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Welcome to the Monday edition of Balance of Power, the fastest show in politics, live from Washington here on Bloomberg Radio, on the satellite and on YouTube. Where you can find us right now search Bloomberg Business News Live. As we crawl out of another weekend, here on the campaign trail and aim for what is this?
Is it?
Gang the final week of this campaign. Kamala Harris on her way to Michigan today, of course, arguably one of the most important battleground states on the seven swing states that we're looking at here on the map. She'll be talking about manufacturing jobs, going to a Corning facility and be doing something with Maggie Rodgers.
Later on.
Donald Trump is in Atlanta onto the swing state of Georgia, following his performance last evening at Madison Square Garden. This was a five hour, five plus hour rally that included a lot more than Donald Trump, and if you scan the headlines today, they're all pretty consistent because well, what it was before Donald Trump ever hit the stage was some of the most heated and off color rhetoric that
we have heard in this campaign so far. New levels in attempts at comedy that ended with crude, sexist and racist jokes that spawned a lot of reaction from Republicans as well as Democrats, particularly those in swing districts. We heard just a few moments ago from Kamala Harris who was asked about some of the language at Madison Square Garden and the messaging from the Trump campaign. She's on the tarmac on the way to Michigan. As I mentioned, here's what she said.
This is not new about him. By the way, what he did last night is not a discovery.
It is just more of the same and maybe more vivid than usual. Donald Trump spends full time trying to have America's point. They're finger at each other, fans the fuel of the hate and division, and that's why people are exhausted with him.
And so this is the closing argument, right, This is part of the message from the Trump campaign, even though it is also out with some ads that are being very well reviewed by the way from but that it goes on both sides of the aisle for their perceived effectiveness on the economy. On the Biden Harris record last evening, though we were telling jokes, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the Thanksgiving table when the family gets together
next month. Now we have seen the final drop from Siena and the New York Times, our friend Don Levy, who's been with us for many months tracking their poll and coming up with a very similar result to the Bloomberg swing state pole when you look at the presidential level, ours was forty nine forty nine. His is forty eight forty eight, and new numbers today as well on some house races that we're watching specifically in New York. Also a couple of Senate races that could throw wild cards
into the final analysis. They certainly are into the walk up. Don Levy is director of the Sienna College Research Institute and with us one week out. Donn, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us today as always on Bloomberg. If I could just start with the presidential knowing that a lot of people are voting right now, Michigan has statewide early voting underway as of Saturday.
You wonder if the rhetoric like we're hearing right now Madison Square Garden last night on the ellipse from Kamala Harris tomorrow poses any having any impact on this race at all, or if people's decisions have been made.
Well, certainly we're at forty eight forty eight, it can't get any closer than that. Still, there remain about ten percent of Americans who say they are persuadable, who say they might change their mind. And clearly the issue of democracy is one that both campaigns are trying to.
Make a point on.
I feel like at our most recent national poll you see that more voters seem to be a little bit concerned about the effect that Donald Trump might have on our democratic institutions than Kamala Harris. In fact, we saw that fifty eight percent feel as though Trump worsens the partisan divide. Only thirty seven percent feel the same way towards Harris. And interestingly, when we asked about do you take Trump seriously? Now, overall Americans are a out split
forty eight forty six. What do they tend to take them seriously? But where they do take him seriously. Large majorities say they take Donald Trump seriously when it comes to him using the dog doj excuse me to prosecute his political opponents? And more than two thirds of Americans donald Trump seriously when it comes to the possibility that there would be mass deportations of eleven million current illegal
immigrants who are here in the United States. So the rhetoric, the partisan divide still could weigh on that ten percent who has yet not carved their vote in.
Granted, there was a really interesting number in your poll about the economy. Don Donald Trump at a thirteen point edge over Harris on who is better suited to handle the economy broadly one month ago, that is shrunk to six percentage points. If you're looking at momentum, does that factor in to what might happen a week from tomorrow, Well, you've.
Got to feel that the Harris campaign feels that way. This is a significant drop.
I mean, Trump has been running at double digits as more trusted on the economy for a long time, you know, go all the way back a year ago when it was Trump versus Biden. So to see that number drop to seven points, it's significant movement. Still, the voters say what's the most important thing to you? Overwhelmingly they say the economy, the cost of living. So Trump continues to hold a lead there where does Harris hold the lead?
