The latest New York Times poll on swing states had some pretty devastating news for Joe Biden. CNN's Harry Enten described the numbers as "an absolute disaster."
Why? Because they showed Donald Trump leading by significant margins in the Sun Belt battleground states: six points in Arizona, nine in Georgia, and a staggering 13 in Nevada.
Meanwhile, In the Great Lakes battlegrounds, the outlook remains bleak, as Trump leads by three points in Pennsylvania and one point in Wisconsin. Biden's only good news was that, after months of pandering to the antisemitic base of his party, he's recovered in Michigan and has a small one-point lead there.
While CNN was willing to report on the poll and how bad it looks for Biden, Enten did try to put some positive spin on the numbers by pointing out that Trump's leads in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are within the margin of error of the poll.
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As for MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, he didn't even waste time trying to find a silver lining, he just went right out and called the poll fake: "The New York Times/Siena poll traditionally has consistently slanted toward Donald Trump. And what's so funny is the Times will release their poll. Liberals will run around with their hair on fire for about a month, right? And then, like three days later, polls will come out that will show a deadlocked race, right."
Scarborough particularly took issue with the fact that the poll showed Trump up by double digits in Nevada.
"That race is always close, and Democrats always win the close races except for the governor. Democrats always win the close race. If anybody out there believes it's a double-digit lead for Donald Trump, you're... you're... you're... seriously wake up," he said.
"We can show you the polls that show Pennsylvania Biden ahead. Wisconsin Biden ahead. Go down the list," he added. "But I will tell you, these polls... it's very funny. It's the Times and Siena polls, which always slant for Donald Trump, they put them out, and the political and media class have their hair on fire for weeks."
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Naturally, the Biden campaign posted Scarborough's rant on X/Twitter.
.@JoeNBC: The New York Times Siena poll has consistently slanted toward Donald Trump. The New York Times will release their poll, the political and media class will run around with their hair on fire, and then three days later polls will show a deadlocked race. Does anyone think… pic.twitter.com/LzYu2jUz9t
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) May 13, 2024
Now, let me get something out of the way here: I don't think Trump is up by double digits in Nevada either. But Scarborough is kidding himself if he thinks that the race there is close. Donald Trump has consistently led in the polls in Nevada for several months. He's also had consistent leads in the RCP averages in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia for months.
After the polls briefly tightened in Pennsylvania last month, the latest string of polls showed Trump ahead and pulling away. Dismissing the New York Times/Siena poll as an outlier is silly because, while the results may vary, the overwhelming majority of polls show Trump ahead in the battleground states.
If your best argument for dismissing a poll is telling people to cherrypick polls that tell them what they want to hear, you're not only freaking out; you're panicking. The New York Times doesn't exactly have a history of boosting Trump now, does it?
I'm certainly not saying that we should take Trump's lead for granted, but denying polls you don't like and cherrypicking the polls you do like won't change the reality.
