white suburban voters to re-elect him. from the looks of all of the available information, with only two months to go, the president is in an increasingly weak position. "the new york times" puts it like this. no president has entered labor day weekend as such a clear underdog since george bush in 1992. >> the u.s. unemployment rate is still at 8.4%. today, the united states recorded 190,000 deaths from the coronavirus. let me repeat that. 190,000 dead americans. there's unrest in cities across the nation over police brutality and racial injustice. and now the president is on defense after a report in "the atlantic" late last week that he called americans who died in battle "losers and suckers." those are the headwinds the president is facing, as a new cbs news/ugov. national poll of likely voters has joe biden

leading president trump 52-42. it should come as no surprise that the president is trying to recast his economic handling of the economic damage suffered because of the coronavirus and the damage itself. the president held a prmps at the white house today to do just that, but he had some trouble sticking to the facts. he painted an overly rosy picture of the economy, even though just over half of the 22 million total jobs lost between february and april have still not returned. and he struggled to defend himself against accusations that his push for a covid vaccine has focused more on politics than science. >> your point is that what they're saying is that they're saying it for political purposes. >> yes. >> you have asserted repeatedly that a vaccine will be on the market before the election. >> no, i didn't say they will. i said by the end of the year. >> the same thing -- >> but you're not quoting me

accurately. i said that vaccines will be on the market by the end of the year, but they may even be on the market, they even may fully developed, tested, everything else. >> for the record, the president just floated a november 1st delivery date for a vaccine last week. he even said it might come before a very special day. earlier in that news conference -- again, that's before election day. meanwhile, joe biden made his seventh trip to pennsylvania since the pandemic. and he also focused on coronavirus, defending himself against accusations that he doesn't want a vaccine because it would hurt his election chance chances. >> i want full transparency on a vaccine. one of the problems is the way he's playing with politics, he's said so many things that aren't true and worried if we do have a really good vaccine, people will be reluctant to take it. so he's undermining public confidence. but pray to god we have it. if i could get a vaccine tomorrow, i would do it.

if it cost me the election, i would do it. we need a vaccine and need it now. you have to listen to the scientist scientists. >> in a few moments, joe biden will be meeting with afl-cio's president and the labor day weekend marks another first for the campaigns. this is the first time both candidates for vice president are on the trail on the same day in the same state. vice president mike pence and senator kamala harris are on opposite ends of wisconsin, a battleground state, increasingly essential to president trump's electoral math. a cbs/yougov. poll shows joe biden ahead of the president 50-44. senator harris is making her first trip to the battleground state since joining the ticket. she's expected to speak at a roundtable with black business leaders and pastors in milwaukee

later this hour. we'll bring you those remarks live once they happen. leading off our discussion this hour are both robert gibbs, press secretary in the obama administration, and christina grier, associate professor at political science at fordham university. both of you, welcome. i noticed in the news conference, and there was a ton to talk to, the president kept saying that his first and only priority is to keep americans safe. and that's why he's been touting this vaccine. but at the same time, he's not wearing a mask. he's not social distancing at his rallies. in fact, he's encouraging people not to wear masks. look at this exchange he had with one of the white house reporters, jeff mason, as he tried to ask the president a question just today. >> the issue of what happens when you were in france -- >> you're going to have to take that off, please. you can take it off. how many feet are you away? >> i'll speak a lot louder. >> if you don't take it off,

you're very muffled. if you would take it off -- >> i'll speak a lot louder. is that better? >> it's better, yeah. it's better. >> robert, his actions do not match up with his words. are americans seeing this? are the americans that will sway the election seeing this? >> well, i think if you look at some of the polling last week, the amount of people that can swing this election and haven't already made up their minds is a tiny, tiny number. but i do think that every time he goes out and tries to demonstrate leadership on something like the coronavirus, something like this happens and it undermines that message. i think these press conferences at the white house have far reached their point of diminishing marginal returns. i think there's very little to be gained, although he still continues to do it. and jeff mason, you and i both know him, is probably one of the nicest human beings on the planet. to get into an argument with jeff about wearing a mask, it just -- it shows you the kind of