And that one hasn't moved the issue of abortion. She's got about a fourteen to fifteen point advantage on that issue. But if it comes right down to the economy, that seven point lead for Trump is a significant margin.
Joe Biden is voting early today. Producer James says he's in line in Wilmington. He was set to do this at eleven. He's in line the president of the United States. James. He's just waiting in line. That's a long line. That is anybody with him. He's got the Secret Service with him in line. Don I feel like he should have just listened to the show, maybe gone a little later, let the lines die down. The early voting part of
this campaign is part of the story. Don do you actually to look at where your polling was as each state opened, to maybe create a little curve in your own mind about the way this is impacting things as you get these snapshots along the way people are making their decisions.
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, we certainly asked voters whether they have already voted.
It seems as though, while not yet at pandemic levels, that we're seeing a tremendous amount of voters that we're telling us I've already voted still, you know, right now, you know, we're asking them who did you vote for? Who are you going to vote for? So right now
we concentrate on what the voters tell us. And clearly we're moving now from the national polls and we'll do our final round of battle grade the battleground states over this week and be happy to jump onder the week from today when we're going to have fresh polls in the seven key battleground states.
Oh, that's a date that let's plan for that. I guess I'd love to get your long view here done. You've been at this for months and months, watching these numbers move a bit but not a lot. You've gone through a change at the top of one of the tickets here, so much wild rhetoric that we've heard, attempted assassinations. Yet the consistency in this race as a tie is remarkable.
What do you make of it?
I've never seen one that is tied like this coming right into the final stretch. You know, but when you look under the hood, we are a divided nation. Men tend to be for Trump, women for Harris. If you look at voters, for example, white voters without a college.
Education overwhelmingly for Trump.
If you look at the black vote, you know, a lot was made early in the campaign about some erosion, most especially amongst young black men away.
From the Democratic side of the ticket. That seems to have.
Returned Hispanics, you know, very much in play a small margin for Harris.
So really it's going to come down to.
These these subgroups and who turns out at at rates greater or less than what they have historically turned out.
That is where the difference could lie most especially, and I think, you know, we want to look very carefully at all seven battleground states, but most specifically at the three northern ones where we have all those groups of people well represented in a small change in turnout amongst for example, black voters in the urban centers or white non college educated voters, which you know, you know, certainly with a thirty to thirty five point advantage for Trump,
are key to his campaign in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and in Wisconsin. So it's going to come down to turnout. I think the polls coalescing on very similar numbers have done a good job of capturing the national mood and not really, it's going to come down to which of these subgroups turnout at rates greater than they have historically turned out.
I've got to ask you about these two Senate races, Rasca and Texas. We didn't think we'd be talking about them here in the eleventh hour, but they've become awfully interesting. You're polling confirms what a lot of people have thought. Dan Osborne, the Independent, is within striking distance of Senator Deb Fisher. In Texas. Colin Alrett has a real race. You're against Ted Cruz. I've only got a minute left here. Done any of these, either of these two happened, it
changes the balance of power in the Senate. Correct.
Oh, absolutely, these are key center races. The one in Nebraska came out of nowhere.
Of course.
The challenger there, Osbourne is an Independent. He hasn't as yet said who he would caucus with, but he's within two points and he is drastically overperforming where Kamala Harris is an esstet. So voters are making a real difference between Harris the Democrat and Osborne the Independent, so that one is razor thin right now. And we all know that the second racial district in Nebraska is Key Asborne's way up there.
Harris is up there that won electro vote Paris, Texas.
And you've got a four race, four point race in Texas. Don come back and see us. I think we have a date a week from today, right or a week from tomorrow. James will follow up with the I'm Joe, Matthew and Washington. Thanks for being with us.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and enroyd Oto with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, Just Say Alexa playing Bloomberg eleven.
Thirty number twenty four is joining us now, I'm pleased to say. From our world headquarters in New York. Former New York Knicks player, Olympic gold medalist, once a candidate for president himself, and of course multiple term Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Bill Bradley is with us here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Sir welcome to Balance of Power. We appreciate you joining us. As Joe said just a few moments ago, you've spent a good deal of time
in Madison Square Garden, likely more than Donald Trump. What was your reaction to what we saw take place there yesterday?
