captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening, i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, the pandemic and the polls-- how the presidential campaigns are approaching this final stretch to election day. then, we explore what's behind this latest spike in covid cases across the country. plus, the politics of fear-- how this one emotion is overwhelming voters in the final stretch before election day >> what does all this use of fear do, what does it mean to voters? we asked on social media, and the response was overwhelming. thousands of people answered, surprising us with the intensity of their fears related to the election. >> nawaz: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: the presidential race is getting into crunch time tonight, and the candidates are all over the map. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor reports on how the trump and biden camps began their week.

>> alcindor: it's 15 days until the election. and for both campaigns, every day left is critical. >> what's up florida! >> alcindor: senator kamala harris, the democratic vice presidential hopeful, went to orlando and jacksonville, florida to encourage turn out as early voting began. harris just came out of quarantine after some of her campaign staffers tested positive for covid-19. >> healthcare justice is on the ballot in 2020. reproductive justice is on the ballot in 2020. criminal justice reform is on the ballot in 2020. climate reform is on the ballot in 2020. everything is on the ballot in 2020. joe bin is on the ballot in 2020. when we vote, we win. when we vote, we change things, we make it better, we know our power. >> alcindor: harris' running mate, former vice president joe biden, stayed off the campaign trail today. he's prepping for his final

debate with president trump, on thursday night. today, the president went from rally to rally in the west. he left las vegas and traveled to arizona, appearing in prescott and tucson. at the stop in prescott, video showed long, largely unmasked, lines forming with supporters waiting to see president trump. cases in arizona have surpassed 230,000. the president again gave his pitch on the administration's handling of the pandemic. >> the pandemic will soon end. it's rounding the corner. we saved two million lives or more. two million lives. we did a great job. we never got credit for it. we hped all of the states and the governors. some did a great job, some did a horrible job. >> alcindor: but in a new ad from the biden campaign launched sunday, the former v.p. takes aim at president trump's handling of the virus. the ad highlights bars and nightlife struggling to stay afloat. meanwhile, president trump attacked his own infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, after he said this to "60 minutes":

>> were you surprised that president trump got sick? >> absolutely not, i was worried that he was going to get sick when i saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowd, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. >> alcindor: today in a phone call with campaign staff and some reporters listening in, the president called fauci and other health experts "idiots." he said americans are ready to move on and are "tired of covid." in the meantime, the biden team used the weekend for more socially distanced campaign appearances. the vice president made a masked milkshake stop at a restaurant in durham, north carolina, where he also hosted a drive-in rally. >> you're gonna make all the difference here in north carolina, the choice is clearer as it's ever been and the stakes have never been higher. >> alcindor: further signs that a pandemic demanding a national effort is dominating a polarized election. meanwhile, the president's

director of national intelligence weighed in over unfounded claims about vice president biden's son, hunter. last week, a "new york post" article alleged that joe biden was involved in his son's reign business dealings while he was serving as vice president. those allegations stem from emails the post obtained. but employees there told the "new york times" that the article was published despite staff reservations about its credibility. the democratic chair of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, suggested the claims are russian disinformation. but today, director ratcliffe told fox news that is not true. >> the intelligence community doesn't believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. and we have shared no intelligence with chairman schiff, or any member of congress, that hunter biden's laptop is part of some kind of russian disinformation campaign. it's simply not true. >> alcindor: more tension between campaigns, in the run up to thursday night's debate. >> nawaz: the battle over ballots also continues. a federal appeals court ruled today that texas officials may

reject any mail-in ballot if they question the signature, without notifying the voter. but in north carolina, the opposite: the state elections board ordered local boards to contact voters on fixing some 10,000 absentee ballots with problems. meanwhile, back in washington, negotiations for coronavirus relief continue. to help make sense of the back and forth, i'm joined by our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor and congressional correspondent lisa desjardins. >> nawaz: good to see you both. lisa, let's start with you. it has been a long time since americans have seen any kind of relief from a covid reliebill coming out of congress. what's the latest on the negotiations right now? >> well, just in the last couple of hours, another glimmer of hope. treasury secretary mnuchin and speaker of the house nancy pelosi had another phone conversation lasting under an hour. they sade they have nar

