- doesn't have anything to do with the way he speaks, him being a male? caller: absolutely not. i have worked for women bosses who are great, i housekeeping boss at the north hampton, she was strong, tough, did what

needed to be done, she was a great boss and i have had men bosses who are terrible that i would never recommend for anything because they will not be strong, they will not tell you what they mean, they will meander around and talk behind your back. host: the theme for you is strong, that is what you would like to hear from the presidential candidate, and you are hearing that from the former president? caller: yeah, and also, he cares about americans, not everybody else. that is like your parents telling you to live in the doghouse, and we will take a stranger and let them live in the house with a roof over their heads and you get worse than they get because they are new, like the cable companies when they are like new customers get this deal but if you are old, you don't get this. ridiculous. host: all right, john, massachusetts, independent. ted, north carolina, publican -- republican. caller: harris will have ev's

and that is dangerous because they have been showing on the borders, the vehicles catching on fire, and they should not be mandated to anybody. host: what does it have to do with gender? caller: well, she is the wrong one for president. host: bobby, north carolina, independent. caller: how are you? host: morning. caller: yeah, i think gender plays a role in it. why? because i'm around 62 years old myself, and i have seen the changing landscape of politics redlining, work in the government, and i saw some of the different things they do. the point is, we have a person lying about all of it.

that is why they don't want to be fact checked. black men have been branded now for 40 years, they try to put a misdemeanor on them, plea bargains are out the roof because they know for a fact that if the brand him, they cannot get into the upper echelons of society, so black men are looking at trump right now, saying, wow, he has got felonies and everything else, we have a chance to get to a better point. this is a bureaucratic country, we can work off money, and if we see people out here outdoing us, that is when we get an attitude. harris has never ever been on the side of the perpetrator, of the person who is whining about their conditions.

she is after the people who have been suffering because others have persecuted them, and she has played on that for years. she has more experience than any other president that has ever been there. she is not responsible for the things that biden does, even though she is right there with him. he is the president. host: let me ask you about the role that former president obama is playing in the campaign. there is this headline from bloomberg, obama to join call, rallying black men for kamala harris. this was written yesterday, the vice president with the former president to shore up this crucial block, and the former president making gains with black and latino voters. caller: absolutely is. that is what it spoiled brat does. every dictator has been a spoiled brat.

it is about them and has nothing to do with black men. we are a byproduct of it. host: what is the appeal? i think you talked about it a little bit, but what do you make of this effort to reach out to black men by both candidates? why is it? caller: well, we have had a trend in america, that women would like to be women, they would like the men to take care of all of the hard stuff, labor, stuff like that, buying them everything they would like, and then we got to sit here and watch to make all the decisions. remember, a man does not have a decision after the woman gets pregnant, she has the decision. and it is her body, and i believe you have control of your body, but we have none. host: how are you going to vote in november? caller: i'm independent and i

still have not got quite to where i would like to be yet. i believe in what the democratic party is preaching, i believe that donald trump is an unadulterated liar, and that is all he does, throw lies back at people, so i'm pretty much over in the harris camp. i think they are in touch with the middle class. we need to middle class in order to have a civilization, and i don't think people quite understand that. host: hang on the line and i will play former president obama criticizing mr. trump, appealing to male voters while he was at a rally in atlanta last night. here's what he had to say. [video clip] >> when he cheats or shows utter disregard for our constitution, when he calls service members

who died in battle losers, or fellow citizens, people make excuses for him. they act like it is ok as long as their side wins. i noticed this especially with some men who seem to think trump's behavior is a sign of strength, the macho, i'm going to own these folks and put them down. i'm here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. it never has been. real strength is about working hard and taking responsibility, and telling the truth, even when it is inconvenient. we will help strengthen the people who needed and standing up for those who cannot always stand up for themselves, that is what we should want in our daughters and sons, and that is what i would like to see in the president of the united states of america.

and the good news is, we have got a candidate to vote for in this election who demonstrates that kind of character, who knows what real strength looks like, who will set a good example and do the right things and leave this country better than she found it. that is what this election is about. [end video clip] host: former president obama at a rally last night. your reaction to what he said. caller: first of all, i think he is a powerful male figure in our society. i think that when you get all the way down to what is holding up the boulders, the matter is destroying public education, number one, and we just don't have the education we used to have back in the day. host: how does that play into the question that we are asking about gender? caller: the way that it plays

in, it seems to me that women are going out there, getting the education, while boys are being pushed aside in our community because of all the factors that figure into why someone doesn't make it. i grew up in poverty but i worked through it. it was a different attitude back when i was growing up. now, the attitude is that the women are ahead of the men in education and everything, and we know for a fact that we perish from lack of knowledge, and that is why he would like to keep us uneducated. host: alright, i'm going to move on to get some more voices. barbara, democrat. caller: yes, this is barbara. i just listened to some of the

talk with men, and this sickens me because of the fact that harris is for all groups of people, it doesn't matter if you are black, white, or what nationality you are or what faith you are, and it bothers me. this bothers me to the fact of black men, this is what trump and all he does, put down black folk. it is about him, about how he can get black men to decide -- to side with them, and it gives black men the impression that they are manly, and saying that he has a purpose. host: you think that is the appeal for some black men? caller: yes, i do in this

bothers me because i have listened to 10 minutes, and i don't know what race or nationality some of the men who have called, where they from or who they are, but i can tell by some of the rhetoric that they had spoken on, that they say they feel a lot of black men think trump is manly, he puts down black people, he puts down minority groups of people, and it is about him, but many black men are siding with him, and this is what he would like because in that way, it will make people feel that and make the men feel like he is for them, and he is not for them. host: all right, barbara. josh, alexandria, virginia, independent. caller: good morning. let me turn the tv down.

host: mute the television place. caller: absolutely. i agree with barbara. i'm at a loss because gender is not matter to me. i think it is unfortunate that it matters so much to people in this country, especially when it comes to a black female and those of african descent. for me, this country is divided, a double standard, doing the nfl football games, talking about gender from in care and prisons, it is quite the opposite. i don't see the media or anybody

on the show covering that, she did not approve gender affirming care, and have you seen the ads in "the washington post" talking about the bias had against harris as opposed to trump? trump can say whatever he would like, but she's doing everything, speaking to the media, public forums, when the media does not cover what trump says, much as they should. they ought to talk about general milley, and the media does not cover that. so for black men and for women, i guess my ultimate question is, if donald trump can say out loud in the media proves it, that he

could touch women's private parts and not see a thing, could a black man also to cheer daughter, mother or sisters parts and get away with it? when the supreme court gave him immunity, i would relate that to slavery days, and i'm thing for not in that era, but if i had my wife with me in my little hut, my slave master could come and get her anytime he wanted, and i could not do anything because he has immunity. and for any man who would like to vote for this particular man running for president, i mean, i think it is in a volatile fault -- an abominable fault, a perspective i don't think we should have. i do not want to give up my democracy for what donald trump has done and what he's going to do, especially as it relates to

2025. everything he says he's going to do, he's going to do. host: i'm going to leave it at that point. we have got about 15 minutes left in this conversation before we turn our attention to the battleground state of pennsylvania, part of a here on "the washington journal,"ng at those statyourcreen that could make the difference in this very close presidential rac the polls are tight with 11 days to go. our covera campaign 202 continues here on c-span today and through the weekend, next week, although a gap to election day, when we will begin our coverage of election date and night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. we will be live throughout the evening into the wee hours of the morning, right up to "washington journal" when they

continue coverage of the campaign until noon eastern time . join us then. cynthia, north carolina, democrat. good morning. is gender a factor in your vote this november? caller: good morning. i'm so glad you asked because, yes, gender plays a big role for me. i'm 74, i have life experience, and 1.i would like to make is that men have been running things for hundreds of years, and they have not done a great job. they have brought wars, environmental destruction, they have shown a general lack of respect for women and for families less paid, typically, for women's jobs. they are not interested in issues that at least deal with, especially reproductive choices, forcing women to have babies they cannot afford and do not

want. personally, i think women have a different approach to life and to dealing with issues. i think they are more likely to work collaboratively. i think they have more compassion, they have a better perspective on issues, especially about families because they deal with, such as harris' proposal to extend health care for seniors in the home? that is something a woman would go. i've never heard a man come up with that. she has a tax plan to help families, not billionaires, but families. and then trump on the other hand has had dozens of women come forward, accusing him of sexual assault. he lies constantly at his rallies. he has lied about the increase of crime, which supposedly makes women less safe. crime is down overall. he lies about the dangers of immigration.

immigrants have tremendously helped improve the american economy, communities, these border communities that have a lot of immigrants. the crime rate is actually less then other communities, so he has just lied so much. he has shown such a disdain toward harris, pelosi, clinton, he has no respect for women. host: by the way, this headline this morning, former sports illustrated swimsuit model says the former president groped her to show off her jeffrey epstein. the trump campaign denying the allegation this morning. michelle, michigan, republican. caller: good morning. when you are talking about the office of the president of the united states, the president of the united states, of course gender, race would not be a

factor, it is qualifications, but, in 2016, biden ran that he was going to put a woman in the office of vp. the democrats have held the office of president over the last 16 years for 12 years, and look where we are at. when president trump left office, i was paying 1.98 dollars for gas, today, i paid $3.10. my land taxes have went up, and they say planned to go up again. a bag of tater tot used to be two for five now it is almost six dollars. to go through a drive through, used to be not a big deal, now it is a luxury. so, no, i'm going to vote on qualifications. the best qualified candidate. host: the economy is a top issue

for her. edward in texas, democrat. caller: how are you doing? host: morning. caller: i have already voted, and i voted for harris, of course, because she has the qualification, highly intelligent, and it is very important to me how trump disrespects women as a whole, but he disrespects black women worse than anything. trump is not strong, he is a weak, spineless man. if he gets back control of this country, we are going to be a country like russia.

