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CNN NEWSROOM

Ninth Woman Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Misconduct; Trump Losing Women Voters in Battleground States; October Surprise Hit Both Clinton and Trump; Voters From Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio Speak Out. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 15, 2016 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[19:01:02] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: 7:00 Eastern here in New York. I'm Poppy Harlow. So glad you're with us. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. And we begin this hour with what has been tumultuous day in the race for the White House.

Tonight a new woman has come forward accusing Donald Trump of making unwanted sexual advances. This brings the total number of the accusers to nine. All claiming Trump either kissed or groped them without their consent. We will have more on that in a moment.

But first Donald Trump doubling down on claims that this election is being rigged warning supporters at two separate rallies today that the media is out to sabotage his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing false accusations and outright lies in an effort to elect Hillary Clinton president. But we are going to stop it. We are not going to back down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: House Speaker Paul Ryan who says h is still endorsing but no longer defending Trump is rejecting that assertion that the race is fixed. A spokeswoman for Ryan today saying, quote, "The Speaker is fully confident that the states will carry out this election with integrity."

Along with claims the election is being rigged, Trump also suggested this about his opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate. I think -- I think we should -- why don't we do that? We should take a drug test prior because I don't know what's going on with her. But at the beginning of her last debate she was all pumped up at the beginning and at the end it was like oh, take me down. She could barely reach her car. So I think we should take a drug test. Anyway, I'm willing to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: Hillary Clinton's camp not responding to that at least not yet but Trump's baseless allegations may not be her biggest concern right now. That's because WikiLeaks in just the last hour has released stolen e-mails including what it says are the long awaited transcript of the speeches that she gave at events held by Goldman Sachs.

More on that in a moment but now to the latest sexual misconduct claims against Donald Trump. Her name is Kathy Heller. She told the "Guardian" newspaper the incident happened about 20 years ago during a brunch with her family and Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

CNN correspondent Jessica Schneider has the details. And, Jessica, you were on the phone with Kathy Heller for quite a long time today. What did she tell you?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. Katy Heller is 63 years old now. But she told me it was in the late 1990s when she was at Mar-a-Lago at a brunch. She says Donald Trump grabbed her and then kissed her without permission at that brunch.

Now Kathy Heller first reported this to "The Guardian" and CNN is still working to further corroborate her story. But when she talked to me on the phone she said it was quite startling. In fact she gave me this quote. She said, "He grabbed me, I was standing and I had heels on and I almost fell back. He pulled me towards him, he was very strong." And she continued, "He gave me an open-mouthed kiss."

Now Kathy Heller does tell me that she was there with her family, she was there with her husband as well. This was, you know, a public gathering for the members there at Mar-a-Lago. It was a Mother's Day brunch. She had many people around her. She tells me that her husband saw all of this happened but, you know, for all these years, Poppy, she said it was somewhat of a family joke. But then when those "Access Hollywood" tape -- the tape came out last Friday and then after Donald Trump's denials at the debate on Sunday Kathy Heller along with many of these other women said she had no choice but to come forward and speak out.

HARLOW: She spoke out and we've heard a number of women saying, you know, I came forward to back up the claims of the others. The Trump campaign is responding tonight to this latest accusation. What are they saying?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. All day long Donald Trump and his team, they've been fighting back furiously.

[19:05:01] We saw Donald Trump tweet about it, we saw him address this as baseless, false and fabricated allegations at two of his rallies today. And as to this Kathy Heller claim we heard from the campaign late today and here's what they said.

Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser, he said this. "The media has gone too far in making the false accusation. There is no way that something like this would have happened in a public place on Mother's Day at Mr. Trump's resort. It would have been the talk of Palm Beach for the past two decades. The reality is this, the media has gone too far to wheel out a politically motivated Democratic activist with a legal dispute against this same resort owned by Mr. Trump. It does a disservice to the public and anyone covering this story should be embarrassed for elevating this bogus claim."

