CNN
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With less than a month until the election, public interest is declining, according to CNN’s The Breakthrough, a polling project that surveys what the average American actually hears, reads, and sees about presidential candidates. They say they are moving on to candidates’ responses to hurricane season. campaign. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is also seeing renewed focus on his legal troubles following new charges from federal prosecutors, the investigation found.
When asked what they had heard about President Trump in the wake of Hurricane Helen, which killed more than 230 people in the southeastern United States, the word “hurricane” was the most commonly cited word. This was the second most popular word asked about Vice President Kamala Harris after “campaign.” The poll was conducted by SSRS and Verasight on behalf of a research team from CNN, Georgetown University, and the University of Michigan, and was conducted from October 4th to October 7th, before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday night. It was done.
Democrats and Republicans were about equally likely to mention the hurricane when talking about Harris, but their views on her response were often very different.
One Democratic respondent wrote that Harris “worked with FEMA to provide relief and recovery to areas affected by Hurricane Helen,” and another said that Harris “worked with FEMA to provide relief and recovery to areas affected by Hurricane Helen.” “He did a wonderful job of comforting people,” he said.
In contrast, Republican respondents said they had heard that Harris “paid only $750 to people whose homes were destroyed in the hurricane, but sent billions of dollars to Ukraine and Israel.” I wrote about. The $750 is an apparent reference to the Federal Emergency Management Agency payment program, which has been incorrectly identified by President Trump and others as the only aid provided by FEMA.
Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to mention hurricanes in conjunction with President Trump. When asked what they’ve heard recently about the Republican presidential nominee, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to mention his response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol or simply use the word “lies.” .
In the latest round of data, Americans also cited President Trump’s Oct. 5 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the first assassination attempt occurred this summer. And they mentioned two other names in connection with him: Elon Musk, who appeared on stage with Trump in “The Butler,” and a recently unsealed legal brief that seeks to overturn the legislation. Special Counsel Jack Smith outlined the government’s comprehensive case against the former president. 2020 Election.
About 14% of respondents who had heard something about Trump mentioned words related to Trump’s legal problems. That’s up from 7% in the previous data and the highest percentage since early September, when the New York criminal case was decided. It has been postponed until after the 2024 elections.
When asked about Harris, 8% of respondents who had heard something about her cited support. In this case, she was primarily referring to former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz Cheney, who announced their support for her last month. , a former Wyoming congressman who recently appeared on the campaign trail with Harris. Harris previously gained attention after receiving endorsements from Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift.
The sentiment behind the words Americans used to describe what they heard about Harris remained moderately more positive than the words they used to describe news about Trump. This does not mean that they expressed warm feelings about Harris personally, but rather that their statements about her tended to be framed in relatively positive terms and tones. Overall, the tone of responses regarding both candidates was more negative than positive.