also, i would like to appeal to the black man, i may black man, and i would never vote for an individual like trump, and i like that gentleman from virginia. i can relate a great deal to him. i did my research and such. host: edward, we lost you. we will go to asheboro, north carolina, david is a republican. welcome to the conversation. caller: virginia does play a role for the president. i would like to ask all the men out there, what have they done [indiscernible] a man is supposed to be the head of the household, what is happening? letting someone come in because a president would like to be

president, they have standards for nothing. i mean, talking about six changes -- sex changes and all that, why would anybody in their right mind want something like that? trump is the only way this country is going to come back, and it will take a lot for him to get the country back because they have screwed it up so bad. every time she opens her gag on mouth -- or mouth, the first thing that comes out, that rotten breath. [indiscernible] host: david, you believe that the man is the head of the household, therefore, you cannot elect a woman to be president? caller: absolutely not, a woman is a woman position. host: what is a woman position? caller: well, a woman's position is more -- i'm an old timer, i

go with scripture. a woman is a man needs to do their job and the woman stays home at does not have to work, do her things at home like a woman should be. host: how would families make it in today's economy? if a woman -- if there were not two incomes in households? caller: how would they make it? let me tell you something, if a man was a true man, they would stay alive by asking god for the next meal, but no, the woman who runs the household. host: are you married? caller: i am married. host: thank you. mary, maryland, independent. caller: hello. yes, i'm calling especially to

talk to senior citizens, not one citizen can afford to vote for trump because he is threatening -- host: we are listening, he is threatening to what? caller: to gut medicare and social security within a year or so, and intends to take out $2.3 trillion from the social security fund, and that will impact seniors to a tremendous level, and i'm worried sick about that. also, i would like to say that trump has somehow made people believe that he can be trusted to bring back the economy.

he did nothing when the price of gas was $1.98, he inherited that economy from obama. and it is covid, it is the covid that ramped up prices. and when trump is asked what he is going to do to bring the economy, he never answers. he says, i have a concept. concept is not good enough. host: steve, maryland, republican. caller: good morning, greta. i have nothing against gender, it is not a factor. i would like to point out that in 2008 and mccain ran, he had sarah palin as his running mate,

so the republicans do not object to a woman. but the democrats, the press, they crucified sarah palin, so where are all these, pardon me, open-minded women today? to quote sarah palin, she said, how is that hoagie change thing working for you? i will wrap this up real quick, today we are so, at least the democrats, are obsessedwe have , carter, and obama, of course. the country was based on compromise, not on change. go back to the runnable the civil war, people had to compromise but the outcome was that slavery was defeated. my compromise that i would offer regarding the abortion question. my understanding is that a fetus can recognize a mother's voice

at 12 to 15 weeks. this is the compromise we should be looking at. the idea of third trimester abortion to me is repulsive, unless it is really a medical emergency. it is merely a political issue now. we have gone overboard. the same thing with climate change. host: i'm going to leave it there because we will take a break and then turn our attention to the state of the pennsylvania -- state of pennsylvania, part of article battlegrounds series. and how that could swing the election. steve ulrich will join us and then later, berwood yost, the polling director at franklin & marshall college. stay with us, we will be right back. >> this election night, c-span delivers something different, not just the presidential race

but the state races that will decide the balance of power in congress. no pundits, spin, or commercials. just the candidates, the results, and you. follow c-span beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern live tuesday, november 5 on tv, online or the free c-span now video app. as a 2024 presidential campaign continues, american history tv presents the serious, historic presidential elections. learn about the pivotal issues of different eras, what made these elections historic and explore their lasting impact on the nation. this saturday, the election of 1968. >> i am going to be talking about america's future, my vision for that future, and what i think i can do with years of experience i have behind me.

>> they want to make sure that fellow is going to be there president and they will let their house be burned down. they will elect a mortgage market going to pieces. they will let the stock market go to pieces. >> people know that the threat to our country is a breakdown of law and order. it is a problem when you could not walk in the streets in the park of the large cities of america. >> former vice president -- former president richard nixon defeated former vice president hubert home theory and george wallace -- humphrey and george washington. watch historic presidential elections saturday on 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. ♪ >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other.

since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing a balanced and unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years in counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: all week we have bee focusing on battlegroundtates that will decide this year's presidenti election and we are examining much has changed since 2020 along with issues and political trends that will motivate voters. this morning, we are looking at the state of pennsylvania. steve ulrich is the managing editor of the politicspa website who joins us from lancaster to dig into the state of pennsylvania. why is the keystone state a battleground state? guest: good morning and good morning to all of the viewers.

it is about the electoral votes in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. pennsylvania's electoral votes will tip the scale one way or the other for donald trump or kamala harris. that is why the commonwealth and its residents are being inundated by political ads and visits from the president, vice president and surrogates. philip -- one station has filled out all of its add inventory until the end of the act -- of the election. all eyes are in -- are on pennsylvania as we are the swingiest of all swing states. host: explained that. guest: pennsylvania after voting twice for barack obama tipped the scale and voted for donald trump. in 2020 the commonwealth voted for joe biden versus donald trump.

all eyes are on the commonwealth as to which way pennsylvania will lean. there are a few bellwether counties that we are keeping an eye on at either end of the state. host: we are showing the 2020 presidential results in the state of pennsylvania, as you said. joe biden won the state 50% over the former president, 48.84%. how many votes did this come down to? guest: 88,000. and in 2016 it was 40,000. so, we do not know which way pennsylvania will go. when you look at it 67 counties, 55 of them trend republican. but the largest population centers whetr is in the west where pittsburgh is located or the city of philalpa and its surrounding suburbs where democrats dominate. so the eyes of the country are

really focused on a couple of counties. when you look at the northwest corner, erie county and along the pennsylvania-new jersey border, northampton county. those counties went for trump in 2016 and biden in 2020. will they tell the story of 2024? we are focused on that. host: let us look at the voter party registration numbers. over 9 million registered voters. democrats make up 44%. republicans, 40%. no affiliation, 12%. talk about the numbers and how they have changed. what do they mean when we are 11 or 12 days out? guest: we are really seeing a growth in the commonwealth for republicans. democrats even as early as the fourth of july had 600,000

margin when it came to voter registration. on monday when the last numbers came out that number shrunk to 300,000. we are seeing more people leave the democratic party and go republican but we are seeing a large growth among those not affiliated. yes, there are some affiliating with third parties. the independents make up 1.1 million voters in the state. and that is who kamala harris and donald trump are targeting draw --, try to figure out which way they will lean. host: it is -- is it too late to register to vote in pennsylvania? guest: it is. the registration deadline was monday. voters who have been registered have until next tuesday to request a male in balance, a no excuse absentee ballot. the challenge if you wait that long, the deadline is in the

pressure becomes filling out the ballot and then dropping it in the mail. it is no guarantee that it will arrive by 8:00 p.m. on election night and that is a requirement. it needs to be in the hands of the election office by the closing of the poles of election night. postmarked does not count in that situation. you can still be involved and ask for a no excuse mail-in ballot. host: here is a headline on the banner page. over one million voters have already cast a ballot, are they mostly blue or red and that is a question. can we answer that? guest: we cannot. 1.9 billion people have expressed a ballot. and 1.2, we know have returned. campaigns know that if you request a ballot and if you have completed it. there is no way of noting

whether you voted democrat and republican -- or republican. counties are not allowed to post any results until after the polls close on election night. we are left to assume that if there is a percentage of democrats they will vote the party line. and that there is a party-line vote for republicans. looking at my numbers if i saw that correctly it was just over 60% on the return are democrats at this point. host: what do you think that means. it does not mean nothing right now. how will folks be counted on election night, and is that when we will learn how people have voted and the method that they have voted? guest: the way it works is that due to the state legislature, county election offices are not even allowed to open the ballots until 7:00 in the morning on election day, when the polls

open in pennsylvania. at that time, you have a staff of workers who will take out a ballot out of the envelope, make sure that the envelope was signed properly. take the ballot out of the secrecy envelope and make sure that was taken care of properly. unfold the ballot and smooth it out, only then do you run it through the scanner. so, you are not allowed to announce votes until 8:00. the first votes that will come from pennsylvania will be the mail-in ballots that were turned in prior to election day. similar to 20, you will see a sudden surge showing kamala harris in the lead because more democrats utilize mail-in ballots than republicans. at that point, the election offices will turn to the in person polling place votes and tabulate those next and report those.

so a lead for democrats in that situation will suddenly begin to diminish and decrease because more republicans turn out to the polling place than democrats who just mail-in ballots. at that point you will see it be very close. we all know that it will be tight in pennsylvania. it will not be decided on election night. in my experience as a former county election director, in 2020 we had over 8000 provisional ballots. these are ballots of where you walk into the polling place and you are not in the right place and you say you are registered you will get a provisional ballot. what happens is that they go back to the election office and they double check that you have not already voted and you are a registered voter and a number of other criteria.