narrowed their differences. and nancy pelosi is asking her committee chairman to speak to their republican counter-parts on the senate side and for those two to work out differences in those specific areas. it is a good sign, but nancy pelosi says it has to come to bear, has to be outlined, by tomorrow night. it is not clear with all of their differences, including state and local money, unemployment money, child care help, that they can get that done by tomorrow. and another factor, amna, there are a lot of dynamics for both sides that may discourage a deal. if you look at this graphic, you can see for house democrats, some believe they will have more leverage and power after the election. they think things in the house and senate may be moving their way. on the other hand, for senate republicans, they are divided over a larger aid package all together. and the white house itself, however, would like something to get done

by november 3rd. the clock is ticking fast. >> nawaz: lisa, pick up on what she was saying there, the deadline is happening now. what is the president inking when it comes to a possible deal? >> well, 15 days before election day, the president is really, really eager to get some sort of deal done. he wants to be able to point to the american people and say, this is what i got done for you here, and the people who are struggling, maybe because you lost your job. he wants to say your president is working with you. i was able to work with democrats and get this done. but the problem is president trump has been, sometimes, a wrinkle in all of these. today he was saying he thinks that nancy pelosi is the one who doesn't want this done before the election, saying essentially she wants to play politics with the timing. another thing to note is democrats and republicans are still far apart. democrats are 2.2 trillion dollars, and the white

house said 1.8 trillion. but the white house hasn't actually made that offer to republicans and made that offer to democrats. and other thing to note is that the president has outlined how he is going to get senate republicans to work with him. he said he promised he would be able to get senate republicans on board, but we don't know what the conversations are. this is about the president wanting to able to push and make promises. and the other thing that is key is the numbers are off on some key areas. it is about school and state funding, about whether or not the unemployment benefits will be able to be on the same page with the republicans and the democrats. so the president is playing a large role, but that role continues to shift and change. so we continue to see a glimmer of he, but there are a lot of things not done. >> nawaz: a lot of things not done, and the back and forth continues, a lot of people in desperate need of the help. that is lisa desjardins and yamiche alcindor. thank you to you both.

>> naz: in the day's other news, confirmed cases of covid-19 around the world topped 40 million. more than eight million of those are in the united states, with more than 70,000 new infections a day, the most since late july. in chicago, mayor lori lightfoot made a public appeal to slow virus spread. >> i understand that a lot of sacrifices have been made over these many months. and i also understand the fatigue factor that people have. but folks, given what we're seeing and t incredible escalation of the rates of cases every day, this is not a tim when we can indulge in covid fatigue. >> nawaz: also today, the nation's top military leaders were cleared to return to work. they had gone into quarantine when a senior coast guard official tested positive for the virus earlier this month.

we'll take a closer look at the wave of new covid cases, after the news summary. the justice department today charged six russians with hacking everything from the 2017 french elections to the 2018 winter olympics to u.s. hospitals. the indictment says all six were or still are officers in russian military intelligence, known as the "g.r.u." that same agency targeted democratic party e-mails in the 2016 u.s. election, but the men accused today are not implicated in that hacking. the u.s. supreme court will hear challenges to two of president trump's key immigration policies. today, the justices agreed to consider the so-called "remain in mexico" rule, that's forced thousands to wait, south of the border, while the u.s. considers their asylum claims. the court will also review the diversion of pentagon money for border wall construction. lower courts ruled against both policies. in thailand, protesters against the monarchy and the government filled streets in bangkok tonight.

thousands held up cell-phones in a massive light show, defying a ban on gatherings of more than four people. officials tried to censor news of the protests, and the embattled prime minister made a public appeal. >> ( translated ): there is no plan to expand the state of emergency. the government is trying to compromise as much as possible. i ask this: don't destroy government and private property, don't do anything wrong and most importantly don't let there be fighting. >> nawaz: the thai government also threatened legal action against anyone who promotes the protests on social media. there's been new unrest in belarus as well, over allegations of a rigged election. several thousand retirees marched today, a day after more than 50,000 people turned out in minsk. riot police blocked main roads as protesters gathered on sunday. they accused president alexander lukashenko of stealing the august election, and demanded that he resign. he has run the country for 26 years.

