Swing State Polls, Celebrity Endorsements, and Gen Z Voters | Pivot

Jon, we're back and we're talking about the presidential election, and we have a special guest joining us and a Jon Favreau super fan, Louie Swisher. Louie, come on on.

Hello.

He's at NYU and he's studying abroad, and so he gets an upfront, uh, and personal look at politics Argentinean style, which is a lot going on here. But let's start with some polling. Uh, the latest numbers are out and it's not great news for Joe Biden. Former President Donald Trump is leading the, President Joe Biden in six out of seven swing states, according to the Wall Street Journal's new poll. Trump has a multipoint overall lead in these states and increases to double digits when it comes to questions about the economy, inflation, and immigration. Biden does beat Trump on abortion rights, an issue we'll discuss more in a bit. Uh, Jon, let's start with you on these numbers, 'cause Louie has a perspective that I think is really interesting, but let's talk... uh, let, why don't you talk about what do you think about these numbers and, uh, why Biden doesn't get credit for the economy?

So, I think, caveat, right, any single poll you can't freak out over too much. Uh, but if you throw it in the average, I think the averages right now show Trump ahead by about a point, and then if you go to the swing states, he's ahead of about four in Arizona, two to three Michigan, three Nevada. It's about tied in Wisconsin and it's almost tied in Pennsylvania as well. Um, so not great for Biden, uh, but it's early. I guess that's... so if you want reasons for optimism, (laughs) it-

Mm-hmm.

... is early, so the numbers can change. Um, I do think that the reason to your question about the economy, I think when you go through inflation, uh, even though the rate of inflation has come down, prices are still high, and I think for a lot of, uh, people who were, you know, struggling even before, uh, inflation, having higher prices, uh, you don't necessarily notice yet that your wages are also going up. And so you're still... you know, it's a $12 hamburger and it's not a $13 hamburger anymore, but you're still pissed that it used to be cheaper, uh, and I don't think... I don't think that's gone away yet. Now, the good news is I think consumer sentiment, economic sentiment continues to rise, and so, um, and you're starting to see in the polls views of the economy get a little bit better as well. So it's slow going and obviously anything can happen between now and November, but it- it is heading in the right direction, but I do think that people are still pretty upset over inflation.

So what did... when you saw these polls, what did you think? Oh, Jesus, it's continuing, it doesn't change, it hasn't changed yet all?