CNN’s Van Jones said a set of battleground state polls showing former President Trump with a lead over President Biden in five of six key states should be a “wake-up call” for Democrats.
The New York Times poll published Monday found Trump with a slight lead in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and with significant leads in Nevada, Arizona and Georgia.
Jones said the results can be attributed to younger voters turning against Biden.
“It should be a wake-up call,” Jones said. “Young people are upset. And it's not just the situation in Gaza — the economic prospects for young people are miserable.”
“We just do not have a pathway for young people to be able to pay off their student debt, get a house,” he continued. “I think that we're not yet feeling, hearing a full-throated approach to the young people [from Biden]. There's a symbolic piece around student loans. That's not going to be enough for Joe Biden.”
Jones added that the Biden campaign must also double down on courting the Black vote in key cities including Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia.
“You've got to get at the grassroots level in those core Black cities, and make sure that people are heard from by surrogates — heard from by the campaign and responded to,” he said. “It's going to be a pitched, on-the-ground battle in those Great Lakes states, in those Black cities. And that's where you've got to go.”
The network’s polling expert, Harry Enten, described the poll results as an “absolute disaster” for Biden, pointing out a stark divide between results in Sun Belt states versus those closer to the Great Lakes.
Trump has a 13-point lead in Nevada, 9-point lead in Arizona and 6-point lead in Georgia, according to the poll.
“The Trump coalition is changing. That's basically what's cooking here,” Enten said to explain the difference between results in the Southwest and Midwest.
He said the Trump campaign voter base has become increasingly nonwhite, and that the increase in support among Latino voters especially has helped Trump massively in Nevada and Arizona.
Despite the good signs for Trump, Enten noted that the race is not over yet. If the Times poll were accurate to election results and Biden won all states that were too close to call, he would stay in the White House by a razor-thin 270-268 electoral vote margin.
“The race to 270 is advantage Donald Trump, but he's not over the 270 mark just yet,” Enten said.
The same Times poll found swing-state Democratic Senate candidates outperforming Biden and leading their GOP rivals, adding to what is already expected to be a nail-biting November election.