only at that point will the provisional ballot be allowed to be counted. in my county we had a four person staff counting over 8000 provisional ballots on election night. if the four of us did nothing for the entire eight hour day but count provisional ballots which take about 60 seconds to review and approve and enter into the system, we could only do about only 1900 and day so it would take us four days to do the provisional ballots. and they end up being the tipping point in the entire presidential election. host: when do you think we will know who will win the state of pennsylvania? guest: i agree with the gentleman who runs the decision desk for fox. he says the over under on pennsylvania being decided is saturday. it is going to require voters to have a great deal of patience. everybody wants to know who won the election.

in 2016 we did not hear until 3:00 in the morning and 2020 it was not until saturday. if this was as close as an to zepeda they would expect the same thing and it will be important for citizens or remember, there will be a lot of disinformation given out during that time that just be patient. election directors want to make sure that they want to get there count accurate first. and done as quickly as possible and not the other way around. host: we are taking your questions and comments this map, this is pa voter registration by county. this red and blue marks where the party has an advantage in each of these counties. don in easton, pennsylvania voting for the vice president. good morning. caller: hello. yes. i will be voting for ms.

harris. the electoral college vote is important up here, where i live. because i live in northampton county. you are in lancaster and i used to work down there. now, appear we have two townships upper and lower mount bethel. the last time trump ran, he carried those two little townships. he wiped out the whole philadelphia million some votes. he was like -- it was like totally absurd. host: let's talk about that. hold on. let us talk about that. steve. guest: northampton county is a bellwether and all of this. allegheny and philadelphia counties are matched by the red of the other 55 counties.

a lot of people have described pennsylvania as having a t, with red across the top and down the middle and philadelphia -- and two blue counties at either end. northampton county, democratic efforts are trying to make it be one of the philadelphia color county which includes chancellor county, delaware and montgomery county. they are hoping to bring northampton into the blue category. but, there are a lot of working class residents in those counties who are pushing back against some of the ideas of the democratic party and kamala harris in particular. host: michael in kingsessing 10, -- kingsington, pennsylvania. supporting the former president. caller: hello and hello to all the viewers of c-span.

i am in west moreland county, very close to allegheny county. and i happen to be a strong supporter of trump. and, i have been going around doorknocking in my neighborhood. which is a mixed racially, and it also happens to be a brightly colored area. i was very nervous about doing that because i know how much antipathy there is to present trump, generated by the media, i believe. i found that people are very open and welcome to listening to what i had to say and to talk to me. and the republicans, there was complete unity on voting for trump. and my -- the other thing that i

found was nobody trusts male in. and that is a problem which we have a system of voting which we do not agree with. which was allowed by the democrats. the democratic supreme court set all of these changes to the voting were ok. and that is why we are in such a mixed bag. host: let's listen to steve. guest: michael, thank you for your question. i have to push back as a former election director. in 2019 the pennsylvania state legislature in a bipartisan move enacted act 77. pennsylvania has always had absentee mail-in balloting,

especially for those folks who are military, overseas or people will not be in their district on election day. act 77 allowed it to become a no excuse policy. republicans and democrats were both on board with the policy first put into play in 2020. it was not until the conclusion of the 2020 election that there were questions regarding the validity of mail-in balloting by one of the two candidates and i think that people find that in pennsylvania in particular, mail-in voting is very popular. there is a portion of republicans -- there is a push of republicans in harrisburg to change act 77. overall, it is very popular and it is hard to me believe that we will take it away anytime soon. host: we were talking early about whether gender plays a

factor or is a factor in how people will vote in november. what are the demographics of the state of pennsylvania, starting with gender. and, will that make a difference? guest: it will absolutely. right now, one of the things we do in politics is that we do our own tracker only of statewide polling. we do not tema -- pay much attention to national polls. women right now when you look at the average of the last five statewide polls, women have a plus 16 advantage voting for harris over trump. you do hear a lot of conversations among young men in particular who feel that republican candidate donald trump brings more strength. they look back to a time pre-covid when they felt things were better, which brings into question a county like center county where penn state

university is located. it went blue in 2016 and 2020. but president trump is planning to hold a rally at penn state on saturday. to try and really drive up the college vote. and see if there are more college men who are willing to vote for the gop candidate. and negate some of the advantages that women have gotten. that said. yesterday i was at a rally with josh shapiro, raphael warnock and jeff duncan. there was an opportunity where they were trying to rally republicans to vote for kamala harris, to have women say it is ok to go into the ballot box. you go into your ballot box, no one is going to know how you cast your vote. so, if your husband is saying you should vote republican and your friends are saying you need to vote republican, in your mind and conscious you need you --

you need to think to vote democrat, you can do that. you will see a lot of discussion encouraging women to vote their conscience. host: what about the latino vote in the state of pennsylvania? guest: outstanding question. the latino vote is in the south-central part. we have a latino belt that runs up where to 22 allentown into bethlehem. we are seeing right now latinos in particular feeling like they were being ignored by the democrats. the latino vote has always been solidly blue. but the feeling that democrats have turned their back on them and have gone away from working class people and more towards the elites has turned a lot of latinos towards the republican message. democrats have made a concerted effort to go on radio in that

area and talk to latino men in particular and tried negate the push of republicans would also explained that latino men in particular are not being forgotten. host: what about the black vote? guest: right now the black vote is overwhelmingly democratic. we are looking at 80% in that respect. certainly when you look at the bluest of the blue areas like philadelphia and pittsburgh, overwhelmingly african-american support for kamala harris. it is really going to come down to what happens in the smaller counties. one of the pages that have been ripped from the josh shapiro playbook is for democrats to go out to the small counties that are ruby red and trying to negate some of the advantages that republicans have traditionally had. host: which counties? guest: lancaster county.

lancaster county is in the trump category and the count for the last two cycles. 16 or 22% favor republicans. josh shapiro and john fetterman when he won the senate met -- the senate race would go to lancaster and try to reduce the number. it was not a case of democrats just going to the big cities. even when you go out to the other 55 counties, you hear what the voters had to say and basically say that we hear you, that is why we are on the ground, and if you do please plan on voting democrat it would cut into the margins that republicans traditionally have. host: finally, let us talk about age. and the age of voters in pennsylvania, and why it matters. guest: one of the problems that the commonwealth has had is with

a loss in representation because census numbers have gone down. we have the four main state universities, penn state, temple, lincoln and university of pennsylvania. we have 14 out of 16 related and then 60 or 70 private colleges and universities throughout the commonwealth. they are educating 18 to 22-year-olds and unfortunately, the state has not been able to keep them in the commonwealth. they have been going outside. pennsylvania's population trends older in that respect. so, you are going to see more of a 55 and up vote coming from pennsylvania. when i look at the numbers and i know that you are going to speak with berwood yost who will go deeper into this. when you look at the statewide average, 18 to 29-year-olds

favor harris about 10%. but a number of poles surveyed 18 to 44-year-olds the number jumps for harris. so that is one of the reasons why we refer to this as a swingiest state. there are sony factors when you look at the makeup of pennsylvania the sides for democrats and republicans. it will come to a head on november 5. host: dan in pennsylvania. you are undecided. why is that? caller: all of the junk mail that i used to get and lately i have been getting a lot of text messages from nebraska and nevada and south carolina, and georgia telling me that i am not a registered voter. and i went over to my state representative and checked to make sure that someone did not

screw around with my vote. there was no problem with it. i keep getting text messages from these republican areas saying that i am unregistered and let me help you. would you like to and we will set you up for mailing. i always go in person. and the last time i went to vote in the 2020 election, there were some people there and you could tell that they were trump because they had really nothing other than they self appointed themselves to monitor the election. and i almost gotten a fight with one of them. the reason that happened was i was in the marine corps and i joined when it was going out of vietnam. and i spent my share of time in central america.

but, when these guys came up and saw me with my marine corps jacket and started taking remarks like you are republican and i said no i am not. we almost got into a fight. host: thank you for your service. glenside, is that why he is getting those text and undecided? what is going on? guest: that is exactly why. one of the things we know in the election business is that mail-in ballots, once they are accepted by the election office and once they are scanned in, campaigns know that and they stop reaching out because they know that you have already voted. that is not a reason to do mail-in versus voting in person. it is important to note that you will run into a lot of people at your polling place from both camps. they are not allowed within 10 feet of the front door of your polling place. so, when they lobby you and hand

you different mailers to try and encourage your vote, understand that they are not allowed to physically intimidate voters. that is not allowed and that is what pennsylvania has. one of the sole responsibility of their pot -- of their constables is to keep the peace. host: how much money has been spent on this presidential race? guest: i wish i could zero in on that number. i can say for example that when you look at the u.s. senate race between the incumbent and the republican challenger, mccormick's political action committee has put in $30 million . you can only imagine the money that is being put into the commonwealth. as we said, tv stations are flooded. the advertising industry --

inventory is sold out. you cannot turn into -- turn on your tv or go to any social media without being targeted by a campaign message. i think i speak for all residents who stated we are looking forward to having it stop. host: what impact will the presidential race have on the senate race? guest: a great impact. one of the things that act 77 with no excuse the ellen balloting was not eliminated the box on the ballot for straight-line voting so you cannot just go in and say we are voting for trumpet mccormick and i will just check the box that says republicans down the line. now you have to vote for each race. given that situation we do know that there are a number of voters who unfortunately believe we only hold elections once every four years for president and will only cast one vote. but i majority of voters will go down the line.