I thought it was a sad night for Madison Square Garden. It was a kind of desecration of a place that is, in my view, the home of champions and that was not ten championship action last night. I think of the values that we demonstrated as a team when the Knicks, when we won two World championships, things like courage, discipline, respect, responsibility, unselfishness, and none of that was displayed last night at all.
To the contrary, often it was the opposite. And here I have on my lapel a number nineteen, and that is the number of Willis Reid, who was our star center, who sacrificed his career to come out in the seventh game in nineteen seventy, when we won the World Championship
for the first time. So last night was a sad night for the Garden, and it it reflected none of the values that I came to learn as a kid growing up, and I think thousands of millions of people in sports learn certain things that are reflected by the accomplishment and championships in Madison Square Garden and Donald Trump doesn't reflect those things. Let's just take one example. When you're a kid growing up, what do your coaches tell you, Well,
if you lose, you congratulate the opponent. Donald Trump has never done that. Last night, I was the kind of half wired slip. And the reality is that those values are the key to a lot of people's lives, some of whom actually vote for Trump, and I'm saying he does not reflect those values, and we have to come to terms with that. And I hope that will mean people will look at this and say, Kamala Harris has the set of values that we care.
About, Senator, and thank you again for joining us today. We hear some off color remarks sometimes in the locker room we're at games, but what we heard last night was on stage. It was into a microphone and people were standing and shearing. I didn't hear any booing when I heard some of the more off color jokes coming from the comedians and some of the others who were speaking before Donald Trump, and it does make you wonder
about this change in the tenor in politics. Is this just the say it out loud campaign?
Well, I think that it shows that there is a dramatic decrease in a level of respect people have for each other, and certainly opponents have for each other. And I thought that last night was a new low in that regard. I mean, when we were champions in that arena, we were a diverse group of Americans from all over the country, different races, and we came together because of our unselfishness and our commitment to be the best we
could be. Those are the values that I think people learn, and those are the values that I think are not reflected in Donald Trump. He's never played a sport. He doesn't understand what it is to be a champion, and therefore he' spews all this hatred and all this division every day, not realizing that it's actually contrary to achieving what a president has to achieve, which is bring people together and take them to higher ground.
Well, Senator, he may not be a champion in any kind of sports, arena or area, but he does know what it's like to be the victor in a presidential election. He did win in twenty sixteen, didn't last time. There is a chance he wins this time around. This is still a race that is neck and neck. What's your real view of what could happen when the results come in.
I think it's a very close race. I think seven states will decide it. I think turnout is absolutely key. I mean, for example, in Wisconsin, in North Carolina, there are like four hundred thousand people who have not registered, or if they've registered, they've got to turn them out. They're Democrats, all of them. They are like three hundred and eighty five thousand people in Pennsylvania and Michigan in
the same category. And the question is if Democrats can turn the vote out, Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States. And I think that all of these actions in the last week, particularly the extremes that Donald Trump has taken his rhetoric, only will produce more turnout for Democrats.
We waited a long time for that two thousand race to be called Bill Bradley. How long will we wait for this one?
We didn't wait that long. I hope that I hope it's called on election night, but I have to be realistic and say, maybe it's a week later. I think the key thing is just how many people are outraged and come out and vote. And it's on both sides. I mean, who has the greatest emotional pitch going forward?
What kind of country do we want to have? Do we want a country that takes everybody to higher economic ground where everybody has a chance, or do you want to have a country that is divisive in a country that feeds the wealthy the bulk of the benefits. And to my view, it's a pretty clear case. If people hear Kamala Harrison's program, they who prefer it over Donald Trump's program. But the question is will people actually hear it.
Well?
And will she say it enough times? Senator? She's focused a lot of her closing messages on issues of democracy, the threat Trump's poses, reproductive rights, for example, Does she need to spend more of the next eight days talking about the economy specifically?
Well, I think that it wouldn't hurt to have her make a talk about taking more people to hich on the ground and drawing the contrasts. But I know in closing days they already have a strategy. It's laid out, and she's saying important things, very important things, and I think the whole issue of reproductive rice could very well be a dramatic move. But the other day she made a speech in Houston, Texas that nobody really covered. I
happened to watch the whole speech. It was a very powerful speech on what would be like as a country where women did not have access to the possibility of abortion, and it would be a quite different place for women, and I agree for men too.