leader from a public health perspective that donald trump has been as president. and it's no wonder that we've seen just a botched attempt at blunting what never had to be the way it is right now. >> even if jeff mason was one of the meanest people you have ever come into contact with, still arguing with him over whether to wear a mask is not in the public heal health, not good for anyone to not wear a mask. you should be practicing that responsibility when you're in public, especially when you're on national television in a public place, you should be showing that it matters and the president should be the one helping to do so. meanwhile, the former vice president is out there saying the president is waiving the white flag on covid, saying that the president is not actually fighting the fight. he isn't living up to his words. let's listen to this and i've got a question on the other hen.

>> he has just sort of waved the white flag on dealing with covid. and all he wants to do is just reopen. but the way he's reopening is causing us to shut down. look at what's happening with schools right now. if you have kids trying to get them back in school right now. it's pretty tough. >> how effective is that dueling imagery, both the president arguing with jeff mason, not wearing a mask himself at those campaign rallies, and joe biden at a socially distant roundtable, wearing a mask the entire time? >> i think joe biden is showing that he's not only got leadership, but empathy. keep in mind, this is not just 190,000-plus americans who have died, this is 190,000 families who have lost someone, 190,000 communities. for those of us that live in new york, later on this week we're going to solemnly remember what happened on 9/11, when almost 3,000 americans died.

this is a 9/11 happening, you know, on a consistent basis, numbers wise, and the president is shrugging his shoulders. he's talking about the economy. he's talking about anything but the grieving that so many americans are going through. not just emotionally because a virus that didn't need to spread this live, but also, so many families are worried about the financial ramifications pop businesses that have been lost. evictions that are coming down the pike. occupations and full jobs that will never come back. so there's widespread failure on so many different levels by the president. and you have joe biden, who's leading by example. i mean, i don't think anyone wants to campaign with masks on. i don't think anyone wants to have social distancing. you and i know about campaigns. it's about pressing the flesh and touching voters and really listening to them and hearing what they have to say. and joe biden can't do that. we know that's where he thrives, but he's doing his pest to try to understand the plight of americans, something that donald trump time and time again has shown that he can't do, and he's

quite honestly, not interested in doing. >> so we have the economy that is not good for millions and millions and millions of americans. we have the virus, which is approaching 200,000 dead. it could get up to 400,000 later this year if mask wearing is disregarded. social distancing disregarded. but then you also have the president playing defense, robert, on this military story, this story that dropped in "the atlantic," where the president said soldiers who died in war were losers and suckers. it's very detailed. people in the white house have gone on the record to say it's not true, but that's basically the press shop. the people that were in the store, john kelly has not come out and said this is not true. we haven't heard anything from general jim mattis, the president's defense secretary. when you talk about who is swayable in this election, do stories like this turn people?

do they move the needle for those people who are on the fence? or is it like the john mccain story become in 2015, when the president went after john mccain, everyone assumed that was the death nail for his campaign and he only got stronger after that. >> i do think this is troublesome for the president. and as you mentioned, at that news conference was asked pointedly, had he asked. >> john kelly to come out and say this was not true. he said he hadn't. and my guess is he hadn't because he doesn't want john kelly to let the world know what is true. the quotes in that story sound an awful lot like the president that many americans have heard. i do think this affects, though, even that small number of people that have yet to make up their minds or are still persuadable. because i think stories like this, i think, when you see the president at a news conference, or you see his activities and

rhetoric around last week, i think they see not somebody who is putting chaos in its place, i think they see someone who's fomenting chaos. i think the biden campaign loves the fact that what they see is, and they're trying to project a person that looks, talks, and acts presidential versus somebody that doesn't. and you mentioned that yougov. poll with wisconsin. if you look at the eight sort of swing state polls that we've seen over the past four to five days, you.gov, monmouth, quinnipiac, and fox. there are eight polls in five swing states. all five of those states donald trump won in 2016. he's currently leading in none of them. his average is 44%. he's polling under his 2016 result in every one of them. and joe biden is polling above what hillary clinton got in every one of them. so the president is in a terrible position with eight weeks to go. >> robert, but there's going to be a lot of people out there who say, hey, the polls didn't show

