In what was a quite funny incident on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Mike Brzezinski went berserk, losing it, after undecided Gen Z voters interacted with a longtime pollster, Frank Luntz, during a focus group, and expressed a great deal of skepticism about and distaste for Vice President Kamala Harris.
The exchange, which took place less than a month before the 2024 election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, showed how voters are thinking about the candidates headed into the election, with undecided voters apparently still unsure of either of the candidates.
In the focus group, the undecided voters, most of whom were of the Gen Z demographic, showed that they were hesitant about both political candidates, a potential issue for both given the thin margins in each state. However, as Trump is currently up a bit in most swing states and tends to do worse in polling, the fact that the voters weren’t even pretending to lean toward Kamala was likely a positive for him.
Mr. Luntz, speaking to the “Morning Joe” hosts about what he saw during the focus group panel, indicated that the distaste the voters had for both candidates indicated to him that they might just not participate. He said, “I’m questioning whether these undecided voters are even going to participate.”
In the panel, some footage of which was shown during the “Morning Joe” broadcast, one voter said, speaking about Vice President Harris, “I just cannot trust her.” That voter also said that, though he is quite hesitant to support former President Donald Trump, his inability to trust VP Harris is a big issue.
In fact, that panelist said, “In my opinion, the more I look back, the more I watch the debate, the more I look into her campaign, I cannot trust her. I’m never going to vote for Trump, but the more I think about it, the more I don’t think I can vote for Harris. I do not trust her. I’m more inclined to write in someone who would best represent my vote.”
Brzezinski was visibly frustrated by Luntz’s focus group and snapped about what was said by the voters, saying, “Oh, ok. So first of all, we thank everybody for participating. No bad things to say about people who participate in these conversations. We thank you so much. But does anybody at this table need to take a deep breath? Because I do. I just do.”
Chiming in, author and women’s rights activist Lauren Leader said, accusing the voters of throwing away their votes, “We’ve been listening to undecideds for weeks. It’s hard to believe there are people who might vote third party or try to write in. It’s such a lack of understanding about the stakes and throwing your vote away.”
Then, New York Times columnist Mara Gay agreed, saying, “I’m just trying to find that grace in this moment. But I will say I’m a millennial, I’m not Gen Z, so maybe I’m not the best messenger. We all have some friends who are saying neither of these candidates fully support my views. I think Gen Z comes from a generation where politics has been broken for a long time. I’m sympathetic. What I would just say is the way to build power is to start with the reality that we have. You don’t want to throw away your vote. This is a choice between two people, and that’s it. So are you really going to deny your neighbors Medicaid?”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
