Pbsou newsh major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Consumer cellular. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Johnson johnson. T john. And james l. Knightoundation. And with the ongoing support of these institutions. And friends of the newshour. This program w made possible by the corporation for public broadcastingnd by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy the final debate is behind them and now it is a sprint to election day for President Trump and former Vice President joe biden. They began today trying to build on debat momentum and to address lingering questions. Amna President Trump today rallied in florida, a lastminute effort to boost the senior vote. Im always here torotect you and love, cherish, defend our nations seniors. We are going to win the state of florida. We are going to win four more years in the white house. Amna Vice President biden focused on the pandemi as coronavirus cases surged across the country. We are not learning to live with that, we are learning to die with it. This is dark winter ahead. Amna it was the very first topic the candidates debated thursday night in their second and final faceoff. I take full responsibility. It is not my fault that it came here, it is chinas fault. I will take care of this, i will end this, i will make sure we have a plan. Amna in stark ce first debate, deraileby the president s interruptions last night was a tightly morated affair. Vice president biden, your response. Then i do have questions for both of you. Amna featuring for the first time a mute button, granting each candidates two minutes of uninterrupted time before the other could jump in. Lee, then i have a followup. Amna te the candistill found plenty of space to spar with biden often appealing s. Rectly to vot it is about your family. And your family is hurting badly. Amna and trump dismissing him as a career politician. The family around the table, everything, just a typical amna on health care, biden pledged to build on the Affordable Care act. What im going d tois pass obamacare with a public option and become biden care. Amna well mr. Trump calmest to end it, though still no details for preexisting conditions. Ite would like to termi obamacare, come up with a brandnew, Beautiful Health ca. Amna they clashed on Climate Change and Renewable Energy. Because the oil industry pollutesigficantly because it has to be replaced by Renewable Energy over time. Over time. Industry federal subsidies. Il basically what he is saying is he is going to destroy the oil industry. Will you remember that, texas . Willou remember that pennsylvania, oklahoma . Amna both faced tough questions on immigration,or trump separating thousands of migrant families in his policies. They say look at these cages, then it t was determiney were built in 2014. Amna and biden for record deportations when he was Vice President and a failure to pass comprehensive reforms. Made a mistake, it took too t loget it right. It took too long to get it right. I will be president , not Vice President. Amna on questions about race, very different answers. I never had to tell my daughter if she is pulled over, make sure y put both hands on top of the wheel and dont reach for the glove boxme because e may shoot you. Nobody has done more for the black community then donald trump. With the exception of abraham lincoln, possiblexception, but e exception of abraham lincoln, nobody has done what ive done. Amna on issue after issue, even our Panel Featuring voters from six different states, remained divided on everything from the pandemic i think tru said it very well when he said we have to learn to adapt. We should have a leader who is leading and not ripping off the mask every time he turns around. To racism in america. America is a systey. C racist coun who has been in charge of the system . Ump or biden . Amna ivility rained. Ive enjoyed talking with everybody. Im so thankful forach one of the panelists that are here because ive learned so much. From. Ach and every one of th amna and the voters largely who changed their mind about who they are voting for . Anne . Amna in the coming days, these voters will join the more tha 51 million americans who have already cast their balts in this president ial election. For the pbs newshour, im in the vada. Im on none of oz for the pbs newshour. Stephanie m stephanie sy with newshour west. We will rurn to the full program after the latest headlines. Across the united states, the number of covid19 hospitalizations has hit a two month high. The World Health Organization warned that the northernsp here faces a critical juncture in the pandemic. The agency reported 445 thousand new cases worldwide in the last 24 hours, nearly half of them in we will have more on the surge later in the program. Sudan moved today to normalize relations with israel, the third country in recent months to do so. President trump made the announcement at the white house with the leaders of both countries on the phone. He claims more arab states will join and do the same every get we will have them along with some other countries that you will be hearing about come probably simultaneously. Ultimately, we are going to have a big reunion at the end where everybody is here, everybody is going to sign. Stephanie earlier, sudan said it is compensating u. S. Victims of al qaeda attacks carried out by Osama Bin Laden living there. The u. S. Removed sudan from a list of state sponsors of terror. The Trump Administration is also intervening to try to bring peace between azerbaijan and armenia. The countries have been battling over the disputed region and there was heavy new combat today, but in washington, secretary of state mike pompeo weomed his counterparts