Former CNN host Don Lemon confessed it was “eye-opening” to see the number of voters in deep-blue cities that told him they were backing former President Trump in the next election, primarily because of economic concerns.
“I don’t know if it was surprising, but it was certainly eye-opening to hear so many people, even people of color and women, saying they are going to support Donald Trump. I am not quite sure that the polls are accurate as it relates to the tightening of the polls and who is going to support whom,” Lemon told MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Monday.
Lemon recently posted videos of his conversations with voters in Atlantic City, Cleveland and Pittsburgh in which he asked their thoughts about Trump and Vice President Harris while attempting to defend the economy under President Biden.
He told Psaki how he had to correct voters who believed “false information” about the economy being better under Trump over Biden.
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“There were a lot of Black men, Jen, who said they were supporting Donald Trump simply because he gave them a stimulus check. He gave them $1,200 back when he was president. They did not somehow remember that the current president also gave them a stimulus check, except his name wasn’t on it. So, I had to remind them time after time that the check did not come from Donald Trump, that it came from a Democratic Congress,” he argued.
When asked about what these voters thought about Harris, he said the answers varied in the different battleground states. He claimed many people “were not familiar with her.”
“So I think she has to reintroduce herself to the public. But for him, I think they thought he is better for the economy. Again, that he brought money into the community or that he was on Black people’s side,” he continued.
“Listen, I wasn’t surprised by that. I have been doing this long enough that you never know where people are going to fall, how they are going to vote. That’s their personal prerogative. But I think it’s important for them to understand and to go into the voting booth with some knowledge, that they are informed as an electorate. And for all the reasons they were telling me, the information was all false. They didn’t understand the correct reasons why they might vote for him.”
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The ex-CNN host said he’s always believed the former president to be a “racist” so he was “a bit” surprised to see so many Black voters supporting him, from his conversations. At the same time, he recognized how inflation was a top concern for voters.
“Is it odd that so many African- Americans are supporting him? A bit. But I also think that people tend to romanticize the past. Even though, by most metrics, the economy is doing better and it’s on fire, what people do is they vote with prices. They vote with their wallet. So maybe the economy is better. Both can be true: the economy can be better, but prices are higher and people have less money and less resources to put towards high prices and to feed their families,” he said.
Harris has a slim 1.5 point-lead over Trump nationally, according to a recent Real Clear Politics polling average.
Since emerging as the Democratic nominee, Harris has recovered some of the enthusiasm lost Black voters in battleground states that was lost when Biden was at the top of the ticket.
Harris leads Trump 70%-9% among Black voters in Michigan and 70%-11% among Black voters in Pennsylvania, according to the results of a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Sunday. In June, polling found that Biden only led Trump 54%-15% among Black voters in Michigan and 56%-11% among Black voters in Pennsylvania.
Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report.
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