him winning in 2016, why should we rely on these polls right now two months before the election? >> and look, everybody is going to have 2016 flashbacks until the vote's in in 2020 and those that want a different result see it. again, i would say, joe biden's polling at a different level than hillary clinton got in those states. so she's showing and demonstrating a strong candidacy than the one that hillary clinton had four years ago. undoubtedly, we have big moments left in h this campaign. three weeks from tomorrow will be the first presidential debate. it will be a big debate, undoubtedly, probably maybe bigger than we've seen in a while in presidential contests, because we just haven't the churning day-to-day of a political campaign because of this pandemic. there's definitely twists and turns to go, but if you're one of the campaigns right now, you would rather be where joe biden is. and shockingly, maybe the

biggest thing we haven't talking about is "the new york times" talking about the trump campaign having money problems. this was just a few months ago, everyone thought joed jod wouldn't have the money and donald trump had more money than they knew what to do with, now they seem to be cutting tv because they don't have that money. >> you beat me to that question, which is, how much dupz money matter. how much does television campaigning matter at this point in the race, especially because we're in a pandemic and you can donate that glad handling that campaigns normally rely on. >> it does mean a lot. it means you're able to project a message and a place that you may not be every day. on a newscast that you're not on every night. i think it is important, particularly now, again, when you can't project like you used to be able to. and again wing it , i think it stunning. joe biden ladies $365 million

last month, but it is remarkable that a campaign that was bragging about all of it resources is now cutting television, is now cutting those ads, whether it's upon broadcast tv or on digital, it's a stunning development. money shouldn't matter at this point in a race, because everyone should have so much of it that you're just trying to figure out what to spend oit on but it's remarkable, if you have a campaign like the president's campaign, literally not advertisings in places because of a money crunch. >> and "the new york times" is reporting that they cut that funding or bill stepien cut that funding, because he wasn't seeing any effect in the polling of what that funding was doing. on that note, christina, on them not having as much money and where to spend it, how to best use it, "the washington post" had a really great summary of how the president is campaigning right now, what he's rely option. it's not his record. for president trump and his allies, it was a weak spend

spreading doctored and misleading videos, disseminating falsehoods and trafficking in obfuscation at a rapid clip through the use of selectively edited video, deceptive tweets and a slew of misstatements. it stood in contrast to the approach taken by biden, the former vice president who in 2019 took a message promising not to participate in the spread of ditz information over social media, including rejecting the use of deep fake videos. what's it say you that he's relying on lies to campaign right now? >> it says to me he's who he's always been. this is also a campaign right now, i call it the spaghetti noodle campaign. they think the decide or understand how they want to attack joe biden and kamala harris. one day they're saying joe biden is part of the radical left. the next day, they're saying he's part of conservative, hyperincarcerating cabal of democrats. so they don't have a full

strategy. as you mentioned, they can't run on the president's record. how can you run on a record when 10,000 americans have died and the number keeps counting. how can you run on unemployment when we know it's 8.4% and that number is class actionedly underreported. how can you run on a record where he says everything is fake. and is golfing while other families are at funerals. it's not surprising this president is relying on the support from qanon and other non-credible media resources. it's not surprising that he's using any desperate tactics, because this is a president and an administration who don't, unless it's locking children in cages at a border, they don't really have a strategy, kpeps a campaign strategy. this is a president who didn't actually want to governor. this is something that he thought he would lose and spend the next four years harassing hillary clinton and making money

