The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle starts right now. Tonight, six weeks after out from Election Day and the polling shows the race is close as Democrats Trolled Trump over a senate debate. Fears of a wider War Grow in lebanon. We will have the latest from Richard Engel as the 11th Hour gets underway on this monday night. Good evening once again, im symone Sanders Talton in for Stephanie Ruhle. Folks plenty of people are already casting their votes. Early in Person Voting is on the way. A new Poll Shows Vice President harris with a big Popularity Boost and a five Point Lead on Donald Trump, which is within the margin of error. Here is garrett with a closer look. With six weeks until Election Day, former President Trump in critical pennsylvania, as he showing new signs of strength in three other crucial battlegrounds. Polls revealing trump leave Vice President harris in North Carolina, georgia and arizona, all within the margin of error. But nationally, its harris with the edge according to our nbc News Poll. The Vice President fivePoint Lead within the margin of error powered by a huge jump in her personal favorability. Up 16 points from july. The biggest such boost since george w. Bush and his surge after 9 11. If you cast your vote for kamala, you are voting for four more years of brutal job losses, surging prices. Trump visited a Grocery Store in pennsylvania. You talk to the people right here better paying 30, 40, 50 more for the groceries which i think i can say is right, am i right . Its a disgrace. Inflation recently dropped to 2. 5 though prices have risen nearly 20 since president biden and harris took office for years ago. Harris, planning economic speech later this week. I believe and what we can create in terms of opportunities and ive named an opportunity economy. Bp harris has accepted an invitation to debate with trump next Month But Trump says that would be very bad, since voting has already started. Keep in mind, folks, trump took part in October Debates in 2016 and 2020. Starting tonight, democrats are trying to Pressure Drop into another debate by calling him a chicken. The dnc is putting billboards outside trumps rallies saying theres no debate, Donald Trump is a chicken. The billboards were set to greet trump at his event in pennsylvania tonight. Trump said he would close the department of education, something that you can find in project 2025. One week from tonight, we will see trumps Running Mate take the debate stated he will face off with soda governor walz. Vance has been preparing for weeks with his own team, his Wife And Trump advisors. Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmert will Play Walz in the final rehearsals. Thank you all for being here. Susan, i will start with you because this is very much so a margin of error race. And i think its going to stay that way until Election Day but do you think so . And are we just beyond the days of having a Landslide Election in this country . You know, after all is said and done, and by any account, and incredible news few months with the debates and biden dropping out, and you know the two Assassination Attempts on the former president. If you look at the national Polling Average right now, essentially, you can go back to the Spring Or Summer of 2023 and it looked almost exactly the same. Donald trump in particular, you know, has had a pretty immovable core of support, you know, somewhere in that 46 or so, in the Polling Averages, and you know, most people in this country after nine years of trump have made up their minds about him. Its very hard to get it to move one point and where you have seen the movement this year, is among democrats, many of whom were not sold on the idea of another term for Joe Biden. They have come home with a considerable amount of enthusiasm for Kamala Harris but its hard to see that theres a lot more percentage there, you know, at this point, she might lag a little bit behind where biden was or where Hillary Clinton was at this point in their respective elections against trump but theres not a lot more movement. Its definitely the safe bet to suggest that we are really just not going to know in a clear way the outcome of this election until the Election Night or even afterwards, lets knock on Wood And Hope that is not the case. It could be another election week, as i think we all remember from 2020. Look, gabriel, this particular nbc News Poll and i want to caution people, polls in general, i think they are indicative, not predictive but this particular Poll Shows a very big spike in popularity for Vice President harris. Im just wondering if we can officially say that the excitement around her is not just some Honeymoon Phase at this point. It seems very real, palpable and lasting. Sure, its definitely very real. One of the difficult things is that theres not much we can compare this moment to because of the unprecedented compressed nature of the Harris Campaign. She still relatively new to this version of the national stage and a lot of folks are just learning about her or they still want to learn more about her. When you look at the poll, what it does tell us is that theres a lot of interest and she is benefiting from this. Thats why you see her talking about wanting another debate because the first one went so well. When she was able to