Michelle Obama spoke at that address. Arguably one of the most effective surrogates that Kamala Harris has on the trail, and they've been holding her, I guess as the secret weapon for the eleventh hour here. What do you make of the use of celebrity, whether it's Beyonce who was at that rally, Bruce Springsteen a couple of nights before Donald Trump showed up with Hulk Hogan last night. Does anybody care about this stuff? Does it actually mobilize an undecided voter to go to a poll next week?
Well, I mean maybe this shows my age or my export or what. I don't think people care about Paul Klogan, right, But I think Bruce Springsteen, he's a great new Jersey, and he's got a voice. Why shouldn't he have a chance to express it, Beyonce, celebrities are just people. They're not giants, and they're people who have children and families and they want to have a country that moves forward. And those who spoke for Kamla are people who want
to have everybody to go to higher economic ground. That's the economic message of Democratic Party has always been and can be now, and that's what you heard many of them say over the week. The fact that their celebrities doesn't bother me. And I think that if they draw a few more people to listen to what Kamla has to say, that's fine.
Or maybe if a few more people to donate. Harris's campaign has raised more than a billion dollars just since she became the candidate. And I know, Sarah, you have been working with Issue one, which is looking at dark money in politics, the money that surrounds our presidential and democratic system. Are you concerned by how much has been raised and spent? Should it be this way?
No, it should not be this way. I mean back into dark ages. When I ran for president, one of the issues I talked a lot about was campaign financial reform. You have to take money out of politics or you're always going to have problems. And this campaign on both sides demonstrates once again that the amount of money will come with the price at some point. And I think a lot of the Democratic money comes with people who are idealistic and who want to see certain things happen
in the country to make America a better place. And that's fine, those are the rules. We played by the rules. But if we're looking at the health of our democracy, we dramatically need to have campaign financial reform.
It's great to have you Bill Bradley come see us again, former Democratic Senator from New Jersey, of course, former presidential candidate and Basketball Hall of Famer twenty four hanging in the rafters at Madison Square Garden as we recover from an interesting night on the trail with Kaylee Lines. I'm Joe Matthew.
This is Bloomberg. You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Eppo car Play and then Roudo with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Donla Harrison Michigan ahead of her appearance here in d CED tomorrow and which she'll give a closing argument speech on the National Mall. And Donald Trump today is in Georgia after his rally madiscorre in Madison Square Garden in
New York last night. And of course, while a lot of the headlines captured what other speakers said last night, whether it was off color jokes about Puerto Rico from a comedian or descriptions improper ones of Kamala Harris's racial identity from others like Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump himself did speak and in part doubled down on some of his rhetoric we've already seen on the campaign trail, including saying this on the enemy within.
When I say the enemy from within the other side goes crazy, becomes the soundho, how can you say, now, they've done very bad things to this country. They are indeed the enemy from within. But this is who we're fighting. These are the people who are doing such harm to our country with their open border policies.
That was after a five hour leading at Madison Square Garden. And indeed, people do go crazy over this enemy within line, and it might in fact be the closing argument if you've tried to crystallize this on a bumper sticker. Let's assemble our politic panel. They're back with us together today. Rick Davis and Genie Shanzino, Bloomberg Politics contributors. She is Democratic analyst and political science professor at Iona University. He
is Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital. Rick, your thoughts on this presentation last evening as we head for as Kayley mentioned some interesting optics for Kamala Harris tomorrow is going to be talking about freedom here on the National Mall, recalling January sixth, You have posited more than once that both of these are misguided. Now that we've got one down, how do you feel.
Oh, she's closing on this Regardless, it would be nice at least the third leg of the stool be on the economy, because I do think that they have a story to tell, but they've just chosen really not to engage in that really matching, you know, sort of talk about future tax cuts with whatever the Trump campaign's doing. So look, I mean there's no question that January sixth is alling argument to make to certain voters, and insomuch is she's focused in on suburban women in the targeted
states that might have some residents there. Certainly does on the abortion issue, but she is not doing much to try and hold down Donald Trump's expansion in the urban environment with young Latino, Black, and non college educated white males. And that is the real big vulnerability she's got within her base, and her efforts to try and hold back Trump's growth in the rural areas with non college white men especially has kind of petered out. We don't hear
that anymore. She's been doing tours through the rural areas, but she stopped doing that, So we'll see where that slamds. But if she doesn't win this election, I think a lot of people are going to be second guessing a lack of economic message in her closing.