off of it. now he sees this is a job quite harder and he's not capable and satly had been he knows it and doesn't know how to get out of the situation. >> who are you more focused on right now, the voter that voted for obama and then voted for trump, or the voter that did not come out for hillary clinton in 2016? >> i'm focused on the voter that did not come out and really focused on how biden and harris are going to matte that voter to hep them understand the dire threat that the american democracy currently faces. >> christina grier, thanks so much, and robert gibbs, thank you, as well. thank you for starting us off really strongly at this hour. coming up, a closer look at the financial storm created by the pandemic for many families. while friday's jobs report had a glimmer of hope, the rate of permanent job losses went up. and the thousands of people showing up at food banks across the country show just how

desperate the situation is for some run. that's next. and later, with just 57 days until election day, steve kornacki will join us with a look at who's currently winning in the key battleground state. stay with us. we will be right back. battlegr. stay with us we will be right back. to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressive's home quote explorer. international hand model jon-jon gets personal. your wayward pinky is grotesque. then a high stakes patty-cake battle royale ends in triumph. you have the upper hands! it's a race to the lowest rate, and so much more. only on "the upper hands."

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on this labor day, new data from the u.s. department of labor shows that the coronavirus pandemic is still battering the labor market. last week, another 881,000 people filed new unemployment claims. 29 million people or one out of every five american adults were receiving some form of unemployment assistance as of mid-august. the unemployment rate sits right now at 8.4%. employers added 1.4 million jobs last month, down from 1.7 in july and the fewest since hiring resumed back in may. permanent job losses are also a

great concern, with 3.4 million people reporting their jobs are gone for good. today president trump said this about the economy, despite its biggest shock in at least 73 years in the second quarter. >> we are president midst of the fastest economic recovery in u.s. history. >> as a the coronavirus pandemic continues, many out of work americans grappling with hunger. "the new york times" magazine reports, quote, in the pandemic economy, nearly one in eight households does not have enough to eat. food banks around the country are struggling to keep up with the demand. on thursday, in los angeles, 1800 people turned to a food bank in athens park. joining us now, nicholas kristof, a pulitzer prize-winning columnist for "the new york times," co-author of the book "tightrope," which is now available in paperback. i think there's a certain percentage of the population who

thinks, hey, yeah, the economy is getting back. i have gotten my job back, things are starting to pick up. but there are still millions of americans who have nowhere to go and their lifelines are just run out between the unemployment benefits napper cut off, the lack of another bill from congress to supplement income for those who have lost their jobs. and take a look at the lines for food banks around the country. you don't need to go far. you can walk out the street in new york city and see the lines. i'm sure you can do that many most towns across this country and see the people in your neighborhood that are currently struggling right now. >> yeah, as you say, katy, we did have something of a rebound with the jobs, but there are still 11 million fewer americans with jobs now than there were in march. and it does increasingly seem that many of those job losses will be permanent. this didn't need to be.

in germany, the unemployment rate has risen 1% since then. in the u.s., it has almost doubled. and so, you know, the consequences -- and these losses are disproportionately born on those who are least able to have the resources to support them. particularly households with children, for example. one study from brookings suggested that just over one third of households with children under 18 are struggling to feed those children. another study indicated that depression has -- there's a threefold increase in depression because of unemployment that is related to covid. and you mentioned my book, "tightrope." that is about how unemployment rippled through a community with a strong social fabric and kind of destroyed it. and left a quarter of the kids on my old school bus dead from drugs, alcohol, and suicide.

i fear that we are now seeing very rapidly unfold that had happened in slow-motion in previous years. >> you say it didn't need to be this way. you cited what happened in germany. why are we set up this way? why is our society set up to allow millions of americans to go hungry and struggle and fall through the cracks. it doesn't benefit the entire society, doesn't benefit anybody if you have millions of people who can't get by. >> there's a callousness, frankly, that has taken root in the last 50 years in this country. and i have to say, it's not just on the right, that we have, in this country, seen people, too often, measure jobs simply in terms of the income stream, and not understand that concept of dignity of work, the value, the sense of identification that people get from the job.