and we will see if kamala harris is able to win pennsylvania and i believe bob casey will carry pennsylvania. i think of donald trump wins, that is an opportunity for dave mccormick to sleep in and flip the u.s. -- sweep in and flip the u.s. senate seat to read. host: steve ulrich of politicspa. thank you for the conversation. guest: thank you so much. we appreciate the opportunity. host: when we come back, our discussion about battleground pennsylvania continues with berwood yost who is the polling ctor at franklin & marshall college. we will dig into fresh polling. later we head to erie, pennsylvania for jeffrey bloodworth, from gannon university. ♪ >> this election night, c-span

offers something different, not just the presidential race but the state race that will decide the balance of power in congress. no pundits, spin, or commercials. just the candidates, the results, and you. follow c-span beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern live, tuesday, november 5. on tv, online or on the c-span now video app. >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people in the events that tell the american story. at 2:00 p.m. eastern, aaron sheehan-dean on "the calculus of violence" about how the civil war could be worst. -- could be worse. and then at 7:00 p.m. eastern watch historic presidential

elections exploring what made them historic and the pivotal issues of different eras and their lasting impact. this week the election of 1968 where former vice president richard nixon defeated democratic vice president hubert humphrey and george wallace who was running as the american independent party champion. -- candidate. and in lectures in history, paul renfro on the life and death of ryan white who emerged as one of the faces of the aids epidemic in the 1980's. and at 9:30 p.m. eastern the great-grandchildren of herbert hoover gathered in his library in west branch, iowa, to talk about his life and legacy of his 150th anniversary of his birth. watch american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, and find a full schedule on youram idor watch online anytime at c-span.org/history.

booktv, every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, glenn fine who served as the inspector general of the- talks about corruption in the u.s. government and the role that inspector general's pl" watchdogs." at 8:00 p.m. eastern jack carr talks about "targeted beirut" where they look at the marine barracks bombing tt took the lives of 241 servicemen. 10:00 p.m. eastern, florida republican michael waltz talks about serving in afghanistan as a green beret and how his military career influences his decision-making in "hard truths" where he is interviewed by paul mccleary.

watch booktv every sunday on c-span2, and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch any time at booktv.org. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us this morning is berwood yost, the center for opinion research director at franklin & marshall college to talk about campaign 2024 in the battleground state of pennsylvania. let us begin with a fresh poll released yesterday and this is what the numbers show. among likely voters, the former president with a slight lead. 49.6% to the vice president's 49.3%. among registered voters, the vice president has a 48% to 44% lead. tell us the difference between

these numbers. guest: good morning and thank you for having me. the poll results were really interesting because we often do not see big differences between likely and registered voters, although we have in this race. i guess the easiest way to think about it is among registered voters, it is different than the pool of likely voters during the period we were doing our polling . those likely voters were more republican. they were less likely to have a moderate political ideology. they were a bit older, particularly we noted that the voters who were under 35 years of age, there was a much smaller portion of them in the likely voter sample than registered voter. it looks to me like that here is has some work to do to get the

voters who are more supportive of her into that likely voter pool. she does well with moderate voters and those under 35 in the state. if they are not showing up it will be a real problem, and that is why she has at a slight disadvantage. the reality is it is a tie but that is why her numbers are of different. host: if the deadline to register to vote has already passed, what does that mean? guest: basically what we are talking about enthusiasm and interest because these -- the sample that we took were among all registered voters. but even among those who were registered, just from the responses provided, those groups that i mentioned were less likely to say that they would show up on election day. if that harris campaign has any hope of carrying pennsylvania,

and i think there are implications down ballot as well. senator casey and three state runoff races in this state. the entire state house of representatives is up for grabs. so, if democrats do not get the voters to the polls, they are going to have some problems up and down the ballot. host: what you are saying is the likely voters are registered voters it is just enthusiasm. guest: that is what it looks like to us. that is how we define likely voters, based on what people tell us about the interest in the campaign and certainty of voting. host: let us talk about the margin of error. what is it and what does it mean? guest: it is 4.3% overall and 5% over likely voters. our profiling suggests that about 72% of registered voters will turn out, at least when we were doing the poll, that was

the interest measured, similar to the turnout in 2020. the margin of error, it just tells us to expect variability in our results because we are using a sample to represent a large population. the reality is and it must be reported, it tells you that this race is really a tossup. host: what are the issues driving voters? guest: this is something that we are not really completely sure about. that is, when we ask people what is the most important policy in the state, it is clear that the atomic -- the economy is at the top of the list. and when we ask people why are you voting for the candidate you support whether it be harris or trump we see slightly different things. people who are with kamala harris are more likely to talk about women's rights, democracy and protecting remote test democracy and things like character and leadership.

the people supporting donald trump, the economy is at the top of the list but a be limited shows up -- illegal immigration shows up. we are trying to decide if this is more like 2022. it looks like the race will be all about the economy and it turned out to be about the economy and abortion rights and women's rights. that same dynamic could happen today. if that is the case, i think that provides a boost to kamala harris. but if voters are deciding about the economy, that is a real advantage for donald trump. host: what was the race about in 20 by comparison? guest: 2020 was, remember we were coming out of covid and people were generally feeling positively about the economy at that time. one of the things that was very clear was when we ask people about their personal financial circumstances, they are very

negative today. october of 2020, they were positive. that is what people are thinking about when they think that trump do a better job handling the economy. i think it really was in 2020, about democracy for many voters, it was really a judgment about the incumbent president, as it often is as when a incumbent is running for reelection and the job that they did. it was a different set of issues. and of course, the dobbs decision has change the way that both parties are thinking and talking about abortion rights. host: you mentioned the family financial situation. you asked about this. and, when you ask people about their situation from one year ago, 17% said that they are better off. that is a six plus increase over the past year. 43% said that they are worse

off, and that is -7%. it represents the lowest in your polling. explain. guest: i think the real importance of that particular question is how it situates people's thinking. you hear a lot of people talk about the fact that the economy seems to be mostly positive and what are people looking at and they think about the economy being better in 2020. when you look at this data it tells us that currently, they feel worse about the personal finances than they did at the time of october of 2020 at the last election. many of them felt favorably. i think we discount the fact that if we say what are we thinking about the economy so much better, we discount the fact that objectively, when they were reporting in 2020 they felt better than now. i think it is one of the major underlying elements and it is

the reason that democrats are facing such headwind. the biden administration is tied to these numbers. the rating for president biden is very low. a number people say it is not going in the right direction and is negative. all of those indicators suggest to us and normally singles an interest in change. host: marcel supporting -- marshall in brookfield, florida, supporting the former president. hello. caller: the reason i am supporting trump advance is number one he never said he was going to cut social security and medicare. i do not know where people are coming up with that. also, i want to see that border closed. and what she is going to do is leave the border open and let so many people come in at a time. to me, i do not want my daughter

or my wife, my grandson or any other -- other woman or young girl raped and murdered by illegal immigrants. host: you're making a broad generalization. is immigration a factor in pennsylvania? guest: when we ask people about those policies in the state, immigration does not show up high on the list. in this poll we asked a question about the impact of immigration on people's own communities. only 19% had a negative impact in the communities. most people say it has not had an impact on their local community. to marshall's point, many people who are voting for president trump, immigration is the primary drivers behind the economy. so, the messaging, we have seen

a lot of messaging in pennsylvania about immigration and particularly illegal immigration, it seems to be a major theme for the trump campaign. in part, you have to suspect that that is helping the trump campaign at the moment because of how close the race is. host: johnny. washington state, supporting the vice president. hello. caller: a wonderful green outfit that you have. host: thank you. your question or comment? we are listening. caller: i wanted to say, people are very forgetful. i mean earlier you were talking to steve ulrich. i wanted to know if i made the right choice of voting. you mentioned to him and if the envelope is blue or red, could you remember what you said,, the envelope of the ballot?

