The highly watched morning show “Morning Joe” caused a stir on Wednesday with its latest panel of undecided voters. As the cast and crew anxiously awaited the results, their jaws nearly dropped when they heard the overwhelmingly negative sentiments toward President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy.
The panel was part of a new production called “The Undecideds,” a joint effort between journalist Mark Halperin, video platform 2WAY, and Wick Insights. The team worked diligently to find a diverse pool of voters, including some who had previously voted for Biden and others for former President Donald Trump.
When asked how they thought President Biden was doing on the economy, one voter summed up the group’s feelings by saying, “I think he’s been absolutely disastrous for the economy.” This statement was met with nods of agreement from the other participants. When Halperin asked the group to raise their hands if they thought Trump’s policies would be better for their families, every single person raised their hand.
Halperin, who has worked for both MSNBC and conservative stations like Newsmax, also asked the panel about their feelings regarding the multiple indictments against former President Trump. While some expressed skepticism and others voiced support for the charges, they all agreed that the timing of the indictments seemed politically motivated.
One participant even said, “It just feels like the DOJ is completely abusing the justice system…It feels like a Big Brother tactic to keep dissenters down.”
This sentiment was echoed by other panelists, who felt that the timing of the indictments, right before the next election, was highly suspicious. They questioned why these charges weren’t brought up during the 2020 or 2021 election cycle if they were truly valid. This led to a consensus among the group that the indictments were politically motivated.
Interestingly, even participants who had previously voted for Biden expressed skepticism about the timing of the indictments, suggesting that this issue might bridge partisan divides.
Halperin believes that the results from this panel challenge the narrative that a felony conviction would be a dealbreaker for Trump’s campaign, even among undecided voters.
He said, “Even the members of the group who felt Donald Trump might have broken the law in some of these cases joined all of the rest of the participants in expressing strongly that the timing of all of the prosecutions leading up to the election is politically motivated…This suggests another reason to be skeptical that a felony conviction would necessarily spell doom for Trump’s campaign with undecided voters.”
This panel is part of a larger project that will focus on the seven states that will play a crucial role in the 2024 presidential election: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona. Through a combination of synchronized polling and focus groups, viewers will get an inside look at the thoughts and concerns of these critical voters.
The production team’s efforts to find a diverse pool of voters, including those who had previously voted for different candidates, provide a unique perspective on the opinions of undecided voters. This could have major implications for future elections, as it suggests that opinions about the economy and justice system may be starting to bridge partisan divides.
Overall, the panel’s responses shed light on the complicated and nuanced opinions that voters hold, challenging previous notions about what may be a deciding factor in an election. As the project continues, it will be interesting to see how these undecided voters ultimately make their decisions and whether they will influence the outcome of the 2024 election.