Well.
So, Genie, how much time should she spend on the economy tomorrow? And frankly, should she talk about any policy ideas that she hasn't already articulated or is it too late for that kind of thing to resonate? Knowing Donald Trump floated a new tax credit yesterday.
Yeah, and it's won by the way that that Kamala Harris had put out already a few weeks ago, and she's got a big, big, eighty page document out there touting her policies. But the reality is this has not been an election about policy by any stretch of the imagination. So while I wish it was, it hasn't been. She's going to win by talking about the issue of Donald Trump getting into office and not having any guardrails around him this time and exacting the revenge that he has promised.
I mean, you played that clip at the top, and it's so important because this is not about what anybody but Donald Trump says and what he has promised he will do. On Friday, he wrote very clearly, I will imprison the peace people who have come after me. He's talking about trying to kick a federal prosecutor out of the country, So we can say, oh, that's just rhetoric.
She's going to have to close by saying to people, is this really what we want again, and equally importantly, talking about their attempts to limit the freedom of people in this country to do basic things like have their conversations with their doctor and have sound healthcare without the government saying we can't do with our bodies what we want.
Both men and women by the way. So yeah, I wish there was more on the economy, but it's not going to happen in the next few days and it's not going to turn this election at this point.
One of Kamala Harris's most effective surrogates, Michelle Obama, was on the campaign trail with the Vice president. Over the course of the weekend went to Kalama Zoo, where Michelle Obama made the case against Donald Trump.
Let's listen, let me warn you. Your rank does not exist in a vacuum. If we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.
Rick.
She was speaking directly to men, as you just heard, trying to bring home the issue of reproductive rights and abortion, to make this a male issue as well.
Does she succeed, Well.
Look, I think it's an important kind of speech to give. She's very articulate. Mirrors what her husband, Barack Obama did in Chicago a month ago. There's an issue with young black men leaving the party and looking for greener financial pastures in the Trump era, and so unless you're talking to them about the money in their pocket and their economic futures. I think you're talking past their concerns. They are not interested in the cultural aspects of being African American.
They're interested in the economic aspects of being an American. And I think that that is the miss that's occurring right now. Forty five million people have already voted, and they're not going to hear these messages from this point out. So they're down now to two thirds of the vote that's going to listen in on what she's what Kama Harris is going to say tomorrow afternoon, and she ought to make that economic pitch to those people.
Well, So it does raise a question of timing one week out from a vote when, for in many of these battleground states, voting has already been underway four weeks. Genie, are we getting around to this moment a little too late for modern elections in which early voting is becoming increasingly popular as we've seen with record numbers.
Yeah, I mean the whole campaign has changed. I mean forty million, as you mentioned people, almost forty million have already voted. It is a missed opportunity. These campaigns try to take that into account and move their clothes earlier. But the fact is they've got to go down to
the wire and keep getting those voters out. This is more important for the Trump campaign than even the Harris campaign because he's trying to activate people who vote in smaller numbers than what would be traditional Kamala Harris of voters.
So it's a tougher hill for him to climb. But that said, I would say one interesting thing about that Michelle Obama versus Barack Obama is whereas Barack Obama was taking these young men to task, Michelle Obama took a very different tact in saying, this impacts you and the women you love as well. And again, it is not just women's bodies, It is men and women. It is liberty in general that they're talking about, not just this issue of a right to choose, although that's a really
big part of this. So you've got two different messages from arguably two of the most popular Democrats out on the trail today in Barack and Michelle Obama.
That's quite a reception for Michelle Obama made a lot of Democrats wonder all over Again. Genie can s while we're talking about closing arguments, maybe questioning them on both sides, these last couple of conversations that we've had. Look to Friday and the monthly jobs report. This will be the last jobs report that comes out before the election, and it is expected to show the lowest pre election unemployment rate in twenty four years. Shouldn't that be her closing argument?