introduce yourself to a bigger slice of the american electorate, but we should caution, even when you look at the polls that do seem to show a slightly growing margin for her on a national scale, its still a very divided country but more to the point, she can win that next national vote by as much as she wants but what matters is the Electoral College and that is why you see her focusing on a smaller and smaller slice of states, like pennsylvania which many people will be the Tipping Point and other ones like North Carolina and georgia which look like a tougher ride for her but ones that she does need to be competitive in. I think the campaign announced that they are launching in kayla, we looked at this, trump clearly wants nothing to do with another debate. That gives democrats with the final six weeks of this campaign, calling him out for not wanting to debate, what you think about the political calculation and do you think this changes depending on how the Vice President ial debate goes . I have to imagine trump would not want Jd Vance to have the last word here. This Vice President ial debate is the last thing on the calendar until november. We saw from the pole she has had a boost from the debate. A lot of people got to know her more. People have more favorable perceptions of her but the Race Hasnt had a big shakeup, so they think another debate could be the thing that shakes up the race that could move some point in some crucial states and get to know her better. People say they want to learn more about her character and policies at another debate would give her the opportunity to do that. Susan, you pointed out on social media, a recent poll found that more voters say harris is tough, is more tough than trump. And now we are seeing democrats pushing trump to debate again by calling him a chicken. The last debate shows the code has been cracked on maybe how to get under trumps skin and i take gabes point about the fact that this is an unprecedented moment so we really have nothing to compare this to . Lets stipulate that the Chicken Soup has been around a long time. Thats a golden oldie when it comes to candidates refusing to debate. I remember that from many years ago. But i do think there is something obviously Donald Trump you know, the collective psychoanalysis that weve all been engaged in these last nine years, trying to figure out you know, the unusual character of the former president , its something that ive been fascinated to watch harris, who clearly is a different theory of the case, it seems to me than Joe Biden, when it comes to the former president. In the debate, she really was very aggressively needling trump , not just in the efforts to get him to take the bait which he seemed to do every single time, but using some of his own buzzwords, his own trigger words, if you will, Donald Trump loves to talk about himself as strong and tough, he loves to demean his opponents as weak or you know, sick like a dog, and what is it with him and dogs, lets talk about that. But, i do think its very interesting this issue of how she is seeking to undercut his very palpable kind of sexism when it comes to now the second woman that he has run against. There was this incredible interview, i dont know if you noticed where he said you know, shes a woman, and shes doing better, and the tone of incredulity in his voice. I can imagine that when he saw a survey like that recent Ap Poll that showed her more voters were thinking that she was tough enough to be president than trump, that that would be a big trigger for Donald Trump to see a result like that, given how he prides himself on being seen as his image of a tough guy. It has really struck me gabe, how in this election, its been Donald Trump that has really wanted to wade in to what i think we would refer to as the Culture Wars. He wants to talk more about the effects of Race And Gender in this election, then i think maybe some people are surprised that the democrats are not doing that. The Harris Campaign and the Vice President herself is very much so talking about why she would like to you know, why she thinks she is the best choice for this race, not that, i see The Endorsement that shes getting and i mean, most recently there are hundreds of national Security Military officials, former chairs of the main Republican Party for example, who have endorsed this harris walz ticket. Do you think the strategy that the campaign is employing here and especially with these endorsements of just how the Vice President is taking on the issues in this race, will this make a difference with some of these independent and right leaning voters . I want to speak about Brett Stephen specifically but when you talk about marginal voters, that is what the whole game is about. And i think the Harris Campaign has been smart to telegraph, we dont need to worry about the democratic core voters. We are not going to try and convince any republican core voters, itll come down to a few thousand voters in just a few states. When you talk about trump being The One whos taking the lead on these cultural issues. This is in many cases, you are seeing democrats learning from previous Election Cycles. People have not always responded well to don democrats baiting them into that but voters have not responded well at all to when trump weighs in on these Culture War