the u.s. special envoy to afghanistan is warning about a new spate of violence. zalmay khalilzad says peace talks between the afghan government and the taliban could be derailed. a taliban offensive hit helmand province, and triggered u.s. air strikes. and on sunday, a suicide car bombing in ghor province killed 13 people and wounded 120. back in this country, firefighters in colorado are battling a fast-moving blaze that's burned more than two dozen homes near boulder. the so-called "cal-wood" fire ignited saturday and was fanned by strong winds. about 3,000 people are under evacuation orders, including an entire small town. the largest fire in the state's history is also still burning, west of fort collins, but it's 62% contained. and, on wall street, stocks slumped as hopes faded for new economic relief before election day. the dow jones industrial average

lost 410 points to close at 28,195. the sdaq fell 192 points, and, the s&p 500 gave up 56. still to come on the newshour: another spike in covid cases and its impact across the country. how caregivers are struggling in the time of covid. why fear is a motivating factor in these final weeks of the election. and much more. >> nawaz: the current surge in u.s. covid cases means both infections and hospitalizations are now soaring in places that were previously less affected by the pandemic. many of them are rural, less populated areas in the midwest, plain states and out west. we start with voices from a pair of states at are now on the front lines of battling the

virus. one is the chief medical officer and an emergency room physicia of a health care system in great falls, montana; the other a nurse practitioner in bismarck, north dakota. both states right now have some of the highest infection rates per capita in the country. >> and i'm an emergency physician, as well as a chief medical officer. the things that make things different a little bit here in montana is the distance. it is such a huge state, that most of our residents live in very rural areas. there are, you know, several large hospitals throughout the state, but we don't have the luxury of having multiple large spitals in every city. the limiting capacity, or the limiting factor throughout the state, is going to be i.c.u. beds. once somebody becomes ill enough to require i.c.u.-level care, that number of beds thrghout the state is finite. that is what we're trying

to manage. they, unfortunately -- that's not a short stay in the i.c.u. it is a long stay, and so the volume gradually increases to the point where it really becomes an issue. it is certainly concerning to see numbers of 500, 600, 700 new cases a day in the state. i know that doesn't sound like a lot to many parts of the country, but when you're resources are limited, like they are, it doesn't take more than just a few hundred patients a day to have a number of really, really ill people all at once. and so, yeah, i'm hoping -- i'm hoping people will come around to believe that this is real because it certainly is. i've got staff working just endlessly trying to take care of patients. and when we hear people not taking this seriously, it's a little disheartening. we don't see the numbers slowing down, at least not yet. i'm hoping it will start to taper off here.

my concern is going forward into respiratory season, flu, colds, r.s.c., it is that time of year. when we combine it with something like this, it makes me a little nervous about going through the next three or four months. >> my name is renae welhouse. i'm a nurse practitioner here in bismarck, north dakota. i'm currently here in north dakota, and we're seeing a surge in covid patients. i'm from hee, and i'm born and raised in north dakota. usually we are able to escape under the radar. seeing this is definitely new, it is surprising. but we wake up every day and face the new challenges and somehow overcome it to face another day. when we have a patient on the covid unit, we require isolation. and they're isolated from their family at their greatest time of need. that becomes very

difficult. as health care providers, we provide and try to bridge that communication and try to bridge and provide that emotional support not only for our patients, but also for the patients' family members because they aren't able to come and sit at the side of the bed and hold their hand. you know, the biggest thing is the unpredictability of covid. we don't know a lot about it. we learn something every single day. we don't know how the patient is go to present. the unpredictability of symptoms, who is going to present with fever and chills. who is just going to have loss of taste. who is going to have decreased respiratory status? and then learning how to manage those symptoms, and then how are those symptoms going to progress? how fast are they going to, if they do progress, to needing a ventilator? and we've opened up another unit to try to accommodate, not only for what we're dealing with right now, but for what we

think the future will bring us. >> nawaz: let's talk more about that surge that we just heard about in north dakota, montana, and many other states, and what can be done as the country is back to coping with 70,000 new cases a day. dr. michael osterholm is a director of the center for infectious disease research and policy at the university of minnesota, and he joins me now. welcome back to the "newshour." help us understand now, the majority of states are seeing another increase in cases, new record daily highs in some places, and why is this happening right now? >> doctor: well, we actually have a convergence of factors that are making for what is going to be the darkest part of the pandemic over the course of the next 12 weeks. first of all, pandemic fatigue is happening. many people who believed in april and may that they had to take steps to keep from getting infected and did and didn't get infected, thought we have kind of dodged this

bullet, and now, by labor day, has come to the point where i'm done with the virus, even though the virus is not done with them. and then we have a growing segment of the population that i characterize as having pandemic anger. they don't believe it is real, it is a hoax, and they think it is politically motivated. and when you put that together with indoor air, meaning more people are spending time inside, we know it is enhanced, and we're seeing the perfect storm. weddings, funerals, family reunions, class reunions, city meetings, all of these things are now playing into the transmission of this virus. and last, but no least, is bars and restaurants, which we're opening up more of, not closing them down. we see a tremendous transmission in these areas. so when you add this together, i don't see anything, unless the u.s. population decides they're going to reconsider how to approach this virus, i think between now and the holidays, we're going to have, by far, the largest