Now I did talk to Kathy Heller about this. She tells me that yes, in fact, she is a Hillary Clinton supporter. She has donated to her campaign. And as far as that legal dispute that the campaign references in that statement Kathy Heller tells me that this is a dispute that's been running for at least a decade. Her family says they're owed money from Mar-a-Lago relating back to initiation fees. She says that it has been a long running dispute. But she claims that none of those factored into her decision. She saw these other women coming forward. She saw the Trump denials and she wanted to tell her story, too, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. Something you've heard consistently from these women but important context and background.

Jessica, thank you for the reporting. We appreciate it.

Well, it is October as you know. Both campaigns dealing with October surprises that could derail the candidates. For Trump it is -- excuse me, the women -- coming forward. Quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:10:33] HARLOW: Welcome back. Sorry about that. Coughed a little bit.

As Donald Trump fights claims of unwanted sexual advances, many women voters are rethinking their support of his campaign. And that could cost Trump some key battleground states. Our John King takes a look at new poll numbers which show where the controversy has hurt Trump the most.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 25 days out from when we fill in this red and blue. And this map looking bleak at the moment for Donald Trump.

First let's look at the national numbers. This is a brand new FOX News poll. We talked about it a bit at the top of the show. 45-38, 10 points for the third-party candidates, but a seven-point lead now nationally for Hillary Clinton. That was two points just a week ago.

Hillary Clinton moving there. You look at the battleground state polls. Here's just a few of them. North Carolina, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Clinton leading. Trump in the latest poll in Ohio is plus one. Other polls show that race a tie or Clinton up one. That's Donald Trump's best state of the battlegrounds. The state of Ohio.

What is driving this? Let's take a closer look -- let me move that out of the way. Take a closer look at this FOX News data here. All this controversy about forcing himself on women is driving this. Among women 45 and older Donald Trump now down 12 points. Among changes since last week down 12 points since last week. Among suburban women down 10 points since last week. White women with college degrees down seven points since last week. With Republican women down six points since last week.

If these numbers hold up that means you can't win Colorado because you lose the Denver suburbs. Ohio gets tougher because of the Cleveland and the Columbia suburbs. Virginia, taken off the map. And in Pennsylvania, a state some in the Trump campaign think is critical to his chances, if you can't win the Philadelphia suburbs you can't win statewide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: The importance again of those Philly suburbs. John King, thank you.

You can see John every Sunday morning 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. John King, "INSIDE POLITICS" on CNN.

Quick break. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:03] HARLOW: Welcome back. It is October. And both campaigns are dealing with their own so-called October surprises. For Trump it is the women coming forward with their accusations against him. For Clinton it's her hacked e-mails with transcripts of what we've now seen tonight are what WikiLeaks says are her paid speeches to those Wall Street banks, three of them in particular to Goldman Sachs.

Let's discuss with CNN political commentator and former Mitt Romney campaign policy director, Lahnee Chen. He is, I should note, not voting for either Trump or Clinton.

Lahnee, thanks for being here.

LAHNEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Of course, Poppy. Good to be with you.

HARLOW: Let's begin with Trump because we're starting to get these post-debate, post-"Access Hollywood" tape polls in from the key battleground states. And when you look at them, Clinton is winning in New Hampshire now. She's up by six there. She's up by four in North Carolina. And she's down by one in Ohio.

How would you, Lahnee, assess Donald Trump's path to 270 electoral votes right now?

CHEN: Very narrow, Poppy. He's got very few ways to get there. Clearly I think he's going to have to do well in Ohio and the polling there actually has been decent for him even in the wake of the "Access Hollywood" tape as you noted.

I think the other key state that they've got to keep an eye on is Pennsylvania and there the numbers have been kind of all over the map, although recently at least the trend has been a moderately pro- Clinton. So the pathway is quite narrow even if he does well in a few of those other swing states. He's still going to need some combination probably of Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio to get to 270 electoral votes. So it is a narrow path indeed.

HARLOW: Well, you're saying -- I mean, you're saying he has to basically win two of those three states, Ohio --

CHEN: That's right.

HARLOW: Florida. I mean, he's down by nine in Pennsylvania right now. How does he get there? How does he turn this bus around especially when it's the female voters that are so important. He's down 19 points with women across the board and he's down 10 points in week among suburban female voters.

