1 00:00:01,433 --> 00:00:02,933 JUDY WOODRUFF: It is shaping up to be a busy week in politics, 2 00:00:02,933 --> 00:00:06,633 as Washington and the nation gear up for midterm races. 3 00:00:06,633 --> 00:00:08,233 Amna Nawaz has more. 4 00:00:08,233 --> 00:00:10,200 AMNA NAWAZ: Right, Judy. 5 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,033 Republican candidates are garnering key endorsements this week as the primary election 6 00:00:13,033 --> 00:00:17,900 season ramps up. Meanwhile, President Biden will tout his climate accomplishments this week 7 00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:22,466 in honor of Earth Day, a move that some hope could boost his slumping poll numbers. 8 00:00:22,466 --> 00:00:26,000 To help us break all of this down, I'm joined by our Politics Monday duo. That 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,800 is Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR. 10 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,200 Welcome back. Good to see you both. 11 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:33,466 AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Thank you. 12 00:00:33,466 --> 00:00:34,000 AMNA NAWAZ: Let's dive right in, shall we? 13 00:00:35,633 --> 00:00:37,933 Tam, President Biden's been talking about what his administration has 14 00:00:37,933 --> 00:00:40,733 been doing on the climate front. We know it's a huge priority for them. 15 00:00:40,733 --> 00:00:44,833 But he is up against a tightening energy market. And he's trying to act on that. 16 00:00:44,833 --> 00:00:48,033 Just on Friday, they announced they're going to start resuming oil 17 00:00:48,033 --> 00:00:53,000 and gas leases on federal lands. He took a lot of criticism on that from environmental groups. 18 00:00:54,433 --> 00:00:56,833 Is this the president going back on his pledge? 19 00:00:56,833 --> 00:01:00,633 TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: The White House would argue that they are constrained by 20 00:01:02,566 --> 00:01:04,933 court rulings and other things that are basically out of their hands, 21 00:01:04,933 --> 00:01:09,933 that this is certainly not the way the president would like to be moving forward on this issue. 22 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:15,500 But this is not the only way that they are running up into challenges. They also 23 00:01:15,500 --> 00:01:19,266 want to -- had a big environmental agenda that was part of the Build Back 24 00:01:19,266 --> 00:01:24,266 Better legislation that has completely stalled out. And they faced other court challenges 25 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:30,133 in their efforts to do this through regulatory means. 26 00:01:30,133 --> 00:01:33,333 Now, the White House tried to get out ahead of all of this, 27 00:01:35,066 --> 00:01:38,400 held a call today with reporters, where they insisted, no, we really -- there 28 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,400 are many paths to meet our goals for climate emissions, and we will get there, they say. 29 00:01:45,133 --> 00:01:47,200 AMNA NAWAZ: They say they're still going to hit them. 30 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:49,033 TAMARA KEITH: They say they're still going to hit them. They're insistent. 31 00:01:50,633 --> 00:01:54,600 But it almost seems like the insistence is stronger than the path. 32 00:01:56,166 --> 00:01:58,266 AMNA NAWAZ: Well, here's the thing on the message, though, Amy. 33 00:01:58,266 --> 00:02:00,733 If you are if you're a voter who backed Biden because you wanted someone who was going to act 34 00:02:00,733 --> 00:02:05,333 on climate crisis, but you really don't like paying more for gas every day because 35 00:02:05,333 --> 00:02:08,933 of the war in Ukraine and the tightening energy market, are you OK with this? Do you excuse this? 36 00:02:08,933 --> 00:02:13,033 AMY WALTER: So there's a famous political thing that you 37 00:02:13,033 --> 00:02:15,333 campaign in poetry and you govern in prose. 38 00:02:17,766 --> 00:02:21,133 The other way to say it now is, you campaign in poetry, you govern in reality. And the reality is, 39 00:02:22,533 --> 00:02:23,900 gas is super expensive. And it's not just impacting 40 00:02:25,933 --> 00:02:28,633 you as you go and fill up your own gas tank, but it's affecting the prices of everything, right? 41 00:02:28,633 --> 00:02:32,866 Anything that needs to be transported or any trip you take on an airplane is impacted by this. 42 00:02:32,866 --> 00:02:34,366 AMNA NAWAZ: Right. 43 00:02:34,366 --> 00:02:36,300 AMY WALTER: So it goes to a broader inflation message. 44 00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:40,133 And it's not just -- if you're talking about environmental goals the president 45 00:02:40,133 --> 00:02:45,033 would like to hit, it's not just things like leasing that he's gone back on. But 46 00:02:47,100 --> 00:02:50,666 he was at an event, was it last week, in Iowa, saying this blended ethanol... 