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Polls in Swing State of Ohio; WikiLeaks Releases More Clinton Campaign
Emails; U.S. Fed: Rate Hike Relatively Soon; Speculation Grows Over
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Clinton has the edge over Donald Trump, if a new set of polls are to be
believed. Early voting kicked up in the crucial swing state of Ohio
Wednesday morning. One of the only states we are still counting as a
battleground shown in yellow. Hillary Clinton's campaign is facing a new
email controversy involving WikiLeaks. The whistleblowing website has
published emails hacked from the campaign manager John Podesta. U.S.
markets managed to hold their nerve after Tuesday's 200-point drop. The
Fed released minutes from the last meeting and says a rate hike is needed,
"relatively soon." Snapshot, they are one of those companies in a consumer
market going public can make their business more successful. Snapshot
gives advertisers access to people 25 and younger. With Samsung
effectively dropping out of the smartphone market for time, as we just
heard, the door is order for its Chinese rivals to capitalize. Other than
Apple, Huawei, and OPPO, Samsung's biggest competitors. Senior politicians
are calling for a full parliamentary vote before the Brexit process is
officially begin. Kennedy chose the moon. Obama has chosen Mars. One of
the America's most recognizable pop culture icons has fallen victim to a
bizarre trend. Appearances by McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald are being
limited until the creepy pranks die down.>
Internet; Technology; Europe; Stock Markets; Immigration; Trade;
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[16:00:00] MAGGIE LAKE, CNN ANCHOR: Markets on Wall Street have bounced back after Tuesday's big sell-off. Trading is over on Wednesday, the 12th of October. Tonight voting begins in battleground states with Hillary Clinton in a commanding lead. Samsung sees its latest setup of profits go up in smoke, and making history for all the wrong reasons. The pound slumps to an all-time low. I'm Maggie Lake. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
As early voting begins in key swing states across America, Hillary Clinton has the edge over Donald Trump, if a new set of polls are to be believed. New numbers on the presidential race show Clinton either holding on to a decisive lead or wiping out her Republican rivals' advantage. National polls out today from Reuters and Rasmussen given Clinton a lead of seven and four points respectively. Another poll from "Los Angeles Times", which has had Trump in the lead the past few months now has the race a tie.
With Clinton still riding high, Trump's path to the White House looks less clear. A reminder that whoever wins will need 270 electoral college votes. According to CNN projections, Clinton is already on track to get that magic number. She's been consolidating support in key swing states like Colorado, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. If Clinton holds on to all blue states shown here, it doesn't matter how many other Trump wins, as Clinton will take the White House.
We may be 27 days out from election day, but some Americans are already heading to the polls. Early voting kicked up in the crucial swing state of Ohio Wednesday morning. One of the only states we are still counting as a battleground shown in yellow. However, one new poll of likely Ohio voters shows Clinton ahead by 9 percent in a four-way race. Poppy Harlow has been traveling through the swing states hearing first hands from her voters from her special report "YOUR MONEY/YOUR VOTE." First she takes us to Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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: Hillary is the best candidates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a no-brainer.
HARLOW (voice-over): There have been decades of economic despair and a dwindling faith that politicians will help.
JEFF CROSBY, YOUTH MENTOR, CLEVELAND PEACEMAKERS ALLIANCE: I think the Democratic platform is saying the same thing we have heard for about 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 (voice-over): Jeff Crosby used to be in gangs. That landed him in prison. Now he's working to keep kids from the same life he lived.
CROSBY: It's one of the highest crime areas in Cleveland.
HARLOW (on camera): This is?
CROSBY: Yes. About ten gangs over here. What's up? You're good? I think the Democratic Party is taking us for granted. The Republican Party his literally ignores us, except for Trump. Trump is trying to make inroads, but he is a polarizing figure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't trust Donald. That's all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he's got money? That ain't everything.
SIERRA LESLEY, VOTER: I'm willing to vote for a clown before Donald Trump.
HARLOW: 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: And that brings us to the second part of this Ohio chapter, 200 miles south. We're in Pike County, Ohio. 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. So if his message isn't resonating here, he's in trouble.
SCOTT HAMMOND, BUSINESS MANAGER: I would 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 we ever seen anything like that before? Donald Trump says he's the one to bring these jobs back? He's the one to build up your industry?
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.
HARLOW (voice-over): Many here do believe Trump and see them as their best shot at getting ahead. Since 2000, Ohio has lost nearly a third of its manufacturing jobs.
