1 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,440 Sean Murray: Hello, everybody and welcome to Broker Fair virtual. Thank you for joining us 2 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:23,670 today. I'm here with Scott Rasmussen. Scott is long recognized as one of the world's leading 3 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:29,040 public opinion pollster. Scott Rasmussen is constantly measuring and analyzing the mood of the 4 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:33,960 nation. Whether it's the upcoming election, underlying business trends, or the coronavirus 5 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:39,720 pandemic, Scott had the data you need to know. His latest polling results are released at 6 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:46,050 scottrasmussen.com, and by various media outlets, but the numbers are just part of the story. His 7 00:00:46,050 --> 00:00:52,200 love of history and depth of experience helped put that data in a meaningful context to act upon. His 8 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:57,540 lifetime and broadcasting brings it alive during entertaining and informative presentations. 9 00:00:58,050 --> 00:01:03,510 Additionally, ballotpedia publishes Scott Rasmussen number of the day, featuring newsworthy 10 00:01:03,510 --> 00:01:09,450 and interesting topics at the intersection of politics, culture, and technology. So without 11 00:01:09,450 --> 00:01:11,640 further ado, please welcome Scott. 12 00:01:12,740 --> 00:01:17,660 Scott Rasmussen: Well, thanks, Sean. It's great to be here today. And you know, normally I would say 13 00:01:17,660 --> 00:01:22,520 that and you're looking at people, you're talking to an audience, you're seeing some kind of 14 00:01:22,580 --> 00:01:29,990 reaction. In this virtual world, it's a little bit odd, as a speaker, interacting with the audience 15 00:01:29,990 --> 00:01:34,940 is a real key part of the presentation. I love to meet people before and after the talks. But also 16 00:01:34,940 --> 00:01:39,380 during the presentation. You know, if you see people are really engaged in a certain aspect of 17 00:01:39,380 --> 00:01:44,600 what you're saying, well, then you go on a little longer on it. And if you see people dozing off in 18 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:49,820 the corner, while you think maybe I better move on to a different topic, obviously can't do that 19 00:01:49,820 --> 00:01:56,000 today. So I'll do my best to keep this moving. And, and then we'll have some fun questions when 20 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:04,820 it's all done. And I want to say right up front, these are strange times. But I still am very 21 00:02:04,820 --> 00:02:11,600 optimistic. I'm very optimistic that our nation has a bright future ahead of it. And I say that 22 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:16,790 despite being very pessimistic about our political system. I believe the political system is badly 23 00:02:16,790 --> 00:02:23,300 broken. The reason I can hold those two views simultaneously is because I believe the culture 24 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:29,330 leads and politics lags behind. So I'm not looking for whoever is elected to solve our problems for 25 00:02:29,330 --> 00:02:36,140 us. I think there are greater forces at work. Now, you know, we're in this time when, well, Sean, 26 00:02:36,140 --> 00:02:41,690 when you and I talked, maybe a month or so ago, we were talking about the pandemic is the big 27 00:02:41,690 --> 00:02:49,970 surprise of the year now we've had the Floyd murder and these issues are just throwing 28 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,950 everything that we know about the political world upside down, and they're raising new questions for 29 00:02:54,950 --> 00:03:00,410 us to wrestle with. Some of them have to do with federal spending and regulation and other policy 30 00:03:00,410 --> 00:03:08,300 topics. Ultimately, they have a lot to do with who we choose to be as a nation. And it's with so many 31 00:03:08,300 --> 00:03:14,930 moving parts, it's hard to figure out exactly what to focus on. So for me throughout my entire 32 00:03:14,930 --> 00:03:21,650 career, as a political analyst, I draw on a lesson I learned from an earlier career when I was an 33 00:03:21,650 --> 00:03:27,920 entrepreneur trying to start a crazy new business back in the late 70s. And by the way, normally, at 34 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:34,640 this point in a talk, I would say that, you know, I ask people to raise their hands if they remember 35 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:42,260 the 70s give me a sense of just how old the audience is. But in the late 70s, my father and I 36 00:03:42,260 --> 00:03:47,570 learned about this new technology called satellite transmission. We learned how it can be used to 37 00:03:47,570 --> 00:03:53,360 interact with cable systems. And we thought there might be an appetite for an all sports cable 38 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:59,540 network that we call the ESPN. And when we first had the idea, we were so excited that we thought 39 00:03:59,570 --> 00:04:04,850 if we showed it to anybody, they would steal it from us. After we got rejected for funding by 40 00:04:04,850 --> 00:04:12,680 every major broadcast group that was out there. We ended up getting to a meeting with Getty Oil. And 41 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:20,270 they said they gave us $5 million to begin building out the idea in hopes that it might work. 42 00:04:20,570 --> 00:04:26,960 And we went through that money in just a few months. And then they expected that and in May of 43 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:36,740 1979. We had a meeting at the Getty headquarters, Wilshire and Western and at that meeting, we it 44 00:04:36,740 --> 00:04:41,120 was basically the go no go decision. Getty was going to make the decision at this point whether 45 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:48,650 to commit what turned out to be more than 100 million dollars to the venture. And at the 46 00:04:48,650 --> 00:04:52,700 meeting, when we were we were in this Boomerang shaped table in their boardroom, we were on the 47 00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:57,500 inside. They had people arrayed around the outside to intimidate us in doing a very good job of it. 48 00:04:58,220 --> 00:05:05,540 And somebody asked a question about our revenue projections for 1988. And to give you an idea of 49 00:05:05,540 --> 00:05:12,140 how absurd this was, were in 1979, the industry didn't exist. You know, there were no 24 hour 50 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:17,900 sports, television networks, there were no 24 hour cable networks, there were no advertiser supported 51 00:05:17,900 --> 00:05:22,550 networks. And they're asking me about the revenue projections nine years in the future. But I was 52 00:05:22,550 --> 00:05:28,910 young and stupid. And I gave them a very precise and totally worthless answer. I explained that 53 00:05:28,910 --> 