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[0] In a stunning upset, Republican Glenn Yonkin wins the Virginia governor's race.
[1] Flipping the blue state red, a feat that hasn't been accomplished in over a decade, Yonkin defeated Terry McAuliffe just one year after Democrat Joe Biden won the state by 10 points.
[2] Wheels drill down on the numbers and what they mean for both parties moving forward.
[3] I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[4] It's Wednesday, November 3rd, and this is Morning Wire.
[5] President Biden's poll numbers are plummeting, and it's not just Republicans who are unhappy with the direction of the country.
[6] We'll look at which issues are driving the president's declining approval numbers and the broader implications.
[7] And Senator Joe Manchin, you've heard his name often lately.
[8] He continued to stand in the way of President Biden's build -back better agenda this week.
[9] What are his concerns with the president's social spending bill?
[10] And why are some calling him the most powerful senator in Washington?
[11] Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
[12] Stay tuned.
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[23] Last night, in a stunning result, Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost the Virginia governor's race to Republican Glenn Yunkin.
[24] The election is considered by many to be a referendum on the Biden presidency, and as Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged ahead of it, a bellwether for future elections.
[25] Because you see, what happens in Virginia will in large part determine what happens in 2022, 2024, and on.
[26] Here to walk us through the results is Daily Wires Cabot Phillips.
[27] So Cabot, just how big of an upset is this?
[28] This is huge.
[29] There's no other way of putting it.
[30] Just one year ago, Democrats won Virginia by 10 points.
[31] It hasn't gone blue in a presidential race since 2004.
[32] This isn't a swing state we're talking about, or at least it hasn't been for the past two decades.
[33] But clearly something big has changed in Virginia.
[34] Yonkin dominated in rural counties as expected, but the real story was his performance in the suburbs.
[35] One CBS exit poll had him winning with suburban voters, 5347, and that held true throughout the evening.
[36] For example, look at Chesterfield County right outside the capital of Richmond.
[37] A year ago, it was plus seven for Biden.
[38] Last night, it was plus 10 for Yonkin.
[39] Wow.
[40] It was the same story over in Virginia Beach City.
[41] Biden won there by five points in 2020.
[42] Last night, Yonkin won by almost 20 points.
[43] And that was kind of the story in counties across the state where Yonkin really overperformed and Democrats underperformed.
[44] So a massive swing in many areas.
[45] Yeah.
[46] How did Yon do this?
[47] How do you pull it off?
[48] Well, there were two key factors in the win.
[49] First, in a state like Virginia that leans Democrat, for a Republican to win, you have to turn out the entire base if you're going to have any shot.
[50] Right.
[51] And it looks like he did just that.
[52] Yonkin dominated in Republican strongholds across the state and clearly held on to Trump voters entirely.
[53] And second, he won over independents.
[54] A lot of times it's hard for a candidate to motivate their base without turning off voters in the middle, but Yonkin did.
[55] That's clear.
[56] Seems like it.
[57] Yeah, when you look at the data from places like Prince William County right outside of D .C. They went for Biden by 27 points in 2020.
[58] Last night, Democrats only won there by five points.
[59] So it wasn't just rural counties where turnout was super high.
[60] It was also traditionally more moderate counties where Republicans performed much better than expected.
[61] And it wasn't just the governor's race that was an upset.
[62] Tell us more there.
[63] Yeah, Republican Jason Miare has won the Attorney General race and Republican winsome Sears won the lieutenant governor election.
[64] She'll actually now be the first woman of color to ever hold office statewide in Virginia.
[65] So this was a clean sweep across the board for Republicans.
[66] What do we know about the specific issues that ended up, you know, swinging this for Republicans?
[67] Yeah, right now it looks like this race came down to two things, education and the economy.
[68] That's nothing new.
[69] It's what we've been saying all along.
[70] Those were the top issues for voters in polling.
[71] And according to exit polls, that's what brought a lot of people out for Yonkin.
[72] Suburban voters who, again, were crucial last night's win overwhelmingly listed education as their top issue, and they turned out in force for Republicans.
[73] We saw anecdotal evidence throughout the day of parents saying in interviews that they voted for Biden in 2020, but went for Yon because they wanted to say in their kids' education, or they went for Yonkin because they opposed critical race theory in schools.
[74] And as the number started to come in last night, it was clear that those weren't just anecdotal incidents.