[16:05:00] BILL STANLEY, VOTER: He's got a lot of things that are amazing that he was telling us he can do for us.
HARLOW: Angie Shanks runs a successful real estate firm here.
ANGIE SHANKS, VOTER: It means more jobs, more better-paying jobs.
HARLOW: You voted for President Obama in 2008.
SHANKS: Yes, I did.
HARLOW (voice-over): But her faith in the Obama administration has faded.
SHANKS: I think Trump is a businessman and the country is a business. It needs to be run as a business.
HARLOW: When we met Angie, she is leaning towards Trump. Now, after the "Access Hollywood" tape surfaced, she's reconsidering.
HARLOW: You're a lifelong Democrat?
CHARLIE SALTKIELD, VOTER: Yes.
HARLOW (on camera): So you're voting for Hillary this time around?
SALTKIELD: No, I'm not.
HARLOW: No?
SALTKIELD: My dad was a coal miner. They put the coal miners out of the work.
HARLOW: We left Ohio asking this question. Why does economic pain from one town to the left push some to the left, others to the right?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAKE: And Poppy Harlow joins us now in the studio. Poppy, you touched on the piece, but a lot of the people you talked to, the Trump tape had just started coming out. I know you circled back to a lot of them. Do you feel it's swaying people? Or are they really focused on some of the themes they talk to you about a smut doesn't matter?
HARLOW: It's not swaying his loyal supporters. Maggie, on this swing state trip, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, we talked to 26 solid Trump supporters. Like totally in the Trump camp. So we called all of them back obviously this weekend, after that tape was released with those comments about groping women, and with the exception of three people they are all standing by Trump. One said she'll no longer vote for him, two are undecided, but I think that gives you the lens of loyalty he has here in this critical state. I mean, no one has won the White House without winning Ohio since 1960.
LAKE: Except nobody can win the White House without getting swing voters and some of the voters away from the other party's people. And we know he's got loyal supporters. It's interesting as I was watching that piece, we see these themes and we know the economic disarray.
Interesting they talked about his business, even though there's been controversy about how he handled business, but another sign that really struck me. And it stopped the overdoses. This is the middle of the country that's been hit by the heroin epidemic. They have lost job. They have lost faith in government it seems.
HARLOW: I'm so glad you bring that up. Because that is something we actually did a number of interviews, and even spoke with a woman at an opioid clinic where they help people getting over these horrific addictions. And you don't see it here in that piece, because it's such a huge issue to dive into. We wanted to give it a just amount of time. That is ripping their society apart and their economy apart.
LAKE: And they don't feel like anyone is helping.
HARLOW: And they don't feel like anybody's helping, the state government, local or nationally. And they feel forgotten. I think from the drug epidemic there, to the lack of manufacturing jobs, they feel forgotten, and their hope in politicians is gone. That's why so many said to us they're willing to bet on an unknown in Donald Trump. Some of them said roll the dice.
LAKE: Do they know his policies, though? Do they think that --
HARLOW: They don't care. That's a great point. Their answer, many of them, and were talking about many well-educated people that are supporting him said, he's made money. He's been a success. We trust him to figure it out, or surround himself with smart people that will. It is the willingness to try something else, because the establishment has failed them in their mind.
LAKE: It's an indictment of Washington. And not just --
HARLOW: Absolutely.
LAKE: -- not just a Democrat or Republican administration. I think they're losing faith in government, which is very disturbing.
HARLOW: Maggie, the fact that you have union workers supporting Donald Trump. This is a solidly blue contingent that Hillary Clinton should be able to not lose a minute of sleep over. In Ohio, 12 percent of overall workers are union. That's higher than the national average. That's huge. The fact that so many of them are looking and siding with a Republican ticket right now, I think is a huge indicate of where this country is going. But again, he needs to win over a big amount of those undecided voters.
LAKE: And temperament remains an issue. When you talk to his supporters, do they recognize their concern about that? Because it is something we hear. Although Hillary doesn't score much better. Her trust factor.
HARLOW: They say we doth trust Hillary, right? Or they say we don't really like her, but we don't know why. Then with Donald Trump there is the temperament issue. I mean, yes, a number of them said they're concerned about his temperament. Angie Shanks, the young woman, the blonde woman who owns a real estate business, told me, yes, that did throw her off, and she is concerned about this. And that was before the tape came out. Now she told me on the phone this weekend, she's very undecided at this point.