00:05:33,410 there's 12 million cable households in the US. And if this percentage of them sign up for the 54 00:05:33,410 --> 00:05:39,050 satellite, and this percentage of that percentage sign up for our service, and we get these ratings 55 00:05:39,050 --> 00:05:44,000 during these hours, and our cpms are this and that, I went through this whole thing and put in 56 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,580 some growth rates and said, You know, so that's how you get the answer. And at that moment, Sid 57 00:05:49,580 --> 00:05:54,590 Peterson, who was the brand new CEO of Getty was sitting right across the table from me. And he 58 00:05:54,590 --> 00:06:01,880 said, he has no more of an idea about what the revenue is going to be in 1988 than we do. What we 59 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:07,850 have to do is look at his underlying assumptions. Will the cable industry grow and embrace the 60 00:06:07,850 --> 00:06:15,860 satellite programming? You know, will viewers tune in to an all Sports Network? In those days, we 61 00:06:15,860 --> 00:06:20,480 call that narrow casting because we it was different than the big mass audiences we were used 62 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:27,830 to. And most important of all, would sponsors actually be willing to underwrite programs to 63 00:06:27,830 --> 00:06:35,900 sponsor programs? Targeted is such a small niche audience. And what Peterson said is, you know, we 64 00:06:35,930 --> 00:06:42,560 forget all the specific numbers, we need to base our judgment on those underlying assumptions. What 65 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:49,190 are the fundamental assumptions in play? I was a little hurt. But you know, he was right. All my 66 00:06:49,190 --> 00:06:55,760 numbers weren't nearly as important as those key drivers of the process. And by the way, I should 67 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:02,000 add it the time I made that projection, there were 12 million cable households in the US. And I 68 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:09,050 projected that by the end of the 80s, ESPN alone will be in 30 million households. And let's just 69 00:07:09,050 --> 00:07:14,510 say they were a little skeptical about it. And I was way off. It turns out that not 30 million 70 00:07:14,510 --> 00:07:20,420 households, but by the end of the 80s, ESPN was in 60 million households. And the reason it worked 71 00:07:20,420 --> 00:07:26,870 was partly because of Gettys funding. And partly because Sid Peterson looked at the fundamental 72 00:07:26,870 --> 00:07:31,730 issues, he encouraged his team to look at those issues. So when I look at the political world 73 00:07:31,730 --> 00:07:39,140 today, I take that same approach. And in a presidential election year. There is always a key 74 00:07:39,140 --> 00:07:46,640 driving issue. The last two times that a president has run for reelection. We see this very clearly 75 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:52,940 in 2004, George W. Bush running for re election. The big issue then just coming was the first 76 00:07:52,940 --> 00:08:01,160 presidential election after 911. The big issue then was the war on terror. And at this time, in 77 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:07,520 2004, this time of year, the President's job approval ratings were in the mid to high 40s 78 00:08:07,970 --> 00:08:13,610 probably wouldn't have won reelection if they'd stayed there. But bit by bit over the months 79 00:08:13,610 --> 00:08:20,210 leading up to the election, confidence that we were winning the war on terror increased. So did 80 00:08:20,210 --> 00:08:29,240 the President's job approval. And on Election Day 2004, Bush's job approval rating was a 51%. 51% of 81 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:36,830 voters thought we were winning the war on terror, and 51% of Americans voted for him. In 2012, 82 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:43,670 Barack Obama's job approval ratings right now we're about 47%. They had been there for most of 83 00:08:43,670 --> 00:08:51,110 his term. His big issue was the economy coming out of the Great Recession. And bit by bit over that 84 00:08:51,110 --> 00:08:57,350 summer, and leading up to election day, we saw people getting more confident about their own 85 00:08:57,350 --> 00:09:02,300 financial condition, how they were feeling about their own personal finances. The President's job 86 00:09:02,300 --> 00:09:09,470 approval rating improved, and President Obama was reelected. So before the pandemic hit, and all the 87 00:09:09,470 --> 00:09:13,250 other news I would have expected to be here. Actually, I would have expected to be in a room 88 00:09:13,250 --> 00:09:20,000 with all of you talking about, well, here's what's happening, here's the driving issue of the Trump 89 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,310 administration probably would have been focused on the economy. Would have been talking about how our 90 00:09:25,310 --> 00:09:31,730 suburban women reacting to it and things of that sort. But instead, the world got turned completely 91 00:09:31,730 --> 00:09:37,280 upside down. You know, we had this pandemic, and then we had the Floyd murders and or Floyd murder. 92 00:09:37,610 --> 00:09:43,430 And everything that would have been appropriate to talk about even a month ago just seems like 93 00:09:43,430 --> 00:09:53,240 ancient history. We're now at a point where there are two major issues in the campaign. Both of them 94 00:09:53,540 --> 00:09:58,520 have arisen in the last six or eight months of the campaign. So it's not a case like with Bush or 95 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:05,900 Obama, where the Policies had been in place for most of their first term. It's, it's a very, very 96 00:10:05,900 --> 00:10:12,260 volatile situation. When people ask me today who is going to win the presidential election? My 97 00:10:12,260 --> 00:10:19,520 answer is, it's, we have no idea. If things break a certain way, President Trump could not only be 98 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:25,940 reelected, he could win a majority of popular vote, he could expand on his Electoral College map 99 00:10:25,970 --> 00:10:34,610 from four years ago. On the other hand, if things break in a different manner, it could be a Herbert 100 00:10:34,610 --> 00:10:41,420 Hoover like rejection. And that would be, you know, a fundamentally different world that we 101 00:10:41,420 --> 00:10:48,080 would come out of that election with. You know, earlier, I said that I'm optimistic about the 102 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:53,810 future but pessimistic about our political system. I'm also I've been saying that, you know, things 103 00:10:53,810 --> 00:10:58,850 will get worse before they get better. And I never knew what that was. But now we're living through 104 00:10:58,850 --> 00:11:04,910 it. This is the crisis for our political system, and how we come out of it will be determined, in 105 00:11:04,910 --> 00:11:09,770 the next several years, not just in this presidential election, but the election is going 106 