Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
For the past few years, as CNN has stridently pushed the Democratic line complaining that anti-fraud measures amount to "voter suppression," the liberal network has made sure to avoid informing their viewers that most voters support photo ID requirements for voting.
But now that Democrats are considering incorporating photo ID into a compromise plan to make their other demands seem more palatable, CNN this week has suddenly informed their viewers that 80 percent of Americans support photo ID.
On Monday afternoon, CNN co-hosts Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell, brought up the poll finding even though Democrats were first planning to vote on their original plan that would not include photo ID -- a point which they did not clarify.
At 3:00 p.m., Camerota began the segment:
Former President Obama is slamming Senate Republicans ahead of their expected move tomorrow to reject even discussing a sweeping voting reform bill. The For the People Act would strengthen the use of mail-in ballots and expand voter access nationwide, but it appears there's not enough Republican support to even allow debate on the proposed law.
Blackwell then introduced a soundbite of former President Barack Obama attacking Republicans on the issue. Without explaining that the plan Senate Democrats were initially planning to hold a vote on Tuesday would not include voter ID, Blackwell misleadingly recalled: "There's a new Monmouth University poll that shows an overwhelming majority of Americans are in favor of both voter ID laws and rules that make early in-person voting easier. There's an even split, you can see, on whether to make mail-in voting easier."
Correspondent Manu Raju then came aboard to preview the Democratic push to have a Senate vote on the bill and the expectation that the vote would most certainly fail to break a Republican filibuster. By the end of the segment, Raju never clearly stated that photo ID would not be part of the plan. At one point, he vaguely alluded to West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin's compromise plan:
But one, Joe Manchin -- a West Virginia Democrat -- does not support the party's signature effort here, but he does propose some alternatives including those measures that do have significant support among the American public, according to that one Monmouth poll, everything from having voter ID to making it easier to vote earlier as well as making the Federal election day a Federal holiday. So that is a question for the party: Where do they go from here?
As Raju listed some of the provisions in Senator Manchin's compromise, he did not state which ones were already part of the Democrats' initial plan, and which were added by Manchin to try to entice Republican support.
On a variety of issues ranging from abortion to gun control, CNN has a history of being selective about choosing surveys results that make Democrat-supported policy positions seem more popular than they actually are.
This episode of CNN Newsroom was sponsored by America's Best. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell
June 21, 2021
3:00 p.m. Eastern
VICTOR BLACKWELL: Top of a brand new hour. I'm Victor Blackwell.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: And I'm Alisyn Camerota. Former President Obama is slamming Senate Republicans ahead of their expected move tomorrow to reject even discussing a sweeping voting reform bill. The For the People Act would strengthen the use of mail-in ballots and expand voter access nationwide, but it appears there's not enough Republican support to even allow debate on the proposed law.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, the former President spoke a short time ago at a townhall -- it was a teleconference. Listen.
FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (audio): In the aftermath of an insurrection with our democracy on the line, and many of these same Republican Senators going along with the notion that somehow there were irregularities and problems with legitimacy in our most recent election, they are suddenly afraid to even talk about these issues and figure out solutions on the floor of the Senate.
BLACKWELL: There's a new Monmouth University poll that shows an overwhelming majority of Americans are in favor of both voter ID laws and rules that make early in-person voting easier. There's an even split, you can see, on whether to make mail-in voting easier. CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju joins us now from Capitol Hill. Manu, there's no expectation this passes tomorrow, so what is the expectation of what we'll see?
MANU RAJU: Yeah, we expect this to be blocked tomorrow, Republicans are strongly opposed to this measure. They argue, in their view, it's a Federal takeover of elections. And we don't expect any Republicans to break ranks. They would need 60 votes to break a Republican-led filibuster -- and there are 50 Democrats in the 50-50 Senate, so that 10 votes will not happen. This is all really an exercise among Democrats to try to unite their own caucus. Right now, 49 Democrats support this, not 50.
But one, Joe Manchin -- a West Virginia Democrat -- does not support the party's signature effort here, but he does propose some alternatives including those measures that do have significant support among the American public, according to that one Monmouth poll, everything from having voter ID to making it easier to vote earlier as well as making the Federal election day a Federal holiday. So that is a question for the party: Where do they go from here?
The expectation is when this bill does fail tomorrow, it is probably doomed for this Congress which means they'll have to take this to the voters and convince the voters they were right -- the Democrats will -- and Republicans will make the same argument, and the outcome will be determined by the 2022 midterms.
