Two-time Donald Trump voters who’ve since soured on the former president still don’t plan to back him after his debate with President Joe Biden, according to a focus group spearheaded by conservative strategist Sarah Longwell.
Longwell, publisher of the Bulwark and prominent “Never Trumper,” joined CNN on Friday to discuss the fallout from Biden’s much-maligned performance at the first presidential debate held on Thursday.
Longwell said she hosted a focus group Friday morning with “two-time Trump voters who are out on Trump — people who did not want to vote for him again.”
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Noting “some of them had been leaning Biden prior to last night's debate,” Longwell said, “this morning, they told us that they just didn't think they could get there on Biden.”
“I will say, though, they were very clear about Trump still,” the Republican strategist said. “One of the things you heard from all the voters in the focus group is that Trump is a liar. Trump is a bad person. They don't want to vote for Trump. There was nothing about last night in Trump's performance that brought these voters who don't like Trump back to him.”
“The problem is that those voters needed to be persuaded to vote for Joe Biden, not just against Trump, and that didn't happen last night. That's what we heard,” she added.
CNN then played audio of the “double haters” who voted twice for Trump but are now undecided.
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"It's like watching a train wreck,” Melanie from Kansas told the focus group. “I don't like either of the candidates. It's like, which one's worse? Biden’s cognitive stuff is just — it's evident. And then Trump is just a horrible human.”
Karen from Massachusetts agreed.
"It is shameful that that's country has these two candidates to pick from: You have a felon, and a gentleman who has certainly done his best, in his mind, for his country — but it's time for him to step away.”
Explaining the responses from her focus group, Longwell said “the double haters … have always sounded like this."
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“The thing is, they don't hate Joe Biden, actually,” Longwell noted. “They just think he's too old. They do hate Donald Trump. They think he's a bad person of bad character. And so Joe Biden had to show up last night and convince those people that he could do the job.”
“Because that didn't happen last night, you just heard a lot of people talking about being embarrassed, feeling like, ‘Is this the only thing we could, the best we can do in this country?’” Longwell added.
Watch the video below, via CNN, or at this link.
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