you said is it blue or red, steve? host: i asked or i was repeating a question that a recent article but as their headline, are the mail-in ballots that have already come in and the state of pennsylvania, are they red or blue and can we answer the question. he said we cannot right now answer that question. caller: when i got into washington state the envelope was blue and the sleeve part was red. guest: the question it -- host: the question is can you tell if these votes are voting for the democratic candidate or the republican candidate. that is the point. for -- berwood yost, what do you have to say about mail-in ballots and what that says about where you are headed for the state of pennsylvania? guest: i am happy to talk about that. right now, i believe in 2020, there were 2.6 million mail-in

and absentee ballots cast. now there are about 1.9 million requested and the majority of those are from democrats. there have been about 800,000 of those returned. and the majority of them, approaching about 60% are coming from democrats. it seems to me that the mail-in ballots are more commonly being used by democrats. in fact, we asked the question about how people were voting in this election, and i think about one third of the voters in the last poll said that they would vote by mail-in ballot and a majority are democrat. as in 2020, i would expect the mail-in ballots to be tilted toward republicans. -- towards the democrats. i think the republicans have

made an effort, but i think many more democrats will probably cast their ballots that way. host: annville, pennsylvania. you are supporting the former president. caller: november 5 i will be going to the polls early in the morning and casting my vote for donald trump and jd vance. there is so much stuff. first of all i just want to thank our veterans and afghanistan was so hurtful to me how what's her face? kamala harris said that she was the last one in the room. the marines are there to help people get out and we got killed helping people get out. and she said she was the last one in the room and would not help anything. and then they talked about migraines. illegal migrants. everybody is a migrant but when

you are illegal you are not supposed to be here. they have no right to have amnesty to collect my social security or health care. our economy, that is so silly. nobody talks about that she said zero degrees below. she wants everything electric from what i understood. donald trump wants diversity, electric, oil, gas and whatever, doesn't that make more sense? host: i'm in a leave it there so let us pick up on your energy comment. is energy an issue in the state of pennsylvania? guest: she pointed out a discussion around fracking which took place in 2020. it is an issue that people think about. we can talk about how many people are directly employed in the fracking industry and the spinoff jobs that support the industry and how a larger part of the economy is. fracking has come up because

symbolically it reflects what gail was talking about. are we willing to have a larger and more diverse energy portfolio or are we going to focus on one sector. in this state, we asked about fracking and does it do more good economically then harm or environmentally. the numbers are 55% that it does more harm -- more benefit economically then harm environmentally. so fracking is an important issue, at least symbolically because it tells people that you are supporting an important industry that is focused in certain parts of the state and that you recognize the people in those parts of the state value and benefit from that particular industry. and so, it plays a role, and

clearly the harris campaign said that they support fracking in pennsylvania. and that is probably the right position, because that is where most voters are. host: i want to go back to the 2024 republican primary and a pull done by "the new york times" in pennsylvania which found that the former president received 83% while nikki haley received 17%. where are those nikki haley voters going? guest: look, i mean there is a history of that sort of thing happening. and it is often the case that those voters still come back to the party because they are republicans. we have looked very closely at the different factions within each party and how they are voting. the one thing that is interesting to me is although there are not many people who are truly undecided, there are probably seven or so percent who

have chosen a candidate and said i could chill -- i could still change my mind. many of those people are in the traditional republican faction. those voters who might have supported nikki haley. my question is whether they will stick to the choice that they are thinking about now, which is mostly in favor of the republican party, or will they change their mind. i suspect many of them in this era of polarization will vote their party. but if harris wins, it is likely because the people in that particular faction have moved her way. host: bucks county to a caller. tell us about bucks county. caller: hello. this is bath. i am very surprised to see that mr. yost doesn't think that the registered voters are very interested. in bucks county we are swamped

with huge banners and signs and, i have been out doorknocking with my son and i see a bit of -- a big interest. and i hope that harris wins. guest: i do not believe i said there was not a lot of interest. i just said that there is a segment of registered voters who are yet to be fully interested. the truth is that we are going to have turnout probably similar to what we had in 2020 which was the highest turnout in 100 years. i expect that to happen again. the point that i wanted to emphasize was that the way that the electorate is constructed on november 5 will matter a lot with the balance of republicans, democrats and independents. that is really where things

matter. if you have different levels of interest amount -- around different subsets, that will make the difference. host: why does bucks county matter? guest: it is one of those suburban counties around philadelphia. it is represented by a republican congressman. even though it is a place that joe biden won in 2020. many of us see that as one of the swingier places in the state. it has a narrow republican registration advantage so it is tightly contested. that is one of those places you might want to look at during election night. i think steve was talking about this earlier. if democrats are going to hope to carry the state they have to come out of philadelphia and the four counties around it,

delaware, chester, montgomery and box in a massive margin. so that they can make up for losses and other parts of the state. in 2020, donald trump won 54 of the 67 counties by an average of 39 points. so, what democrats need to do is to offset that strength, the geographic strength that the republicans have with massive turnout and massive voter advantage in those suburban counties, particular around philadelphia and pittsburgh and allegheny county. host: sharon in hanover, pennsylvania, voting for the form -- for the vice president. caller: i am a senior citizen wishing that i had been polled this cycle. we have good schools and colleges in the state. i attend the monthly luncheons

with high school classmates and have been in despair to see how many of them, while being successful in life, are going to vote for the republican candidate. and, it appears that their investments come first. i would say the cautious -- be cautious about this economical ideal. he might ruin his investments with his monstrous tariff ideas and he will surely cause harm or damage in many ways. so, i feel bad for our teachers who are good, and yet my contemporaries, many of them, have no vision. at least kamala and walz

offer a vision. host: let us talk about the outcome of this election in pennsylvania. will there be more than just two names on the ballot for the presidential contest? guest: yes, there are. we have a green and libertarian candidate on the ballot. we do not see them playing a big role at the moment but, let's face it. when i looked at the numbers, jill stein has a very small share of democratic votes. i think it was two or 3%. that is small. but when you were talking about the narrow gap between the candidates that we are seeing, that could be an issue. it was a huge issue in 2016. although i think the circumstances are a little different this time. 2016, something like 18% of

voters had an unfavorable opinion of both candidates. they were looking for options and i think many of them chose a third party campaign. there are far fewer people who are dissatisfied with both options now. so i think that the third-party factor is much less. but, if we are talking about tens of thousands of votes, it was 44,000 votes in 2016 and 80 some thousand votes in 2020. every little bit matters. we do not know what bit will matter most. cumulatively, many of those things will make a difference. host: what does it say about the senate race in pennsylvania? guest: that one is very close. let's face it, we have voters who tend to vote the same way up

and down the ballot. polarization is a real thing. there are far fewer split ticket voters today. one of the things that we did see and actually in other polls that we have done is that there are some trump-kc voters. senator casey is a long-term incumbent in the senate. he is a treasurer and auditor general. his father was governor so his name is well known. and he has a long history that might help him. but in this day and age it is often the case that what happens at the top of the ticket as consequences for other races, particularly the senate and congress. and so, i still think that casey has a slight advantage, but there is no question that mccormick has gained ground and has become more acceptable to

republican voters. more of them are supporting his candidacy than in august. i think that will be a tight one, as is a presidential race. host: nancy, west chester, pennsylvania. let us hear from you. caller: hello. first i would like to tell everyone that there are many reasons on supporting harris-walz. to point out one. anyone who would stage a coup, complete -- should never, ever be in the white house again. host: i will leave it there. is this issue of democracy playing a factor in the election? guest: absolutely. if you are voting for kamala harris, a large portion of voters say they are supporting

it because of democracy, the insurrection, january 6, whatever term you would like to use, it is playing a role in support for kamala harris. host: mr. yost is the opinion research director at franklin and marshall college. thank you for the conversation. guest: my pleasure, thank you for having me. host: we will continue with our series this morning, looking at battleground states. pennsylvania has been our focus today. we will continue that dee dive with jeffrey bloodworth, professor of american political history at gannon university in eerie. we will be right back. ♪ >> this election night, c-span is serving up something different, not just the

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host: joining us from eerie, pennsylvania, jeffrey bloodworth , the american history professor at canning university, here to talk about the political makeup and history of the keystone state. let's begin with the demographics of pennsylvania, according to "washington," two thirds of the 67 counties experienced a drop in population in recent years. what is the political impact of this? guest: yeah, large parts of the rust belt and other counties, with what we have seen for a generation in pennsylvania, are people moving to the sunbelt in search of jobs, and the political impact, outsi of pittsburgh and philadelphia, nnlvanians have been taking it on the chin economically in the age of globalization, and kind of a shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy.

unemployment is low, stock market is up, but a lot of pennsylvanians don't feel like it works for them. this is what is driving trump's energy in 2016 and 2024 here in pennsylvania. host: who were those voters, the ones who left seeking jobs from the sunbelt? did they tend to vote for one party? guest: especially since world war ii, pennsylvania has largely been a democratic stronghold, mostly sending democratic senators to the senate. republicans have been competitive, so you have democrats leaving the state, and the families who are left behind, registered democrats in western pennsylvania, in northeast pennsylvania, famously where joe biden's family is from, these are ancestral democrats who feel left behind. i live in eerie , pnsylvania,

representative of a rust belt ty you go to the philadelphia -- university of pittsburgh, and you see a different environment. every family who has moved to nashville or charlotte or texas in search of a better job, people in eerie county would like their grandkids to live down the street, not 500 miles away, and that is the story throughout much of the state, and economy that is not working, at least the perception is not working for working-class americans, those who are not part of the knowledge or economy elites. host: this is from the state of pennsylvania, voter party registration, over 9 million registered voters, 44% democrats, 40% republicans, 12% no affiliation, 4% other, how

has that changed over the years and in recent years? guest: since 2016, republicans have narrowed the gap significantly. here in erie county, it is 44-25 advantage over republican, and a lot of these ancestral democrats will vote republican depending on the candidate, but they have been switching registration because donald trump, in 2016 especially, he ran a more disciplined campaign, and he really did talk about the issues that hit people outside of philadelphia and pittsburgh, so republicans are narrowing the registration advantage in pennsylvania. in 2007, this was not a swing state, but it most certainly is today. just because, you know, the economy outside of philadelphia and pittsburgh, a lot of pennsylvanians do not feel like they are getting ahead. they see their kids and

grandkids leaving the state entirely, and that is the strength of the trumpist movement in pennsylvania and throughout i would say is constant and wish again, the story is much of the same. host: a piece ry headlined "erie county, a linchpin to a democratic presidency," explain your headline. guest: whoever wins eerie at the presidential level wins the state, and that has been the case since 1944, except for 1988, so whoever wins erie county, almost always is going to win this date so pesylvania is the linchpin of whoever is going to win the presidency. that means they are most likely going to win erie county. host: what about the age of