number of cases we've seen to date. >> nawaz: when you say the darkest days are ahead, that phrase sticks out to me. what does that look like in the weeks ahead? especially as you mentioned, holidays are coming up, and people may be traveling. >> doctor: first of all, we're going to see these large numbers. we saw in the summer what it looks like to have 70,000 cases a day, and it was only in a few states in trouble. and now many more states will be trouble and the numbers will go higher. and when you listen to the very excellent reports you just had, they talked about opening up new beds. the biggest problem is going to be about new beds. we can get those. what we're running out of is people who expertise in intensive care medicine, doctors, nurses. and when you don't have that kind of expertise at hand, even though have you a bed, you may not get the care that may save your

life. so expect to see the deaths increase. and that's what is going to be a challenge for us. and then, as you said, we're getting closer to the holidays. i have said for months, this is our covid year. expect it to be different. don't try to make it like last year, or hopefully what it will be like next year. based on the number of experiences i've personally been involved with, where young adults take home the virus mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, for some kind of celebration, only to have them come infected and be dead three weeks later. we don't want that to happen at the holidays. so we'll have to reconsider how do we do the holidays? is it time to go home? we all want to see our loved ones, but if we love them, we have to protect those who are older. this will be a huge challenge. >> nawaz: let me talk to you about the message from the administration, that

help is around the corner, hang on, the credi vaccine is coming. when it comes to the vaccine or the end of this pandemic in some way, are we that close? >> doctor: you know, i liken it to be sitting on one side of the grand canyon looking across. if you're considering flying in an airplan thanks for being here is ose. but that is a big, big ditch to get across. we're not going to see any meaningful impact with the vaccine for months, before a vaccines can be approved, and then the first doses roll out to those at highest risk, most notably health care workers, we're talking into the second or third quarter of next year. we don't have any ne new magic drugs. if the monoclonal antibodies are affective, we can only treat few people.

we are still in this for the long haul. we have to got the general public understand that. i think right now one of the most important medicines we can buy for this country is an f.d.r. moment. we need leadership that will sit down and tell us, what is happening, where are we going, and what is our plan to get there. not sugar coat it, not over scare people, but just tell them the truth. right now we just don't have that happening. >> nawaz: doctor, very quickly before we go, you heard the latest criticism from president trump of dr. fauci, saying he and other experts are idiots. what is the impact of that kind of language right now? >> doctor: i'm not sure it has much impact, actually. i think it is baked into the system already. those who know the incredible leadership that tony fauci has provided this country, say what does that comment mean. for those who know him, it reinforces something that is not true. we in public health are going to keep doing our job.

i don't care how many threats we get. our job is to save lives. it may very well be your life we're going to save one day. >> nawaz: that is dr. michael osterholm joining us tonight. thank you so much for being with us. >> doctor: thank you. >> nawaz: we heard earlier from some front line health care workers, but let's turn now to a different kind of essential worker-- a few of the more than 50 million caregivers in this country. providing help to loved ones or clients. we spoke with some volunteer, in-home, and family caregivers to hear what their past few months have been like >> my name's matt. my son ben is a 16 year old with autism. when the pandemic started, ben went from being fairly structured and programmed to all of a sudden having no structure. it was pretty anxiety provoking,

especially for ben, who over time got more and more anxious. >> my name is cecily baker. i am the owner of a business called be patient caregivers. to be a caregiver in this pandemic is all about trust. the families are worried. the covid-19 hit and we're people dying left or right in nursing homes assisted living and in-home that can affect your mental health. >> my name is maria ortiz. i am a volunteer member for the greater cincinnati chapter for the alzheimer's association. my father who passed away from alzheimer's in 2014. it's a way not only to honor his memory, but also to be a voice out there, to say to others you're not alone. there's help. >> my name is emily. my son james was diagnosed with a terminal genetic condition six years ago. we do get 24-hour skilled nursing care. however, with the pandemic, we haven't always had skilled nurses that were cleared to come into the home. you know, you don't have any