[75] They seemed to indicate a broader trend.
[76] Look, we've covered education issues multiple times on this show and we actually provided some exclusive reporting specifically on Loudoun County.
[77] How did the vote turn out there?
[78] Yeah, Loudoun County was the epicenter of the education debate.
[79] Like you said, specifically on transgender policies and critical race theory in schools.
[80] The Daily Wire had some really groundbreaking investigative reporting about what was going on there.
[81] And those issues clearly had an impact on the race.
[82] In 2020, Democrats won Loudon by 24 points.
[83] Last night, that advantage was cut to just 10.
[84] So big difference in Loudoun County, which a lot of people have their eyes on.
[85] So looking ahead, what does this all mean?
[86] It means Democrats nationwide are feeling pretty nervous about their chances in 2022.
[87] As you mentioned, this race was widely considered a referendum on Democrats more broadly, and that's clearly bad news for them.
[88] Virginia gives Republican hopefuls nationwide a sort of blueprint for success.
[89] In this case, it shows that education and the economy appear to be winning issues with swing voters for Republicans.
[90] And there's also the role of Trump and all this.
[91] Look, this was the first election in five years where Democrats haven't been able to motivate their base by saying a vote for us is a vote against Trump.
[92] That message did work for a lot of independence in the past, especially suburban women.
[93] But without him as a rallying cry for Democrats to vote against, enthusiasm was clearly down.
[94] And when you add an enthusiasm from Republicans, particularly over education, you've got what appears to be a losing combination for Democrats, and that matter is moving forward.
[95] Well, Cabot, thanks for the reporting.
[96] Anytime.
[97] That's Daily Wire reporter Cabot Phillips.
[98] Up next, some troubling numbers for the Biden administration.
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[103] New polling numbers seem to indicate that things are going from bad to worse for President Biden, with the Republican Party leading by double digits across a vast number of crucial issues for voters.
[104] Here to tell us more as Daily Wires, Ian Howarth.
[105] So Ian, Virginians just went to the polls.
[106] First, tell us how these numbers played into that race.
[107] Well, the reason we've all been watching the gubernatorial race in Virginia is because this was the first electoral referendum on Joe Biden's presidency.
[108] One year after last year's election and one year to go until the 2022 midterms, the Virginia race is going to tell us how Democrats, Republicans, and independents are judging Biden's performance.
[109] And if recent polling is anything to go on, alarm bells are going to be ringing as we approach 2022.
[110] So a significant decline in confidence in the president, what are some of the key numbers here?
[111] Well, looking first at basic approval ratings, a majority of Americans now disapprove of Biden's job performance, based on the latest this national NBC poll, 54 % disapprove of Biden's performance with only 42 % approving.
[112] This marks a pretty massive drop since April when Biden was in positive territory.
[113] The tipping point looks to have happened in August when 49 % approved and 48 % disapproved.
[114] And this coincided with the U .S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, right?
[115] Yes, and this and other concerns are showing up in other polling numbers, with a whopping 71 % of Americans saying that the country is heading in the wrong direction under Biden.
[116] That's an 8 % increase since August.
[117] And on the issues, Biden is really struggling.
[118] For example, 40 % approve and 57 % disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy.
[119] Based on these polls, more Americans think that the Republican Party is better suited than the Democratic Party when it comes to a wide range of important issues.
[120] Americans give Republicans double -digit leads when it comes to who can better handle border security, inflation, crime, national security, and generally getting things done, an actual category in the poll.
[121] There are some issues that Biden and the Democratic Party, still lead, including education, COVID, and climate change.
[122] But we've even seen some pretty significant drops there.
[123] And in terms of Biden's dropping popularity, this includes among Democrats, correct?
[124] Yes, almost half of Democrats think that the country is on the wrong track.
[125] So not only is Biden losing the potential support of moderates, he's losing the support of his own base.
[126] And then there are even deeper concerns when it comes to the basic high -level requirements of a commander -in -chief.
[127] Just 37 % say he has the ability right now to handle a crisis versus is nearly a majority who say he does not.
[128] 37 % also say he's competent and effective as president.
[129] 50 % disagree with that description.
[130] And this isn't where the bad polling ended for Biden.
[131] A new ABC EPSOS poll on Sunday found that Democrats are failing to sell their own legislation to the American public, with about 7 and 10 saying they know just some or little to nothing about what's in both spending packages jamming up Congress right now.