They are worried about temperament, but they look at someone who's -- they see it as successful in business. The bankruptcies don't bother them. And you heard one woman say, well he has a hit television show.
[16:10:02] I mean, that really to her is the definition of success. That's what Cindy Newberry told me, and she says our country needs that.
LAKE: It's easy to dismiss them, but we shouldn't dismiss the fact that so many feel disenfranchised and feel like the system is no longer working for him and that's what happened to all the Republican contenders. They underestimated that at their peril.
HARLOW: Yes, and that's why it was so important to us, to me an hour team, the amazing CNNMoney team who did this, to get out of the coast. To get out of New York and California, and get into middle America and talk to these voters and hear from them directly. This is part of a bigger series.
LAKE: Where are you going next?
HARLOW: So we're going tomorrow, were going to take you on the show to Florida. Which is fascinating, so that the Latinos and retires. And then we're going to take you to Pennsylvania, the Keystone state, which is critical as well. A bunch of the same problems as Ohio. The manufacturing job base just disappearing and depleted.
LAKE: These are serious problems and it's going to be a big platform for whoever wins the presidency. They're going to have to address this feeling. And by the way, it's not just happening in the U.S., we should point out, a lot of this has an international thread as well. Poppy, great stuff. Look forward to the next one.
HARLOW: Thank you.
LAKE: Thanks so much. We'll have more, as poppy just mentioned, on her series throughout the rest of the week, and in two weeks from now, Richard, will be tackling
the swing states himself. He'll be making his way through Florida as part of his American Quest, speaking to leaders and voters who may hold the key for decision the next president of the United States. You can see that on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, on Monday, October 24th. We know how much can change in two weeks.
Hillary Clinton's campaign is facing a new email controversy. This time involving WikiLeaks. The whistleblowing website has published emails hacked from the campaign manager John Podesta. They allegedly show that the Clinton campaign and the U.S. Justice Department shared information while Clinton was under investigation for her use of a private email server as U.S. Secretary of State. Donald Trump wasted no time in trying to make political capital from the leak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The WikiLeaks emails show that Hillary Clinton's staff even has to give her secret notes on when she needs to smile. Smile, Hillary, smile. Hey, folks, we have to get back to work. Our country is in trouble. We can't play games any more. Smile. Can you believe it? Smile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAKE: The chairman John Podesta has blamed Moscow for involvement in the hack. Russia's foreign minister told CNN that is not true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, it's flattering, of course, to get this kind of attention for original power, as President Obama called us some time ago. Now everybody in the United States is saying that it is Russia, which is running the United States presidential debate. It's flattering, as I said, but it has nothing, you know, to be explained by the facts. We have not seen a single fact, a single proof.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAKE: CNN's Joe Johns is in Washington. So, Joe, once again, we have this revelations coming out about Hillary, does it tell us something we already didn't know about the candidate?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I don't think so. There aren't any really big surprises in there. It's sort of in the eye of the beholder, if you look through these emails, perhaps a business embarrassing for some of the people who work for the Clinton campaign, but no smoking gun, as it were, Maggie.
LAKE: I imagine that there is, you know, a great deal of sort of positive chatter within the Clinton campaign about some of these new polls coming out. They are encouraging, but this is in no way a runaway race, especially considering some of the bombshells that come out about Trump. How do they square the fact that it's still such a tough race?
JOHNS: They've been saying that all along. They've really never changed the message. They've always said they expect this to be a close race at the end of the day. But certainly gratified about the latest polls. Gratified even they say that the candidate herself was happy with her performance in the last debate. They say it will be a close race. They're concerned, of all things about people becoming complacent and not voting in November because they look at these numbers. That is what they're going to fight against as we move toward November.
LAKE: It's interesting you mention that, Joe. Because we do hear some people feeling so disgusted or certainly Republicans turned off by Trump. It's interesting to hear the Democrats are worried about the get out the vote effort as well. Clinton though has the entire Democratic establish behind her. Something Donald Trump is struggling with right now. Does that help her?
[16:15:00] JOHNS: Well, it certainly helps to have the whole Democratic establishment behind you in force, out on the campaign trail with the number one surrogate being the president of the United States himself. Nonetheless, both of these candidates, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have very high negatives. We've seen that all year long. That's another concern, that people might not be that excited about voting for Hillary Clinton, and might stay home. So they're working very hard to put an affirmative message out there, not just about voting against Donald Trump, but also Hillary Clinton making the case for why she says voters need to vote for her along policy lines.