and acompany that, there has been this rise of this narrative how it's all about personal responsibility and people can lift themselves up by the bootstraps and when that phrase, lifting one up by the bootstraps originated in the early 1800s, it was a mocking expression. it was a joking expression about doing something impossible. and now all of a sudden, it's an instruction for what people are supposed to do to help themselves and their families, at a time when jobs are unavailable. >> our system is set up on einequality. you wrote this in july. so perhaps today's national pain, fear, and loss can also be a source of hope. we may be desperate, our failures so manifest, our grief so raw that the united states can once more, as during the great depression, embrace long-needed changes that would have been impossible in cheerier times. i know a lot of people who are

hoping that this would be the moment where we figured out a way to keep an even bottom, for everybody in this country. it doesn't seem like by the looks of what's happening in congress that anything is happening. that there's going to be any systemic change in the near-term. >> depends how you define next january, whether that's near-term or not. but let me give you -- >> i meant the next few months. >> you know, i think too often in this country, we blame the broader problems we faced over the last 50 years on industrialization, on globalization, on technology. look, canada, germany went through these forces and they did not lose one person every seven minutes from a drug overdose. they didn't see the social fabric disintegrate in the way it did in this country. and i do think that we, for 50 years -- you know, we're the only country that doesn't have universal health care, doesn't have universal paid sick leave.

i think that in a pandemic, in a time of infectious disease, those shortcomings are a little more obvious than they normally are. and i hope this will lead to a mandate for far-reaching change so we'll be a little bit more like canada and europe. >> it's made it even more glaring. think of all the americans who had private health insurance, who no longer have private health insurance because they've lost their jobs. nick kristof, thank you so much for joining us. we always appreciate all of your insight on this topic. and coming up, kamala harris is not buying the claim that there will be a coronavirus vaccine by the election, especially from the president, who, as she says, told us to inject bleach. that's next. s to inject bleach. that's next. i am robert strickler.

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an nbc news tally shows that the death toll from the coronavirus in the united states the now approaching 200,000. as of this hour, 190,178 people have died of coronavirus in the united states, with more than 6.3 million confirmed cases. the university of washington says the worst could be yet to come, projecting the u.s. coronavirus death toll will

double to more than 410,000 by the end of the year, if masks and social distancing guidelines are disregarded. and "the washington post" reports, quote, president trump is so fixated on finding a vaccine for the novel coronavirus that in meetings about the u.s. pandemic response, little else captures his attention, according to administration officials. in recent days, he has told some advisers and aides that a vaccine may arrive by november 1st, which just so happens to be two days before the presidential election. hours ago, donald trump said this about the vaccine. >> we're going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date. you know what date i'm talking about. >> you're talking about election day. the centers for disease control and prevention has now notified all 50 states to prepare to distribute a health care vaccine

to health care workers as soon as late october or early november. joe biden said, my guess is he's going to announce a vaccine, he's going to say it's going to be available around election day, he's going to hype it. and kamala harris says she will not trust donald trump alone on a coronavirus vaccine. >> president trump has promised a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year or maybe sooner. would you trust that vaccine? >> i think that we have learned since this pandemic started, but really before that, that there's very little that we can trust that comes out of donald trump's mouth. i will not take his word for it. he wants us to inject plaebleac. no, ll i will not take his word. >> doctor, what do you need to see in order to trust that a vaccine is safe, once one does become available? >> well, happy labor day, katy, good to see you, as always. you know, look, every health

care professional that you speak with, medical, public health professional, they're all going to say that they're eagerly awaiting the vaccine. there's no question about that. but the issue is that the vaccine -- remember, this is going to be a medication that we plan to inoculate into 200, 300 million people in this country, not to mention globally. we need absolute reassurance that this medication, this vaccine has undergone all the appropriate phases of clinical trials, in terms of safety and efficacy. and so as you probably know, the vaccines that are undergoing clinical trials right now, phase iii, that's that phase where it's testing not only a large number of people, 30,000, 40,000, it's not just the number, but the timeline. it's monitoring for potential possible adverse events. you can't just notice those things in 20, 30 days. if there are neurologic man