47 00:02:51,433 --> 00:02:53,333 AMNA NAWAZ: Right. 48 00:02:53,333 --> 00:02:56,200 AMY WALTER: ... which has higher pollution in -- especially in the summer months, 49 00:02:58,700 --> 00:03:02,233 that's going to be OK, we're going to get a waiver for that. It should lower gas prices a little bit. 50 00:03:02,233 --> 00:03:07,233 Releasing more gas from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The reality is, back in 2020, being 51 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,800 able to do an energy policy that took us away from fossil fuels made a whole lot more sense. 52 00:03:17,366 --> 00:03:20,400 AMNA NAWAZ: Yes. So here is where we are right now with -- in terms 53 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,400 of his support. When you will look at a key demographic, in particular younger voters, 54 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:28,866 for whom climate is a very important issue, if you take a look at that graphic, no group, 55 00:03:28,866 --> 00:03:33,866 no group has soured more on President Biden in his time in office than Gen Z and millennials, 56 00:03:35,833 --> 00:03:39,233 60 percent approval back in January of 21. That's down to 40 percent as of March of 2022. 57 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:42,533 AMY WALTER: Yes. AMNA NAWAZ: It's a 20-point drop. 58 00:03:42,533 --> 00:03:45,100 Is it just the economy? What's driving it? 59 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:46,600 AMY WALTER: It's a host of things. 60 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,866 So, I sit in a lot of focus groups with these voters. And 61 00:03:50,833 --> 00:03:53,333 one woman summed it up pretty well at the beginning of the month. She said, what got 62 00:03:53,333 --> 00:03:58,333 me out to vote in 2020, I had to -- everything that was Trump, I was against. It's hard to get 63 00:04:00,900 --> 00:04:03,800 me motivated when Trump's not there. Also, there are a lot of other problems I'm worried about. 64 00:04:05,700 --> 00:04:08,533 Almost everybody in that group talked about inflation, talked about their worries 65 00:04:08,533 --> 00:04:13,533 on just everything from, is COVID going to come back, to what's going on in Ukraine. 66 00:04:15,133 --> 00:04:16,633 AMNA NAWAZ: Right. AMY WALTER: So there's a sense of anxiousness 67 00:04:18,066 --> 00:04:21,100 and worry about what's coming next that is impacting them. 68 00:04:21,100 --> 00:04:24,233 I think the other thing that's important to appreciate about this group of voters, 69 00:04:24,233 --> 00:04:28,000 especially when we compare them to, say, the voters that were with Barack Obama, 70 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,000 a lot of those then younger voters were inspired to vote because of Obama. 71 00:04:34,533 --> 00:04:36,533 AMNA NAWAZ: Yes. 72 00:04:36,533 --> 00:04:39,200 AMY WALTER: These were voters who were inspired to vote because of Donald Trump, right? 73 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,233 AMNA NAWAZ: Right. 74 00:04:41,233 --> 00:04:43,600 AMY WALTER: And that is a very different -- trying to bring them back into the fold is 75 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,466 much difficult -- more difficult for different... 76 00:04:46,466 --> 00:04:47,933 AMNA NAWAZ: These were all questions, by the way, 77 00:04:47,933 --> 00:04:48,400 you mentioned that we also have, like, is COVID coming back? 78 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:51,200 (CROSSTALK) 79 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:52,700 AMY WALTER: Right. 80 00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:53,966 AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, what is the White House saying about this? 81 00:04:53,966 --> 00:04:56,700 TAMARA KEITH: Well, they in part are saying that 82 00:04:56,700 --> 00:05:01,500 there isn't an alternative right now, that there isn't an opponent 83 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,500 for the president or for Democrats necessarily to compare themselves to at this moment. 84 00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:12,500 That will change. And they are arguing that ,even if we haven't achieved our goals, they say, 85 00:05:14,133 --> 00:05:18,400 their policy aims at least are more aligned with these voters 86 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:22,133 than what they -- what the White House sees as Republican policy aims. 87 00:05:22,133 --> 00:05:27,100 We shall see about that, whether that's enough to motivate midterm voters, 88 00:05:27,100 --> 00:05:32,100 because midterm voters are notoriously fickle and unmotivated, except for the ones that are super 89 00:05:34,066 --> 00:05:37,000 motivated, which tend to be the hardcore partisans and tend to be older voters. 90 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,500 AMY WALTER: And they tend to be older, right? Young voters tend not to turn out... 91 00:05:39,500 --> 00:05:41,000 (CROSSTALK) 92 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,466 AMNA NAWAZ: We shall see is the key phrase from there. 