House paralyzed without a Speaker, polling concerns for Biden: 5 Things podcast

On Saturday's episode of the 5 Things podcast: The House still has no speaker, after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ouster. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Joey Garrison breaks down polling concerns for President Joe Biden. How long have humans been in North America? USA TODAY World Affairs Correspondent Kim Hjelmgaard gives some background on Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi. Simone Biles makes gymnastics history.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is Five Things You Need To Know. Saturday the 7th of October 2023.

Today the House is frozen without a speaker. Plus, how concerned should Biden be about some of these recent poll numbers? And the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to a remarkable Iranian activist.

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While House Republicans bicker over who should succeed former speaker Kevin McCarthy, the House is virtually paralyzed. And Congress faces a massive task trying to fund the government by mid-November to again avoid a government shutdown. After McCarthy's ouster on Tuesday, House Republicans adjourned for the week, and an election for the next speaker is expected next week. Meanwhile, a scheduled televised debate on Fox News between three candidates for the speakership was called off yesterday, just hours after it was first announced. Fox was scheduled to host the debate on Monday between House majority leaders, Steve Scalise, Judiciary Committee Chair, Jim Jordan, and Congressman, Kevin Hern.

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A slew of recent polls shows some problems for President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election, especially when it comes to a possible rematch with former President Donald Trump. I caught up with USA Today, White House Correspondent, Joey Garrison, for the latest.

Joey, always good to have you back on the show.

Joey Garrison:

Hey, thank you very much. Good to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So, let's start here, Joey. What are the recent polls say about a potential Biden-Trump rematch in the general election?

Joey Garrison:

Yeah, essentially what recent polls have seen on this race is that it's a dead heat. And in fact, there's many polls out there showing former President Trump ahead of Biden. This is 13 months away from the election. There are some polls that show Biden narrowly ahead. Some tied exactly. But as we've learned from recent elections, Republicans have a built-in advantage with the Electoral College because democratic bases are more concentrated in cities. And so a democratic president really needs to be above about three percentage points to win in the Electoral College. And so right now we're not seeing that.

And when I talk to Democrats on the street or at the coffee shop or whoever, and I'm just asking them how they feel about the election, they're a little nervous right now. And it's one thing for a democratic incumbent president to be losing to a Republican. They can't figure out how you could be losing to Trump who has all this legal baggage. You talking about a guy who tried to overturn the 2020 election, who said many number of increasingly violent statements including former Chief Joint Chairman, Milley, recently, and somebody who has been indicted four times and will be facing potentially trials over the next year. And so that is the big question question for Democrats, and it's why there's a lot of anxiety among them right now.

Taylor Wilson:

And what are the issues of particular concern for Biden in the polls?

Joey Garrison:

Well, I think there's a number of them. For one thing, for a couple years now, two years really, his approval rating has stayed about low 40%, which is just very low for somebody seeking a reelection. You want to at least be kind of in that high forties range. Beyond that, I think one of the biggest concerns is among non-white voters. This is really the Democratic base when you talk about Black and Latino voters. He's still winning among those groups, but it's by a much smaller margin than what he had in the 2020 election.

And then kind of the underlying concerns that we've seen throughout are concerns about President Biden's age. He's 80 years old right now. He will be 86. A lot of people will be quick to point out, "Hey, Trump is 77 years old." Not that much difference than Biden, but a recent poll this week found 76% of voters believe Biden is too old to effectively serve a second term compared to only 48% who said the same about Trump.

And then you have the economy. People still have questions about Biden's ability to turn around the economy and inflation that has stayed stubborn. Yes, it's down significantly from where it was a year ago, but 70% of Americans still believe the economy is getting worse according to a USA Today poll that we had a month ago. And Trump is doing 11 points better when asked "Who do you trust more to improve the economy?"

So I think all of those. And that was a lot I said right now, but all that adds up to the situation we're in where this is a real neck and neck race. And of course, Trump is not the Republican nominee yet, he still has to win that nomination, but he is up 40 points in the Republican primary polls and sure looks to be on his way towards capturing that.

Taylor Wilson:

And Joe, you mentioned speaking with Democrats. When Democrats see these numbers, is it time for them to panic?

Joey Garrison:

Well, it depends who you ask. I mean, I talked to a couple of different pollsters and one Democratic pollster told me, "Look, you're living in fantasy land if you think that Biden, just because Trump has these various issues surrounding him, is going to just crush him. We live in a very polarized world. It's going to be a close election no matter what." And I think there's a lot of truth in that. Really what these elections are going to come down to, where this one will, is probably about six swing battleground states, probably again, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and then Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada, maybe Georgia. Combination of those states probably what's going to decide it.