00:11:09,770 --> 00:11:16,130 to be a great starting point. So when we talk about all of these issues, again, I want to give a 107 00:11:16,130 --> 00:11:24,500 little context, we're redefining the nation in a pretty fundamental way. The shortest history of 108 00:11:24,500 --> 00:11:31,160 the United States that I can give is from colonial times, up until the 1970s, everything in America 109 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:37,370 began to get bigger and more centralized and more homogenized. Back then we thought that computers 110 00:11:37,370 --> 00:11:45,170 and were only the tools of large corporations. And throughout that entire time in American history, 111 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:51,920 government grew bigger and more centralized, not really because of an ideological shift as much as 112 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:56,660 it was following the culture. That is, as companies got bigger, so didn't government people 113 00:11:56,660 --> 00:12:02,780 like more centralization. And then in the 1970s, with the invention of the microchip, and Apple and 114 00:12:02,780 --> 00:12:09,740 Microsoft, and even the cable industry, American society began to go in a decentralizing 115 00:12:09,740 --> 00:12:15,980 direction. But the political system didn't follow hasn't followed, yet, the political system has 116 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:22,070 become much more centralized. And so over the last four decades, we've had this tension between a 117 00:12:22,070 --> 00:12:28,160 decentralizing society and a centralizing political system. And that's the reason our 118 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:35,840 political system is so toxic and difficult and broken in these days. And that's the in those 119 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,310 tensions as they're being resolved. Turns out, they're going to be resolved through questions 120 00:12:40,310 --> 00:12:46,850 about how we respond to the pandemic, and how we respond to the other ongoing issue in American 121 00:12:46,850 --> 00:12:56,330 history. You know, the centuries of legalized racial injustice, the centuries and centuries of, 122 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:04,250 you know, really legalized racism. We don't have the legal forms like we used to, but we're dealing 123 00:13:04,250 --> 00:13:09,020 with the echoes of them and dealing with the fallout from them at this point. So what does that 124 00:13:09,020 --> 00:13:17,030 mean in terms of this election season? First, on the issue of the pandemic, largely, the themes 125 00:13:17,030 --> 00:13:25,850 have been set. What matters is how things reopened between now and November. That is going to be the 126 00:13:25,850 --> 00:13:32,600 dominant issue. If the economy does begin to bounce back, if the next jobs report is even 127 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:37,880 better. And if the next jobs report after that is better, and people are beginning to feel that when 128 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:45,410 the economy is on its way back. That will be very good news for Republicans and Donald Trump. And 129 00:13:45,410 --> 00:13:50,720 the reason will be such good news is the President is clearly identified with trying to push to 130 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:56,780 reopen and democratic officials who have been clearly identified with saying, No, we need to be 131 00:13:56,780 --> 00:14:01,910 more cautious. So if it's working well, that's great news for the President. If we have a second 132 00:14:01,910 --> 00:14:07,940 wave of the pandemic, if the coronavirus comes back and we have more stories this fall like we 133 00:14:07,940 --> 00:14:14,630 did last spring, it's going to be there's simply no way the President will be reelected. Now, the 134 00:14:14,630 --> 00:14:23,660 other issue, the issues of racial injustice, are going to be there in a little in a secondary role. 135 00:14:24,260 --> 00:14:30,410 And, you know, the reopening saga is going to be a daily occurrence. It's going to be something as 136 00:14:30,410 --> 00:14:35,240 more people go to back to a restaurant for the first time as more people go back to a job for the 137 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:42,950 first time. Or even as some people you know, right now, 45% of all workers are don't see any 138 00:14:42,950 --> 00:14:47,930 customers or co workers they're doing all of their job on a zoom conference call or other video 139 00:14:47,930 --> 00:14:55,820 calls. 24% of them aren't seeing anybody else. But 45% are taking part in zoom calls on a regular 140 00:14:55,820 --> 00:15:02,450 basis as those things begin to break down and more people get into the idea of actually working with 141 00:15:02,450 --> 00:15:09,470 colleagues again, that will be a daily occurrence that will help society reopen, help the economy 142 00:15:09,470 --> 00:15:16,610 come back and be very beneficial to the Republicans. The racial injustice issue is going 143 00:15:16,610 --> 00:15:22,940 to flare up. You know, I am old enough, I remember the late 60s and I lived through some riots, 144 00:15:22,940 --> 00:15:30,350 Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1970. And it's, it's not something that's there every day, but the 145 00:15:30,350 --> 00:15:37,370 tension is just beneath the surface and waiting to boil up at some point. And this issue is not the 146 00:15:37,370 --> 00:15:43,940 same as the pandemic, the response to the pandemic is pretty well baked in the political parties have 147 00:15:43,940 --> 00:15:51,290 been identified with their position. On the second issue, there's still a lot to be sited about how 148 00:15:51,290 --> 00:15:57,080 the responses will come. And there was tremendous danger for both parties. The reason there's danger 149 00:15:57,230 --> 00:16:05,210 is about 8 out of 10 voters nationwide, recognize that there has been racial, systemic racial 150 00:16:05,210 --> 00:16:11,750 injustice, they believe that black Americans are not treated equally with white Americans and 8 out 151 00:16:11,750 --> 00:16:18,410 of 10 believe the protesters have legitimate grievances, and most of them are trying to respond 152 00:16:18,410 --> 00:16:24,950 and express those grievances peacefully. They do acknowledge there's a few bad apples few rotten 153 00:16:24,950 --> 00:16:29,150 apples in the batch. And so there that's causing some of the problems we're seeing with violence 154 00:16:29,150 --> 00:16:37,730 and looting. But thinking that those people have legitimate grounds for protest, does not mean 155 00:16:37,730 --> 00:16:44,360 people hate the police. In fact, a similar number 8 out of 10 say that police officers, by and large 156 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:50,090 are good people trying to do a difficult and dangerous job. But once again, there are some 157 00:16:50,090 --> 00:16:55,700 rotten apples in the bunch. Most Americans about two thirds of Americans hold both those views 158 00:16:55,700 --> 00:17:02,870 simultaneously. They're viewing the best in other people. And you know, same