The hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” appeared shocked Friday by former President Donald Trump’s polling advantage over President Joe Biden on several key issues, including the economy and inflation.
Republicans also have the largest leads ever registered over Democrats on issues like national security.
“There’s been one poll after another poll after another poll this week that has shown that the Republicans are just absolutely bashing Democrats when it comes to issues,” host Joe Scarborough said to open the segment.
“In fact, Gallup had a poll a few days ago where they reported the largest gap between Republicans and Democrats since they started taking these polls. And despite the fact Republicans have a massive lead, we always go late. How can people still go along and Republicans to go along with Donald Trump?” he asked.
A Gallup poll published on Tuesday showed Republicans with a 14 percentage point lead (53 to 39 percent) over Democrats on the issue of which party is better at keeping the country prosperous.
That represents the widest gap since Gallup began asking the question in 1991. The margin was 10 percent in the GOP’s favor going into last year’s midterm elections.
Further, poll respondents trusted Republicans to keep the country safe from international terrorism and military threats over Democrats 57 percent to 35 percent. Again this was the largest gap since Gallup began asking the question in 2002.
The poll was conducted from Sept. 1-23 by phone with 1,016 American adults. The margin of error was +/- 4 percent.
“It’s amazing the advantage Republicans have going into this election on the issues, and yet Donald Trump keeps dragging them down,” Scarborough argued.
Running contrary to Scarborough’s point on Trump being a drag on Republicans, the Real Clear Politics average of polls shows him leading Biden by 1.1 percent, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis actually trails the incumbent president in a hypothetical matchup by 1.5 percent.
“Morning Joe” panelist Jonathan Lemire also discussed the results of the Marquette Law School Poll published Wednesday, which showed Trump ahead of Biden among registered voters by 51 to 48 percent.
Biden does hold a 51 to 49 percent lead among likely voters. In its coverage MSNBC showed Biden leading Trump among likely voters surveyed, but failed to mention Trump being ahead of Biden among registered voters, though Marquette had it in the first sentence about the poll results.
Lemire highlighted the massive lead Trump has over Biden on several issues, including the economy (24 percent lead), border security (24 percent), inflation (23 percent), and creating jobs (19 percent). Trump also leads Biden in handling foreign relations by 5 percentage points.
Biden holds a small 2 percentage point advantage in Medicare and Social Security policy, a larger 9 percent edge in abortion policy, and a 20 percent lead in climate change policy.
Marquette Poll: Who would handle the following issues better?
The Economy:
Trump 52% (+24)
Biden 28%Border Security:
Trump 52% (+24)
Biden 28%Inflation:
Trump 50% (+23)
Biden 27%Creating Jobs:
Trump 49% (+19)
Biden 30%Foreign Relations
Trump 43% (+5)
Biden 38%… pic.twitter.com/JFH3o4FMJB— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) October 5, 2023
MSNBC showed a graphic of the Marquette poll results with Trump leading Biden on many issues, but Lemire referred to it as a Republican advantage rather than Trump one.
“It’s a close race. We know that,” Lemire observed, regarding Trump versus Biden in 2024. “But look at this. Republicans or Democrats on issues like inflation, the economy, immigration —these are 25, nearly 30 point margins creating jobs.”
“It’s unbelievable,” a seemingly stunned Scarborough responded.
“Huge, huge numbers,” Lemire said. “Now, the other way, Democrats, as you might expect, more trusted more on climate change, abortion policy, health care, Medicare and the like. But elections so often…are decided on the economy. And these are big warning signs here,” he added.
“And certainly, there have been some other surveys and swing state voters, particularly among suburban voters who dislike Trump immensely but still really disapprove of how this White House has handled the economy,” Lemire said.
He mentioned that the White House sees the economy improving and thinks the narrative will begin to change going into next year.
“I don’t think that narrative is going to change,” Scarborough responded. “The economists are saying we may still be heading for a hard landing.”
“The White House is starting to realize they made a really bad mistake with this Bidenomics rollout,” he added. “It’s not working. You can’t convince people the economy’s going great when they don’t feel like the economy’s going great.”
The Marquette survey was conducted from Sept. 18-25 with 1,007 adults nationwide. The margin of error was +/- 4.1 percent.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.