Speaker 1: Welcome back to the David Pakman show. I am Ferran Cousins sitting in for David Pakman.
And hey, if you like what you've heard from me these last two days, you can follow me on my two
YouTube channels. YouTube.com slash the ring of fire. I'm also YouTube.com slash. Fair and
balanced. And Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. And if you're so inclined. Ticktalk. I'm at
fair and balanced. We've still got a lot to cover and not a whole lot of show left,
folks. So let's get right back into it. We've got a new poll this week that I think tells us more
than what the pollsters thought it was telling us. And it is this for the first time this year, the
number one issue on the minds of American voters as we head into the midterms is not the economy.
It's not inflation. It's not anything having to do with their personal finances. The number one
issue. Or I should say the most popular. Speaker 2: Issue for American voters,
because it's only at 14%, but everything is lower than that or I'm.
Speaker 1: Sorry. Speaker 2: 21%, but everything else is.
Speaker 1: Lower than that is threats to democracy.
21%. A plurality of voters say the number one issue they have on their minds right now
heading into the midterms are the growing threats to democracy. It's not surprising,
is it? Because what I think this really tells us is. The January six hearings have worked.
That's why threats to democracy is at the forefront of everybody's brains right now. Because
we are watching the threats to democracy, or at least we were over the summer unfold on TV. Those
hearings, by the way, are going to resume once again in September, which is wonderful. We need.
Speaker 2: Them to. Speaker 1: You know, we kind
of had like the season finale in the summer. Now we're ready for season two because they left us a
lot of cliffhangers that we need resolved before the midterms. And if Republicans take back over,
we kind of have to get on that quick because they're going to kill the committee and
several of the members will no longer. Speaker 2: Be in Congress. Liz
Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, obviously. Speaker 1: But 21% isn't a huge percentage. Right,
because you still have other ones. 16% chose cost of living as the, you know, second most important,
14% said jobs and the economy. 57%, by the way, say the investigation into former President
Donald Trump should continue. So when we see these numbers that say 21% say the threats to democracy
are number one, please understand a majority of people are directly referring to Donald frickin
Trump. It's not like we're dealing with Trump supporters who think, oh, the threat to democracy
of the FBI barging in on the former president, making him cry. Nope. These are people who look
at Donald Trump. They look at date January six, they look at all the investigations and, you know,
criminal allegations out there. And they say, you know what? That's that that's very concerning to
me. And furthermore, knowing now that this has emerged as the biggest issue for American voters,
it also helps explain why we've seen the shifts in these polls in just the last couple of weeks.
Right. Ever since Biden was sworn in as president, all the polls already showed us Republicans are
going to sweep the 2022 midterms. And it's not just the polls that were telling us that. History
tells us that typically when a new president takes power, if the party also controls Congress,
they will lose control of Congress in the first. Speaker 2: Midterms following their first year.
Speaker 1: In office. That's historically what happens. It's only not happened a handful of
times. So historically it was supposed to happen. The polls were showing it was totally going
to happen. And now the polls are showing that, oops, generic Democrat beats generic Republican.
So sometimes we have to take all of this polling data. You know, like, for example,
this stuff says, well, a majority of voters say the threat to democracy is number one.
Oh, these polls show Democrats are now possibly going to win the midterms.
But. But you have to finish the work. You have to put the pulls together. You know,
my degree is in political science. And that is literally one of the things that they teach you
in the political polling classes is how to take the data from all the different polls.
And put it all together to extrapolate what it actually means. And unfortunately, I see
too few individuals out there doing that. You can't just report on, hey, here's a new poll,
blah, blah, blah. See you later. No, you have to tie it in and make it relevant to everything.
And that's what too few groups are not doing because that's not mentioned in the story.
It should be, but it's not.
So brush up on your poli sci folks because that's how you read polls. You don't read them
individually. You read them as a part. Speaker 2: Of something bigger.