Former President Donald Trump unveiled economic plans today at the Economic Club
of New York, front and center. Trump maintained his pledge to impose
heavy tariffs on goods being imported from China, save the U.S. auto industry from obliteration with a 27.5% tariff on all Chinese cars. That remains in place to this day. Now I am going further. We will bring our auto making industry
to the record levels of 37 years ago and will be able to do it
very quickly through tariffs. Many economists left, right and center say the tariffs will end up
raising fees for US companies. That will then be offset by raising prices
for American consumers, which could cost the typical middle
income household more than 20 $600 a year, according to the Peterson Institute
for International Economics. Mr. Trump also called for the creation
of a government efficiency commission. That's an idea first floated by Elon Musk, who
Trump said he would appoint to lead it. CNN's John King is standing by
at the magic wall. And, John, the race is very close, according to polls
in a lot of the battleground states. But interestingly, not so much
when it comes to who voters
think will be better for the economy. Not at all, Jake. The economy is Donald Trump's biggest advantage heading into next week's
big debate. It is Kamala Harris's biggest problem. The yellow states are our toss up states. Plus Nebraska's second
congressional district, seven states in all,
plus that congressional district. We polled six of those states. Right? All these states
except for North Carolina, the economy was the number one
issue by far. Yes, voters care about
protecting democracy and about immigration and about abortion rights,
but by far by leaps and bounds, the economy was the number one issue
in all six of these battleground states. Forgive me as I stretch this out
for turning my back and Donald Trump led on the economy
in every single one of them. Notice what happens here. Trump up five points overall in Arizona,
up on the economy by 15. In states where the advantage is
not as big, Harris is leading by one. In Georgia, that's a statistical tie. It's a smaller Trump advantage. In Michigan, Harris is up
just outside the margin of error. It's a smaller Trump advantage,
but still an advantage. Nevada's the outlier. It had the highest unemployment
rate during COVID. HARRIS Up one in our poll, again,
a statistical tie. TRUMP up by 16 on the economy. But just look at every one of these
states. Challenge number one, without a doubt
for Donald Trump is to protect that lead. It said about eight points
nationally. It's in the battleground states that matter. That's what's keeping him competitive. And the challenge for Harris
is the flip side of that, to try to cut into that lead. Why you see here on the road, talking
to the economy and watch your TV ads. A lot of economy there, too. Let's talk about
not only my favorite battleground state, but perhaps the most important one, the 19 electoral votes up for grabs
in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Now, Biden beat Trump there in 2020
by only 81,660 votes. Both the Harris campaign
and the Trump campaign see victory in Pennsylvania as critical
to winning the White House. Can you win without Pennsylvania? Yes. Is it much easier, though? It is. By electoral vote count. It is the largest of these battleground
states, 19 electoral votes. So let's walk through what
our polling told us. Number one, as I said,
we did not poll in North Carolina. I'm just going to lean that red for now because it has voted
Republican consistently. Not that Kamala Harris can't win it. I'm just going to lean it red for now for this hypothetical
that would get Donald Trump up to 235. What else did our polling tell us? Jake, let's leave Pennsylvania side just
a second and Harris ahead in Michigan. Harris ahead in Wisconsin, that would get her to 250
if she could get the 19 in Pennsylvania. And the three blue wall states,
as they're called, have voted together in the last since essentially since 2000. If she could get that,
it would get her to 269. She would need just one more. Could be from Nebraska's
congressional district, could be from
any one of these other states. So that's why Pennsylvania is so big. It gets you 19 to get you close. Let's just take it back to toss up
for a minute, though, and leave it there. Is there a way to get there without it?
Sure she was again. Plus one. It's the statistical tie, but let's for the sake of the argument,
give it to Harris here, plus one out here. Let's give it to Harris there. Donald Trump was leading in Arizona in our
poll outside of the margin of error. You give him that, that would get Harris there
through the Sun Belt strategy without it. But it is just as conceivable these are
statistical ties just as conceivable that Donald Trump wins Georgia
and that Donald Trump wins Nevada. Where does that get you to 68? Trump would be on the doorstep to 54. HARRIS With Pennsylvania and Nebraska
still in play, if Harris wins it, it gets 40 to 69. It all comes down to Nebraska. If Trump won it, as he did in 2016,
that would put him over the top. That is why the campaigns because it's 19. That's why the campaign say
if you can get those 19, it's 16 here, 16 there, but that one shoot, you want it.
That's the biggest. You want it. I know it's your home state.