LAKE: Absolutely, and were still hearing from some people. It may be a day of decision for them. A lot of work to be done. Joe, thank you so much. Joe Johns for us tonight.
Still ahead, hitting the wrong note. Samsung proves that 7 isn't always the lucky number and now faces more bad luck when it comes to the company's balance sheet. More on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LAKE: U.S. markets managed to hold their nerve after Tuesday's 200-point drop. The Dow closed slightly higher, up only 15 points. It didn't really manage to dig out of that hole. In the past few hours, the Fed released minutes from the last meeting. It says a rate hike is needed, "relatively soon" but there is no firm agreement on timing. Paul La Monica is at the New York Stock Exchange. Paul, I think we already knew that their inclination is to raise rates, but we still don't exactly know when.
PAUL R. LA MONICA, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: No, I think that, you know, if you wanted to have a magic eight ball, all indications point to December as probably what would come up, but of course, Maggie, there are wild cards, the presidential election if Donald Trump sneaks out a victory, obviously the odds seem to be against him right now based on the polls. That could change things, because he's been critical of Fed policy and Janet Yellen in particular. If the global economy has another mini meltdown. That could put the Fed on hold for the foreseeable future. So right now I think investors are betting Clinton wins. The economy stays relatively stable. Fed rate hike comes in December, and that's what the Fed is indicating as well.
LAKE: Yes, it's all about the expectations. If things start to move drastically then the Fed risks losing faith. I'm sure they want to keep their options open. I want to ask you about some news that came out late in the day. It's all still firming up right now. But it looks like we may finally get the birth of a unicorn some time in 2017. Snapchat?
LA MONICA: Yes, definitely. We've had, Maggie, some smaller tech unicorns go public here at the NYSC, as well as the NASDAQ. But snapchat would be the first "Deca-corn," if you will, more than a $10 billion valuation. Right now the private market valuation is 18 billion. CNNMoney has not confirmed any of this. This is a Bloomberg report as of right now. But Saying That Snapshot has hired Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to be its lead underwriters.
[16:20:00] A lot of other big Wall Street banks might be co-managers of this offering as well. Obviously everyone would be very excited to see how Snapshot does, because a successful Snapchat IPO some time in 2017 could lead the way for Uber, Airbnb, China's Xiaomi, to all potentially go public as well. That would be the first time in a while we've had a truly big tech company go public. Facebook was probably the last major one that I can think of.
LAKE: Yes, and obviously that has done really well for people who stuck with it through the ups and downs. Not so much of a track record when we look through out tech stocks. Paul, you and I have talked a lot, there's been a lot of concern about the valuations of some of these companies that frankly we don't know a lot about what their financials look like. They're private. We don't get to see their books every quarter.
LA MONICA: Yes, until they go public it is a lot of speculation about how strong the numbers really are. And obviously most of these companies have metrics that are favorable probably, revenue growth is going up pretty dramatically for companies that have users. They're seeing user growth and subscribers, but at the end of the day, Wall Street, the people behind me, they don't really care about users and revenue as much as profits when you become a public company. Facebook is a very profitable company, has continued to grow like a weed. That's why it's now one of the world's most valuable companies. And Twitter, another relatively recent IPO, is not. Just to name two names.
LAKE: That's right, the pressures of being public and getting those quarter on quarter profit expectations down is a difficult one. And it's one that's frustrated a lot of CEOs including Alibaba's. We talked about it. All right Paul, it's going to be fascinating to watch. Thank you so much.
LA MONICA: Thank you.
LAKE: Paul La Monica for us.
Joining me now is Roger McNamee, the cofounder of Elevation Partners, a private equity firm that focusing on consumer tech. Roger, great to see you. Got to ask you right out of the gate --
ROGER MCNAMEE, COFOUNDER, ELEVATION PARTNERS: Good to be back Maggie.
LAKE: -- what your thoughts are about Snapshot. If it turns out that we are going to see an IPO in the first quarter of the year, toward the end of it anyway. How do you feel about that company? Is there something you'd be interested in? Or do you think there is a lot of hype?