voters in the state of pennsylvania? how has that changed over the years, the impact of that on politics? guest: the age of the voters? host: yes. guest: pennsylvania, this is becoming an older state, and so there is still a significant number of universities and college students here, so can you register these college students enter the motto vote? that is often the key to a democrat winning the state, but the state has trended to be older, and what this has done is it has helped make the republicans more competitive because there is a real sense of economic and demographic decline in pennsylvania, especially outside of pittsburgh and philadelphia, i do not want to give the wrong impression, pittsburgh and philadelphia are growing robust economically, eerie, pennsylvania has in the last 10 years had a renaissance,

so there are great shoots of economic change and growth in the city of eerie, but the demographic change in the state is that younger people are often leading the state or their hometowns and going to philadelphia and pittsburgh. that is giving the sense that outside of philadelphia and pittsburgh, it is a real sense of economic decline. host: voting for the vice president, debbie, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. first, remember, when we vote, we win. you know, it is interesting, the information i'm hearing from the different guests that give information about pennsylvania. on the ground, that is not what you see. host: what do you see on the ground? caller: i see folks having the same issues in philadelphia, pittsburgh, eerie, all of

pennsylvania, that is what i see. host: which is what? caller: which is economy. the only thing i think i would not list his immigration and philadelphia. but all the other issues are the issues. now, they are not leaning one way or another. i'm talking about issues, not how they are voting, but i hear this separation of issues pending on what part of the state you live. that is not what i see. walking around, talking to folks, being an activist in the city of philadelphia, talking with other people that are activists and the rest of the state, so i would love to hear the gentleman talk about that. host: all right. guest: i agree. largely speaking, the issues in philadelphia and pittsburgh are the issues people have in eerie about inflation, jobs, are my

kids going to live better than i'm living? my stepdaughter goes to college in philadelphia, and i've spent a lot of time there the last six years. there is a difference in that if you live in places like eerie or altoona or even a smaller city in pennsylvania, it is even more so this sense that if your kids are going to have a future, it is not going to be in the city or town you live in, and there is a greater sense that if you get a four year college degree, you are going to have to leave read i agree with the caller in that the issues are the same. i guess i would say this sense of urgency in smaller cities and small town like in pennsylvania is that you are going to have to leave in order to make a go of it. that is not the case, at all,

but the problem i think is that for people outside those two major cities, there is this sense that there's not much of a future. in eerie, there is a real renaissance. a mayor has been quite effective in forging a turnaround. we had a building in downtown eerie being built for the first time in 15 years, so i don't want to give a sense that it is hopeless because it isn't, but there is a sense among small cities and in small town, pennsylvania, that the world has passed them by. host: professor, why is historically pennsylvania referred to as one of the bricks in the democratic blue wall? guest: it is a large state with a significant wallop in the. i think in 2008, the coin was

termed "the blue wall." at that time, there were 19 states that a democratic won in four consecutive presidential elections, but pennsylvania, because of its size, it is kind of the linchpin of the blue wall. demographicallan economically, wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania all kind of moved one way or the other, and these are large states that have a significant kind of share of the overall electoral college, and a democrat just test to win these three states -- just has to win these three states historically, and these have been democratic ashton's. it is telling that these are swing states. they are swing states now instead of hard-core blue states that democrats did not really used to have to worry about, especially during the clinton or obama era. they were tightly contested. but it is quite telling that

these are the battleground states now. it is telling because over 50% of the population of these three states are noncollege white voters, and they feel like the economy does not work for them, and the same way that people with a four year college degree in cities feel the economy works for them. host: ronald, new york, undecided. caller: good morning. i love pennsylvania, i have spent some time down there. unfortunately, i think without question, the voting system in pennsylvania is terribly corrupt, terribly corrupt. for example, in 2008, in philadelphia, it was reported that john mccain got zero votes in philadelphia.

and in 2020, when donald trump was ahead by hundreds of thousands of votes, and then in the middle of the night, it changed 180 degrees, and he was behind greatly. i believe that this is totally corrupt in the voting system. host: we will get a reaction from the professor. guest: with all due respect, that is nonsense. i can tell you, my 81-year-old mother, a republican registered mother, worked in erie county courthouse to open the mail-in ballots in 2020. look, if my 81-year-old republican mother is part of this vast conspiracy -- [laughter] it is just laughable. it is just not true.

whoever wins, we need to respect the results, but the idea that the pennsylvania electoral system is corrupt, in erie county, it was republicans who ran the county election office in 2020, wonderful public servants. i had like 10 students working the erie county election office. i suppose if undergraduates are patriotic and doing their job to make democracy work, and might 81-year-old mother are all in cahoots, this is just silly. i just wish we would stop with the silliness. host: doug, florida. caller: hello. i'm calling about the issue on whether a woman could or should be elected as a president. i think that is an issue in florida and pennsylvania. i served as a pastor for more than 43 years, and many of my

evangelical friends spoke to women as equals, and it gave them some leadership. women were listed but all four gospels as the first courageous witnesses by jesus and be present at his resurrection, but other history that is a lot closer to our time is women fought for decades for women's suffrage, and they did not give up until he finally had the right to vote. it was a woman, frances perkins, to do both of fdr's terms, who gave us a lot of help for workers to limit the workweek to 54 hours to abolish child labor, to give us a social security

program for old age insurance, minimum wage laws, unemployment relief for workers. host: i will jump in at that point. professor, what role historically have women played in pennsylvania question mark guest: pennsylvania has never elected a female governor. we have never had a female senator, so the caller shined a light on a forgotten issue. it is undetermined whether the role gender will play with kamala harris and pennsylvania voters. the past tell is it does matter a little bit with some voters who may feel uncomfortable voting for a woman to be president. at the same time, there are a heck of a lot of women in pennsylvania who are fired up to vote for a woman. i imagine this is probably going to be a wash, but it is a

historical fact in pennsylvania that pennsylvania has not been the tip of this fear and electing women to high-profile offices. that is something to keep an eye on. look at the exit polls if harris loses the state. it will be interesting to see rate in a close race, lots of things can make a difference. this is something that could make a difference. i doubt this is going to be decisive, but the caller points to something that has some resonance, especially in pennsylvania's political past. host: we will go to pennsylvania, dennis. you are supporting the vice president. caller: i tried to call in on the pa line, so i called on the democrat line. and i have already voted, i voted the 27th of september by mail, and the professor has touched on a couple of things.

i think people are kind of missing the fact that these rural counties in pennsylvania lost population. one co. lost 1.9% of their population between 2010 and 2020. the western counties in the western part of the state lost 10% of their population, and i believe erie county is where he is from. they lost 5000 in that time. philadelphia and surrounding areas, and center county, i have to laugh along with him and that fellow from new york who called. i just cannot believe there are people out there who have drank the trump kool-aid and believe the lies that have been put out by him. have a nice day, and thank you. host: professor? guest: i think the caller is correct in identifying the fact

that outside of center county, which is where the main state campuses in pittsburgh, there is demographic decline across the state. the industrialization, 1950, 50% of all american jobs were in the rust belt, 50%, and no region of the country has taken it on the chin more than the rust belt. rural western pennsylvania, it might be rural, but there was a lot of good, union jobs. they have just taking it on the chin, and for people who are democrats and harris supporters thinking, how could they? i hear that again and again, support donald trump, donald trump speaks to their issues in a way the democratic party stop doing so. in 2008, barack obama campaigned and had an army of people in 2008 in western pennsylvania, there is a little town outside of area, pennsylvania that is now a donald trump stronghold. barack obama won all four going

away. why? he actually sent people out to campaign, and they made arguments and focused on issues that mattered to white rural small-town pennsylvania's. with the democratic party did after 2008, they quit going there. the democratic party made real efforts in this divide, but this is what people have to understand. if democrats are wondering how could they vote for donald trump, go out to the rust belt and see a lot of economic despair. grandparents would like their grandkids to live down the street, not in nashville. that is a reasonable concern and anxiety. you can disagree about how they vote perhaps, but that is a key in understanding the populist movement on the right and why so many pennsylvanians, in 2016,

someone who never held elected office. host: franklin, carlisle, pennsylvania, decided. why is that? caller: to be honest, i called on the independent line, but i'm not undecided. i'm going to vote for harris. host: what is your question or comment? caller: i'm sorry, because as one of the previous guests, we have been inundated with that, and it is getting on everyone's nerves and they are ready for it to be over, but i have not heard one bit of research or insight. he is a professor, do you have any sort of data, pulling, research to back this up? i hear anecdotal certitude for a guy who has lived in pennsylvania since 2007. host: what specifically are you looking for? on what? caller: first of all,

pennsylvania is not the rust belt. second of all, he keeps describing to pennsylvania with a feeling from what i can tell, is based on nothing other than his stepdaughter goes to school somewhere in philadelphia and he lives in erie county. erie county is as isolated from the rest of pennsylvania as it can get. give me some substance other than your opinion. you have only lived here since 2007. i may attempt generation pennsylvanian. most of us are born and raised here. we don't go anywhere. and i feel a little bit like you are maligning our state and the way we look at the future prospects of our state and our children. if you have something to back that up, i would be grateful to hear it, but i just hear a lot of anecdotes. host: we will get a response. guest: the farthest thing i'm doing is maligning the state. i really enjoy living in pennsylvania, i think it is a