CHEN: The theory of the case for the Trump campaign has always been that there are enough sort of middle class, lower middle class white voters particularly in the western part of Pennsylvania -- we'll just take Pennsylvania as an example -- to offset any kind of problems he might have, let's say, in suburban Philadelphia.

The challenge is at this point given what you've told us and you've mentioned this already about how he's doing amongst women, it's just difficult for him to cobble together enough voters in the western part of the state to overcome any deficit that he's going to run up in the Philadelphia suburbs.

It just becomes at some point, Poppy, a question of numbers. There may not be enough voters out there that will be sympathetic to his message to get him across the finish line in Pennsylvania.

HARLOW: Yes, I mean, the white working class vote is the group that's been shrinking and that he's campaigned on at the other demographic, the other minority groups are growing, and that's not what he's bet on.

Let's listen to some sounds. Something he said on Thursday in his speech refuting the account of a "People" magazine writer who did a story in 2005 about Trump and his wife Melania on their first wedding anniversary. That writer subsequently has come forward and said Trump made inappropriate advances towards her, shoved her against the wall, tried to kiss her.

The Trump campaign refutes this. And here's how Trump addressed it specifically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Think of it. She's doing this story on Melania who is pregnant at the time, and Donald Trump, our one year anniversary. And she said I made inappropriate advances. And by the way, the area was a public area. People all over the place. Take a look. You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: I mean, Lahnee, he's clearly talking about her looks. I just -- when you're down so far with women, and you've gone through what he did in the primary by saying -- about Carly Fiorina's face, look at her face and the backlash for that, what is behind this strategy?

[19:20:08] CHEN: You might give him the benefit of the doubt if it was just sort of a one-off remark. But as you've said there was the Carly Fiorina incident. There's sort of these repeated insinuations that the women that have come forward to accuse him somehow are not attractive enough to be assaulted. You know, it's clear this is not the ideal strategy if he's looking to get support amongst women.

It is the case, though, that there are a group of, let's say, Republican -- self-identified Republican female voters that will remain with Trump and I think they'll remain with him through hell or high water. But the question is how is he going to expand his base of support? That's the face of the campaign he should be in expanding his support and it doesn't look like that's happening.

HARLOW: He has to. He has to do that to win. And here's something he could be focusing on. He could be focusing on this continued daily drop of stolen hacked e-mails from WikiLeaks of Hillary Clinton's campaign. I mean, we got some new ones tonight, right? They are releasing what appeared to be the transcripts of three of her paid speeches to Wall Street, you know, giant, Goldman Sachs. She -- her campaign in these e-mails is, you know, saying look, these stolen e- mails and these hacks are sort of equivalent to Watergate, the scandal that brought down Nixon.

He could be focusing on these and saying, look, folks, look what she said to the big bankers. But he's not. What is your assessment of how much these WikiLeaks drops including the ones tonight of these Wall Street speeches hurts her?

CHEN: In an ordinary campaign, Poppy, this would be devastating. Because what it is, it's a representation of the private persona of Hillary Clinton versus the public persona of Hillary Clinton. And that's particularly troubling because it eats away her support amongst her own progressive base. It makes independents think that she's frankly dishonest.

HARLOW: Right.

CHEN: And these kinds of things in a normal campaign would be devastating. But instead Donald Trump is defending against all of these allegations instead of pressing forward so it's --

HARLOW: Right.

CHEN: In a normal campaign devastating. In this campaign it's tough say.

HARLOW: Wow. Could be devastating in any other campaign. Lahnee, thank you. Appreciate you being on.

CHEN: Thank you.

HARLOW: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:00] HARLOW: From Ohio to Pennsylvania to Florida, this election will come down to the key swing states and we know for many voters there it is about the economy, their jobs and their wallets are swaying their vote. You've heard plenty from the candidates and frankly plenty from the pundits. And from us, the media. So what about the voter?

I've been traveling through those key swing states hearing from them firsthand. Their stories are next in a special CNN report, "Your Money, Your Vote."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW (voice-over): You've heard from the candidates. And the pundits. Now it's time to hear from the voters.

JEFF CROSBY, OHIO VOTER: I think the Democratic Party is taking us for granted. The Republican Party literally ignores us.