[132] You know, the Democratic Party and the media were heavily focused on polling data when Donald Trump was president, has Biden reacted to these numbers?
[133] Yeah, he did, but only to dismiss their importance.
[134] The polls are going to go up and down and up and down.
[135] Well, look, this is, look at every other president.
[136] It's the same thing has happened.
[137] But that's not why I ran.
[138] I didn't run to determine how well I'm going to do in the polls.
[139] And while Biden is correct in saying that polls do go up and down by their very nature, this is ignoring the fact that Biden's approval rating is far lower the many of his predecessors at this stage of his presidency.
[140] And also that a big part of Biden's sales pitch during his campaign was his popularity.
[141] Right.
[142] With this popularity clearly declining and at rapid rates, Democrats are going to be very concerned as we approach the midterms and 2024, especially since issues like inflation and illegal immigration don't look like they're going to be improving anytime soon.
[143] These are tough numbers for the president here.
[144] Yeah, they are.
[145] Thanks for the update, Ian.
[146] My pleasure.
[147] Daily Wires, Ian Howers.
[148] President Biden's hopes of pushing through his agenda by passing the Build Back Better Act appear to have stalled after Senator Joe Manchin reiterated his concerns over the size and cost of the bill.
[149] Here to discuss where the politicians now stand on the bill is Daily Wire reporter Ben Johnson.
[150] So Ben Manchin is one of two critical Senate votes the president needs to pass the reconciliation package.
[151] And he took the unusual step this week of holding a press conference where he laid out where he stands on the Build Back Better plan.
[152] What did he say?
[153] Officially, he's still making up his mind.
[154] But he raised the same objections he's had to the bill all along.
[155] That will add to the national debt, that it will create new social welfare entitlements when programs West Virginians rely on, like Medicare and Social Security, face insolvency in just a few years, and that it could really be as transformative to the U .S. economy, as President Biden says.
[156] I will not support a reconciliation package that expands social programs and irresponsibly adds to our $29 trillion in national debt that no one seems to really care about or even talk about.
[157] Manson said the president's holding up a bill most American support, the $1 .2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework, and he called on Congress to vote on that bill instead of demanding it be passed in tandem with his reconciliation package.
[158] So he's made clear that he wants these two bills to be considered separately.
[159] That's right.
[160] White House spokeswoman Jensaki famously said, that the cost of the build -back better bill would be zero.
[161] Why does Senator Manchin doubt that?
[162] Manchin has said the bill contains a tangle of shell games and budget gimmicks.
[163] Gimmicks.
[164] What exactly is he talking about there?
[165] Well, first of all, the White House advertises the cost is $1 .75 trillion, but independent analysts say the bill will actually cost somewhere between $3 .8 and $4 trillion.
[166] Second of all, the Congressional Budget Office claims the White House is doubling the amount of revenue it will raise through harsher IRS tax enforcement.
[167] In one particularly cynical move, the bill sets the goal of abolishing the state and local tax cap or salt tax, but then it counts the revenue raised by the salt tax toward the cost of the bill.
[168] The Pennward and budget model estimates that when all said and done, the bill will pay for about half of its total cost, and it will add more than $2 trillion to the national debt.
[169] So not zero, at least according to these analyses.
[170] No, not at all.
[171] Okay, if those are his concern, what are his fellow Democrats doing to address them?
[172] Well, President Biden didn't address Senator Manchin's comments when he was questioned about them yesterday in Scotland.
[173] But Jen Saki released a statement defending the administration's accounting methods and saying that 17 Nobel Prize -winning economists believe the bill will reduce inflation by cutting the cost people pay for things like child care.
[174] On the other hand, most economists believe pumping trillions more dollars into the economy will only worsen already rising inflation.
[175] Meanwhile, progressives have decided to publicly shame Joe Manchin and Kirsten Cinema.
[176] Congresswoman Cory Bush, who describes herself as a Democratic socialist, issued a press release Monday saying, quote, Joe Manchin's opposition to the Build Back Better Act is anti -black, anti -child, anti -woman, and anti -immigrant.
[177] That's definitely a counterintuitive way of convincing someone to support you.
[178] Yeah, thanks for that report, Ben.
[179] Anytime.
[180] That's Daily Wire reporter, Ben Johnson.
[181] Those are our big stories for the day.
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