Normally, yes, it should be, but this is anything but a normal election. There is to Rick's point, the Democrats do have very very good economic numbers to run on, but it is not so far resonated with people. They simply do not give Joe Biden credit or Kamala Harris by extension for the positive aspects of the economy right now,
including record historically low job numbers. So for that reason, yes they should tout them, but it can't be the major argument they go out on here because it's not something that we are hearing that people are voting on or feeling, or more importantly for them, giving the Democrats credit for.
Well, something people might be feeling every time they go fill up their car. Wrick is that gas prices are lower today, oil having its biggest single day drop since July of twenty twenty two. In part that has to do with what happened in the Middle East over the weekend Israel and what seemed like a well calibrated d
escalatory way hitting Iranian military sites. If prices at the pump continue to drop over the next week, if they're lower on election day, could that marginally influence the way people vote.
Sure, it's all about people's sentiment when they go into that pulling place, and we still have hundreds of millions of people to vote, so it's plenty that can affect the outcome of this election that's been in a dead
heat almost since it started. So absolutely, If somebody's gassing up and they say, wow, this is actually much lower price gasoline than I ever recall having, especially under Donald Trump, maybe there is a difference, but they have to hear that echoed by the administration by Joe Biden, by Kamala Harris. If Kama Harris is the spokesman for this administration, now, why in the world isn't she talking about that today? Why in the world is she talking about low unemployment
rates that you discussed. They do have a good news topic. And if you try to run a campaign just on the polling data, especially in a completely divided country that we are now, then you're going to skip and miss opportunities like this to take advantage of your track record. Her track record is going to be on display on the first Tuesday in November, and she needs to do everything she can to brush it up between now and then.
Rick Davis and Jeanie Shanzeno always a fascinating conversation and many thanks to both of you. Are signature paneled with us today on the Monday edition of Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Will They'll be back with us on the late edition of Balance of Power, of course, starting at five pm Eastern time round this time tomorrow. The optics are going to get interesting with Kamala Harris back here in Washington.
Aren't they. Yeah?
From the ellipse, of course, the very same spot in which Donald Trump spoke on January sixth, twenty twenty one. That is not by coincidence. I would imagine if she tries, in part to make her closing argument, as we just discussed with Rick and Genie, not necessarily just about policy, as she was like the economy, but about character and specifically the character of Donald Trump in the threat she says he poses to American democracy.
You know, one of the things we were talking about with Bill Bradley earlier this hour is how long it's going to take to call this race. When you add the counting of early ballots and some different procedures state by state, it could be days, if not weeks. Kalie, We're going to talk about that matter coming up as well on the fastest show in politics right here on Bloomberg TV and radio.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then ron Oro with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen. I have on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station Just Say Alexa playing Bloomberg eleven.
This is Balance of Power, the Monday edition. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kaylee Lines in Washington now eight days out from the election, and much of our conversation is morphing into what happens after the election, Kayley the nine week slog, as Bruce Melman put it, between election day and the sixth of January, remembering this is going to take a while to call, not only the presidential campaign, the House
and all the rest. As we get a sense of what will be the balance of power here in Washington. That's what we're all about. And look at the headlines today on voting irregularities, on deep fakes, on interference. US says Russians made fake video of ballots being destroyed. That was Pennsylvania right. Late mail ballots in Mississippi ruled illegal in GOP challenge, Virginia voter purge blocked by US judge ahead of election just a sampling of some of the stories making news today.
Well, and today we learned that Virginia is escalating that case, in particular all the way to the US Supreme Court, or at least it has asked the justices to weigh in on whether or not it's too close to the election for this purge to happen. Knowing Virginia is not the only state that has tried to do this within a ninety day window, Removing people from voter roles, perhaps without their knowledge, is something that has raised many legal
questions just leading up to the vote. But as Joe says, we still have a long way to go after the vote as well.
In terms of litigation, big time. The campaigns have lawyered up. As we've reported, more than one hundred and sixty five lawsuits just preemptively wait for what will come after November fifth, as we start to pick through the ballots here, there are so many questions that we have about fair elections. Knowing that, as Rick Davis reminded us earlier this hour, a third of voters have already made their decisions.