SCOTT HAMMOND, OHIO VOTER: I'm disgusted.

LIZBETH MARTELL, FLORIDA VOTER: It's very disappointing.

HARLOW: We traveled to three critical swing states. Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio. To speak with the people who will be picking the next president of the United States.

[19:30:04] MIRIAM CASANOVA, FLORIDA VOTER: My vote is going to Hillary Clinton. To me she's got some head on her shoulders.

BOB STONAKER, FLORIDA VOTER: Who is the visionary? That's Trump.

HARLOW (on camera): Are you as excited about Hillary Clinton as a candidate as you were for Barack Obama?

SIERRA LESLEY, OHIO VOTER: Actually now I'm more excited.

CINDI JEAN NEWBERRY, OHIO VOTER: He's a businessman.

HARLOW: What do you know about Donald Trump's business history that gives you the confidence that he is a successful businessman?

NEWBERRY: First of all, he had a television show.

HARLOW (voice-over): Different cultures. Different backgrounds. Different economies. How much is your wallet impacting your decision?

LISA, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Our plant was closed.

BILL SCHWOYER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I never filled a resume, I've never done an interview.

JANE PALMER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Those jobs aren't coming back.

CROSBY: The one thing they want more than anything is a job.

HARLOW: This is "Your Money, Your Vote."

LISA: I've been through this before. I've lost another job that I had for 17 years.

SCHWOYER: There was nothing we could have done to save this job.

HARLOW: Reading, Pennsylvania. Famous for the once thriving Reading railroad. Which in its heyday hauled coal from the Keystone State to the Eastern Seaboard. But Reading is now the fifth poorest city in America. Almost 40 percent of the people here live below the poverty line. We met Hamid Chaudhry at his bustling restaurant in the heart of Reading.

HAMID CHAUDHRY, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: God bless America. The greatest country in the world.

HARLOW: A Muslim from Pakistan. He immigrated here in 1988. When we spoke with Chaudhry in late September his vote came down for one thing.

CHAUDHRY: It's really about jobs, jobs, and jobs. You can go find them in either direction. They've shut down the plant.

HARLOW (on camera): Have you heard from Donald Trump how specifically he'll bring those manufacturing jobs back?

CHAUDHRY: He's a smart man. I'm taking a leap of faith.

HARLOW: You're taking a leap of faith.

(Voice-over): That was then. Now he's more hesitant to take that leap after the 2005 video of Donald Trump bragging about groping women surfaced. Chaudhry questions how he could |ld explain a vote for Trump to his 9-year-old daughter. So now he's undecided. His restaurant is filled with passionate voters like these Clinton volunteers.

ZELDA YODER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I think Donald Trump has done very well for Donald Trump.

PALMER: He's filed for bankruptcy over and over again. You can't do that with a nation. A nation is not a business.

IVAN TORRES, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: There are a lot of people who are suffering.

HARLOW: Ivan Torres immigrated to the United States from Ecuador when he was 18. He's an independent but this year he's volunteering for the local GOP and voting for Donald Trump. TORRES: At this particular time there's a need for change. He has

the kind of intelligence that's necessary at this point to come up with the solutions to economic problems.

CHAUDHRY: If you look at today's "Reading Eagle" newspaper you will see the paper plant got shut down. More jobs are leaving.

HARLOW: We went to find that plant.

(On camera): So this is the plant that's closing. The manager here told us 31 jobs are being cut and these are good paying jobs. $22 an hour is the salary for a union worker here.

LISA: It is a good job. It's a good-paying job. It's one of the few left in Berks County.

SCHWOYER: I started there when I was 19. So I've been there for 37 years.

HARLOW (voice-over): Bill Schwoyer has been a machine operator at the Neenah Paper Factory for nearly four decades. Lisa has been working second shift here for 14 years. In many respects they are the quintessential voter Donald Trump has been courting. Blue-collar and their jobs are disappearing.

SCHWOYER: This has been our life forever. We don't know anything different.

HARLOW (on camera): What has it meant to you for 14 years?

LISA: It meant quality of life. Not scraping by. The trade agreements I fully believe that that is the reason many jobs are leaving.

