Polling Highlights Price Pain and Health Care Worries (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: In an interview this week, President Trump was challenged on his assertion that he was, quote, starting to get great polls on the economy. He then backtracked saying the polling should be great. So what are the polls saying? CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joining me now. Where do Americans think the economy is going right now?

[00:00:17] Speaker 2: Yeah, here is the reality check for everyone. And I would just say this, this is the problem for the president of the United States. You get elected to fix the economy and the American people, they ain't buying it. Because just take a look here, say the economy is getting worse. Right after Donald Trump was elected back in 2024, reelected, 42 percent of Americans said the economy is getting worse. Well, you want that number to go down. You want that number to go down if you're the president of the United States. Instead, it's going up. What are we talking about? Now, 55 percent of Americans say that the economy is getting worse. I don't know how you win when the majority of Americans say the economy is getting worse because you go back through the record books and that is a formula that equals failure.

[00:01:06] Speaker 1: And what do Americans want Trump to focus on the most?

[00:01:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, this, I think, is the whole kit and caboodle, right? Much of the news stories over the month of January were focused in on Minneapolis, focusing in on controlling immigration and reducing crime. Those are two things that the president of the United States and his administration has been arguing about. But where do the American folks say that Trump should be focused, say their top priority should be lowering prices 54 percent, the clear majority? We have looked at poll after poll after poll after poll after poll. I'm exhausting myself just talking about it. Every single poll say that their top priority should be lowering prices or the economy. And it is still the case much lower down, controlling immigration at 22 percent, even lower than that, reducing crime at 10 percent. You add together 22 and 10, you get to 32. And you don't have to be a mathematical genius to know that 54 is larger than 32. The Trump administration is putting their focus on the wrong issues, the issues that are not most important in the American public. And when you are focusing on the wrong issues and the vast majority of Americans or the clear majority of Americans say that the economy is getting worse, again, this is X plus Y equals failure, failure, failure, failure going into the midterm elections because Donald Trump was elected to fix the economy. And it's still belief in the American people that lowering prices should be the top. And at this point, 55 percent say the economy is getting worse.

[00:02:38] Speaker 1: So I guess the question, as we get closer and closer to the midterms, which party do people trust knowing how they feel about how Donald Trump has handled things when it comes to the economy?

[00:02:47] Speaker 2: Right. The economy. Right. Affordability. You know, Donald Trump has been dismissing affordability concerns. But when 54 percent say the top priority should be lowering prices, not much of a surprise. Right. Party trusted more in affordability. Overall, it's the Democrats by 14 percent. Look at this among independents. It's I'm laughing. It's thirty nine points. It's a blowout. This is the entire ball game right here. And when you're having a thirty nine point lead among independents, a 14 point lead overall on affordability. And right now, the top priority, the Americans say, should be lowering prices for the Trump administration. This is the type of formula that equals major success for the Democrats come the midterms if it holds.

[00:03:24] Speaker 1: And we have seen that in the special elections. We'll see if that holds in the midterms.

[00:03:28] Speaker 2: We shall see.

[00:03:30] Speaker 1: Harry Enten. Thank you so much. Appreciate you.

[00:03:32] Speaker 3: As the world turns, the new poll from KFF shows health care tops the public's list of economic anxieties. People say they worry more about the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs than groceries or rent, utilities and gas. My panel is back now, Elena.

[00:03:48] Speaker 4: Yeah, look, what I find so fascinating about this, in particular, when you reference that poll, is that in the broader spectrum of how the president looks like this, he is obsessed with wanting to put not only his imprint, but Republicans at large, some sort of imprint on health care. He hates that this is an issue that Democrats have owned and Republicans have failed at for so many years. He still, even during in the recent months, has brought up the McCain down vote about trying to repeal and replace Obamacare. So that's part of this. The other thing is, he is obsessed with this idea of trying to make drugs more affordable. It is going to be interesting to see if this actually is the case, if these drugs do end up, as Tammy laid out, being more cost effective for a lot of consumers rather than their insurance. I think the fact that he's calling it Trump Rx, that's something else I've heard. If Republicans end up doing some broader health care play and he wants to have it be Trump care or something like that. But at the end of the day, this is something he wants Republicans to be talking about. Interesting enough, I know, Sabrina, you'll probably weigh in on this. Republicans, at least when it comes to politics in the midterms, do not want health care to be one of the things that is a central focus. So just keeping that in mind as we look at all of this.