for talks. Ru ian attempts to mediate peace have so far failed. Rival factions in libya assigned to permanent ceasefire today after years of fighting. The United Nations brokered the deal and it becameic offl during a ceremony in geneva. There were no details on how it will be enforced. The libyan conflict erupted after the dictator moammar dhafi was overthrown in 2011. In nigeria, major cities were flatively calm after days protts over police brutality, but in lagos, men blocked main roads and many criticized the president for failing to condemn the killings of protesters by soldiers. Back in this country, the u. S. Senate formally took up the nomination of deral judge amy ney barrett for the supreme court. The vote to begin debate was 5140 six almost entirely down party lines. The republican majority is expected to confirm barrett on monday. Hundreds of people in colorado are under evacuation orders after a new wild ignited this week. The east troublesome fire has joined the nearby cameron peak stfire is the larn state history, burning vast acreage and an unknown number of homes. Officials are ruggling to keep. An area we thought w pretty od the other day,e are now seeing fire close to houses, close to roadways. I want to make the message the primary message to our community, that we are not withholding information, we are not trying to delay information getting out there w. Dont kn stephanie fire crews are hoping sned and Colder Weather expe this weekend will help slow the fires. The nasa robot that touched down on an asteroid is dealing with the space jam. They gathered so much trouble tuesday, rocks have wedged open a lid meant to contain the samples. The team is scrambli to put the container into a return capsule much sooner than planned. In other interstellar news, one absentee ballot in the november election is making itsay to earth. Astronaut t te rubin cr ballot from the International Space station thursday. Ma american astronauts live in Houston Texas and texas law lets them vote fromit o using a secure electronic ballot. Still to come,ajor changes to floridas demographics could critical to the outcome of the election. Mark shields and david brooks analyze the final debate and Key Senate Races to watch. How the performing arts are taking the stage in the pandemic. We discuss the latest wave of covidto cases with the dirof the National Institutes of health. And much more. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Judy early voting kicked off in florida this week and President Trump is set to cast hisote in his adopted home state tomorrow. Turnt makes all the diffence. We look at key voting blocs on what issues are top of mind. Flori is back in the political spotlight. With les than two weeks until voting ends, organizers are hitting the streets to rally the vote. Leaflets, doorknocking, all out flagwaving. The Sunshine State is home to a diverse set of nearly 22 million voters and high turnout is what could secure the election for either party. Republicans and demrats are laser focused on a few key groups. Both President Trump and former Vice President joe biden are barnstming the state in the final weeks of the race. President trump is recovering from the coronavirus and so is america. They ar spending 120 Million Dollars on ads combined. That is more than any other state. The lino Community Holds in their pirm of t hand the destiny of this country. Hilla clinton did a florida, which is the base of the state, but she was overrun because her campaign did not anticipate the managing of the margins in the northern part of the state where white voters came out innprecedented and historic numbers for trump. We will see that dynamic in play right now. Ia preside candidates have long had their eye set in florida. Messaging to the diversepo lation can be challenging. E biden isn ounting oblack voters and the group overwhelmingly suprts him, but there is a gender gap. In the last president i election, black women came out and consistently strong numbers for the Democratic Party, but turnout by black men in florida biden needs to convince black men in partic tar to h balls full force. Voting for joe biden,utm not really the most enthusiastic. He wasn my first choice. A reluctant biden supporter. Other members of the south florida communityrt s a group called breaking the cycle. It meets throughout the week to ride b aycles. Wha the things that make you not as enthusiastic about joe biden . In the past, he helped with Prison Reform and it did not help the black neighborhoodt all. Hoing joe biden has changed. We are scared of the police, but the police are probably scared of us at the same time, so what Common Ground can we get for both sides . But voting for trump is not an option for him. Biden gives me a sense of comfort beforeru because trump comef things he says or does does not make atu feel safe ll. We just dont have enough law and order. Gary disagrees. He lives at eastridge Retirement Community in south florida. We met gary back in 2018. He is part of another important demographic, senior citizens. They make up 21 of the floridao population aen vote republican. For gary, the black lives matter protests have used tension in s family. I have found personally if i said i would really like tsay all lives matter itead of black lives matter,xplosion that stopped communication in my family. That is tough. Ithvery tough. Top of mind foraris President Trumps response to the protests. Look at portland oregon. Over 100 nights, still demonstrating and writing. Just a couple ofs nig, they ok off on the statues of ddy roosevelt. What do youake of the fact at portland, while it has had its struggles, as part of a movement that has been mostly peaceful . S you say some pock