But I talked to another pollster, Frank Luntz, longtime former Republican pollster who still does polling, he says, "Yeah, I mean this is a major cause for concern, not just for Democrats, but just for this entire process, that the fact that you would have Trump indicted for trying to overturn the election for concealing classified documents, all these issues. The fact that he is still in the race. That essentially a big section of the electorate will forgive Trump for seemingly anything."

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Joey Garrison, great job breaking down these polling numbers for us. Thanks so much.

Joey Garrison:

And thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

How long have humans been in North America? New research has provided more evidence that prehistoric human footprints in New Mexico are likely the oldest direct evidence of human presence in the Americas. Scientists in 2021 said they'd found the prints, which they said were around 23,000 years old. And they've updated their findings in a study published this week in the Journal Science.

The initial findings upset archeological theories of how humans came to populate the Americas and how long ago. The reported age of the Prince challenges the once conventional wisdom that humans did not reach the American continent until a few thousand years before rising sea levels covered the Bering land bridge between Russia and Alaska some 15,000 years ago. In the study this week, scientists said their methodology and findings were valid and that humans were indeed present in North America 23,000 years ago. Though a separate group of scientists still contests saying that seeds in the footprints were much younger than that. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Imprisoned Iranian human rights activists, Narges Mohammadi, has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize as announced yesterday in Oslo. I spoke with USA Today World Affairs Correspondent, Kim Hjelmgaard, to learn more about her story.

Kim, thanks for hopping on Five Things.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So, Narges Mohammadi has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Who is she and why was she recognized with this honor?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

She's essentially probably the most prominent human rights activists in Iran at the moment. She spent her career fighting government repression of various kinds with a focus on women's rights. One of the remarkable things about receiving this award is she's actually in prison at the minute. She's serving a 10-year jail sentence in Tehran's Evin Prison for spreading anti-state propaganda.

You could say she's sort of been a figurehead for a lot of the protests in Iran that have erupted over the last year and a bit. And she has, again, quite remarkably from prison, managed to still kind of carry on her work. She's written guest essays. She's encouraged some of her fellow inmates to kind of take part in civil disobedience. She was recognized for really being someone who has, not just over the last year, but really going back several decades, kind of been a target for the Iranian government.

Taylor Wilson:

As you mentioned, she's been in and out of prison for years. She's also published a book outlining some of the conditions inside Iranian prisons. Kim, what has this book revealed?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

I think it's revealed how difficult some of these prisons in Iran can be, especially if you're kind of classed as a political prisoner. There are recently Americans that spent time in Evin Prison and the conditions are harsh. There is overcrowding, there's poor ventilation. These are the accounts anyway from people who've been there. Despite herself being in and out of prison for years now, she managed to write a book that was published last year where she kind of spoke to, I think it was more than a dozen inmates, about their experiences of being in prison.

In fact, all of them, I think we can confidently say haven't necessarily committed any crimes that would stand up in kind of Western courts. So yeah, she's just someone who is being recognized I think, not just for her sort of role in what's been happening over the last year, but really going back decades, and drawing attention to the plight of the Iranian human rights defenders over time.

Taylor Wilson:

How is this prize being received back in Iran? And Kim, as we've outlined, she's in prison there, what might this prize mean for her safety in Iran?

Kim Hjelmgaard:

That's a really good question. As always with these things, the Iranian government is quick to dismiss both the significance of it and to sort of accuse Western governments of being complicit in whatever her alleged crimes are. In this case, anti-state propaganda. And so the Iranian authorities are used to this kind of thing and they don't tend to give it a lot of oxygen, I have to say. I think it's not unreasonable to speculate that when someone receives a prize, it's so well regarded in the West that there could be some adverse impact on her.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Kim Hjelmgaard, great insight here. Thanks for your time, as always.

Kim Hjelmgaard:

Thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

Simone Biles just keeps making history. 10 years after winning her first all around title at the World Gymnastics Championships in Belgium, Biles won another in the same arena. And her sixth title makes Biles the winningest gymnast, male or female, in history, with 34 medals between the World Championships and Olympics. 21 of them have been gold.

She's done it despite taking breaks from the sport after both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. She wasn't even sure she wanted to come back after the Tokyo Games in 2021 when anxiety caused by lofty expectations and the isolation of COVID restrictions brought on a case of the so-called "twisties." Unable to tell where she was in the air and not willing to risk her health, Biles withdrew from all but one event final. She's now possibly the greatest gymnast of all time. The World Championships continue this weekend.

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Dana Taylor is back for the Sunday edition of 5 Things tomorrow, discussing the rise of white nationalism. Why is it happening now and what can be done to stop it? Tune in tomorrow right here on this feed. And thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your pods.

If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And any comments, you can reach us at podcasts@usatoday.com. You can hear Dana tomorrow and I'm back Monday with more of 5 Things from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 Things podcast: No House Speaker, polling concerns for Biden