manifestati manifestations, that's going to take months to reveal. concern is we're rushing through this vaccine development process. and to remind your viewers, the fastest we've ever delivered a vaccine for safety delivery into patients has been four years. the fact we're trying to do this for this novel disease in less than a year, it makes a lot of us quite skeptical, katy. >> when you take polling and ask people whether they are going to think that this vaccine is safe, we'll show you some of the results. if a coronavirus vaccine came out this year in 2020, what would your first thought be? 65% said it was probably rushed without enough testing. 35% say it's a scientific achievement to find a vaccine that fast. part of the reason you're getting these numbers is that the president has ploliticized everything, every institution that we have. the fbi, the doj, but now also the fda and the cdc, our public health institutions, by pushing

through emergency approvals for things like plasma or hydroxychloroquine. when we're talking about a vaccine and talking about a global pandemic, obviously, there is a need to get a vaccine as quickly as possible, but also one that is safe. how do you balance those two? at what point is it safe to put out a vaccine, in your estimation? i know that these are all very vague ideas right now, but would one in early 2021 seem like more reasonable timeline? >> yeah, you know, i remember when i was in grad school, one of my professors said, you know, the hallmark of intelligence isn't the answer one gives, but the questions one asks. so the way i would refrain polling questions to the public is, how willing are you to take a vaccine that's going to be inside of your body for the rest of your life, that has not undergone the most rigorous safety and testing processes?

that's the question i would ask. and if it's framed in that way, knowing this vaccine could have adverse consequences. my guess is that the numbers would be much lower. everything in life is a trade-off, katy, and everything we do certainly in medical research is a trade-off. so it's a question of balancing safety with the rigorous signs and research and keeping people safe, katy. >> it always is. dr. roy, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate all of your time. and coming up, the election has already started, at least in one key battleground states where voter have already received their mail-in ballots. will tasha brown of black voters matter. up next, how vote by mail efforts are going on the ground as the president continues to cast doubt and undermine the entire process. tinues to cast doubt and undermine the entire process

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the early voting process has already started in one key battleground state. north carolina is the first state to send out absentee ballots, which started going out on friday and the first votes of the 2020 presidential election could be cast as early as this week. each state works on a different election timeline, including voter registration deadlines. that ranges from some states that allow voters to register at the polls on election day to others with registration deadlines as far as 30 days before the election. that means voter registration efforts in many states have less than one month to get eligible voters registered. joining us now is latasha brown, the cofounder of black voters matter fund. it's always great to see you, thank you for joining us today. tell me about your efforts so far this year. what are you noticing? >> what i'm noticing is that in spite of all of the information and in spite of the president's greatest attempts to really make people be fearful of this election cycle, what we're

seeing is an increase in demand that people are intending to vote. that even when you look at north carolina that just started their absentee ballot process, which is the first state in the nation, they had over 600 applications for their absentee ballot voting, as opposed to four years ago, when there were only 28,000. so that's a significant difference and a significant demand. what we've been seeing in the states that we've been working in, we're working deeply in 11 states and 15 additional -- 15, as well. in those states, people are saying, they're asking us. we're getting phone calls every day around how to vote, how to do their mail minute voting. there are people -- there is some healthy skepticism around the mail-in voting, but a lot of people who have also been saying, they're planning to vet, but they're going to vote early. >> so when i was at a trump event the other day, i talked to voters and every single one at this trump event told me that they thought that mail-in ballots were fraud and the election would be stolen if they

were to go on. are you finding that reaction towards mail-in voting is down party lines or is there crossover between democrats and republicans who don't trust that process? >> i think that there's some concern around mail v-in voting. there's a skepticism across the board, particularly because african-american voters don't trust mail-in vote and don't trust the president. i think that you see that across the board. i think that's what the intention of president trump was to do. that literally, that part of what he has been doing is push propaganda so he can create this culture of fear. what gives me hope is that i've been seeing people that are saying, regardless of the process, that they're going to vote early, that they're people who are adamant that they're going to do mail-in voting or vote in person. come heck or high water, they're planning to vote. what i see is there is a skepticism, often, a lot of conversation around mail-in voting, because people don't understand if the process -- if there's going to be integrity in