violence. Portland i dontcahink you could pockets of violence. This is a terrible aftereffect of the thing. While gary is driven in part by a fear of protests, fellod trump suppor dolly says it is the threat of communisthat scares her. My biggest fear is they talk about, the Democratic Party they talk about socialism. Socialism andommunism go the same way. She fled cuba for the unitedt es when she was 21 years old. Rican, she is part of another constituency that has long reported supported republicans. The reason why we came here, i said, i need to live, it is too much oppression. Freedom. Y kids to keep their joe biden is not a socialist and has long supported capitasm, but she worries he will be influenced by socialists on the left. While cubanamericans ke up 30 of the registered latino rters in the state, a growing number of puertoans could shake things up. A hairdresser in south florida, juliannes family was impacted by herrick and maria. Reshlled the moment President Trump came to the island and threw paper towels into arowd of hurricane survivors. It really was an insult. Still wh you talk to people, they still have that in mind. That is why Puerto Ricans are very upset with President Trump. That is why joe biden has to win their trt again and ensure that he really cares. But that is not all that is driving her to vote for biden. The top issue for her in this election is the pandemic. I have a lot of friends and family that had and have the the coronavirus. It is very sad. Our president said, do not worry. I have another friend that was 57 days in coma and still having some issues. Esso,it is something that when i vote, im going toave it mind and im going to vote according to that andor will vote fur Vice President biden. Her friends are some of the 7 million plus americans affected across the country and herng issues along with the concerns of lambert, gary, and dolly are mirroring voters across the mcountring florida, which is backed the winning candidate in every election since 1996, a key bellwether state. Judy in these tumultuous times, it is reassuring to have some constants. Thankfully, we have the analysis of shields and brooks. Ma shields and david brooks. Hello to both of you on this friday evening. Lets sta by talking about the report. What did you make of what some of those florida voters had to say . In particular and thinking of thyoung black ma who said he vis niant this he is not variant the siesta about joe biden. Very enthusiastic about joe biden. I thought it captured the complications of biden and trump. 50 million votes cast in florida psince2 1d the difference between the two parties, 200 of 1 . It has consistently voted about 3 more republican than the country, that is why it is soon important tod trump. Africanamerican women are the most loyal,ns important tuency of the Democratic Party and africanamerican men arlagging in their support and i think lambert expressed that and it was captured well. David, what did you take away from the report and with the votersaid . The young woman from cuba expressed the apocalyptic fear that so many Trump Supporters articulate, the idea that if joe biden wins either he is going to make some fundamtal change and destroy the country or there is a culturalhi that will destroy the couny. So i do think that apocalypt town is self rock. When we get to november 3, i will be looking at florida first and foremost because the are a lot of ways you can imagine joe biden winning if he doesnt win florida. It is super hard to imagine dona trump winning if he doesnt win florida. If he loses that, it is really hardo see how he wins. Judy lets connect all this to last nights debate. Not as man fireworks. Some sharp differences. What did you take away from it . No food fight. It is amazing o h expectations have been lowered by the earlier performance of the incumbents. A president i campaign has given been cpared to parallel skis cross country. Sthey different scenery, then they collide in a debate. They had to change things for donald trump. By all the fundamentals of this election, americanstrhink the cois that the wrong direction. Americans do not like donald trump personally. Ch he had tge it. I do not think it was a night that cnged the election. I think they emerged where they camen. Biden ahead, may be slightly ybless. Some trump people energized, but i dont think it ngwas a game c that trump needed. Dy david, what has stayed th you from last night . I think the attempt to bring biden down to his carriker lel by the attackn hunter and the alleged busess dealingsith foreign countries, i dont think that particularly landed. A lot of people like the dont like the guy so he needs to reduce the character gap, so maybe he did that a little. I thought bidewas best when something touched his moral core and he showed general moral genuine moral outrage in the family separation. E one moment i think people are underplaying which would biworry me if i were in thn team is the moment of transitioning away from oil and gas. Sahillary clinto Something Like that and it really hurt her not only in it is a cultural statement. Of people say work in manufacturing, i work in industry. So i think that statement has the potential to reverberate a little in son communities i a way that a lot of us in the media wont quite anticipate how people are hearing that as an insult. Judy mark, what about that . Pick up on that. David makes a very goo point. I would just add that donald trump has a problem with women voters that is unprecedented in our country. If you look at the polling, by a 58 to . 35 margin 35 margin opposedonald trump and support joe biden. Women are 52 of the electorate. I dont know how you make it up. The issues of most concern for women acro