Networks Giddily Promote Bad Polls, Seek to Depress GOP Turnout Ahead of Midterms

Whereas the broadcast networks spent the days prior to the 2022 midterms ensconced in January 6 Committee hearings, talk of the 2020 election, and demands that no one assign blame for the bad economy, the elitist networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC continued on Monday morning to emphasize the impending blue tsunami through negative polls, treating President Trump seeking to drive base turnout as a five-alarm fire, and largely ignoring Democratic opposition.

ABC’s Good Morning America had the shortest segment by far, but they certainly didn’t skimp on the doomcasting.

Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos sounded like the true partisan tool that he is: “With midterms less than a month away and his poll numbers at record lows, the President is hitting the trail in deep-red states to shore up Republicans facing strong headwinds.”

Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce also did her part for her preferred political party by seeking to depress GOP turnout, painting a seemingly insurmountable picture:

[A]s we head into this final sprint, President Trump is ramping up his campaign appearances in red states that he won, playing defense for the GOP on their home turf. This morning, with less than a month until the midterms, President Trump is hitting the campaign trail in deep-red states, hoping to boost turnout with his base.

Bruce hit all the correct notes for her handlers at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, including the high gas prices. She at least, thought, mentioned out loud the name of a Democrat who isn’t James Talarico (click “expand”):

BRUCE: Today, he heads to Nebraska, a state he won by 20 points to campaign for incumbent Senator Pete Ricketts, as he faces union leader Dan Osborne, an independent who’s backed by Democrats. And, on Wednesday, Trump’s back in Texas, his second stop in the span of a week to bolster Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s trailing in the polls behind Democrat James Talarico. Trump has been blitzing traditional Republican strongholds. In the past week, visiting Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Ohio, all states he won by double digits, but that could now determine control of Congress.

TRUMP: Nobody counted on the fact that Trump was going to go out and campaign for all these people. 

BRUCE: The President is urging voters to act like he’s on the ballot. But it comes as he’s facing record-low approval numbers, and with Americans feeling the economic fallout from the war with Iran: at the pump, gas now averaging $4.30 a gallon, diesel at $6.30.

“IOWA FARMER” DAN PEDERSON: You just cannot keep these high-priced fuel going for another six to nine months. It — just — it’s unsustainable. It’s just crazy.

After having arrived much later at the daily midterm beat (compared to ABC and CBS), NBC’s Today led both hours with the push to November.

Co-host Savannah Guthrie boasted in a tease the latest poll numbers are a “red alert,” with “Trump traveling to reliable Republican strongholds four weeks from election day as our new NBC News poll shows the party on shaky ground even in the rubiest red states.”

“High-profile Republicans sounding the alarm...as these Trump ads, paid for by taxpayers, get prime airtime during some football. We’re live in Washington straight ahead,” she added.

There again, the elitist press go with their misleading narrative that a Republican president traveling to red states ahead of an election is a definitive, no-doubt-about-it sign of a blue wave. In doing so, they’re purposefully ignoring the basic political need to turn out one’s base.

Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez had the story, starting with that misleading framing: “The President is spending a lot of time in traditionally red states defending areas that usually aren’t all that competitive at the polls. White House officials often say he is his own best messenger.”

“The President in Ohio this weekend, one of four usually reliable Republican states where he has rallied his base over the past week. Today he heads to Nebraska, a state won by 20 points in 2024, but where a GOP incumbent is now trying to hold on to his Senate seat,” he added.

Gutierrez mixed in Trump promises of “$90 rebate checks to seniors on Medicare” and a $5,000 dividend to every American if the GOP wins next month, with declarations that “Democrats see an opening” on cost of living because “[e]ven some Republicans are worried soaring gas and grocery prices could still trouble this election.”

Before wrapping the first hour with two notes on new GOP ads (one from the White House, another from a Texas super PAC), Gutierrez hawked a new, negative poll for Trump: “A new NBC News/Telemundo poll finds Democrats now lead Republicans by 24 points among critical Latino voters on which party they want controlling Congress. The President’s approval rating among Latinos? Just 27 percent.” 