HARLOW: But your jobs, for example, aren't necessarily going to Mexico or China. Right?

LISA: Well, they have to compete in the world market.

HARLOW (voice-over): Neenah Paper told us this plant, quote, "operated at well below full capacity despite the good efforts of the roughly 30 employees there." The company is vowing to help its workers try to find jobs possibly at other Neenah sites in other states.

(On camera): Donald Trump says he will throw out what he calls bad trade agreements and he will save jobs like yours and he will bring your jobs back.

LISA: Sure he will.

(LAUGHTER)

LISA: I don't think so. I don't believe he can come through with those promises. He's a businessman and I don't know that's necessarily what we need to lead the country. HARLOW (voice-over): Both Lisa and Bill say Clinton has their vote.

SCHWOYER: She's going to get my vote, you know. You don't feel super confident in either of them, maybe. But, you know, I just really have no faith in Donald Trump at all. None. He's reality TV. And I just don't trust that.

HARLOW: President Obama won this critical Pennsylvania county by nine points in 2008. But narrowly lost it to Mitt Romney in 2012. Dale Wentzel told us Obamacare helped him.

[19:35:07] DALE WENTZEL, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: There's a lot of people around here that don't have health insurance. They just can't afford it.

HARLOW: But he's leaning towards Donald Trump this year.

WENTZEL: I hear all this thing about having a woman president. I don't know. I shouldn't say that because I'm not really against women having any kind of job but I just feel that -- you know, I'm not really sure about having a woman in there. That's going to make me unpopular to say that. She's not a business person either so I think you have a big contrast, a business person versus a politician.

HARLOW (on camera): Pennsylvania hasn't gone red since 1988. The key to winning here many say is Philadelphia and its suburbs where a third of the voters are. But Donald Trump has put this state in play with his appeal to white working class voters like right here in Berks County. But can he make enough of a dent in neighboring Montgomery County? It is wealthier, largely white collar and there are more college graduates.

CAROLINE GAMSE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Hillary is a much stronger candidate. Whenever Trump is talking about the economy he's talking about extreme tax cuts that don't make sense.

HARLOW (voice-over): Adam and Caroline Gamse, a doctor and a scientist, know their taxes would increase under a President Clinton.

ADAM GAMSE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I'm willing to pay more to support whatever the plan of the country is.

C. GAMSE: Health care reform, family leaves, all these issues, they help us as well. We should pay more.

HARLOW: Beth Hamilton is a rarity here. She's a woman in the Democratic stronghold of Montgomery County, supporting Donald Trump.

(On camera): Are you a lifelong Republican?

BETH HAMILTON, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I'm not a Republican. I'm an independent.

HARLOW: But you're really concerned about the economy?

HAMILTON: I am. I think so many manufacturing jobs have left. HARLOW: Do you think there's really any way that those jobs are

actually coming back given globalization, given free trade, given technological advances?

HAMILTON: I'd like to believe that there is potential. To just sit back and say all the jobs are going to leave because it's cheaper to make something in China or it's cheaper to make something in Mexico and not even try and do something to keep some of those jobs, I think that's foolish.

HARLOW (voice-over): One constant we heard here, yes, their vote is about their American dream. But it's even more about their children.

HAMILTON: My whole life is about my four kids. It is about what the opportunities that they'll have and how they will be able to marry, raise a family, get ahead.

SCHWOYER: I think of my grandchildren. You know when they get older, what are the younger people going to do? I was young, it was easy, you can go get a manufacturing job anywhere in this country. Now where do you go?

HARLOW (on camera): Do you think you've gotten to live the American dream?

LISA: I'll let you know in 15 years when I retire how I made out.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW (voice-over): Up next, we take you to battleground Florida.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Florida. Home to endless beaches. Mickey Mouse. No income tax. And an unemployment rate below the national average. It's a fascinating electorate made up of an increasing number of retirees who lean more and more to the right and an influx of Puerto Ricans who lean left. Whichever side garners more support gets a critical jackpot -- 29 electoral votes.

You've heard the candidates courting retirees here. Why? Because Florida has the greatest percentage of seniors of any state in the country. And seniors vote in big numbers.