time recognizing that 159 00:17:02,870 --> 00:17:10,220 none of us are perfect. And the danger for Republicans on this issue is that they're going to 160 00:17:10,220 --> 00:17:16,220 look insensitive to the questions of racial justice, or perhaps even worse, look like they're 161 00:17:16,220 --> 00:17:23,540 resistant to the cultural demand for reform for some kind of change in our historic policies that 162 00:17:23,540 --> 00:17:30,380 will move us to a society that's a little closer to our founding ideals. for Democrats, the issue 163 00:17:30,380 --> 00:17:36,050 is going too far the issue is turning it into the only way to support racial justice is to hate the 164 00:17:36,050 --> 00:17:43,790 police or to defund the police. You know, that would be a losing issue. And what's going to 165 00:17:43,790 --> 00:17:48,800 happen, this is not something again, it's not like what Bush or Obama had, where they dealt with an 166 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:54,230 issue throughout their first term, incidents are gonna pop up. There's some news coming out of 167 00:17:54,230 --> 00:17:58,820 Seattle these days, that's, you know, one of these flare ups, we're going to see these throughout the 168 00:17:58,820 --> 00:18:04,220 campaign. And so we'll have the larger setting of how the economy is reopening that will begin to 169 00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:10,430 set the stage for how close the election is, and which way it's flowing. And if it remains close 170 00:18:10,430 --> 00:18:17,210 these other issues, will ultimately determine the outcome. Now, what does that mean in terms of 171 00:18:17,210 --> 00:18:22,670 policy or where we stand today? You know, right now, today, my latest poll shows Biden is up by 10 172 00:18:22,670 --> 00:18:29,300 points among registered voters, Trump's support is a little more enthusiastic. So maybe you'd be a 173 00:18:29,300 --> 00:18:37,280 few points closer. It could be that things are will tighten up before election day. And I would 174 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:42,350 expect that if the economy is doing really well, that the President's numbers will improve from 175 00:18:42,350 --> 00:18:49,970 where they are today. Having said that, it's really important to recognize and this is a stat 176 00:18:49,970 --> 00:18:59,690 that stuns people who live in brief politics. 22% of voters about one out of five, say that it 177 00:18:59,690 --> 00:19:06,620 really doesn't make much difference whether Biden or Trump wins. Again, 22% of voters are saying 178 00:19:06,620 --> 00:19:12,830 doesn't make a difference. Another 17% say it's all gonna make a minor difference. And as we look 179 00:19:12,830 --> 00:19:19,070 ahead to November, these are the voters who will determine who is elected, you know, the base is 180 00:19:19,070 --> 00:19:23,780 solid for both candidates. It's these swing voters that are going to ultimately decide and they're 181 00:19:23,780 --> 00:19:31,130 going to be responding to events of the day. As they do this, you know, you'll hear lots of 182 00:19:31,130 --> 00:19:37,250 discussions about specific policies and about whether we should spend more or stop spending. 183 00:19:37,490 --> 00:19:43,280 Right now, hardly anybody believes the federal government should stop its spending. Instead, they 184 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:48,920 believe that something has to be done to help deal with this economic crisis. Nobody's sure what but 185 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:54,410 they want some government engagement. At one level, it's a sense of they broke it, they bought 186 00:19:54,410 --> 00:20:00,410 it. There's a strong belief that if a small business was hurt, by government shutdown or The 187 00:20:00,410 --> 00:20:06,530 government should compensate them for those losses. But as you go beyond this, the deeper 188 00:20:06,530 --> 00:20:11,900 question is about who is going to be really in charge? We did a polling question about a week or 189 00:20:11,900 --> 00:20:19,340 two ago, and asked about whether business owners had the right to determine whether or not they 190 00:20:19,340 --> 00:20:23,900 wanted to require masks on their customers. Do business owners have the right to make that 191 00:20:23,900 --> 00:20:32,990 decision? 48% of voters said yes. 47% of voters said no. When we took the question, do governments 192 00:20:32,990 --> 00:20:39,260 have the legal authority to require citizens to wear masks on the street? Well, most people said 193 00:20:39,260 --> 00:20:47,750 yes. But we had a pretty big partisan divide in really a an ideological and generational divide on 194 00:20:47,750 --> 00:20:53,570 questions about who should make decisions. And I want to be clear, this is a question about who 195 00:20:53,570 --> 00:21:00,140 decides not what is decided. Because in today's environment, if a business owner had the chance to 196 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:07,790 require or not require, their customers to wear masks, most would, at least strongly encourage the 197 00:21:07,790 --> 00:21:13,310 possibility because they want to get people into their stores. And, you know, I walked through the 198 00:21:13,310 --> 00:21:17,330 streets of New York last night, we're supposed to all be wearing masks, but there's an awful lot of 199 00:21:17,330 --> 00:21:23,480 people who aren't doing it. So these, you know, it's really not the ultimately it's how people 200 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:30,620 respond to these things that matters. But the question is going to be, do businesses and, and 201 00:21:30,620 --> 00:21:36,680 private groups and individuals have that right to make most decisions on their own? That would be 202 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:42,320 consistent with a decentralizing society? Because we all have so much access to so much information 203 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:51,200 these days? Or, or do we end up going in the other direction saying no, we need more decisions made 204 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:58,100 by political processes and political authorities. That question of who decides, is going to be 205 00:21:58,130 --> 00:22:04,910 ultimately the outcome of all the turmoil we're going through. And in terms of your industry, it's 206 00:22:04,910 --> 00:22:11,630 very, very significant. If we ended up going in the direction of a stronger regulatory effort and 207 00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:19,100 more authority being given to governments, both federal, state and local levels. If we go in that 208 00:22:19,100 --> 00:22:26,240 direction, there will be significant, significantly higher levels of regulation on all 209 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:32,810 industries, and especially on the finance industry. If we go in the other direction, it will 210 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:39,740 be more up to consumer choice. But a lot of what happens will be determined, again, not just by the 211 00:22:39,740 --> 00:22:45,950 political events, not by who wins