lovely place i have a phd in american political history, i study the history of modern america, erie county as part of the rust belt, the city of philadelphia itself, and baltimore, are also rust belt cities that have been transformed. de-industrialization if the city of philadelphia like a hurricane in the 1970's and 1980's. you can go to philadelphia today, and you can see the way pittsburgh and philadelphia have both transform themselves. pennsylvania, parts of it, are most certainly part of the rust belt. it is a fact that deindustrialization has hit western pennsylvania especially hard. i'm not maligning the state. in fact, i'm trying to argue that there are lots of small towns and small city pennsylvanians who feel left

behind economically. the data is holy and totally clear on this that deindustrialization and globalization have downscaled not just pennsylvanians, but it did downscaled americans of all races disproportionately hard, i have a phd in history, i'm doing well in the 21st century economy, but the people who are not doing well are people without a four year college degree. that is the divide in america, between college and noncollege, and you go outside of philadelphia and pittsburgh, and you have a large portion of people who do not have four year college degrees, and the understandable anger is that the american dream should work for more people than it does now. i'm trying to understand the donald trump phenomenon. and try to maybe help explain to democratic voters what they cannot fully get their minds around. i have nothing but admiration

for pennsylvania. the people are good to me, it is lovely, i just think more people in pennsylvania would like the american dream to work for their family, not just those in philadelphia and pittsburgh with four year college degrees. host: we will go to georgia, donna, supporting the former president. hi, donna. caller: how are you doing this morning? i appreciate c-span so much. host: what is your question or comment? caller: trump, i'm for trump for a number of reasons, and i would like to give my reasons because i think it would help. host: can you give us your top three reasons? caller: yes, i'm for backing the

police because of the crime going on right now. and i believe that trump will support them, and they all support him, and i believe that they will learn more, and in this day and time, to fight the crime that is going on. host: number two question mark caller: number two, the border, we do need to secure our border, and i believe that trump is the one to do that. host: number three? caller: number three is abortion

, i believe that there has been so much animosity about this subject, and i've been against abortion from the very beginning. host: all right, professor? guest: donald trump's electoral coalition is more than rust belt voters who feel left behind. these are classic social conservative issues. that would have been in the reagan column in the 1980's, so there are a lot of social conservatives out there who support donald trump out of social conservative issues that transcend economic concerns. host: cincinnati, ohio. sheila is watching there. supporting the vice president. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i have a comment.

host: what is your comment? caller: my issues are climate change and gun control, which are the least subjects that candidates talk about. number two, the electoral college gerrymandering and lobbying, if they were abolished, we would have a clear house and senate. all one has to do is listen to former president trump, and that would make you decide not to vote for him. he rants, and he really does not say what his policies are. he does not have them posted. kamala harris does on her website. i listen to both of them, and the reason i'm voting for kamala harris is because i like what i'm hearing from her. host: may i ask how old you are? caller: 72. host: climate change and gun control are your top issues?

caller: yes. host: all right. guest: these are issues that concern generally a lot of younger americans in their 20's. there is a lot of liberal activists who placed these at the top of their list. how many times do we hear about school shootings, one can fully understand why gun control would be a top shelf concern. in erie county, where we used to get snowy years, i did not even run my snowblower last year. this is the reality, and in an era which grocery prices have gone up 20%, in a place like erie county, where there are cost-conscious people, and people make less money on average in erie county than the rest of the state, economic concerns are going to be more

important to most voters, and they are very real concerns of gun violence and climate change. that is just the reality. host: what is the most recent history of politics in pennsylvania tell us? where is this date headed? guest: the state is headed pointing and where the whole nation is, that there is a profound rural-urban divide, and the city itself is a democratic stronghold. outside of the city, this is where republicans are gaining momentum. so, we have a real urban divide. we have an urban america dominated five people like myself, and the economy is working really well for us. what many people in my demographic, when we here

the populace, we think, what is the problem? our lives are good. and in rural america, where the economy is not working for the same number of people, they are more open to left and right. bernie sanders did well, better than hillary clinton did in rust belt areas. he won michigan in the primaries for instance. so pennsylvania points to the near-term future of an american politics defined by a rural urban divide between the college and the noncollege. i would argue noncollege americans, and i can fully understand this, what they are saying is they would like the american dream to work for them, as well. this is not every trump voter, as we heard from the caller in georgia. their economic concerns are, that is different, they have a

different reason for voting for trump than others, but in pennsylvania, what we see with the state moving towards republicans, it is in small towns and cities that are not enjoying the fruits of prosperity in the same way that it's bergen philadelphia, we see this in wisconsin, michigan, across the nation, to get out of this hyper partisan spiral, i think what we need is to have a more shared prosperity. your kids should not have to move to a big city in order to get ahead. we need small cities in small-town america to enjoy the fruits of prosperity the same way that big cities do. knowledge worker elites will have to look in the mirror and say, maybe the economy works well for me, but it should also work well for people without a four year college degree. host: professor, we appreciate the conversation, thank you. guest: thank you. i appreciate it. host: we will take a break.

when we come back, we will be an open forum. we can continue talking about campaign 2024 or policy, as well. there are the phone numbers on your seen. start dialing in ♪ >> with one of the tightest basis for control of congress in modern political history, stay ahead with c-span's comprehensive coverage of key state debate. this fall, c-span rings you access to the top house, senate and governor debates from across the country, debates from races that are shaping your states future and the balance of power in washington. follow our campaign 2024 coverage from local to national debates anytime online at c-span.org/campaign and watched tuesday, november 5 for live, real-time election night results.

c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. >> book tv, every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, the inector general for the departmentf defense and justice under president clinton, gege w. bush, obama and trump, talks about corruption in the u.s. government and the role that inspector general's plate in a democratic system in his book "watchdogs." the former navy seal shares his book "targeted: beirut," where he and his co-author look back at the 1983 u.s. marine barracks bombing that took the lives of 241 service members. at 10:00 p.m. eastern on afterwards, a republican congressman michael wal talks about serving in afghanistan and

how his military career influenced his decision making inis book "hard truths." he is interviewed by paul mccleary. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.or >> this election night, c-span deliver something different, not just the presidential race but the state races that will decide the balance of power in congress. no political pundits, no spin, no commercial, just candidates, the results, and you. follow c-span beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern, live tuesday, november 5 on tv, online, or on the free c-span now video app. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back this friday

morning. we are less than two weeks away from election day. the polls show a tight race, and candidates are making closing arguments with voters. you are welcome to talk about politics, anything related to campaign 2024 or policy, as well. those are the lines on your screen. we will go to your first, donnie, what is on your mind? caller: i think the democrats are looking at kamala harris as a trojan horse. host: chicago, rodney, democrat. caller: hello, c-span. how are you? i was listening to our guest, and he was saying that the people in pennsylvania feel left out. i would like to know, whose fault is that that they feel left out that they are not fitting in with the economy or

what is going on? as a black man from illinois, whose fault is that? thank you. host: what is your point? whose fault is it? caller: that is my point, i really do not know what it is, but for that guy to say that the people in pennsylvania feel left out, well, as a black man, we have been feeling left out since 1500 and before that, so i'm just trying to figure out where they came up with that and i hate that i missed that. thank you. host: sabrina, asheville, north carolina, independent. caller: first, i would like to start off by saying i'm native american, and i don't agree with the way the city was run. my city was hit by a hurricane, we are devastated. that woman, kamala harris, has done nothing but insult us. at least trump tried to help us.

i have had it with this. you can clearly see that woman does not like american people, and i do not want her in that office. i'm a mother, i don't support abortion rights, nor do i know anybody who does. i do want that border i'm sick and tired of going out my door and being harassed because i'm an american citizen. this election is going to make a lot of decisions. we have got russia gearing up with korea. we are going to have to have someone strong enough to take that on, and she is not strong enough to do that, so unless they want full out war, they better put a strongman, trump, in there because at least he has the connections when we go to war with russia. that is what i have to say about that. host: maryland, republican, hi, wesley. caller: good morning. i wanted to make a couple of points. one was gas prices of the trump

administration, we were paying the same amount, somewhere around $78 a barrel for fuel, and during the biden administration, they are still paying $78 a barrel. we are being ripped off and extorted. they also got 50 million barrels of strategic oil reserves that the added to it in ethanol. i have a landscaping company, and my chainsaws, all brand-new equipment, things like that, they don't run well on this fuel because they have put so much ethanol in it. newer cars, they don't feel them as much because they have equipment that changes things, but we are being burned here. it is creating about economy, and it is passing down to the diesels and all these other things that are making it so we cannot possibly win under an administration trying to find out new ways to tax us.