Conway Cafe in East Orlando is where these men meet every Thursday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been coming here for years. The waitresses are really nice.

HARLOW: What was once a reliably blue voting bloc is no more. Seniors, specifically white seniors, have been moving more and more to the right in the last decade.

WAYNE KEMP, FLORIDA VOTER: I cancelled the Orlando newspaper because they slant the news a lot.

HARLOW: They're all voting they say for Donald Trump.

DAN GRANT, FLORIDA VOTER: I think the economy needs some jumpstarting real bad.

KEMP: The worst thing about our country so divided now. It's not like it was before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we mostly feel it's not so much that we're real crazy about Donald Trump, but most of us want a change.

HARLOW: And that's the common thread among many of the seniors we met in Florida. There's a sense that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of countries are nipping at our heels.

HARLOW: We met these neighbors in Sarasota. Their dissatisfaction of what they see as the status quo runs deep.

STONAKER: She's talked about increasing the amount of immigration. That's stunning that we would allow that many people to come in. That will ensure a liberal culture forever. Who is the visionary? There's only one candidate that fits that role and that's Trump. And I have no compunction about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're coming out of this recession slower than we have previous recessions.

HARLOW: That is true.

STONAKER: I would strongly disagree with the assumption we're better off now than we were seven or eight years ago. Strongly.

HARLOW: The thing is, by almost all measures the U.S. economy has improved significantly in the last eight years. Unemployment is half of what it was in 2009 and the stock market has almost tripled from its lows that same year, but it's the national debt that really troubles these voters.

BOB KUCK, FLORIDA VOTER: I think it really kind of scares us that we're staring at $20 trillion in debt not knowing how our grandchildren will repay it.

ALICE STONAKER, FLORIDA VOTER: And I never ever could vote for Hillary, so it will be Trump.

HARLOW: This Trump volunteer calling attention to what she believes is hidden Trump support.

JOAN LOPEZ COMBES, FLORIDA VOTER: When you talk to women they're not out in the public telling you they are for Trump. They are afraid. People are afraid in this era. And why? Because that's the politically correct nonsense. But once you -- they see a shirt or they see me and I start talking right away, they go I can't tell anybody. HARLOW: But Clinton has her own growing demographic support, Puerto

Ricans. There are by some estimates 100,000 more Puerto Ricans in Florida now than there were for the 2012 election.

CASANOVA: The most important thing besides that the Lord is there is education. E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N. They need it.

[19:45:04] HARLOW: We immediate Miriam and Elsie at Puerto Rico's Cafe in Kissimmee.

CASANOVA: My vote is going to Hillary Clinton. To me she's got some head on her shoulders.

HARLOW: Lizbeth Martell's family owns this restaurant.

MARTELL: Well, if we're looking at the recession about five, six years ago the economy is a lot better.

HARLOW: But if they're not enthusiastic about supporting Clinton she'll have a hard time overcoming the strong retiree support for Trump here.

MARTELL: Hillary situation for me, being a woman, it would have been amazing, but, you know, coming with all these trust issues it's very disappointing.

HARLOW: She's still undecided but won't vote for Trump.

ELSIE AGOSTO, FLORIDA VOTER: We need in office someone that is Christ-like. Someone that knows the value of Christianity in a human being and definitely neither one of them has shown me that they do have that.

HARLOW: So what about Cuban-Americans, a group that makes up about 30 percent of eligible Hispanic voters in Florida? Not long ago it was reliably red.

MARIA GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: You know Cuba is a communist country. And I was telling the girls anything that's a little bit to the left I have a problem with that.

HARLOW: But bow it's a voting bloc that's moving more and more blue. Miguel and Maria Garcia moved to the United States in the early '60s following the Cuban Revolution.

MIGUEL GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: I have a lot of reservations about both nominees.

M. GARCIA: This year is a tough year. I'm having such a tough time. I have problem with Trump in the sense of the filter here, if it's working, the way he has talked to people is denigrating. And the other side was Hillary. I honestly don't trust her.