escape. you're constantly in that caregiver role. there is no break. there's no rest. >> my name is anne adkinson. i live in oregon and i am the caregiver for my husband, who is a disabled veteran. he served in iraq in 2003. i feel like we kind of got into a groove with the caregiving routine over the last couple of years. but the pandemic has definitely put a wrench in all of that with having the kids home. >> at one point he was so angry that he ended up biting me. and i walked around with a bruise on my shoulder for the better part of a month. even though i might not have chosen this, he's made me so much of a better person and brought me joys that i never thought i could have and sadness that i didn't expect either. but it's also taught me a lot about life. >> so they want to know what are we putting in a place to make sure that their loved one is safe. we are getting our caregivers tested and we have asked the families if they would like to

join. >> caretakers feel that they are not doing the proper care sometimes or they're not going beyond what they should be doing. and that burden is very heavy. and now with the suation of cvid 19, having people coming and supporting the caretaker has been a little bit more limit due to, you know, the fear of contagion. >> as a family, my husband was laid off. his position was in a factory. and so we've had that financial hit. so me and my husband have been tag-teaming. i typically take a day shift. he typically takes night shift. my son does require 24-hour care. he cannot be left alone because of the respirato and breathing issues. due to the fact that covid is primarily a respiratory disorder, it's made our movements very restricted. >> with military and veteran caregivers. there's five and a half million of us in our country and we provide $14 billion a year in free care for our veterans.

little things and know reaching out, even just saying, hey, i'm at target. can i pick something up for you? saves me so much time and it just helps me feel suprted. >> nawaz: for a deeper look at the toll the pandemic has taken on our nation's caregivers, judy woodruff spoke recently with dr. jennifer olsen, executive director of the rosalynn carter institute for caregiving. >> woodruff: jennifer olsen, welcome to the newshour. these stories from caregivers, people who te care of others, it's just overwhelming. it takes your breath away and they're normally the kin of stories we don't hear. i mean these happen in the privacy of families. >> the stories we just heard are often bedroom or kitchen table conversations, despite the fact that there are over 50 million caregivers in this country. and that was the number before covid-19.

>> woodruff: but give us a sense of the range of things caregivers are called on to do and what it can mean when the day knows no end yet? >> i think what we have heard is increases in stress in this time of covid with a couple of main drivers, fears about someone getting sick themselves. so they want to be able to provide the care that they do, they do for others. individuals worried about their care recipient getting sick. lack of access to services, as we just heard, people unable to come into the home or day programs not being available last week read at least a report. caregivers in crisis, which is a hard read, but not surprising. over 80% of the caregivers we talked to mention this increased stress for the reasons i described, as well as fears about a lack of ability to go for medical treatments or appointments that they were expecting to bring their loved one to. so the stress is compounding.

>> woodruff: and the work that these caregivers do. it's not as if they can be socially distanced when they are doing some of the most personal kinds of help that you can imagine. >> that's right. and i think many caregivers had created structures that gave them respite or breaks, even the drive to the grocery store provided a moment of break for returning to their caregiver role. those breaks are not available. the services that people relied on for certain people who came into your home not as available. >> woodruff: you, the rosalynn carter institute has called this an emergency room moment for caregiving. what did you mean by that? >> i'm a public health person, and in public health, we constantly try to keep people out of the emeency room, whether through prevention or education and awareness campaigns or mild treatment options. unfortunately, caregivers tend to reach out for help or get support when they're at their

stress point, when they are experiencing physical or mental health ailments themselves. i think this is the point for the country to see that caregivers, if supported, won't get to those stress points, won't show up in that emergency room with their caregiver journey. >> woodruff: what can be done about it? i mean, these are it's not as simple as the government passing one law. i mean, these are people again, it's in it's in the family. it's children. it's the elderly. it's so many different kinds of circumstances. what are the kinds of things that would help them? >> our work for caregivers will require an engagement on thinking at the population level about policies and programs, as well as listening to and learning from individual care givers stories. it's at this intersection that but you're right, judy. this is going to take effort among different sectors, employers engaging directly legislats and law makers, health departments, social service departments and community organizations working

to see caregivers. how often are caregivers thought of? not nearly enough. we don't engage in cariver conversations at many boardrooms and companies acss this country, nor in the hallways of governments at the federal and state level. and that's the change that we're calling for. across this country. there have been caregivers who have immune compromised loved ones that they've figured out innovative solutions for, whether that's drive through services or drop offs, making so wouldn't it be amazing if we started to look to caregivers as the problem solvers that they are and to learn from them? >> woodruff: well, there's no question they are doing extraordinary work, as you say, for millions and millions of americans. jennifer olsen with the rosalynn carter caregiving institute. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you.