Yep, millions, tens of millions have already voted, but for some their ability.
To vote it.
Is still in question here with some these outstanding legal issues around these voter rules. So we want to turn to an expert.
Now.
Rebecca Caruthers is with us. She is vice president at the Fair Elections Center. Welcome to Balance of Power Rebecca here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. It's nice to have you. If we could just consider these voter role cases that we're seeing in a number of states, Virginia included. If the Supreme Court were to actually rule in favor of Governor Youngkin of Virginia and say they can be removed
from voter rules, what potentially could be unleashed? How many people could show up to the polls on election day and find that they are not in fact still registered.
Well, of course, thanks, first of all, thank you so much for having me today. According to the National Voter Registration Act, you cannot remove people from the election roles within ninety days. I'm fair Election Center that I found a lawsuit several weeks ago in Alabama because in Alabama there were folks who are being removed, and it turns out the court cited with us and said absolutely, you
cannot remove these people within ninety days. What you're also seeing, you're seeing a mix of misinformation and you're seeing disinformation. And just to remind both your viewers and your listeners, misinformations when people speak out of turn, they say something that isn't entirely accurate. Sometimes it's a mistake. Disinformation is the intentional spreading of bad information target to certain groups. One thing that we know within the United States is
our civic education is lacking. So a lot of people don't understand how the process of voting, the mechanics of voting works in this country. So unfortunately, there are bad actors from within our country and bad actors from outside of our country who are spreading bad information about our election processes.
Well, I'm glad you made that delineation, Rebecca, because this Russian of fake video is getting a lot of attention here and it should be intelligence officialcy it was, in fact Russian operatives behind this video purportedly showing someone tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania. The Office of the Director of
National Intelligence issued a statement about this Friday night. The Russian activity is part of moscow's broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans. This one got called out. How many are getting through and are actually impacting voters'.
Minds, you know. And what's really unfortunate is we also have some elected officials, We have some of our leaders in Florida and Texas and Ohio that's feeding into disinformation. We know there is lots of propaganda that has been spread across social media. We know different groups have been targeted. We know that there are certain things on Instagram that's targeting African American or would be black voters in this country.
We know there are things that are targeting those who are under thirty five, those who feel disaffected, those who would are first time voters who are trying to navigate our voting system. And what's unfortunate is when you have elected officials who ought to know better, still saying things to add to the confusion.
Well, so as we consider that with eight days to go until election day and people wanting to go cast their ballot, Rebecca, what are you going to be watching for on election day? What perhaps frightens you about what could take place at polling centers with electoral officials if things go south.
So this is what we do know. Every presidential cycle, we have free and fair and safe elections. We have good election security in this country. I don't expect twenty twenty four to be any different. As you mentioned at the top of the segment, almost a third of those who are likely to vote on a or by November fifth have already voted. So we know that people understand that they have either voted early in person, they have voted by mail, they have voted by requesting appsentee ballot,
and it was a safe process. It was a secure process. So I don't expect election day to be any different. We're hearing from more than over five thousand local and state and national election officials, and we're hearing that they're ready to go, that they're excited, that people are showing up and that the process has been relatively smooth so far, so I don't expect that to be any different on November fifth.
A lot of people don't expect to be any different than what we saw in twenty twenty, and Donald Trump could well claim victory at nine point thirty or ten o'clock at night, knowing that many early ballots will have yet to be counted. When you consider, again, as Kaylee pointed to you, to that evening, what is your message to our viewers and listeners on how long they should be prepared to wait.
So it depends on the state. But I would tell you this, and you're hearing it from me. I think we will know in general, we will know on election night what's going on. Just because some states it takes several days for the election results to be certified, it doesn't mean that we still won't hear as the votes are being counted, As those totals are being announced on your local news. It's gonna be business as usual. So you know, a lot of people are gonna have their
eyes in Michigan. They're gonna have their eyes in Pennsylvania, They're gonna have their eye on North Carolina, possibly Florida, Arizona, and Nevada. But one thing I would tell the American people is familiarize yourself with the process. Understand that. Understand the order of which votes are being counted in some jurisdictions.