the election, but by the behavior of businesses themselves. You 212 00:22:45,950 --> 00:22:53,090 know, the more that corporations and small businesses appear to be responding to the cultural 213 00:22:53,090 --> 00:22:57,440 trends and appear to be dealing fairly and appropriately with customers and the community at 214 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:04,640 large, the more likely it is that the regulatory touch will be lighter. The more that businesses 215 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:14,900 seem to engage in either political activities, or activities that are that rub against the cultural 216 00:23:14,900 --> 00:23:20,000 grain, the more likely it is there will be political solutions imposed. And that's something 217 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:27,140 that really every business leader needs to to keep in mind. So to sum it all up. Right now, we're at 218 00:23:27,140 --> 00:23:33,980 a point in time, where there's volatility in the political process. Is volatility caused by the 219 00:23:33,980 --> 00:23:41,210 fact that we're finally wrestling with this huge disconnect between a society that is 220 00:23:41,210 --> 00:23:46,160 decentralizing and putting more power and information at the hands of individuals, and a 221 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:52,400 political system that over the last four decades has become more centralized? That's the struggle, 222 00:23:52,460 --> 00:24:00,470 I'm optimistic, I do think, ultimately, we will go in the political system will catch up and be more 223 00:24:00,470 --> 00:24:08,600 in tune with the social system, the cultural decentralization, but it's going to be a very 224 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:14,030 messy process. And if you want an understanding of why it's so messy, look at the fact that we have 225 00:24:14,030 --> 00:24:21,530 two men who are over 70, who are running for president. And neither one of them really gets the 226 00:24:21,530 --> 00:24:25,280 digital era that we're living in. So we're going to have political leaders who are a bit out of 227 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:32,480 touch, trying to wrestle with these questions. And it's going to be a very disruptive time. And Sean, 228 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:38,690 on that note, I'll be happy to take any questions that you or anybody else might have, and see if we 229 00:24:38,690 --> 00:24:41,420 can continue the discussion for a little bit longer. 230 00:24:43,730 --> 00:24:50,180 Sean Murray: Thank you, Scott. Wow, there was a there's a lot to unpack from that. And with what's 231 00:24:50,180 --> 00:24:56,570 going on currently in the country. I want to back it up a little bit to the economy, because my 232 00:24:56,570 --> 00:25:00,830 understanding is that the economy has historically dictated whether it's Not a president gets 233 00:25:00,830 --> 00:25:06,590 reelected. And I think we're starting to get lost and some people are starting to get losses, what 234 00:25:06,590 --> 00:25:15,320 is the economy? Because one thing that has increased recently is the national deficit. And 235 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:20,450 you know, we've increased it a lot in recent times as part of the stimulus. And I'm wondering if the 236 00:25:20,450 --> 00:25:24,830 national deficit and the national debt if that is going to factor into how people feel about the 237 00:25:24,830 --> 00:25:30,560 economy, or they're really going to come down to whether or not they're employed and have income 238 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,980 and have a job? You know, how do Americans feel? 239 00:25:34,850 --> 00:25:38,930 Scott Rasmussen: Well, the first part of that's really easy to answer, the deficit and the debt 240 00:25:38,990 --> 00:25:45,140 are not a part of the discussion right now. It's simply doesn't matter. We've done a lot of polling 241 00:25:45,140 --> 00:25:50,030 on this, you know, should Congress stop spending should do more we phrased it in different ways, 242 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:57,920 basically, about anywhere between 14 and 20% of voters have told us in different polls, that 243 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:03,410 Congress should stop spending now. Which means now there's different ideas about how the money should 244 00:26:03,410 --> 00:26:07,340 be spent, and what should be done with the idea that we should just stop spending because of the 245 00:26:07,340 --> 00:26:13,340 debt or the deficit does not enter the equation. What does enter it is perhaps a longer term 246 00:26:13,340 --> 00:26:19,700 perspective. And maybe it's comes I guess, it comes because people are looking at this almost 247 00:26:19,700 --> 00:26:26,180 like World War II is viewed in a sense. In World War II, the the national debt grew tremendously, 248 00:26:26,690 --> 00:26:32,270 because we were fighting an existential enemy. And after the war, over the next couple of 249 00:26:32,270 --> 00:26:39,110 generations, the the debt level was dramatically reduced going from more than twice the national 250 00:26:39,110 --> 00:26:44,420 income to down to about a third of it. And people are saying, Okay, we got to spend what we have to 251 00:26:44,420 --> 00:26:49,430 right now to get out of this crisis. But looking down the road, we're going to have to be we're 252 00:26:49,430 --> 00:26:55,370 gonna have to rein things in a bit and get that debt back down to a manageable level. In terms of 253 00:26:55,370 --> 00:27:01,250 what the economy is, most of it will come back to how do you feel about the way things are going in 254 00:27:01,250 --> 00:27:08,120 your life. And right now, about four out of 10. Voters do know somebody who has who lost their job 255 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:12,860 due to the pandemic and has been rehired? If that number continues to grow, that would be a sign of 256 00:27:12,950 --> 00:27:14,720 a more positive economy. 257 00:27:16,580 --> 00:27:21,080 Sean Murray: So you say it's really not part of the conversation right now. And I noticed an 258 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:27,110 interesting stat that you had reported last month, it was that only 14% of voters believe that 259 00:27:27,110 --> 00:27:32,930 Congress should stop spending money on new programs, and that among Republicans 63% were in 260 00:27:32,930 --> 00:27:39,650 support of new government spending. Are we seeing this trend, because of the recent crisis, or our 261 00:27:39,650 --> 00:27:44,810 republicans or the or the American public, just becoming more comfortable with government 262 00:27:44,810 --> 00:27:45,290 spending. 263 00:27:46,220 --> 00:27:51,410 Scott Rasmussen: The response to everything right now is a response to the pandemic. I mean, this is 264 00:27:51,410 --> 00:27:58,880 something none of us have been through. You know, my grandfather had the Spanish Flu back in 1918. 