the process, when you have the highest office of the land that is actually trying to cast doubt. you know, the other piece that is actually interesting, though -- >> go ahead. i interrupted. kbd, keep talking. >> i was going to say, people really do trust the post office. while there are concerns, people have -- and i want to say happy labor day to the millions of postal workers today that are continuing to serve us in spite of in -- what is happening right now. >> latasha, one quick question, because your organization is on the ground. so many of us are stuck inside, for instance, me in my basement. i'm not talking to as many voters as i would like to normally during an election day, give me an honest assessment of what you're seeing in terms of enthusiasm to go out and vote between 2016 and 2020 or 2018 and 2020? >> i think in 2016, it was a different kind of excitement. i think it's different. i don't know if you can compare. almost like apples and oranges. i think what drives people to vote is different. i think what you saw in 2016, that was a tremendous amount of

concern in the election and so you saw, you know -- when obama ran, there was a lot of excitement. i think what you see now, people are angry that in spite of the millions of people that are unemployed right now, you have a government that seems like it is faltering. you have over 160,000 people who have died for covid-19. people are angry. and often times, that can push people to vote as well. that's what we're seeing on the ground. but we are seeing a lot of energy of people -- a lot of organizations and people daily who are saying, they are adamant about voting. >> anger can sometimes animate more people to vote than excitement. latasha brown, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate all of your increa expertise. coming up, too, "veeveep candid. steve kornacki will break down the state of that state and how the race to 270 electoral votes

looks roup with again just 57 days until election day. stay with us. 57 days until election day. stay wh itus

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campaign season. today both presidential candidates were in wisconsin. vice president pence delivered remarks on the economy. senator kamala harris is in milwaukee right now and expected to deliver remarks soon at the end of a roundtable event. in wisconsin highlighting the importance of the battle ground state where donald trump won by less than one percent in 2016, that was less than 23,000 votes. here with more on the state of that state's race 57 days out our political correspondent at the big board, i hope you will tell us more about the battle ground states including wisconsin which donald trump barely won. >> i figured we'd start here and work our way from the 30,000 foot view down to wisconsin and other states like this. the national polling right now shows, you can see here, about a

seven-point lead for joe biden. one thing to keep in mind when you see this number now and as you see it over the next few months of course, hilly clinton won the popular vote but trump won the electoral college, when you see a seven point different between biden and trump you can expect a tick or two below, so this is what the swing states look like right now. you can see these were six states trump won in 2016 by varying margins. six states biden in the polling leads, the average lead varies, but in each of those states it is several points closer than the national average. that's a dynamic to keep in mind as you look at swing state polling in the weeks and two months ahead. we mentioned wisconsin, it's one of those three states it was a fraction of a point, three

states trump won by less than one, three state that's hadn't gone for republican since the 80's three states the democrats like their prospects in. look closely at wisconsin that's the one where not just the candidates are but that's the one trump's been saying between the republican convention, the kenosha events and law and order that's the one they thought they'd have movement in. here's before the conventions, before kenosha, the margin for biden was six points and now a new poll, the same pollster before the convention in ken osha and now what do you have? six, so in that poll, unchanged. you see the average in wisconsin, all the different polls is dally right there. -- basically right there. that's troubling for the trump campaign because so much talk about wisconsin is ground zero

where their message would resonate. what's it mean for battle trump wins with 306 those three states the margin was less than a point in 2016, the polls right now put biden up, if those states flip and nothing else changes, you take a look what happens if biden flips those three he wins, 278, if nothing else changes. okay. >> steve, you're so good that i had a question but you answered all my questions as you went through all that, so steve, thank you very much. such a small margin for the president in 2016. it's not going to take much for joe biden to turn it back around if all things stay the same. thanks so much. we have much more ahead at the top the next hour, we'll look at the ongoing fall out from the stunning piece in the atlantic about donald trump and the

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last week was not a good week for donald trump and his administration. the president is still trying to do damage control days after "the atlantic" reported he despa despairaged -- despa despairaged -- the president denied it as a