“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough had to do some on-air backpedaling after he said election polls would look the same if Joe Biden stayed in the presidential race against Donald Trump. His MSNBC colleagues didn’t quite agree.
After a quick break down of key battleground states like Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, all showing Kamala Harris and Trump polling within a percentage point of each other, the “Morning Joe” team laid out how the race is as close to a tied as possible. That’s when Scarborough shared his belief.
“I’m almost getting the feeling – I don’t want anybody to throw tomatoes at me – I’m almost get the feeling that if Joe Biden had somehow manage to stay in the race, it would still be tied,” he said. “Donald Trump’s numbers aren’t moving. It’s just how many people eventually find their way back to the Democratic party.”
Watch the full segment below:
“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski could be heard “mm-mm”-ing in disagreement as Scarborough shared his thoughts. Willie Geist agreed that the race was close, but quickly brought up how states that once looked like they could be in play for Trump while Biden was on the ticket have now shifted back safely for Democrats since Harris entered the race.
After hearing this and showing a clip of Trump rambling about buying furniture at one of his North Carolina rallies, Scarborough seemed flabbergasted that the race against “Mr. Shark, Mr. Hannibal Lecter” was still tied. He did, however, walk back his comments from only minutes earlier.
“I move to amend my previous remarks, you bring up some great points,” he told Geist. “Joe Biden was seeing numbers in Minnesota, in Virginia, in New Hampshire get too close for comfort there, so you may be right. There may be no difference in Donald Trump’s number, but a difference in how quickly people are getting back to the Democratic ticket.”
Watch the full “Morning Joe” clip above.
