provide more access to abortion care. so joe, let s play this out a little bit. since the 70s, and this is the polling by the, way the exit polling that we saw that inflation with the number one issue for some voters. abortion was a very close second. this has generally been in motivating thing for republicans. since the 70s. for whatever reason, maybe it s because roe made abortion legal in america, it was not motivating for democrats. has this now permanently changed? is abortion now in the column of, fundamental rights that need to be protected in a world where we are worried about fundamental rights, and should this become more central? because there s a lot of criticism of republicans who are making a central as there were criticism of democrats for making abortion central what republicans were talking but inflation. now i think we ve seen just how much that criticism missed the mark. yes, abortion was the number to issue for voters generally, but it was the top issue for de
arizona, kirsten cinema will be up. manchin in west virginia. you have debbie stabenow in michigan a lot of targets in 2024. laura: tom, there s insights about the independent exit polling last night. what did you see there? well, that s probably to me the most stunning thing about the exit polls that the democrats won independents by two points. if you look back at midterm elections, independents have traditionally sided with the party the out party, you know, the party that s seeking change, not for the status quo. i mean, by, you know, 10, 12, 15, 20 points. 2010, 2014, 2018; so, this is a strange development from last night and it looks like republicans, you know, turned out, but it looks like while they turned out, they lost the independent vote and lot of these really
democrats carried innocent past election, and i really think that all these old heads satirized student debt really, they need to apologize. they need to apologize and get out of the way because student debt relief drove young voters and more policies like that over the next two years will also drive them to the polls. and climate. you talk about the inflation reduction act. there were huge climate biden s climate agenda, large portions of it made it through, and there are activists from sunrise to folks who used to work with hillary clinton came together around this one particular issue. that s an important point, it comes shows up in some of the exit polling. let me ask you about the student debt thing, because i always thought there were three categories to it. and again, this was a high leverage call, because they did a pretty close to the election. i wasn t like pushed no i know that. but i m saying that the timing
when can we win? so scott, first, you where did it go so wrong for republicans? who is responsible for doing something in the bed. that is a funny headline. i think the cnn exit polling that we conducted told the tale, as you pointed out, biden was popular, his policies were popular, there was a lot of pessimism and anger in the country, but independent voters behaved unexpectedly. normally you would expect them to break against the party in power, and they sort of split, and in some of the key senate races actually backed the democrats. i think it is because republicans have a donald trump problem, i think as long as he republicans are associated with his brand, independents were willing to stick with democrats because they like joe biden just a little bit better than they like donald trump was favorable ratings than our exit polls were quite low. the republican candidates who did well are the ones who developed their own brand. one desantis, and florida governor they were fine. b
former republican congressman of florida, no he should heat and, of course stephanie ruhle is the host of this hour, the 11th hour on nbc joining us. stephanie, let me start with you, it is your hour and a keeping the seat warm for you. you heard reuben diego talk about the economy. a, this was the big surprise. nbc exit polling has people writing the economy worst since 2009, 2010. here s my question for you. this economy is very different than 2009, ten. 2009 2010, enormous amounts of high unemployment and very low inflation. now we have the tightest labor market and the lowest unemployment basically on record and high inflation. what does it say about voters preferences between those two states of affairs when you look at the democrats losing 63 seats in 2010 and maybe losing