issues. You see his positions and what democrats often talk about as extremism, its reflected in polling. People find his views extreme. This has not worked for him in election after election. This is when people find him to be the least effective as a communicator but he swings at every fish. Democrats know that he wants to make news constantly. So when you see harris essentially talking about the economy, that is responding to polls. Thats because voters say they want to hear more from her on that and they want to be reassured about the economy which is the number 1 issue to so many. And when you see them rolling out these endorsements from republicans, democrats have been doing that since Hillary Clinton ran, but the reason they are doing it is because they are aiming at mostly suburban moderate voters who say they would be open to harris but they are not so sure. These are often people who voted for republicans in the past. Look, akayla, this is going to be a campaign and a race, these independent voters, maybe moderate republican voters will matter for trump and Vice President harris but also, base voters for each, lets not forget, Nikki Haley made a good run in the republican primary and then you got the space democratic voters. What are the operations looking like when it comes to Infrastructure And Money . The Harris Campaign is proud of the Ground Game. They feel like they have more offices in Swing States and offices and places like nebraska , florida, so they are proud of the infrastructure of their out raising trump by a lot, particularly harris, she outraised him last month 3 to 1 but at the same time fundraising is not The End all be all. They still have to get the message out, actually connect with people because money is not going to be enough, offices will be enough if they are not getting their message deployed. Folks are talking about trump saying that if he loses he will not run again in four years. I would like to refresh everyones memory, and 2016 and 2020, he said if you lost he would not run again. He also says that he will only accept any results of this election that involves him winning. And i think thats the more proximate, concern for those Who Care About American Democracy and i am not anxious, im sure most people are not to have a repeat of 2020 on our hands but trump is already singing from the same hymnal when it comes to him refusing in advance to to accept the results of the election if he loses. That is enough of a five Alarm Fire for me. I am mixing my metaphors but 2028, talk to me later. Shirley. Thank you all very much. I appreciate your time. When we come back, folks, Mark Robinson, he is not dropping out of the race for North Carolina governor. But he is losing a bunch of his top staff. What does this mean for the president ial race, and later, important news out of nebraska about a proposed change that could help trump in the Electoral College. The 11th Hour is just getting underway on a monday night. Mondt Restaurant Noise Allison Restaurant Noise [announcer] introducing allisons Plaque Psoriasis. She thinks her flaky, gray patches are all people see. 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And the Governors Association pulls the plug. Their ad by expires and they have not made enough one. Over the weekend, four of his top staffers, they resign from his Campaign But Robinson insists that hes actually staying in the race. We have full confidence that we can go on, we are getting resumes from all over, people are jumping into help us. Weve made a ton of friends in this thing, a lot of talented people right now are reaching out to us. With us for more is mark mckenna, former advisor to board both george w. Bush and John Mccain and arena are baynor, former senior advisor to leader harry reid. Mark, i guess im going to start here with the fact that the Tram Campaign is not pulling their endorsement of robinson like how could they, given that trump is at the top of this ticket, given the majority, the range of things that trump has said and done over the years in his career, it doesnt seem as though he would pull an endorsement but the interesting thing here is that neither Donald Trump nor vance has appeared with the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina since the comments surfaced. Trump was in wilmington, North Carolina a couple of days ago. So is this going to be enough to avoid being dragged down by robinson in this state . Now, listen, i think although he does look like a Choir Boy next to Donald Trump in terms of his overall record, its a problem. Its a real problem. I mean all of the statewide efforts are based on the strength of the overall ticket and the person running for governor is at the top of the ticket and that creates all kinds of fieldwork and creates all kinds of incentives. And up and down the ballot in effect, and the most important thing is for people to be excited. I think very strongly now that North Carolina is the route that harris goes to win this election. Its possible that she will win pennsylvania but i think if she loses pennsylvania, i think its very likely now that she will win North Carolina and then i think she has a good possibility to win georgia. I think North Carolina is really shifting politically i think the Mark Robinson effect is a big, big problem. Maria, the effect is a