It is the biggest prize. That's
why the campaigns are spending more money on Pennsylvania TVs than anywhere else
by far. Yep. John King, thanks so much. Coming up,
what might be a And our 2024 lead. A brand new CNN poll shows a very tight presidential race in
many of the must win battleground states. Vice President Harris, former
President Trump or split among likely voters in Nevada and Georgia
and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which means those states
are basically toss ups right now. What about areas that could be wildcards
in November's election? Let's bring in the former governor of Virginia, Democrat
Terry McAuliffe, who also serves as chairman
of the Democratic National Committee, worked closely
with both Hillary and Bill Clinton. So I want to ask you about how competitive
these battleground states are. But quickly, on Virginia, in 2016, Hillary narrowly won Virginia narrowly 212,000 votes. Biden did it with 451,000 votes before Biden dropped out. There was a lot of internal polling
showing that, like states such as New Hampshire and Minnesota and Virginia
were becoming more competitive. Where is Virginia today? Is it a lock? Yes, it was for Democrats, Yeah. It was never really in play. I think we probably win by ten again. Two big things. Number one, we have the most
federal workers of any state. All the people who work for our federal
government, many of them in Virginia. They remember that Donald Trump
did a 35 day government shutdown. And remember,
Trump was very callous about it and said, oh, they'll get their pay
sometime. That doesn't help a federal worker, Jake,
when you have to buy groceries or pay your rent. So they remember him for that. In the military, we have the most military
installations, the largest naval base in the world,
in Virginia, Pentagon. They hate what he does with the military. They hate what he did in Arlington
the other day, calling our military personnel losers and suckers
who lost their lives. So the military is going against Trump
and you have the federal workers. So we're going to win Virginia. We have 110 staff today, 26 offices. Trump doesn't have anything. He's
not even plan. So but, you know, they want to continue
to spend more to get more resources we're all for. But I feel very good. We're going to win Virginia,
where the battle is about these key. So let's talk about those. Sure. Because in the battleground states,
a new CNN poll shows that Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia
and Wisconsin, in those states they Trump voters trust Trump to better
handle the economy over Kamala Harris. How can voters take Harris's claim as seriously
that she's going to be an agent of change? It's time to turn the page,
the economy is going to improve, etc., etc., when she's the vice president
of the current administration. Well, those six states, Joe Biden did win. He got 303 electoral votes in 2020. Kamala Harris is going to win those six. I would add North Carolina now in play. I could make an argument, Florida, which
Biden only lost by three points, Jake. Now you have the abortion
question on the ballot this year to stop a six week ban
that the Republicans have put in Florida. But listen,
she is going to be an agent of change. It's going to be a historic election. She's talking about building
a new economy, building small business. She's talking about taking 25 million
more small business licenses when she becomes the president,
adding to the 17 million that she and President
Biden had while they were in office. So I think small business growing
the economy, inflation's coming down. They created 17 million new jobs. Now, the debate's going to be important. But listen,
she's going to be a game changer. I've worked with her a lot
when she was vice president, used to bring me in
to talk about business issues. I was a very pro-business, job
creating governor in Virginia. And all we talked about
is how you grow small businesses. And that is what she is
going to be able to get rid of. Red tape, build more small businesses,
put more people, first time homebuyers, giving them a big tax deduction
so they can buy their first home. Look at her economic plan. And let me just say this. Trump's plan, national sales tax. We have $4,000. He's talking about the tariffs that you're helping the Harris campaign
with fund raising. You just held a fundraiser
with a vice presidential candidate. WALSH Yeah. Does money
play a bigger role in this election, given the fact and the odd circumstances of her? You know, she's still relatively unknown. She hadn't gone
through the primary process. There is this race to define her, a lot of which is a lot of the definition
is going to be done on television through ads and such. Yeah, well, I've just done two events.
I did a big. Oh, you did, too. Okay. I had President Biden Clintons at my house
for the Biden-Harris team. Oh, right. Okay. Tim Walz the other night. So I've done about nine and a half million
bucks in the last two months. That's peanuts compared to
what's coming into this campaign. She has raised, Jake, five and 40 million since she became our candidate
for president. The more important number, two thirds first time donors that has never happened
in the history of American politics. So a lot of money is coming in. Small donors, new donors. It goes to show the excitement. Hundreds of thousands of people
have signed up to be grassroots activists knocking on the door.
So we'll have plenty of resources. Now, she outraised Trump 3
to 1, as you know, in August. Both candidacies will have money. But I do think it goes to the enthusiasm
which she has been able to bring in these new donors, small donors has never happened
in the history of presidential politics. All right. And allows us to do everything we need to do for our viewers,
Make the phone calls. It's exciting. It's going to be a close
election. Get out there. Get engaged.