CBS Mornings had two full segments in its first hour, packed the brim with zero cause for concern by Democrats as it was encroaching on do-no-wrong territory.

Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers stacked the deck by touting “new signs of trouble for Republicans,” with CBS predicting Democrats will romp to a 23-seat margin of victory in the House because “[v]oters do not approve of President Trump’s handling of the economy and inflation.”

Stating it as though it’s bizarre for him to even try, Duthiers added Trump is “still campaigning hard, though, hoping to turn the tide.”

Chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes similarly scoffed, “Another day, another red-state campaign stop planned for President Trump. This time, he’s heading to Nebraska, which he won by 20 points two years ago, but where the Senate race today is a little too close for comfort.”

Cordes continued (click “expand”):

TRUMP: They are a bunch of dumb son of a [EXPLETIVE].

CORDES: President Trump deploying some coarse language to describe Democrats this weekend as the outlook for his party gets muddier. A New York Times poll shows Democratic candidates for governor pulling ahead of the Republican rivals in four red states.

TRUMP: Just get out and vote. If you do that, we’re going to win, and we’re going to win big.

CORDES: Trump was stumping for Ohio Senator John Husted, who’s fending off a challenge from Sherrod Brown, who is hoping to reclaim the seat he lost two years ago.

FORMER SENATOR SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): We’ve got to address high costs. More money going out the door than coming in. I hope the President changes his focus and realizes how important that is.

CORDES: The Democratic inroads are forcing Republicans to make some tough choices. Over the weekend, the top GOP super PAC stopped airing ads in swing-state North Carolina, shifting those funds to Kansas instead. Ahead of the election, Trump is trying to appeal voters’ bank accounts, announcing plans to send some seniors on Medicare $90 to help with premium costs, and repeating his vow to give Americans cash if Republicans win. 

TRUMP: I’m going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000.

CORDES: It’s an unusual campaign promise that other Republicans are shying away from. Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly called it corrupt.

SENATOR MARK KELLY (D-AZ) [on CBS’s Face the Nation, 10/04/26]: I mean, this is just a payoff and he’s trying to buy votes.

Cordes stood out from ABC and NBC by kicking dirt in the face of California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton:

Co-host Norah O’Donnell had a segment of her own with CBS News elections and surveys executive director Anthony Salvanto. Spoiler alert: They painted a picture that November is a done deal for Democrats, particularly among Hispanics (click “expand”):

O’DONNELL: We know gas prices up over a dollar, grocery prices up, mortgage rates at a three-year high. Who are voters blaming for this?

SALVANTO: So, of all of those measures that you mentioned, voters say the top one on their minds is prices. You see that 91 percent incorporate that when they’re talking about the economy. But right now, what’s driving those big numbers you saw at the top is the Democrats are getting more of the voters who say that those higher prices have been difficult or a hardship. Now, the way that relates back to the administration and the Republicans is that 70 percent of voters say they think the administration’s policies are making prices go up — yes, because of the Iran conflict in their minds gas prices and also food groceries, in part because they oppose the tariffs, Norah.

O’DONNELL: So, they’re blaming President Trump and the Republicans in control of Congress for that. Let me ask you about Hispanic voters because they were a big factor in Trump’s victory in the last election. How are they voting this year? What do we know?

SALVANTO: Yeah, exactly. Let me show you what you just mentioned there. These tight numbers between Democrats and Republicans in 2024, Republicans were hoping to build on or keep those gains this year, but you see Hispanic voters now moving back towards the Democrats. That’s going to be pivotal, not just in states, but in a lot of Congressional districts where Republicans were hoping to hold on to those gains. One reason for it is that Hispanic voters even more tell us they think the administration focused too much on its deportation efforts.

O’DONNELL: Like, this may make a big difference in Texas, for instance.

SALVANTO: Absolutely. A lot of districts were redrawn hoping to hold on to Hispanic gains, they may not.

To see the relevant transcripts from October 5, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).