>> nawaz: if this election is increasing your anxiety, that may be more than a sign of the times. it may be the result of a conscious political strategy to scare you into a point of view. our lisa desjardins reports on the use of fear in the 2020 campaign. >> desjardins: beneath the 2020 fight, an aggressive undercurrent. >> no one will be safe in biden's america. >> desjardins: fear. used especially by president donald trump, making alarmist, extreme claims. >> it's tremendous violence. no city, town, or suburb will be safe. to save democracy from the mob. then you must vote. >> desjardins: but the president is not alone. >> remember seeing those neo- nazis and klansmen and white supremacists coming out of the fields with lighted torches? veins bulging? >> there is near pervasive talk of threats to your community, your race, to you. >> desjardins: what does all this use of fear do, what does it mean to voters?

we asked on social media, and the response was overwhelming. thousands of people answered, surprising us with the intensity of their fears related to the election. >> i'm concerned that my neighborhood would be targeted or my town would be targeted. >> i'm a breast cancer survivor. so preexisting condition coverage is a huge deal for me. >> whoever gets the election gets the nomination. the other side is going to be mad. and, you know, it's expressed that anger in very violent ways, no matter who wins. >> we might get to a point where they just can't function at all. and it just the whole system comes crashing down. >> i fear a lot. i fear for the future of my kids. >> desjardins: these fears are not being expressed in a vacuum. it is happening amid fear-based campaigning, including ads like this one supporting president trump that tells voters they will not be safe.

>> i think it is fair to say that this election, it's truly spectacular, the extent to which politicians are making fear- based messages. and when i say politicians, i, of course, mean donald trump. >> desjards: dan gardner is the author of "risk: the science and politics of fear." he says both presidential campaigns are using fear. former vice president joe biden focusing on fear of mr. trump, but gardner says it is the president who is using the tactic the most, including implied fears of other races and people not like you, like in july when he spoke of low-income housing. >> your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise. >> desjardins: in truth, times are good in most u.s. suburbs, with years of income growth and safety. but gardner says fear can override the reality, because it works on a primal level. >> we're hardwired to give priority to information about threats. we will always prioritize

negative information. so we'll notice at first. we'll remember it longer and it will be more influential in our subsequent decision making, then will other information. >> desjardins: gardner says scary ads or speeches are affecting you, even if you think they aren't. >> so when you see a political ad and they show you images of a stranger at the door going to knock at it and do god knows what to the innocent person inside, it's going to convince a part of your brain that there is a real threat. they tend to think that they're thinking uniquely among all human beings, isn't influenced by those biases that sometimes >> desjardins: in other words, people believe that everyone else is at risk for being manipulated by fear, but they don't believe that they are. >> exactly. >> desjardins: the fear-based ads are many, like this one from biden's campaign: >> if donald trump gets rid of our healthcare law, my son won't be protected.

>> desjardins: and this from president trump's campaign. >> you have reached the 911 police emergency line. >> desjardins: to some, ads like that about a world where police have no funding are manipulative and false, but to others, they are important and effective. >> it was just on target and one of the best ads i've seen in a long time. >> desjardins: kim alfano is a republican strategist and ad maker. she says that trump campaign ad really resonated with her. that, of course campaigns use fear, for them, it's a powerful tool to point out what could be ahead. >> the fear is bound to happen because that's the way we talk these days. and it's ugly and it's awful. and i wish we didn't. but we do. and, you know, my job and anybody in politics job is we believe that we need to win the race because it's what's good for the country, you know, or else we wouldn't do it. i think it's our job to expose

the stakes. and if that means exposing the fears, then, yes, we absolutely have to do that. >> desjardins: but what does an it can enflame passion but it also can numb people, and misrepresent things like the protests this summer, which were the scale and intensity may be new... >> biden will turn minnesota into a refugee camp. >> desjardins: ...but during the great depression, president franklin delano roosevelt famously rallied the country not by using fear but by naming it as the enemy. >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> desjardins: this brings us back to 2020. what do voters do with all this fear? those we talked with called it out-- they know campaigns are trying to manipulate them. but that is stoking other emotions. >> it makes me angry because.

