TN Politics: Eyes on the media as the election approaches

WKNO TRANSCRIPT

CHRISTOPHER BLANK (HOST): We’re just three weeks away from the election on November 5th. This was a historic campaign for a number of reasons. Joining us again to talk about this and a few other topics is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back!

OTIS SANFORD: Glad to be here, Chris. Thank you for having me.

BLANK: Otis, I want to start with the media. As a media person, I sometimes get frustrated by so much conflicting information, especially about who is going forward or backward, when the polls keep saying the race is deadlocked – completely out in the open. How can we understand this without further losing trust in our sources of information?

SANFORD: I think we need to understand the value of polls. And you know, at its core, Chris, the real value is just giving the media, and therefore the public, something to talk about. There are so many different people doing surveys. It’s best to take the average of many reputable surveys. But honestly, you know, there are some sources of information – you’re talking about loss of faith – to be clear, there’s some biased media out there. And we should lose faith in them. But really, and this may sound a little cliché, but the only real poll that matters is the one conducted on Election Day and early voting and absentee voting. That’s all people really need to pay attention to.

BLANK: My conclusion from all these polls is that Americans have basically already cast their votes. I mean, it doesn’t seem like anything journalists think is important — Kamala Harris’ appearance on Fox News, for example, or Donald Trump’s town hall dance party last week — has any impact on voters.
Why is this so different than previous elections? You know, the last month has always been a crucial time for candidates to be truly successful.

SANFORD: Well, that’s true. I think the biggest difference is Donald Trump. Donald Trump is such a polarizing figure. His supporters have long since decided to vote for him, whether he’s up there dancing to James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World” or not. So it doesn’t matter what he does or says. And most people have already made up their minds about Kamala Harris. A little less. But by and large, what’s going on here is because their core supporters are on their side.

BLANK: What about independent voters? I mean, is there any reason for a serious person to be indecisive at this point?

SANFORD: There is no reason for anyone to be undecided at this point. And this reason is also Donald Trump. You know what Donald Trump stands for. So if you support him, that means you are allowing this man to become president again after doing all the things he has done in the past. So at this point, party labels don’t really matter. I suspect that a slim majority of Americans will say we’ve had enough of the chaos.

BLANK: Well, Otis, back then the whole purpose of early voting was to skip the lines. But when early voting opened here in Shelby County and Nashville this week, there were long lines in some places. Is early voter turnout consistent with what we’re talking about here? The passion that people have for at least one of these candidates. Do you already know who you’re going to vote for and just want to get it over with?

SANFORD: Oh, no question. You can’t wait for November 5th and the days after. This is a crucial choice. I think there will be a lot of long lines every day. This will probably be the largest turnout we’ve ever had – I mean, we had a high turnout in 2020 despite the pandemic. We also had a very high voter turnout in 2008, Barack Obama’s first election. I expect it to keep up with it and maybe even surpass it. And it should. Voter turnout should be 70 percent, Chris. Well, I know it probably won’t come to that, but we should do it. Because this election is so important that as many people as possible should go to the polls and, if necessary, stand in line to cast their vote.

BLANK: Well, we’ll obviously revisit this topic in the next few weeks. But for a minute, Otis, let’s talk about this local issue. The Memphis Area Transit Authority is facing huge budget cuts and layoffs. But I don’t think anyone at MATA expected the cut that Mayor Paul Young made last week when he fired MATA’s entire board and then replaced them within days. What do you think about this decision?

SANFORD: I think it was absolutely the right decision. He did not do this in a vacuum. They investigated how MATA works and came to a damning conclusion. And so I think Mayor Young made a bold leadership move here by just cleaning house. And I think he got the support he needed from the city council. MATA is doing poorly at the moment, Christopher, and drastic changes had to be made. And I think he did absolutely the right thing.