[00:05:00] Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, to Elena's point, I think it's what's interesting is, you know, they want to show that they care about affordability. This is a really tangible way to do that. But we know that Democrats have consistently dominated on this issue. And for a lot of folks who last year lost the Obamacare subsidies and are actually feeling the impact of, you know, higher premiums, it is interesting, it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the midterms. You know, I think we talked a lot about it late last year, as that expiration was coming around. But I think the repercussions of that and how Democrats capitalize on that is something we're going to be talking about in the months to come.

[00:05:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Democrats won back the majority in the president's first term talking about health care, and they are determined to do the same now. Joining me now is the man who coined strong floor, no ceiling. It is, as you see there, the name of his book. Oliver Libby is a venture capitalist and democratic donor. And it's here with me now. Thank you so much for being here. First of all, how did this slogan, the title of your book, make its way to Hakeem Jeffries?

[00:05:59] Speaker 6: It came to him through a number of people who heard that I was writing the book. I had shared a manuscript with a number of people I respect in the party. And actually, he offered to write a testimonial, which you can find right at the beginning of the book. And when I first heard him say it on television was actually a surprise to me. I started writing the book, Dana, about eight years ago. And it was really just a place for me to put all the ideas that I wished would be America, when we could relight the American dream, which is something I worry about all the time as one of our greatest national security threats. And so to hear Leader Jeffries take this up was an extraordinary moment.

[00:06:36] Speaker 3: So when people hear us saying strong floor, no ceiling, how do you explain it?

[00:06:43] Speaker 6: You know, it's simple. And actually, one of my favorite things about this is when people see the book and they know it's about America and politics, they get it at their core. A strong floor is a floor made up of planks that we all know and understand. We want affordability. We want health care and education. We want housing and good paying jobs, safe and secure homes. Those are the things that are the building blocks of opportunity. But in America, it can't stop there. And I think every American wants to believe that if they work hard and play by the rules and pay their taxes, that they can have the good life, they can be in the middle class, and maybe even go far beyond that. That's actually the way we increase the economic pie. And so it weaves in today to some of the core themes, affordability. But look, here's one important thing. I think if folks are not happy with the current leadership in the Trump administration, we have never had a seismic shift in American politics without a positive and hopeful message that says what we want for America, not what we don't want. Whether it was the contract with America or 6406 or for the people, there was always something hopeful, something people could vote for, not just against. And I think we need that today.

[00:07:47] Speaker 3: Yeah. And so you're hoping that this book, which again, isn't just the title, obviously, it lays out a prescription, a roadmap that you think on various issues dealing with affordability. We put this poll up in another segment earlier as it related to the president's new TrumpRx website. But I want to show it to you as it relates to your argument. You see there the affordability concerns, what people are the most worried about. Health care is ahead of everything else. And those are also pretty high. But the fact that health care is so high, your proposal for a strong floor on health care initiatives is a universal single payer health insurance plan. Longtime goal of progressives. But it is definitely something that President Obama, when he did Obamacare, was pressured to do and he shied away from it because he couldn't get support, even among Democrats. In fact, then I was covering it. There were 60 Senate Democrats.

[00:08:51] Speaker 6: You know what I think? Look, you heard the president today talk about the fact that health care is broken. We know that health care is broken. Everybody knows that health care is broken. So sure, a single payer, a public option is really important. But actually, the whole chapter is filled with ideas. There should be a tax credit for seeing your doctor every year. And that's something that we're using an incentive, an economic incentive, to help reduce the overall cost of health care because a lot of people only go to the hospital when you're really sick. But, you know, I'm really glad you raised polling. We've actually been in battleground states in Michigan and Georgia. And actually, your viewers are the first to hear this. And we've asked folks, you know, we never did this during the writing of the book. But now that it's out there, we asked folks what they think about strong for no ceiling. And what's amazing to me is it's extremely popular high 70s, 80s for moving voters. It's something that voters find inspiring. But what's interesting to me is both legs of strong floor and no ceiling pulled in the high 90s in both states. And we're publishing this polling so you can see it. What that means to me is people understand whatever whatever solutions haven't worked in the past. We have big problems here. People can't afford their lives. 27 percent of Americans believe that there's an American dream. There's no 9-11 or Pearl Harbor that can destroy America that can. And so if people if people believe hopefully that we can do a strong for with no ceiling, then we have the hope to relight the American dream.