the other thing, i lost my son in 2022 to fentanyl, he was my only child, and i have got to tell you now, it is a direct result of the cartels and these drugs with fentanyl coming over. at the end of the day, whether or not they are taking the fentanyl, i'm coming over on their backs or not, they are creating a network of people, and i love hispanics, it is not that, but the people involved in those gang activities are in our towns, creating a big problem for all of our kids. we have no chance. our kids have no chance against them. we need to secure that border. host: wesley and maryland, republican. i'm sorry for your loss. caller: thank you. host: we are in open forum, talking about any public policy

or political issue. as we said, the candidates and their surrogates are on the campaign trail with 11 days to go. across the country, a lot of appearances in battleground states. bruce springsteen endorsed the vice president and two campaigning in georgia, and in atlanta, this is what he had to say. >> i'm bruce springsteen, and i'm here today to support kamala harris in tim walz for president and vice president of the united states. and i'm here to oppose donald trump and jd vance. here is why. i would like a president who reveres the constitution, who does not threaten that would like to protect and guide our

great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power. , who will fight for a woman's right to choose. and who would like to create a middle-class economy that will serve all of our citizens. there is only one candidate in this election who holds those principles dear, kamala harris. she is running to be the 47th president of the united states. donald trump is running to be an american tyrant. he does not understand this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply american. and that is why november 5, i'm casting my vote for kamala harris and tim walz. [end video clip] host: bruce springsteen's

endorsement of the vice president 10 governor tim walz. this morning -- vice president harris and governor tim walz. sabrina, los angeles, democrat. caller: hello, i'm from california. my issues are the fact that there are no morals with the republican party or donald trump. my issue is when a person is sitting up and lying directly to your base, i don't understand how you can be receptive to a person right it is like your child, if your child is going to lie to you to your base, you will not accept that read this man is into child. he knows what he's doing. it is very unfair that he does the things and is doing the things he has been doing now many years, i just the last 10, but for many years, that he has been doing all of this.

he talks about people and demeans people so badly. it is so unfair. he has something kind to say about anyone. if you do not agree with him, he will cut you off at the neck. host: sabrina staats in california paid margie, publican, pennsylvania -- california. margie, republican, pennsylvania. caller: ok, i'm definitely going for donald trump. just like the caller said before me, it just really cracked me up with the division in this country. you know, the name-calling, he is this, he is that. he does not say what he is standing four, he clearly does. maybe they are watching the wrong channel, you have to watch fox to get the truth. i like his policy, kamala

does not have what it takes to run the country. you talk about lies, this and that, she cannot even answer a question. luckily, i'm from pennsylvania, battleground state, so i will vote for trump. host: you can watch the former president's rallies this campaign cycle on our website at c-span.org, online, on-demand. part of our campaign 2024 coverage, you can find all of his rallies on the website. most of them, along with rallies of his opponent vice president harris. their running mates have also been on the trail campaigning, and then, of course, people like bruce springsteen, and others on the republican side campaigning

for their candidates, all online, and on our free video mobile app. you can take your political coverage on the go, watch it anywhere at any time. host: ed, chapel hill, north carolina, independent. you are next. caller: thank you. host: we are listening. caller: i just wanted to say about your loss caller, talking about the urban-rural divide, people with a college degree, this is bogus. it is every american who is fit enough to physically join the united states military, they will get a college degree, they will train you in some very good jobs, and once you get out, you use your benefits to get a college degree with no debt and, you know, you can reach the american dream. when i started, my parents were

barely above the poverty level. i'm now doing exceedingly well. in fact, even in the military, there was an officer who enlisted and taught them how to invest in the stock market. i've done that since i was 19 years old, i always put 10% of what i made in the market. my first year in the army, i was making $440 a month. nevertheless, $40 every month went into the market. so no issue. as far as literary support for the orange clown, i took an oath to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. it had no expiration date. thank you. host: independent caller, ed, north carolina there. an update on c-span toda

president biden from the new york times, lking about native american boarding sools, we have the remarks on c-span, on our free video app, and online at c-span.org, the headline about the president's visit, and he will be there to apologize to indian boarding schools were hundreds of children had died. it is the first time that an american president has apologized for the abuses that happened at the schools over 150 years, the president of the new york times noting that he is making a trip to the battleground states of arizona. part of our political coverage the former president donald trumpbe in austin, texas and he willear on the joe rodcast and will talk to the press that 1:30 eastern heard we will have coverage c-span2, c-span now, and online

at c-span.org. also todayvice president is i houston, texas, both candidates in the state of texas, and her rally, reproductive rights rally, where beyonce will be attend is at 830 10 p.m. eastern time. you can watch that coverage on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. we will go to sheila, pennsylvania, republican. we are in open forum. caller: hi. i just wanted to let everyone know, i'm retired and i live in pennsylvania, and i watch a lot of c-span. i'm fortunate that way, and i did hear on c-span, which a lot of other networks, where i have not heard anywhere else, letting people know that donald trump's campaign started a gofundme for the hurricane victims, and that

raised around $7 million, so anyone who can donate, please do so. i would like to make people aware with everything they have going on, they took the time for the gofundme page, and those poor people down there need all the help they can get. that was really nice of them to do that. everybody, take care. host: why are you a republican? caller: for a long time i was independent, i voted for obama twice, i voted for clinton, bush, i'm 71. but when i was growing up, the democratic party was more for the average working people, and the republican people at that time without his as the elite party, but i did see some change somewhat, and i tend to be more concerned about our country

getting to liberal. and i would just like to bring back the values that this country had when i was a child. host: how did you vote in 2016 and 2020? caller: i voted for trump in 2016, and in 2020, i did not get a chance to vote. host: do you have any concerns about voting for the former president? caller: no, i really don't. i know he doesn't have the polish politicians usually have, although i think he has at times gotten better, but i like his ideas. i think we need to have a closed border. i don't have a problem with immigration. my mother was first-generation here from scotland, but the came through ellis island. they did not just come through an open border. i think we need to get back to

some commonsense things. we cannot have people pouring in, it is not safe for us or for them. it is just terrible. things are getting out of hand. and somebody needs to step up and do some common sense, really, i'm a moderate, thinking, but we never seem to have moderates anymore in politics. it is either clear to the left or right. host: how will you vote in the senate race in pennsylvania? caller: i'm going to vote for dave mccormick. host: bob casey -- caller: i feel that bob casey, i cannot deal with some of his decisions as far as allowing transgender's to be playing with girls and their teams. host: how devoted in previous elections -- have you voted for

the senator in previous elections? caller: yes, i have. host: sorry, sheila, i'm going to run because we have a few minutes left and i will get in will, democratic caller, virginia. caller: morning. i would like to challenge anybody out there to take a look at what is going on with trump, with his war between china and the american people, for the american people to buy what we would like to buy. we have the power of the purse. i have three american-made model reveals, a pontiac, dodge ram 1500 pickup, and a chrysler caravan. they are all over 100,000 miles. also, i have a toyota camry. so i made a choice to buy

toyota, china did not make me buy it, they did not promise me a free vehicle or anything like that. for some reason, people have the mind that trump says china is forcing them to buy their products. it is wrong. he is going to increase the tariffs, he's going to make the parts increase and the cost of the vehicle higher, so high that someone -- i'm retired, 67 years old -- if i wanted to buy a new vehicle, i have got to go back to work. i remember the days when dodge and chrysler were made by dodge and chrysler. now i think it is the lantus that owns and produces chryslers, dodges and fiats, but i also remember rca, xena's,

electronics, motorol -- now it is being taken out of business by sony products. host: alright, i'm going to go to robin in new york, independent . thank you. go ahead. caller: ok, so i don't mean disrespect, but you know who carl bernstein is, right? he does not have a college degree, one of our greatest journalists. this is no disrespect, but you have anybody working for "washington journal" without a college degree. host: i don't know off the top of my head. what is your point? caller: my point is the country has gotten so messed up that teamsters are not voting, the teamster party is not endorsing either party, and people like myself, who don't make a lot of money, we don't see anybody to vote for.

both parties, you have got the democrats, and i used volunteer for the democrats, i was told the other day that because i don't have kids, should not be working with them. i looked at the people, thinking, this is insane. i've been doing what i do for a living for over 30 years. but average people, you should be able to move up in america without a college degree. it is one of -- if one of -- one of our greatest journalists of all time did not have a college degree. it should be a path for everybody. i don't see either party making one. host: thank you for watching today and participating in today's "washington journal." we will be back tomorrow, 7:00 a.m. eastern time. ♪

>> later today, president bid will formally apologize for the indigenous child for more than 150 years into boarding schools where many were it physically, emotionally and sexually abused in man 950 died. the interior secretary deb haaland launched an investigatto the boarding school shortly after she became the first native american to lead the agency. shwill be outside phoenix with the president at 1:30 p.m. eastern. the speech is live on c-span and will be the first diplomatic visit to the tribe landed since becoming commander-in-chief. >> c-span is your unfiltered

view of government, funded by these television companies and more, including cox. >> cox is there to help bring you affordable internet to family in need. we -- whenever and wherever it is needed the most, we will be there. >> cox spos c-span as a public service, along with these other televisi pviders, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> with 11 days until the election, we have a full day of life campaign coverage. on c-span, the vice presidential nominee tim walz holds a rally in scranton, pennsylvania at 6:30 p.m.. tonight at nine to 30, vice presidential -- vice president hold a rally in houston. and donald trump will speak to

reporters about immigration and border security during a visit to austin, texas. at 2:30 on c-span 2, jd vance speaks to voters at a campaign event and raeford, north carolina. you can also watch these events live on c-span now, our free mobile app or online at span.org. >> the republican presidential nominee donald trump talked about immigration before supporters in tempe, arizona and criticized his democratic challenger on her immigration policy and called for the death penalty for any illegal immigrant found guilty of homicide. this is about an hour.