MCNAMEE: There's obviously a lot of hype. But I think what we want to understand is that with Snap, they are one of those companies in a consumer market where going public can make their business more successful. If you think of their target audience, which is young people, you know, 25 and under. It's a video product addressing an audience that has a much, much lower interest level in television viewing than older people have. So as a consequence from an advertiser's point of view, Snap offering something that is, you know, getting them at a demographic they can't really get at with traditional television advertising. And so I do think going public will make a really big deal. But we shouldn't pretend that this is going to be a bargain.
On the earnings numbers at the time they go public, this will be very, very, very expensive. But we should also understand that like Facebook, this is a company where the active going public can actually strengthen their business opportunity and get their revenue to grow much more rapidly. In fact, it may surprise a lot of people. I'm personally really looking forward to seeing the company as a public company, because I do think it has a market opportunity that we haven't yet seen, a mobile only video company with really serious traction.
LAKE: Interesting you say that. Talk to me about those users. We know the filters, some of the things that attracts younger users. Does it matter to build and lock in that love of brand at an early age? Or is this a fickle group that if somebody comes along with deep pockets, they can replicate it. They can kind of run over Snapchat?
MCNAMEE: We're going to find out. We're actually going to find that out over the next 12 months. Because Facebook is doing everything in its power to take its video products and match what Snapchat the product has today. I do believe that Snap as a company has built a consumer awareness and consumer brand that at the moment I think be able to resist the attack from Facebook. But over time, it is going to be I think a cutthroat battle of Snap versus Facebook versus other players that want a piece of that action. I do believe, though, that what they're doing is real and it will be big, and advertisers will flock to it. As a consequence, it may be a decent IPO.
LAKE: That is the future. Let's talk about a name that we know well from the past. And had been performing so well, and that is Samsung. Now the seven shelved for the moment. How much of a disadvantage is that to be out of the market? Letting your competitors run ahead of you without a product out there. How damaging?
MCNAMEE: You know, I think, Maggie, that is not the big problem they face today. Two or three years ago when the smartphone business was still growing rapidly, that would have been a disaster to be out of the market. This is serious, because they've really mishandled the recall so far.
[16:25:00] And so, you know, people compare this to Tylenol when they had the scare many, many years ago. The difference was that Johnson and Johnson moved in immediately. They were totally transparent. They gave the consumers their money back. They got everything off the shelves. They are super-aggressive to do the right thing. And Samsung acted for the first couple of months as though they thought there was a possibility there were customers out there who might perceive an exploding phone as a feature, not a bug. And that I think has cost their brand a lot. Samsung is a huge company. They'll get through this. But I think their smartphone business has taken a hit that would be hard to recover from. I think this is fantastic for Apple and may wind up also being good for other Android vendors.
LAKE: Yes, absolutely. Roger, you think there's a management issue here?
MCNAMEE: I think, you know, you look at this, and what it really is all about is cutting corners. The market has slowed down. It's been really, really hard to be people to buy their fourth smartphone, you know, on a two-year cycle, which is the way it's been. Consumers basically they have products they like. They aren't broken, they don't need a new phone. So Samsung strategy was to throw in the kitchen sink. Literally take every feature it could think of, and strap it onto this lithium-ion battery. The problem is that lithium-ion is a very unstable chemical. And so if you don't get everything exactly right, fire risk is a huge issue. And everyone in that business has done a very good job of managing it so far, as have the people in the electric car business. But Samsung cut some corners. And they're going to pay a huge price for that.
LAKE: A hard lesson learned. Roger, always a pleasure to catch up with you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
MCNAMEE: Thanks for having me on, Maggie. Good to see you.
LAKE: With Samsung effectively dropping out of the smartphone market for time, as we just heard, the door is order for its Chinese rivals to capitalize. Other than Apple, Huawei, and OPPO, Samsung's biggest competitors. Matt Rivers has more on how China is reacting to Samsung's problems.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The bad news now front and center on Samsung's Chinese website, the global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 will now include China. That means about 191,000 phones will have to be replaced with new ones, according to government regulators. Eroding confidence with Chinese consumers. "I don't trust Samsung," says Yan Jung Jin, "With these problems and the recall the company has lost all credibility with me."
Initially Chinese versions of the Note 7 weren't recalled. They used a different battery than other models and Samsung said they were safe. Many Chinese consumers were skeptical though after seeing things like this. Huang Wang Yua (ph) said his phone seen here, caught fire the same way others had, despite Samsung's claims. In total the Chinese government says at least 20 Chinese version Note 7s burned up.