In some states, those who early voted, those are the first numbers that you'll see at eight pm or nine pm, whatever time that you're your states election, your state's polling locations close this, and then from there they'll throw out the next numbers, which might be from the time that the polls open first thing in the morning until noon, and then from noon until five, and then the post work rush hour of people rushing in to go vote.
So understand the order in which votes are being counted, because one thing that we also saw in twenty twenty is that there was lots of misinformation saying why are the numbers changing? Well, duh, the numbers are changing because they're counting in real time. So I don't expect that to be any different this year.
Rebecca Carruthers, Rebecca, great to have you back with the Fair Election Center. Thank you for the insights. Today on Bloomberg TV and Radio. This is Balance of Power, the fastest show in politics. As we approach Bloomberg Business Week coming up about ten minutes from now, we want to point to you to an important story that hit the
Terminal earlier today. And with all the noise around on the selection and the wild weekend that we had on the campaign trail, it's something that you might not otherwise hear about, but the Pentagon is evolving, and it's evolving in the way it procures and develops new weapons systems, which we talk a lot about here on Bloomberg TV and Radio. Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall has more on this story. She's got the byline on the Terminal and with us
now at the table today, Tyler, welcome. You made tracks across the Potomac to sit down with the chief Buyer, if I can call him that, at the Army.
What'd you learn right exactly? So I was able to go to the Pentagon. I sat down with the US Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George. He's the highest ranking military official in the Army and also a member of the Joint Chiefs and this was his first ever TV interview and he was keen to sit down with us because he wanted to talk about this initiative he's
trying to champion. It's called Transforming in Contact and what the program looks to do is flood these select brigades with high tech weapons, technology and as fast as possible. And why it might be interesting to our Bloomberg audience is that he described it to me as a new way for the Army to do business. For a sense of what he means here, we have a cut for you to listen to about what he's trying to implement here at the Army.
There's a lot that we're trying to do right now, and you know, probably the biggest thing is that we realize that we're going to have to buy things in the future in tranches and you know, smaller batches. Technology is going to continue to change, so as long as we're buying things that are modular, open system architecture, we can continue to update in our formations. And that's what we need to be able to do.
Right So you hear him here talking about buying things in smaller batches instead of having the Army get locked into these long term purchase orders that by the time they're fulfilled, the Army might have outdated equipment. He kept saying to me that the Army can no longer buy obsolescence, particularly when it comes to this technology. Now, this would be a much faster timeline than what the Army is
used to doing. A recent Army report came out and said that on average, it takes at least two years for something to go through its approval, funding, regulation process just to get equipment out the door.
Okay, so this is what the Army wants, but it has to buy this stuff from somewhere. So what are the people actually making this technology have to say about this?
Right exactly? So this idea of competition for these kind of more non traditional companies keeps coming up. So he's really focused on cutting edge technology, think drones, electronic warfare, which hasn't really had the easiest time breaking into the defense industrial base. The defense industrial base has actually shrunk by about forty percent in the last decade because some
of the biggest defense primes have continued to consolidate. So part of this is that General George wants to invite in more smaller, non traditional companies so they can compete. The other part of this is that he's actually letting those private sector engineers into the brigades to test this equipment alongside those soldiers names like Palenteer, SpaceX also andrel.
I had the chance to catch up with their chief strategy officer who told me that that part of this initiative, allowing them to go in and then actually provide this real time feedback so then they can update those purchase orders, has really helped them out, not only to secure those purchases but also to advance their equipment. They're billing it as good for both both.
Parts here, really interesting story. We've only got about a minute left, Tyler. Do have we heard from the big defense contractors, the Northrops, Boeings, Lockheeds of the world on this Is this good for them or not?
Right?
So, this initiative is primarily geared towards the more high tech companies. But I will say that I heard this described as this culture change, and I asked the General about it, because I spoke to many national security experts going into this story, who said that he has his work cut out for him, right, because the Pentagon is
not used to doing business this way. But he says that he's trying to get everybody on board, whether that is those big defense primes and opportunities for them to contribute to this initiative in the future, or Congress, which also has oversight over how this program is working. I can't tell you that so far the Army has worked with about two dozen of these companies as part of this program, but it's more of these non traditional tech companies that we're seeing, all.
Right, Bloomberg, Tyler Kendall, great reporting. Thank you so much, and of course you can find Tyler's story on the terminal and online.
Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.