‘It’s gonna be huge’: Frank Luntz says Biden calling Trump supporters ‘garbage’ may be ‘turning point’ for key voters

Pollster Frank Luntz said Wednesday that President Joe Biden calling former President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” could influence the few remaining persuadable voters.

Biden made the comment during a Tuesday Zoom call with the organization Voto Latino after comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Sunday Madison Square Garden rally. Luntz, on “CNN News Central,” argued Biden’s remark holds greater weight than Hinchcliffe’s because he is the president, adding that it was “inappropriate” even if people interpret it differently.

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“It’s gonna be huge because this is not some comedian saying something stupid and offensive at a rally where he should have been just basically disinvited. This is the president of the United States endorsing his vice president saying something, and I know that there’s different interpretations about what he said,” Luntz said. “It’s still inappropriate. He still shouldn’t be doing it and I’ve watched Trump already seize this.”

“The basket of deplorables was significant, was meaningful in 2016. In 2024, I can promise you that this is gonna drive Trump turnout,” he added. “He’s doing it already … I’m sure there’s going to be ads on as soon as tonight about this. This may be a turning point for those final 3%, and that’s all it is, who still need to be persuaded.”

Trump currently leads Vice President Kamala Harris slightly in five of the top seven battleground states, with Harris only holding narrow advantages in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to RealClearPolling averages.

“And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something … I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know — or a Puerto Rico, where I’m — in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people,” Biden said Tuesday. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

Biden tried to clarify his comments in an X post on Tuesday night following criticism, claiming he was referencing Hinchcliffe’s “hateful rhetoric” rather than all Trump supporters.

The White House first published a transcript that recorded Biden saying “supporters’,” with a plural possessive apostrophe. It subsequently changed the transcript to read “supporter’s,” suggesting that Biden was only referring to Hinchcliffe.

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