Former senior Hillary Clinton adviser and longtime confidant Philippe Reines appeared stunned Monday by the results of a new poll showing Joe Biden trailing former President Trump in several key swing states.
“I have to be honest with you, I don’t know what’s going on here,” Reines said on “The Story” when asked about the New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll showing Trump ahead in five of the six key battleground states where he was narrowly edged by President Biden four years ago.
NEW SWING STATE POLL AN ‘ABSOLUTE DISASTER’ FOR BIDEN: CNN DATA REPORTER
Trump speaks to the media on May 13 after a poll found him leading in several keys swing states. (Photo by SETH WENIG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Reines acknowledged that according to the poll’s findings, former President Trump would beat President Biden in the general election if it were held tomorrow. The results are no surprise for the Biden campaign, he said, adding that they are aware “they have problems.”
“I’m not going to pretendthese numbers are good, but…I agree… if the election weretomorrow, Joe Biden wouldprobably not win,”Reines said. “Thankfully though, there are 176days between now and November5th.Also, thankfully, the presidentand his team are not sittingthere in a bubblethinking things are great.They know they have problems, andthey know where they haveproblems.I think they knowtheir best hope is to bring these folks home.”
The surveys, released Monday, suggest that discontent over the economy and the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, and a deterioration in support for Biden by younger, Black and Hispanic voters, “threaten to unravel the president’s Democratic coalition.”
With just under six months to go until Election Day, Trump leads Biden among registered voters 49%-42% in Arizona, 49%-39% in Georgia, 49%-42% in Michigan, 50%-38% in Nevada, and edges the president 47%-44% in Pennsylvania, with Biden narrowly on top in Wisconsin 47%-45%, the surveys found.
The polls come as Trump makes history as the first current or former president to stand trial in a criminal case and amid a massive ad blitz by the Biden campaign across the key battleground states. (Biden photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images and Trump photo Mario Tama/Getty Images )
Biden narrowly won all six critical states in 2020. Should Trump win them in 2024 and hold other states he’d won from that year, he would take back the White House.
The polls come as Trump makes history as the first current or former president to stand trial in a criminal case and amid a massive ad blitz by the Biden campaign across the key battleground states.
Wall Street Journal editor-at-large Gerry Baker joked during the segment that “Trump should spend every day betweennow and Election Day in a courtroom because itseems to be doing him a world ofgood.”
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Fox News contributor Karl Rove agreed that Trump would win a “smashing victory” if the election were held today, but pointed out that Trump’s edge appears to “more about JoeBiden [having] dropped from where he was in 2020rather than Donald Trump risingabove where he was in 2020.”
“If it was anyone other thanDonald Trump in this situation,they would probably beat Joe Bidenhands-down,”Reines replied. “The truth of the matter here, isthe reason it is so tight andthe reason neither of them aregoing anywhere even when JoeBiden goes down, Donald Trump doesn’t goup, is because Trump hasreally permanent problems there.”
The poll found Biden leading Trump by one point in Michigan.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