265 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:07,010 But you know, even like, my time I knew him it was it was old news. So this is new territory. And the 266 00:28:07,010 --> 00:28:14,960 old ideological discussions don't apply when you're in a crisis like this. What we do know is 267 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:22,070 that, for example, we ask people about, would this have been handled better if we had a single payer 268 00:28:22,070 --> 00:28:26,990 health care system, only 22% of voters think things would have been better under such a system? 269 00:28:26,990 --> 00:28:32,210 So it's not really that they're embracing new policies. It's this is seen as an emergency 270 00:28:33,110 --> 00:28:37,070 situation, you know, you have your retirement fund as an individual and every now and then you need 271 00:28:37,070 --> 00:28:37,910 to break into it. 272 00:28:39,550 --> 00:28:45,580 Sean Murray: Okay, yeah, totally makes sense. So let's talk about the shutdowns and the lockdowns 273 00:28:45,580 --> 00:28:49,660 because even New York is starting to come out of the lockdown finally, even though some other 274 00:28:49,660 --> 00:28:56,200 states came out of them a few weeks ago, or maybe even about a month ago. And at one point, in May, 275 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:03,130 you reported that 41% of voters said that the lockdowns had done more harm than good. So my 276 00:29:03,130 --> 00:29:07,780 question would be if there was a second wave in the fall, do you think that Americans will be more 277 00:29:07,780 --> 00:29:13,570 or less receptive to another lockdown? Can we even will that even be tolerated at this point anymore? 278 00:29:15,490 --> 00:29:22,330 Scott Rasmussen: You know, I live in New York City and I can tell you, you know how much frustration 279 00:29:22,330 --> 00:29:29,770 there is with the lockdowns at this point. We even know some restaurants who if you call ahead and 280 00:29:29,770 --> 00:29:33,790 order dinner to pick up they'll actually let you sit at the bar for a little bit while you wait for 281 00:29:33,790 --> 00:29:37,870 your food and it's their kind of breaking the rules but let because they just know there's that 282 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:48,880 tension. It is hard for me to imagine support for lockdowns at the level we saw initially. If there 283 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,140 was another outbreak if there was another way, the data we're seeing now suggests people would look 284 00:29:53,140 --> 00:29:59,590 for a more focused solution. But again, what does that really mean? The other thing I would say 285 00:29:59,590 --> 00:30:07,630 about a second wave is it would have a tremendous impact a tremendously negative impact on consumer 286 00:30:07,630 --> 00:30:17,020 confidence. When you normally in the in the economic world, when people get bad news, 287 00:30:17,050 --> 00:30:22,810 confidence falls right away. And then when you get to report a good news, well, people don't really 288 00:30:22,810 --> 00:30:27,820 reevaluate and bounce back up that quickly take maybe six months of good news to overcome one dose 289 00:30:27,820 --> 00:30:35,110 of bad news. If we have a second wave of the pandemic, it will be like depression level 290 00:30:35,110 --> 00:30:36,670 attitudes of confidence. 291 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:45,060 Sean Murray: Okay, I can totally see that. So then my next question would be, if there was a 292 00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:53,100 statistic you threw out earlier, in the conversation, I think it was 22% of Americans felt 293 00:30:53,280 --> 00:31:00,030 it made no difference whether or not Trump or Biden got elected. And I'm wondering, is that 294 00:31:00,030 --> 00:31:10,740 consistent with historical elections? And is that a factor of hopelessness, in-difference, or more 295 00:31:11,010 --> 00:31:15,690 that Americans feel that local government is likely to have the biggest impact? 296 00:31:17,970 --> 00:31:23,190 Scott Rasmussen: It is, it's hard to know how deep the history goes on that. But yes, it's broadly 297 00:31:23,190 --> 00:31:28,290 consistent with what we know about historical elections, there's, there's always a base of 298 00:31:28,290 --> 00:31:33,330 people who are passionate that believe that if our team doesn't win, the world will come to an end. 299 00:31:34,500 --> 00:31:40,230 But most Americans are a little bit less engaged. Part, it's some of it may be hopelessness. But I 300 00:31:40,230 --> 00:31:48,240 think more broadly, it's a lack of a sense of connection between, say, what a politician says on 301 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:54,120 the campaign, what they're able to accomplish, and then does it really make any difference in their 302 00:31:54,150 --> 00:32:03,150 in somebody's life. And it's also consistent with this idea that most change two out of three people 303 00:32:03,150 --> 00:32:08,160 believe that positive change in America almost always comes from outside the political system. 304 00:32:08,700 --> 00:32:14,460 And so that's, that's part of the people are just they don't see. So what would be a great example, 305 00:32:14,490 --> 00:32:20,880 you know, if I, if a bank is trying to convince me to go to their to use their services, and there's 306 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,780 two competing banks, and neither one of them, we're talking about things that I care about? 307 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:29,850 Well, how do I make the choice? And if I don't believe that either one of them are going to 308 00:32:29,850 --> 00:32:35,280 really deliver on everything, they said, again, how do you make a choice, ultimately, these people 309 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:40,380 will make a decision first on whether to vote, and then second, how they will vote. And that's where 310 00:32:40,380 --> 00:32:42,090 you'll get the late break in the election. 311 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:52,410 Sean Murray: I'm thinking now about Biden as a candidate. So we have the economic factor. We have 312 00:32:52,650 --> 00:33:00,330 what's happened with George Floyd. Right? And I'm wondering if Americans are going to feel or do 313 00:33:00,330 --> 00:33:07,650 they feel that Biden because he was chosen as the candidate before a lot of this happened, if they 314 00:33:07,650 --> 00:33:12,090 feel he is the appropriate candidate, to champion their causes? 315 00:33:13,890 --> 00:33:18,360 Scott Rasmussen: So we did we actually asked recently about, we asked both Biden and Trump 316 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:24,450 supporters, are you enthusiastic about your candidate? Or is it simply the lesser of two 317 00:33:24,450 --> 00:33:31,110 evils? And for Trump, about three out of four said they're enthusiastic about him? For Biden only 49% 318 00:33:31,590 --> 00:33:39,330 say they're enthusiastic. 