Transcript of Political expert reacts to JD Vance saying Trump would veto a national abortion ban

Well, another issue that Democrats have used to mobilize their voters, abortion. And today, Trump's running mate, Senator J. V. Vance, he discussed the issue of abortion on NBC's Meet the Press, and what Trump would do if Congress were to pass a nationwide ban. Let's take a listen to what he said.

California wants to have a different abortion policy from Ohio. Then Ohio has to respect California, and California has to respect Ohio. Donald Trump's view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions. If such a piece of legislation landed on Donald Trump's desk, would he veto it? I think it'd be very clear he would not support it. He said that explicitly. But would he veto it? Yeah, if you're not supporting it as the President of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it.

So he would veto a federal abortion ban?

I think he would.

What are Republicans seeing in terms of the issue of abortion out there on the campaign trail? What's the reality?

The reality is that it's continuing to be a major, major problem for them, just as it was in 2022. Notice how Vance, who's usually pretty smooth in his answers, whether you agree with them or not, was fumbling around. At the end, he would say, I think this is what Trump will do. It's because Trump has had a number of positions now on abortion. He's revised his view of abortion. He's revised his view of what women should do if they need abortion. There are so many pieces of this that keep changing. There's an old axiom that we're all familiar you're with. When you're in a hole, stop digging. They can't stop digging.

All right, I want to talk to you about the RFK Junior factor. I've asked a lot of partisans this weekend about what they think he could do in terms of the outcome in November. It's like a war shock test. I'm getting answers all over the spectrum. What impact, though, based on what you're seeing, do you think he could have at the ballot box?

Very little. And that was my immediate response. And now that some People like Nate Silver, for example, have looked carefully at the data they have available, and others have analyzed the polls that have been taken. It appears that at most, he may add a fraction of 1% to Trump. And of course, the numbers are constantly changing messaging. I don't think he'll have much impact at all. Most of the early commentary was just dead wrong. There's no reason for him to be able to transfer much to Trump. He was already down, really, below 5%. One network poll had it at 2% when he withdrawn. And so he's out of the race, essentially. I don't think Donald Trump is going to drag him around the country to his rallies, because with RFK Jr, you never know what you're going to get. He's a lot like Trump in that sense. He'll say anything and he'll give some kooky, should I say it, weird answers.

All right, I want to get to some really interesting data that you have. As we mentioned earlier, Harris is campaigning in the swing state of Georgia, This week, she's taking a bus tour with her running mate. In a map featured on Larry Sabido's Crystal Ball, it says that the larger black population in Georgia, paired with the voting patterns of Atlanta voters, may make Georgia go blue again as compared to North Carolina. What is your reaction to this? What should the campaign strategy be based on this data that you're seeing here?

Spend a lot of money in Georgia, spend a lot of time in Georgia, take a lot of tours in Georgia, as well as Arizona and Nevada, and of course, the blue wall states, Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and a couple of others, just to be sure. We've got the seven swing states. Maybe another one will be added that will surprise us. But by and large, we've got those seven states, and they're going to determine who our next president is. It's probably not a good system. It's awful to rule out 43 states, 43 of the 50 states. We're already calling, virtually calling. And that's sad. That says a lot about our system. But that's the way it is.

The Electoral College. Larry Sabana, thank you.