CARMEN GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: If it wasn't for your fear of communism you would be a Democrat because you believe in equal opportunity. M. GARCIA: Maybe. I saw it in Cuba. People didn't have incentive

because their government was giving them everything. I know we have to leave some part to help because there's always a need help.

DELIA GARCIA, FLORIDA VOTER: These two people right here are the biggest helpers that you ever want to meet.

M. GARCIA: Republicans help, too.

HARLOW: 97-year-old Grandma Maria has cast her ballot for many Republican candidates over the years. But not this time.

C. GARCIA: Donald Trump? Donald Trump?

HARLOW: Florida with its changing demographics clearly remains in play. But who can better play their hand better here.

Up next we take you to battleground Ohio.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:19] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of businesses have closed up. And people lost their jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Low income, poverty, hurting for jobs.

HARLOW: Economic pain shared from one end of the Buckeye State to the other.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once they get in there, they thinking they got a good job, the next thing you know they getting cut.

HARLOW: These voters come from different cities and circumstances but they all live in a state so critical no candidate has won the White House without winning Ohio since 1960.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 49 years old. I've voted in every election since I was 18. I'm disgusted.

HARLOW: In a state where unemployment is under 5 percent and more than 200,000 jobs have been added since 2012, there are still many people who feel left behind here.

(On camera): This neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio, was one of the strongest for President Obama in 2012. Mitt Romney did not get a single vote from people living in these homes. Not one. People living here have been struggling economically for a long time and they still are. So the question is will they come out in droves for Hillary Clinton the way they did for President Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Hillary is the best candidate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a no-brainer.

HARLOW: Are you as excited about Hillary Clinton as a candidate as you were for Barack Obama?

LESLEY: Actually I'm more excited about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, she more so for low income people trying to build us up as far as job and educational needs.

HARLOW (voice-over): Rowena Washington bought a home here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New houses. It's peaceful and quiet. All the more reason we need to keep the country going in a positive direction. Has it ups and downs but you definitely are seeing the true American dream. And I say, they will be crazy not to get out to vote for Hillary. She's definitely the person.

HARLOW: But there have been decades of economic despair here and there's this dwindling faith that politicians will help.

CROSBY: I think the Democratic platform is saying the same thing we have heard, they've been saying for the past 50 years.

HARLOW (on camera): Over and over.

CROSBY: Over and over.

HARLOW: Since the war on poverty was declared.

CROSBY: Yes.

HARLOW: Jeff Crosby used to be in gangs that had landed him in prison. Now he's working to keep kids from the same life he lived.

CROSBY: I deal with kids, some of them have no hope. I deal with kids that have been shot before, some kids have shot people. I've dealt with people that I really need to keep from the street. It's one of the highest crime areas in Cleveland.

HARLOW: This is?

CROSBY: Yes. About 10 gangs over here. What's up? How you been? Good? I think the Democratic Party is taking us for granted. The Republican Party literally ignores us. Except for Trump. Trump is striving to make inroads but he is a polarizing figure.

HARLOW (voice-over): As for his vote he's undecided but decidedly against Donald Trump.

CROSBY: I do not like how he talks about women. I think he's insensitive to our race and I think it's despicable what he said about disabled people.

HARLOW: But he sees the problems many of his mentees face today as a product of the 1994 Crime Bill signed into law by then President Bill Clinton.

CROSBY: I think a lot of people were incarcerated that didn't need to be incarcerated. HARLOW: Many here calling for change but they don't think Trump can

make their America great again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't trust Donald. That's all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he's got money, that ain't everything.

LESLEY: I willing to vote for a clown before Donald Trump.

HARLOW (on camera): Really?

LESLEY: Yes, with a red nose. I do agree with Republicans sometimes, but I don't agree with nothing that Donald Trump stands for.

HARLOW (voice-over): But living in the same public housing here we meet James Pierce who couldn't disagree more.

PIERCE: I believe that Hillary/Obama is just giving it all away so that people can be lazy and let people with a job pay for it.

[19:55:08] HARLOW (on camera): You live in housing that is paid for by the government?

PIERCE: Yes, but there's circumstances to that, why I'm there. I mean, I'm trying to better myself. As soon as I can work and get on my feet, I'm not there anymore.