41% say, he's just the lesser of two evils. So, you know, there's not 319 00:33:39,330 --> 00:33:46,020 going to be a groundswell of enthusiasm. I think the it will be a broader issue, the greatest 320 00:33:46,020 --> 00:33:52,170 turnout vehicle that the Democrats have is Donald Trump, which by the way, was the same, you know, 321 00:33:52,170 --> 00:33:56,910 Republicans turnout was always goosed by Barack Obama. So, I mean, that's something that will 322 00:33:56,910 --> 00:34:04,830 help. The other thing, and this is something which hasn't been talked about much, but Joe Biden, I 323 00:34:04,830 --> 00:34:11,880 think, has been hurt by the pandemic, in a couple of ways. First, he didn't have that repeated 324 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:16,620 string of victory is dominating the news for him to win the nomination. You know, when candidates 325 00:34:17,130 --> 00:34:23,850 are when victories are reported, people get more excited about a candidate. The other thing that he 326 00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:30,210 hasn't had is the opportunity to take part in a lot of debates. If you went back to 2008. And you 327 00:34:30,210 --> 00:34:35,430 watch the very first debates that Barack Obama took part in, he wasn't very good. But as the year 328 00:34:35,430 --> 00:34:40,020 went on, and he practiced in lots of debates, and then when he had Hillary Clinton had a lot of one 329 00:34:40,020 --> 00:34:45,360 on one debates. He became very skilled and he dominated John McCain in the debates that year. 330 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,200 Joe Biden, I think, is going to have missed that practice. 331 00:34:51,660 --> 00:34:56,970 Sean Murray: Yeah, personally, I love the debates. I can only imagine what there'll be like this time 332 00:34:56,970 --> 00:34:57,480 around. 333 00:34:57,720 --> 00:34:58,140 Scott Rasmussen: Yeah. 334 00:34:59,670 --> 00:35:06,960 Sean Murray: I'm sure as we approach the election, both sides are going to find a party to blame for 335 00:35:06,990 --> 00:35:14,820 at least the the lockdowns and the pandemic and the response. I'm curious to to know what, who 336 00:35:14,820 --> 00:35:20,670 Americans feel is, you know, are responsible for what has happened? Are they are they blaming the 337 00:35:20,670 --> 00:35:26,340 government? Are they blaming China? And are they blaming their their neighbors for not social 338 00:35:26,340 --> 00:35:30,000 distancing? Who do they think is to blame for what happened? 339 00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:34,830 Scott Rasmussen: Well, I would start by answering that people think there's plenty of blame to go 340 00:35:34,830 --> 00:35:42,000 around. So China gets the brunt of it. Americans overwhelmingly think China lied about the 341 00:35:42,630 --> 00:35:49,170 Coronavirus. They think that it reported disinformation, intentionally that has harmed and 342 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:55,470 the world's ability to deal with it. There's strong support 7 out of 10 voters say they want 343 00:35:55,470 --> 00:36:00,420 all this is done. They want us to trade less with China. And you know, some of them are saying 344 00:36:00,420 --> 00:36:08,040 complete ban. Some of them are saying a ban until we negotiate better relationships. But what 345 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:14,640 there's a desire among Americans to see China punished at some level. Beyond that, that's pretty 346 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:22,290 simple. If you're a believer in lockdowns, then you think that Donald Trump is the evil who's 347 00:36:22,290 --> 00:36:29,460 caused the problems, because he's urging people to go out and ignore them. If you believe society 348 00:36:29,460 --> 00:36:33,900 should reopen more quickly, well, then you have the opposite view. And, you know, early in the 349 00:36:33,900 --> 00:36:39,930 comments, I mentioned how people looked at the protesters in the police these days. There's 350 00:36:39,930 --> 00:36:44,520 something similar going on here, you know, people looked at the protesters and said yes, most of 351 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:50,370 them had legitimate grievances. They were trying to respond peacefully, but there were a few rotten 352 00:36:50,370 --> 00:36:55,530 apples, same said about the police. In these lockdown questions in the political world, it's 353 00:36:55,530 --> 00:37:01,650 become, almost if I ask a question about lockdown people ask. It's almost they're responding almost 354 00:37:01,650 --> 00:37:08,520 as if I'm asking about Donald Trump. But what most voters tend to respond more to is if you're 355 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:17,130 talking about reopening with some kind of health protocols. Well, then people are very supportive. 356 00:37:17,130 --> 00:37:22,800 They want both. They don't want social distancing to end they want the formal mandated lockdowns to 357 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:29,130 end and then they expect business owners to say, okay, we're going to, we're going to be concerned 358 00:37:29,130 --> 00:37:33,900 about our workers and our customers. So we're going to put our own protocols in place. And it's 359 00:37:33,900 --> 00:37:39,390 that mixed view that people in the middle have, that they don't want to vote, they're not ready to 360 00:37:39,390 --> 00:37:44,250 support Bill de Blasio, his approach to lockdowns in New York City, and they're also not ready to 361 00:37:44,250 --> 00:37:47,730 just open the gates and say, let's see what happens. 362 00:37:49,950 --> 00:37:55,140 Sean Murray: Right. A few weeks ago, we talked about a conspiracy theory. And I think a little 363 00:37:55,140 --> 00:38:04,080 bit of how that's been disproven over time. The theory was in some of the, you know, grayer forums 364 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:10,320 online was that Biden was potentially going to be replaced as a candidate as we lead up to the 365 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:14,190 election. Is there any chance that that could happen at this point? 366 00:38:16,430 --> 00:38:21,950 Scott Rasmussen: You know, under any normal circumstance, I would say no, Biden has won 367 00:38:21,980 --> 00:38:29,690 officially enough pledged delegates, he will be the nominee. The only way that would change is if 368 00:38:29,690 --> 00:38:35,990 there is either something new comes out about Joe Biden, which I can't imagine he's been a public 369 00:38:35,990 --> 00:38:47,150 figure for four decades. Or if he really has some, you know, if if he looks really incompetent when 370 00:38:47,150 --> 00:38:53,840 he begins to emerge from the basement, if, and, again, I think those are very long odds. When you 371 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:59,420 and I spoke earlier, a few weeks back, it was still a long shot, but I think it was more 372 00:38:59,420 --> 00:39:00,740 plausible at that time. 373 00:39:05,090 --> 00:39:09,410 Sean Murray: Right, yeah, I think you're right about that. I don't know if you know the answer to 374 00:39:09,410 --> 00:39:15,620 this question. But you reported that and one of your numbers of the day that 68% of voters have 375 00:39:15,620 --> 00:39:17,420 had protests in their area? 376 00:39:17,780 --> 00:39:18,140 Scott Rasmussen: Yeah. 377 00:39:18,530 --> 00:39:25,040 Sean Murray: Do you think whether or not there have