93 00:05:43,466 --> 00:05:45,733 But speaking of Republicans, I do want to get both of your takes on a new slate of endorsements we 94 00:05:45,733 --> 00:05:50,000 saw from former President Trump, have a lot of people scratching their heads. He's jumping into 95 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,633 what I would call some messy Republican primaries, among them, backing folks like 96 00:05:54,633 --> 00:05:57,833 David Perdue, of course, former Georgia senator now running for governor, 97 00:05:57,833 --> 00:06:02,700 Dr. Oz running for a seat in the Senate from Pennsylvania, Adam Laxalt, who's running for 98 00:06:02,700 --> 00:06:07,500 a Senate seat in Nevada, and J.D. Vance, who is also running for a Senate seat in Ohio. 99 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:10,933 Tam, what do you make when you look at this list? 100 00:06:10,933 --> 00:06:14,066 TAMARA KEITH: Yes, I mean, these are candidates who are not clearly winning their primaries 101 00:06:14,066 --> 00:06:19,066 by any stretch. These are, in some cases, candidates that the Republican establishment 102 00:06:21,566 --> 00:06:23,833 definitely would not get on board with because they don't know that they're necessarily winners. 103 00:06:23,833 --> 00:06:27,500 These are also people who are very aligned with Trump and Trumpism 104 00:06:27,500 --> 00:06:32,500 and his lie that he won the election. And that has value and currency to him. He also likes 105 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:40,100 people who have a certain celebrity feel, which is how you get Dr. Oz and, to a lesser extent, 106 00:06:42,100 --> 00:06:45,633 J.D. Vance, even though he once opposed Trump, he now supports him. And that is good enough, 107 00:06:47,066 --> 00:06:49,100 because it's all about Trump, Trump, Trump, loyalty, loyalty, 108 00:06:49,100 --> 00:06:52,300 loyalty, or whatever his definition of loyalty is, which is accepting the lie. 109 00:06:52,300 --> 00:06:54,933 AMNA NAWAZ: To be clear, he doesn't have to endorse anyone. 110 00:06:54,933 --> 00:06:56,133 (CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: He's choosing to do this. 111 00:06:56,133 --> 00:06:58,133 AMY WALTER: He's choosing to do this. 112 00:06:58,133 --> 00:07:00,333 He would like to be in the conversation. He's not in the conversation now. He's no longer 113 00:07:00,333 --> 00:07:03,333 the president of the United States. One thing that I think is very important to appreciate, 114 00:07:03,333 --> 00:07:08,333 though, especially in places like Ohio, but even in Pennsylvania, all of the Republican 115 00:07:10,266 --> 00:07:13,633 candidates are touting their support for Donald Trump or how aligned they are with Trump. 116 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,700 I took a look. Of all the ads that have been run since the beginning of the year until now, 117 00:07:18,700 --> 00:07:23,700 $24 million of Republican aligned ads, so either candidates or groups that support 118 00:07:25,666 --> 00:07:29,500 Republican candidates, have mentioned Donald Trump in their advertising in a positive way, 119 00:07:29,500 --> 00:07:32,000 so candidates saying, I'm the pro-Trump conservative, 120 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,000 or we're going to build Trump's wall, or I'm going to do as Donald Trump would do, XYZ. 121 00:07:38,466 --> 00:07:39,966 AMNA NAWAZ: Yes. 122 00:07:39,966 --> 00:07:42,933 AMY WALTER: No matter who wins these primaries in these states, 123 00:07:42,933 --> 00:07:45,033 they are going to be supportive of Donald Trump. 124 00:07:45,033 --> 00:07:50,033 We are not talking about an anti-Trump wing vs. the pro-Trump wing in these primaries. 125 00:07:51,933 --> 00:07:54,400 What we're going to look for is, does his primary give enough juice 126 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:58,000 in a crowded primary to put somebody over the top? 127 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,233 That's what the president, the former president, certainly wants to see, right? I endorsed you, 128 00:08:02,233 --> 00:08:07,233 you went from bottom of the polls to the top. But it does not tell us a lot about what the -- how 129 00:08:09,166 --> 00:08:13,633 these folks will be aligned ideologically or temperamentally once they get into Congress. 130 00:08:15,900 --> 00:08:17,566 (CROSSTALK) 131 00:08:17,566 --> 00:08:19,333 TAMARA KEITH: But if they don't win, it risks his political currency. 132 00:08:19,333 --> 00:08:21,266 AMNA NAWAZ: Yes. There is also that. There is also that. 133 00:08:21,266 --> 00:08:23,333 I have a feeling we will be talking about this some more. 134 00:08:23,333 --> 00:08:25,033 AMY WALTER: Couple more times. 135 00:08:25,033 --> 00:08:27,733 AMNA NAWAZ: Yes. Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, good to see you guys.