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Biden Plans to Fact-Check Trump at Debate: Campaign Update

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is doubling down on his support for wearing masks.

Biden Plans to Fact-Check Trump at Debate: Campaign Update
Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, greets visitors at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, U.S. (Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign manager said the candidate will fact-check President Donald Trump when they debate. Biden holds sizable leads in two key battleground states. And in its first endorsement in 175 years, Scientific American backed Biden.

There are 49 days until the election.

Other Developments:

Biden Will Correct Trump’s Facts at Debate, Aide Says

Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said the Democratic presidential nominee would be ready to fact-check Trump in real time when they debate.

“We’re going to be ready and the vice president’s going to be ready to make sure that if there are things that are out there that are outrageous like we’re seeing every day, like the fact that climate science is true, then the vice president will be prepared to call that out and be clear about it,” she said in a live interview with Politico.

Trump and Biden have been trading jabs in anticipation of the three presidential debates, the first of which will take place Sept. 29 in Cleveland.

Trump suggested Tuesday that Biden might use performance-enhancing drugs and should be tested before the debates to ensure he isn’t “taking something that gives him some clarity.”

At a fundraiser last week, Biden said he wouldn’t “take the bait” if Trump taunted him with disparaging comments about his family at the debate. “I hope I don’t get baited into a brawl with this guy, because that’s the only place he’s comfortable,” he said. -- Emma Kinery

Biden Holds Big Leads in Wisconsin, North Carolina Battlegrounds (3:00 p.m.)

Biden is leading Trump among registered voters in the longtime battleground state of Wisconsin and the new competitive state of North Carolina, according to CNN polls released Tuesday.

Biden holds a lead of 11 percentage points, 52% to 41%, among registered voters in Wisconsin and by 5 percentage points in North Carolina 49% to 44%. In both states voters were more concerned about the coronavirus than racial inequities, the economy and crime.

In Wisconsin, voters gave Biden a higher approval rating than both Trump and Governor Tony Evers for his response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha: 48% approved and 42% disapproved. Some 42% approved of Trump’s response compared to 54% who disapproved. Half of people of color surveyed preferred Biden’s approach while 16% percent preferred Trump’s.

In North Carolina, non-White people overwhelmingly support Biden 93% to 3%. White voters prefer Trump 58% to 38%. Biden leads among women 55% to 42%, but Trump wins White women 55% to 42% as well as White men, 60% to 34%, and men overall 51% to 42%.

Both polls were conducted Sept. 9-13 by phone. The Wisconsin poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points and the North Carolina poll had an error margin of 4.1 percentage points. -- Emma Kinery

In First Endorsement in 175 Years, Scientific American Backs Biden (2:18 p.m.)

In its first presidential endorsement in 175 years, reputed magazine Scientific American is supporting Biden.

Citing Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his opposition to environmental regulations and his attitude toward scientific advisers, the magazine wrote that “Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people -- because he rejects evidence and science.”

“Joe Biden, in contrast, comes prepared with plans to control COVID-19, improve health care, reduce carbon emissions and restore the role of legitimate science in policy making,” it wrote.

Biden has repeatedly stressed science in his pitches about how to handle the coronavirus, saying he would “listen to the scientists” on how best to combat the pandemic. He and Trump have also taken opposing approaches to the California wildfires, with Trump dismissing a state official who said they were exacerbated by climate change, while Biden called the president a “climate arsonist.”

In 2016, Vogue and Foreign Policy magazines also broke with tradition to make their first endorsements for Hillary Clinton.

Trump, Biden Tie With Fellow Seniors in Florida (1:31 p.m.)

Trump and Biden are essentially tied among voters their own age in Florida.

In a Monmouth University Poll released Tuesday, 49% of Florida voters age 65 and older back Trump, while 47% back Biden, a lead within the margin of error.

That’s a much closer race than in other states. A recent national poll by Monmouth put the 65 and older vote at 54% for Biden and 43% for Trump. That’s bad news for Trump, who won seniors by 9 points in 2016, according to exit polls.

Nationally, Trump is polling better than Biden among older White voters, and Biden among older voters of color, Monmouth found. Pollsters said the difference in Florida is that Trump appears to be doing better among older Latinos.

Biden on Tuesday is making his first trip to Florida of the general election campaign, specifically to meet with Latino voters and counter some of Trump’s arguments to them that electing him would lead to socialism.

