Polls: Americans distrust Trump on running fair elections (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: With me now is CNN's Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten. He is running the numbers on America's faith in the election system. Harry, do Americans trust Donald Trump when it comes to running the elections?

[00:00:13] Speaker 2: No, they trust him about as much as they trust him to be modest. I mean, just take a look at these numbers right here. I think this gives the game away. Trump committed to free and fair elections. This is among all adults. What you see is just 43% of Americans actually do believe that Donald Trump is committed to free and fair elections. The clear majority, 56%, say no, no, no, no. They do not believe that Donald Trump is committed to free and fair elections. And I will note it is the opposite for the Democratic Party, where you see the majority of Americans believe the Democratic Party is committed to free and fair elections. But they do not, do not trust Donald Trump when it comes to his commitment to free and fair elections.

[00:00:49] Speaker 1: It may be perhaps he keeps lying about the 2020 election that he lost. What about how independents are seeing this?

[00:00:54] Speaker 2: OK, so you see this majority right here who say that Donald Trump is not committed to free and fair elections. And among independents, it is even worse. Take a look here. This is a group that Donald Trump has really been struggling with. And when it comes to his commitment to free and fair elections, they absolutely believe he is not. We're talking about two in three independents say no, Donald Trump is not committed to free and fair elections. We're talking about just a third, just a third of independents believe that Donald Trump is committed to free and fair elections. They will view his current comments very negatively. And this, of course, just builds upon their continuing distrust and their deepening distrust of Donald Trump when it comes to his job for the president overall, and specifically to this question when it comes to his commitment to free and fair elections.

[00:01:38] Speaker 1: If that number doesn't slap you in the face, I don't know what will. But let's look overall. What, who do Americans overall trust when it comes to running elections?

[00:01:47] Speaker 2: You know, there's this whole thing. Donald Trump, of course, wants to take, take the running of elections from the local communities, the local governments and bring it up to the national government. But here's the thing. Americans believe that the elections in 2024 that were run in their community were run very well. We're talking about 69 percent of Americans say that the elections, in fact, in 2024 were run very well in their community. Compare that to just 43 percent of Americans who say that they were run very well in the United States. This idea that you're going to take local power away and give it to the federal government is a terrible idea per the American people when just 22 percent at this point view the federal government favorably. And we have trust levels in the federal government at all time lows.

[00:02:27] Speaker 1: What is fascinating about this is that Republicans have historically said states rights. Correct. And don't want the federal government involved. And now we're seeing the president kind of flip this on his head.

[00:02:37] Speaker 2: Donald Trump has flipped a lot of things on his head. But on this particular issue, the American people are most certainly not with him.

[00:02:42] Speaker 3: All right, Harriet, and it is a pleasure to see you in person again. Kate, President Trump is doubling down on his calls to essentially throw out the Constitution, at least parts of it, and take over voting operations in more than a dozen states across the country. He first, as we talked about yesterday, he first said this on a podcast and then he was asked to clarify. And he did clarify, it appears, defending his call for Republicans to nationalize elections, saying, here's the quote, the federal government should get involved. At least it appears in the places where he doesn't like how the votes have turned out in the past, like the election he lost in 2020.

[00:03:19] Speaker 4: Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Pennsylvania. Take a look at Philadelphia. You go take a look at Atlanta. Look at some of the places that horrible corruption on elections. And the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.

[00:03:46] Speaker 3: CNN's Kevin Liptack is at the White House for us with much more. So what now, Kevin?

[00:03:53] Speaker 5: Yeah, and it is just so striking to hear the president kind of redouble these calls to nationalize elections, particularly because a few hours beforehand, the White House had tried walking it back. And many Republicans said that they didn't agree with the president on this idea in no small part, because the Constitution says that states administer elections, that they're governed by local municipalities. Remember, President Trump first raised this in a podcast interview with Dan Bongino. He said that, quote, Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. He called for Republican officials to, quote, take over voting procedures in 15 states, although he didn't name them. When Caroline Leavitt, the press secretary, was asked about that yesterday before the president appeared in the Oval Office, she said that he had actually been talking about this pending legislation on Capitol Hill that would require people to produce photo IDs before they registered to vote. Listen to what Caroline Leavitt said.