it makes me feel like they think we're stupid. you know, like we know that's not what it's going to be like if joe biden becomes president or, you know, the streets are going to be on fire. >> it makes me feel like they're it makes me distrust them even more. >> that's a big turn off for me. huge turn off. i think that instead of focusing on solutions, they're just focusing on the problem. >> desjardins: the 2020 race for the white house is about america's problems, but it's also about the politics of fear. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> nawaz: early voting, either in person or by mail, is underway in all 50 states, as both presidential campaigns make their final case to voters. here to analyze each campaign's closing message, our politics monday team. amy walter of the cook political report and host of public radio's "politics with amy

walter." and tamara keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "npr politics podcast." >> nawaz: welcome to you both. good to see you. amy, let's start with you. can you believe it, this final stretch now before election day? look, we've got senator harris back out on the campaign trail. we've got vice president biden prepping for thursday's debate with the president. from the biden campaign's perspective, what is the name of the game in the final days? what should they be focusing on? >> the name of the game is probably stas quo. this is a challenger candidate who is leading his opponent, donald trump, by close to 10, 11points, in the average of national polls. and he is leading by seven or more points in the key battleground states in the midwest. it is a "let's just keep doing what we're doing." and the good news for biden is that the president is actually helping him there.

again, the focus the president has put on denouncing anthony fauci, questioning on a call whether people really care so much about covid, they kind of want to just move on, telling states they need to open, getting into a fight with the governor of michigan, who recently was a target for kidnapping -- these things are helping joe biden because they're focusing on all of the things he has been saying all along in this campaign. one, we need to fix the covid crisis, and we're not going to get anywhere as a country, whether it is on the economy or anything else, until we fix that. so it is still a big deal, despite what the president said. and, two, the president's own rhetoric and his style and his behavior which, for many voters, has become the issue. it has been for quite some time, amna, from the beginning of his presidency. but as we get closer and closer to election day,

voters are starting to say, this is somebody we're going to have to be with more four more years. the president needs to give those voters something different, an assurance that he is going to be able to not just solve the problems, but not divide the country as much as he has been doing. >> nawaz: tam, despite everything amy just laid out, we heard from the president's campaign. he said, we feel better about our pathway to victory than we have at any point in the campaign. what is that optimism based on? what are they doing to close the gap right now? >> they've also been claiming to feel good about the president's standing all along, to be clear. well, what they are arguing is that they have seen movement in voter registration in some key states, with more people signing up as republicans in recent months. the other thing that they say is that they have an amazing ground game, that

they have more than two million volunteers who are knocking on doors and making phone calls. and while the biden campaign basically stopped in-person activities, the trump campaign did not stop in-person activities for very long and has been very actively involved in that ground game. so that is what they are claiming. they are claiming that they do have multiple paths to victory. certainly they don't have any many pths as the biden campaign and former vice president joe biden has. so they're out there. you know, the president is claiming joyfully, campaigning joyfully, but it is not clear whether that is a facade. it seems likely it could be a facade. >> nawaz: let me ask you about him being out there, because you were out with the president, and there was one in mak macon georgia,

big crowds, not a lot of social distancing, very few masks, and there was some crowd surfing, as we're seeing now. what did you hearrom people on the ground there? what is the message that they're hearing from the president, and how is it landing? >> so the thing with president trump is his campaign speeches at this point in the campaign, where he is making one or two stops a day. these speeches are 90 minutes long. he has a message. his campaign has a message. it is not 90 minutes, though. it is a few key catch phrases, like joe biden -- donald trump has done more in 47 months than joe biden has done in 47 years. and there is a another catch phrase, this is a choice between a trump recovery and a biden depression. and these are the president's main points, but they get completely and totally lost in, you knowthe other hour of side tracks and just sort

of random greatest hits, talking about low-flow toilets, or any number of other things that president trump does that his base eats up. and the rallies arabout the base, all about the base. which ties back to the ground game. this isn't about persuasion. this is about getting people to show up and vote for the president, who they know likes the president. >> nawaz: and so, amy, even with both compaigns actively messaging in this way in the final days before election day, we should point out early voting is under way, in some form, in every single state. latest numbers show over 29 million people have already voted. these are folks who have made up their mind, and they're tired of listening to the messages for the most part. when you look at the numbers, what does that say to you about the state of the race? >> it says, hey, we've never voted in a pandemic before. i think a lot of people are banking on getting their votes in because

they don't know what it is going toook like on november 3rd in their own community, and whether they feel safe and going in and standing in what could be a really long line on election day. and they've been conditioned by messages from the party leaders, democrats saying get out and vote early. the president saying, i don't trust this early voting, it is rigged. so i think what we're going to see most likely are more democrats voting early. republicans voting on election day. and we also know that, you know, for many of these states, this is the first time that many of them, especially those in the midwest, have had absentee, no-excuse absentee voting, and many states sent out applications. so there is a lot going on here, amna, and i think the challenge is trying to decier too much from these early votes. i know a lot of folks want to sayf there is a lot of people voting, what does that tell us about maybe who has an advantage going into election day? all i'll say is that both compaigns know exactly who