House Republicans Unveil One-Page Platform (11:17 a.m.)

House Republicans unveiled a party platform that is one page longer than the national Republican party’s.

After the GOP skipped writing a platform at this year’s convention due to coronavirus-related complications, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled a brief plan focused on tax cuts, infrastructure spending, taking on China and debt reduction. The “Commitment to America” reflects President Donald Trump’s priorities as well as his own vague election-year platform, but is light on details for some of its biggest ideas.

Republicans, who face an uphill battle to take back the House from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats, are hoping to rekindle some of the magic of the 1994 Contract with America which ended decades of minority status in the House.The document makes no mention of GOP attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and instead calls for “protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions and expanding access to affordable telemedicine, mental health services, and opioid treatment.”

It sets goals of creating 10 million new jobs, and beating the Covid-19 pandemic by tripling rapid testing, giving $200 billion in small business loans and extending the $2,000 child tax credit. The platform also pledges to bring high-speed internet to “every household,” develop a five-year transportation plan and forge a bipartisan compromise to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, but no details are given on how those would be accomplished. -- Erik Wasson

Trump Wants to Call Into ‘Fox and Friends’ Weekly (9:59 a.m.)

Trump said Tuesday that he’s agreed to weekly interviews on the morning show “Fox and Friends,” even though the co-host of the show said the news network “had not committed to that.”

The president began a telephone interview Tuesday morning by announcing to the show’s three hosts that he had agreed to appear on the morning show every week, either Mondays or Tuesdays, for an interview.

“Well I haven’t heard that,” said host Steve Doocy. “That’s fantastic, that’s an exclusive right there.”

After Trump concluded the 47-minute interview by reminding viewers that he’ll be on the show every week, Doocy clarified that Trump “may want to do it every week, but Fox is not committed to that, and we’ll take it on a case-by-case basis.”

Doocy then extended an invite to Biden to call into the show as well. -- Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou

Biden Doubles Down on Masks as Trump Criticizes Mandates (7:08 a.m.)

The Biden campaign is doubling down on its messaging about mask-wearing to fight the coronavirus, as the president faced criticism for an indoor rally in Nevada.

In several Facebook ads that began running Monday, the Biden campaign asks supporters to “wear a mask, save a life.”

“Time and time again, Donald Trump has failed to give us a clear message from the very top of our federal government, but that has got to stop,” the ad copy says. “Will you join me in demanding nationwide mask mandates?”

Biden called for a three-month national mask mandate in mid-August, arguing that it would save an estimated 40,000 lives. He walked it back last week when he said that “there’s a constitutional issue” as to whether the federal government could issue a mandate.

On Monday night, Trump celebrated a judge’s ruling against a Pennsylvania mask mandate by re-tweeting people calling Democratic Governor Tom Wolf a “tyrant” and, in one case, a group of seniors dancing to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Going to Take It” before tearing their own masks off.

Trump Improves Slightly Among Nevada Latinos

A poll of Latino voters in Nevada showed Biden winning overwhelmingly, but a small improvement for Trump.

In a survey conducted by Democratic Latino research firm Equis Research released Monday, 62% of Latino registered voters in Nevada said they would vote for Biden if the election were held today, while 26% backed Trump.

That’s a slight improvement for the president from a poll in August of 2019, which found 65% backing a generic Democrat and 22% supporting Trump.

Nearly 30% of Nevada residents are Latino. An analysis of the 2018 midterms found that turnout among Latino voters was crucial to Democratic wins in Nevada as well as Arizona, Florida and Texas.

The survey of 600 Latino registered voters in Nevada was conducted Aug. 20-Sept. 2. It has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.

New Biden Ads Target Black Voters

The Biden campaign is targeting Black men in new ads set to air in battleground states.

In one 30-second spot called “Trust,” filmed inside a socially distanced barbershop, several men wearing masks talk about the coronavirus.

“I’m not going to agree with everything that anyone says -- my wife will tell you that from the beginning,” one man says. “But who do I trust my children’s futures with? I trust Joe Biden more than anyone else.”

A second ad, called “Get This Right,” outlines Biden’s plans for criminal justice reform proposals to end cash bail and mandatory minimum sentencing.

The ads, first obtained by CBS, are set to air in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Coming Up:

Trump will participate in an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Biden is traveling to Florida for a roundtable with veterans and an event celebrating Hispanic heritage.

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