[00:04:52] Speaker 6: What does President Trump mean when he says Republicans ought to nationalize voting? What does that look like in practice? What the president was referring to is the SAVE Act, which is a huge, common-sense piece of legislation that Republicans have supported, that President Trump is committed to signing into law during his term. And he spoke with the speaker directly about that yesterday, about the need to get that bill on the floor for a vote, because it provides very common-sense measures for voting in our country, such as voter ID.

[00:05:24] Speaker 5: Now, President Trump actually made no mention of the SAVE Act, either in that podcast interview or in the Oval Office a few hours later. Instead, he said, quote, I want to see elections be honest. And if a state can't run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it, referring to the members of Congress who are joining him there in the Oval Office. All of this seems to point to a broader effort by the president to sow distrust in elections. Of course, months before the midterms in November, all of it, of course, undergirded by his unsubstantiated claims that elections are rigged.

[00:06:02] Speaker 3: That's right. Kevin, thank you so much for keeping track of it. I really appreciate it. Joining me right now is Ben Ginsberg. He has long been a top election lawyer in Republican politics, warned in 2020 that the GOP was destroying itself by perpetuating Trump's false claims about election fraud. It has been too long, Ben. It's good to see you. Thank you for coming in. Trump now saying and doubling down when asked to clarify, he did clarify. And his clarity is that he wants Republicans to take over voting in 15 states, is what he said. The White House tried to walk it back, and he essentially said, believe me, believe what I said, I said what I meant. And he's naming states now. I mean, he talked about Detroit. He talked about Pennsylvania, specifically Philadelphia, of course, also talking about Atlanta and in Georgia. From your perspective, how bonkers is this or how real could it be?

[00:06:57] Speaker 7: Well, I think it's wrong. Right. They've had lots of opportunities to present evidence to back up with the president's alleging. And in 64 court cases after the 2020 election, ample opportunities in suits filed before the 2024 elections. No proof, no evidence has come out. You know, it's striking that they would go in and subpoena, do an FBI raid of Fulton County for the 2020 elections, which Trump lost, and not do one for 2024, which he won. So presumably even the president recognizes that Fulton County fixed its problems.

[00:07:41] Speaker 3: So that is that is exactly something that I heard when I had the head of the Fulton County Commission on yesterday. He said, just so you know, no one, no one, no one was upset after the outcome of the 2024 election, that raid that happened last week. And we talked about it with more with the head of the county commission. And I want to play for you what Rob Pitt said about what was taken and what it means now.

[00:08:12] Speaker 8: I don't know who has those ballots. I don't know what they're doing with them. I can use my imagination and just guess what they're doing with them. But we do not know as long as those ballots and other other items pertaining to the 2020 elections were in our control. I could assure the world, but more importantly, the people of Fulton County, that those ballots were safe and secure.

[00:08:37] Speaker 3: And now he says he cannot say that anymore. I mean, you're an attorney that's done a bunch of recounts. What do you see there?

[00:08:45] Speaker 7: Well, look, what this raid did was break what's known as the chain of custody, which means that the ballots are kept without prying eyes and prying hands who might actually change the materials. What the FBI did here was, I think, break the chain of custody, which means the materials are subject to manipulation. Nobody's watching over them. And that also means that if they ever try and bring any prosecutions as a result of this, they no doubt will fail because there are guarantees that the ballots are kept securely and they're not being manipulated.

[00:09:24] Speaker 3: Real quick. I mean, Pitts warned for other he had a warning for other states basically saying, you all need to prepare and see this and get ready, because while the accusations not might not be real, what they are doing to try to get involved in local election authority is very real. I mean, how can or should local and state election officials prepare for what could be coming if it if Fulton County is, you know, exhibit?

[00:09:54] Speaker 7: Well, I have tremendous respect for local election officials who I work with a great deal, and they know that they need to be transparent with people in their communities, have open doors, let folks kick the tires of those election systems. But just one other thing that is unglued about what the president's saying, those big cities that he's most worried about do not have the contested congressional races that are going to decide who controls the House in 2026. And he can go in and try and put people around those polling places. That's not going to impact most of the districts that will determine how he is in Congress.

[00:10:38] Speaker 3: Then it's good to see you. Thanks for coming in.