their universe of voter are and how they wanted to get them to turn out. we saw in 2016, for example, the democrats were feeling great about florida and north carolina in their early-vote programs there. what they found on election day was that the donald trump campaign, their voters came out and the trump voters came out on election day in huge numbers and overcame the big advantage that democrats had on early vote. so what it does tell us, amna, i will say one practical thing, especially in the mid-western states: if the race is really close because of the rules about when ballots can be counted, it may mean we won't know who won in those key battleground states on election night or maybe up to a couple of daysater. >> nawaz: some big, big numbers, as you say. but as you say, we don't yet know what they mean. that is amy walter and tamara keith for politics monday today. good to see you both.

>> good to see you. >> nawaz: almost two-thirds of americans say that social media has a mostly negative impact on the country, according to a recent pew research center study. they report concerns like the spreading of misinformation, hate speech, and only listening to people you agree with. so how can you really break apart those echo chambers? make a friend. tonight, author and journalist christine pride shares her humble opinion on the importance of ierracial friendships. >> i wonder if you've ever had a black person to your home for a social visit. i know the answer is probably no, because most people can count their black friends not just on one hand, but with one finger. and i know this to be true because i am often that person"" the one black friend."

and as much as i love and adore all my white friends that role can get a little old. the fact that most people don't have a friend of another race speaks to our segregated society, but also our mplacency. many people, many white people, could easily go their whole lives without ever getting to know someone of another race. which requires effort. making a new friend is hard, period, making a friend of another race is harder yet. you don't have the ease of common experience and instant camaraderie. for black people going out of our way to make a white friend requires enormous trust. it could, after all, be only a matter of time before said friend revls "their true colors." it's much easier to conclude, why bother? well, we a have to bother. these relationships are important. even the most well-intentioned, well-meaning white person isn't going to get the same benefits researching and reading about race, though you still should do that, as hearing about the personal experiences of someone you respect, admire and trust. and this is not to say that

white people should go seek out strangers or acquaintances and say, tell me about your black experience-do not do that. that's not friendship, that's a transaction. real friendship means a willingness to listen carefully, and have your views challenged- because your black friend doesn't see the world the same way you do. it's going to require you to do the important work of earning and offering trust so that if you make a mistake or misstep- and that's likely-you will have some good will to fall back on. but before even that, it starts with stepping outside your comfort zone-- a diverse social circle isn't going to fall in your lap. you're going to have to think carefully about where you live, and where your children go to school, the activities you participate in, because if you're only around people who look like you, it's going to be all but impossible to create a meaningful connection with someone of another race. ultimately, these friendships are going to require putting actions behind intentions.

>> nawaz: aing tonight on pbs," tell me more with kelly corrigan," co-produced by the newshour. this week kelly talks to actress and entrepreneur jennifer garner, who opened up about her mother, and her pride in where she came from. >> tell me about your parents. >> my parents are just salt of the earth. my mom grew up really poor, locust grove, oklahoma, on a farm. i said to her "mom, does it bother you when i talk about your poverty, as a child, does th bother you?" and she said: "i'm never ashamed of growing up poor, or rather, i am amazed by the grace and dignity that my parents had throughout my childhood." and i just thought, "oh, well, okay." yeah. she was a mom and a mom who went back to school and got her graduate degree when was little. and then she taught at west virginia state.

for a long time, she taught kind of remedial reading where she had a lot of kids who had traveled through the public- school system in west virginia and were in college, but were also illiterate. >> nawaz: that's "tell me more with kelly corrigan," tonight on pbs. and as we close tonight, a congratulations to our special correspondent jane ferguson. along with "new york times" journalist nicholas kristof, jane is receiving the inaugural aurora humanitarian journalism award for her reporting. jane has reported on humanitarian issues for the newshour from yemen, afghanistan and lebanon. the award is inspired by our own judy woodruff and her former co- anchor, the late gwen ifill. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

>> the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.

more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone. welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> we have done an amazing job and it is rounding the corner. >> what is he doing? nothing. he's still not wearing a mask. >> after head to head town halls, who will voters trust to take care of america's health amid this pandemic? andy slavitt ran medicaid and medicare for president obama. >> peace cannot be impoessed. the sire f peace needs to come from within. >> turning swords into plow shares. gary knight and rob written wrig, robin wright join me.