Is Donald Trump Closing In on Victory?

WSJ Opinion: Free Expression

Gerard Baker, Editor at Large, The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4.6 • 591 Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With less than two weeks left to Election Day, the polling in the battleground states suggest the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is a dead heat. But there's a growing sense among the political classes that it seems the Republican candidate has a small but decisive edge. Early voting trends, voter registration and suggestions from both campaigns all seem to point - by a whisker - in Trump's favor. So what's the mood among Republicans? On this episode of the Free Expression podcast, North Dakota Governor and one-time candidate for president Doug Burgum tells Gerry Baker why he is confident of a Trump win, but also talks about his concerns about the integrity of the ballot and what might happen in the days after the election if it is as close as it seems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Free Expression with Jerry Baker.
0:08.0	Hello and welcome to Free Expression from the Wall Street Journal. I'm Jerry Baker, editor-at-large of the journal.
0:14.0	If you're not already subscribing to Free Expression, please do sign up wherever you do your podcast listening.
0:18.0	This week, the final push. We're less than two weeks now from the
0:21.8	close of polls in the 2024 election. If there's a single voter left in the country who hasn't
0:26.4	made up his mind yet, well, at this stage, he or she is probably never going to. After a long
0:32.5	election campaign that's been marked by a series of literally unprecedented events, the criminal conviction of one
0:39.1	of the candidates, the late withdrawal from the race by the incumbent president, his replacement
0:44.0	by a candidate who's never won a single primary vote, the race still seems to be almost
0:48.7	exactly where it was a year ago, tied. And yet, while the polling suggests the outcome is a toss-up, there does
0:56.2	seem to be a growing sense that Donald Trump has the edge over Kamala Harris. From both sides
1:01.5	are coming hints and rumors that the evidence they're seeing from key battleground states
1:06.4	is that the Republican former president has the advantage. Early voting patterns, internal polling,
1:12.6	most of all perhaps a nagging sense that as they've done in the last two presidential contests,
1:17.6	the public pollsters may be underestimating Trump's support,
1:20.6	all these have led to a growing number of commentators and by no means all Republican-friendly
1:25.6	to conclude that the race is the GOP candidates
1:29.3	to lose. So what's the reality, or at least what's the view from the Republican camp?
1:35.3	This week I'm pleased to be joined by Doug Bergam, governor of North Dakota and a key ally of the former president.
1:40.3	Bergam ran for the Republican nomination himself, of course, before backing out
1:44.5	and endorsing Trump. And he was on the Republican nominee's final shortlist of potential
1:48.8	vice presidential candidates before Trump picked J.D. Vance. And I'm pleased to say that Doug
	...

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