HARLOW (voice-over): And that brings us to the second part of this Ohio chapter. 200 miles south.

(On camera): We're in Pike County, Ohio. And this place matters a lot. Not for the number of votes here but because of what it represents. It used to be solidly blue but it's been moving more and more red. In 2012 this was the closest county in the country. Mitt Romney won here by a single vote. Just one vote. It's 96 percent white largely blue collar and unemployment here is high. These are exactly the voters Donald Trump has been speaking to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say right now you're looking at a coin toss.

HARLOW: A coin toss among union workers who until now have been solidly blue. Have you ever seen anything like that before?

(Voice-over): Many here see Donald Trump as their best shot at getting ahead.

BILL STANLEY, OHIO VOTER: He gets a lot of things that is amazing that he was telling us he can do for us.

HARLOW: Since 2000 Ohio has lost nearly a third of its manufacturing jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump, a businessman, I like that about him.

STANLEY: If he can run a big Trump plaza, he can run this big town and the whole United States.

NEWBERRY: He's a businessman.

HARLOW (on camera): What do you know about Donald Trump's business history that gives you the confidence that he is a successful businessman?

NEWBERRY: First of all, he had a television show.

HARLOW (voice-over): At a local bar after work --

(On camera): The three of you, you make a good living, you can support your family, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HARLOW: You're among the lucky ones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

HARLOW: So the, quote-unquote, Obama economy has worked for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well --

HARLOW: Am I right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a sense but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

RANDY BARR, OHIO VOTER: But I don't think it's worked for a lot of other people. A lot of medium income people.

HARLOW: So you're voting for other people?

BARR: Well, yes. I'm voting to help the small guy. I still think I'm a small buy. But yes, I mean, I haven't seen wages, you know, increase jobs increase as much as what I thought everything would.

HARLOW (voice-over): We went for lunch at Diner 23. Krista Shockey lives on government funded disability benefits and she plans on voting for Trump.

(On camera): What do you like about Donald Trump the most?

KRISTA SCHOKEY, OHIO VOTER: He's running against Hillary.

HARLOW (voice-over): Her friend Cindy Jean Newberry says this economy is not working for her.

NEWBERRY: I go to a food bank. That's how bad it is. And sometimes I stay at her home in the winter because I don't have heat.

HARLOW: She plans to vote for Trump. (On camera): You're a lifelong Democrat?

Charlie UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HARLOW: So you're voting for Hillary this time around?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm not.

HARLOW: No?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dad was a coal miner. They put the coal miners out of work.

HARLOW (voice-over): That doesn't sit well here especially among union folks.

(On camera): You're angry at President Obama.

HAMMOND: I'm angry for what he's done to our business.

HARLOW: So Donald Trump says he's the one to bring these jobs back?

HAMMOND: Donald Trump is saying that. That's total propaganda. Where is his merchandise made? What does he have to offer to American industry? Nothing. Are you telling me that those are the best two candidates for the presidency of the United States? I don't buy that.

HARLOW (voice-over): We left Ohio asking this question, why does economic pain from one town to the next push some people left and others right?

WHITAKER: They say money is the root of all evil but that's not true. The lack of money is the root of all evil.

HARLOW: So what's the solution?

WHITAKER: People, get out there and vote.

HARLOW: It's "Your Money, Your Vote."

After the "Access Hollywood" video of Trump surfaced, we called back the Trump supporters we interviewed for this special. Almost all said they still stood by Trump. We noted the exceptions in our reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: My thanks to the incredible producers on this project and reporters Jordan Malter and Richa Naik, and Heather Long.

CNN is traveling across the country and talking to voters in battleground states. It's all in a partnership with Instagram, Facebook and CA Technologies. And we want the hear from you. What do you think about this election? Post a photo on Twitter and Instagram. Use the #myvote. It could be used in our election coverage. Again that's #myvote. Thank you for being with me tonight. Coming up next on CNN, a

documentary you will not want to miss, "ALL BUSINESS, THE ESSENTIAL DONALD TRUMP." That is straight ahead.

I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Glad you're with us. I will see you back here tomorrow night. Good night.

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