OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
CNN’s data analyst believes he knows who is the smartest pick as a running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris.
During a segment, Harry Enten, the network’s senior data cruncher, said that all the evidence points to Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as being the best pick for Harris. Other leading choices are Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, and Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
On CNN Newsroom, Enten reported that current betting market odds show Shapiro with a 73 percent chance of becoming Harris’s running mate, while Walz has a 16 percent chance. Kelly and Beshear have odds of 8 and 7 percent, respectively.
“Yeah, who looks to be the favorite at this particular point?” Enten asked. You know, you’re going through some of those contenders. Who right now is the favorite? This is the chance of being Harris’s vice presidential running mate. This is based on betting market odds, but I think it lines up very well with the conventional wisdom at this point. And that is the far and away frontrunner is Josh Shapiro at 73 percent.”
Anchor Jessica Dean then asked, ” Harry, why is the smart money on the governor of Pennsylvania?”
“Well, if there is one state that both the Harris and Trump campaigns know that they must win in order to win this election, it is Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” he responded.
Enten added that the running mate slot is “Josh Shapiro’s to lose” because of his popularity — 60 percent approval — in his state is a huge asset.
“So, Pennsylvania right here, Josh Shapiro’s home state looks to be the most important state, and I think arguably that is one of the big reasons why he is seen as the frontrunner at this late hour,” said Enten.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump got some good news in the form of a new poll after Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed his vice president.
According to the CNN survey, 49 percent of respondents supported Trump, while 46 percent backed Harris. SSRS conducted the poll. The poll was conducted among registered voters who had previously participated in CNN surveys in April and June, where Trump was leading Biden by 6 points.
According to Newsmax, the poll found:
- 64% said Republicans have a better chance of winning the presidency in 2024 if Trump is the party’s nominee.
- 50% said their vote is more in support of Harris than against Trump, compared to 37% of Biden’s supporters who said their vote was mainly to express support for the president.
- 74% said their vote is to express support for Trump rather than their opposition to Harris.
- Among Harris supporters younger than 45, 43% say their vote is more in support of her than against Trump, up from 28% of Biden voters in that age group who felt the same way about the president in June.
- Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters are split over whether the next nominee should continue Biden’s policies (53%) or take the country in a new direction (47%).
- 88% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters say Republicans have a better chance to win with Trump at the top of the ticket.
The polling comes just a few weeks after Trump was nearly assassinated during a rally in Butler, Pa., which led to new criticisms of the Secret Service.
Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall hammered the agency over “systemic failures” that he says contributed to the assassination attempt. He is now calling for a “crisis intervention team” to address and rectify issues within the agency.
“We don’t have to wait 44 months to realize that the Secret Service has a huge cultural problem — There needs to be an intervention team to come in there, take it over and make sure President Trump is safe and secure,” he told Newsmax this week.
In a separate interview with the Fox Business Network, Marshall also criticized the FBI and said that a growing number of Americans do not trust either agency after a Senate hearing this week featured high-ranking officials from both agencies who were grilled about the security failures ahead of the assassination attempt.
