ABC’s Martha Raddatz says she didn’t see a lot of ‘enthusiasm for Joe Biden’ in cross-country trip

ABC’s chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz reports “there wasn’t a whole lot of enthusiasm for Joe Biden” during her recent 6,000-mile road trip across America, and that the economy is voters’ main focus. 

The report from Raddatz comes as President Trump and Biden, the Democratic nominee, square off tonight in Cleveland in the first of their three scheduled presidential debates. 

“Martha, you went on a 6,000-mile road trip across America to see what was on voters’ minds. What did you find out?” co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked Tuesday on “The View.”

“A lot of people are talking about the economy more than anything else,” Raddatz responded. “I was very surprised, Whoopi, because [in regards to] COVID when you cross the country, you wouldn’t really know it’s happening. I was really shocked at how few people were wearing masks in certain areas. It’s like ‘I’m tired of this. I’ll just get back doing what I wanted to do before.’ ”

The economy will be one of six topics to be discussed during the debate moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, also including COVID-19, Trump and Biden’s records, violence in U.S. cities, the Supreme Court and election integrity. 

Raddatz also found that Trump supporters are shrugging off a recent New York Times report showing the former real estate mogul has paid little to no taxes over the past 15 years.  

“The hardcore Trump voters … they basically say Trump walks on water. Nothing will change their mind,” Raddatz said. “In fact, this morning I called someone I talked to on the road trip about Donald Trump and the tax story. He said, ‘Good for Donald Trump. As long as it wasn’t illegal, I want the name of his accountant.’ Those people, that solid base, are not going anywhere.”

“I also found there wasn’t a whole lot of enthusiasm for Joe Biden,” she added. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm among Democratic voters and some independents to get Donald Trump out, but not necessarily that enthusiasm.” 

Trump currently polls better on voter enthusiasm, with 59 percent of his voters in a survey earlier this month saying they are enthusiastic for their candidate to win while only 43 percent of Biden voters say the same about theirs. 

At this time four years ago, the same Fox News poll showed that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton led Trump on enthusiasm metrics, 44 percent to 35 percent.