been protests in their area could have an 378 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:30,710 impact on someone's view versus whether or not they haven't had protests in their area? Because 379 00:39:30,710 --> 00:39:34,610 it might make it a little bit more real to them versus whether or not they see it on TV? 380 00:39:36,130 --> 00:39:39,760 Scott Rasmussen: Actually, the the bigger difference we did a follow up question as part of 381 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:47,620 that was whether the protests in their area were generally peaceful or if they turned violent. And 382 00:39:47,620 --> 00:39:54,160 there was a bigger gap between those who have seen a violent protest or a protest that turned 383 00:39:54,160 --> 00:40:01,780 violent, and those that haven't. So that's, that's where the gap is at this point in time. It's also 384 00:40:01,780 --> 00:40:07,270 really, you know, there's, there's a great book by Ed Catmull, the founder of Pixar, called 385 00:40:07,270 --> 00:40:12,490 creativity, Inc. and he talks about the ways we can keep creativity going in organizations. And 386 00:40:12,490 --> 00:40:19,450 one of the points he made is that it's hard for us as humans to see what's right in front of our 387 00:40:19,450 --> 00:40:26,500 eyes. What happens is only 40%, what our brain sees only 40% of it actually comes in through our 388 00:40:26,500 --> 00:40:32,440 eyes, the other 60%, we fill in with our own baggage, what we expect to see what are what 389 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:39,580 patterns we recognize. And when you talk about the protests, people can look at the exact same thing 390 00:40:40,330 --> 00:40:44,980 and have entirely different conclusions about it being you know, based on whether what their own 391 00:40:44,980 --> 00:40:50,230 political views are going into that. And that weighs more on the issue than than anything 392 00:40:50,230 --> 00:40:55,360 they're seeing. I liken it to two guys, considering a sports bar rooting for different 393 00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:59,290 teams, and a referee makes a tough call and one guy thinks it's brilliant. And the other guy 394 00:40:59,290 --> 00:41:04,690 thinks, you know, the referees, a scumbag, because they're rooting for different teams, they looked 395 00:41:04,690 --> 00:41:12,160 at the call through, you know, their own fan lens. And we all do that. So a liberal democrat and a 396 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:17,560 conservative Republican could look at the exact same protest. They go into it with different 397 00:41:17,740 --> 00:41:20,140 views, and they come out of it with different views. 398 00:41:21,540 --> 00:41:24,090 Sean Murray: Sure, and this is my final question for you. 399 00:41:24,420 --> 00:41:24,990 Scott Rasmussen: Okay. 400 00:41:26,430 --> 00:41:32,700 Sean Murray: Because that's all the time we'll have. One of your recent numbers of the day was 401 00:41:32,700 --> 00:41:39,240 that 48% of voters believe businesses can decide whether their customers must wear a mask. I'm 402 00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:44,070 wondering, are you going to be asking such questions at a later date as well? Because I'm 403 00:41:44,070 --> 00:41:50,880 wondering as, as we move on, whether or not people will continue to feel the same way or some of your 404 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:57,660 data is just a reaction to the crisis? I mean, are people going to feel this way three years from now 405 00:41:57,660 --> 00:42:02,220 that 48% of them, you know, say they they should be allowed to dictate whether or not they can wear 406 00:42:02,220 --> 00:42:05,010 a mask? Or is this just a reaction right now? 407 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:10,136 Scott Rasmussen: So let me start by saying on almost any question, any data that I've talked 408 00:42:10,192 --> 00:42:15,650 about in this, we're going to be pulling it again, you know, we're tracking right now. 29% believe 409 00:42:15,705 --> 00:42:20,885 the worst of the pandemic is behind us. That's double where it was, you know, about six weeks 410 00:42:20,940 --> 00:42:26,287 ago. So we're seeing a trend there, we're gonna be measuring whether people think the economy is 411 00:42:26,342 --> 00:42:31,744 getting better or worse on a regular basis. So we do track all of that. I'm actually beginning to 412 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:37,202 wonder right now, if we need to modify one of the questions we've been having, because events are 413 00:42:37,258 --> 00:42:42,604 changing. We've asked people whether they were more concerned about the economic threat from the 414 00:42:42,660 --> 00:42:47,783 pandemic or the health threat. And early on, it was clearly the health threat. Now, a slight 415 00:42:47,839 --> 00:42:52,795 majority believes it's the economic threat. So we've seen a trend there. But I'm actually 416 00:42:52,851 --> 00:42:58,142 thinking we're gonna have to start including an option for neither was a threat, because that's 417 00:42:58,197 --> 00:43:03,432 the way a lot of people are responding. When you ask about the question in businesses deciding 418 00:43:03,488 --> 00:43:08,834 masks, I certainly hope it's not an issue three years from now. But what we will ask continually 419 00:43:08,890 --> 00:43:14,125 is who has the right to make decisions? And that is a fundamental divide in America today, you 420 00:43:14,180 --> 00:43:19,638 know, do you believe primarily, that government has the authority to make almost all the decisions 421 00:43:19,694 --> 00:43:25,151 about what businesses and individuals do? Or do you believe that individuals and businesses should 422 00:43:25,207 --> 00:43:30,832 make decisions on their own within some, you know, important guidelines? But where is that balance of 423 00:43:30,888 --> 00:43:36,011 power going to be? And that question of who decides? Bluntly, that question goes all the way 424 00:43:36,067 --> 00:43:41,190 back to the colonial era? It's been an ongoing debate in America. It's why we have a federal 425 00:43:41,246 --> 00:43:46,871 system. It's why states and the federal government argue with each other. And that is going to be the 426 00:43:46,926 --> 00:43:51,772 outcome of that question, but who decides will determine the world that my children and 427 00:43:51,827 --> 00:43:53,220 grandchildren grow up in? 428 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,440 Sean Murray: That's great. Well, thank you very much, Scott. That is all the time we have here 429 00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:04,620 today. I know earlier, you mentioned how important it is to be able to see the audience and get their 430 00:44:04,620 --> 00:44:09,840 reaction. Unfortunately, you can't see what their responses right now, but I'll do the awkward clap 431 00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:15,990 for you that you see, I'm sure they're all doing that right now at home. So appreciate your time 432 00:44:15,990 --> 00:44:17,400 and thank you for being here. 433 00:44:17,670 --> 00:44:18,660 Scott Rasmussen: Thank you, Sean.