By BRUCE LOWITT
Donald Trump’s “October Surprise,” sitting in a garbage truck last Wednesday, and Kamala Harris’ “November Surprise,” appearing on Saturday Night Live, have apparently caused dramatic shifts in swing-state polls on the eve of Tuesday’s presidential election.
A week ago the polls in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had Trump and Harris within three points of each other, all within the “margin of error” which meant they were in a virtual statistical tie in each state.
But when Trump rented a garbage truck, plastered his name on the sides, had it wheeled out to the tarmac of an airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin, donned a fluorescent orange safety vest matching his hair, and appeared drunk as he missed the door handle several times before climbing into the shotgun seat, his favorability among polled voters in the state best known for cheeseheads nosedived.
“Asked in a statewide survey by our staff the day after that stunt to describe Trump in two words,” said Robert Cahaly, senior strategist of The Trafalgar Group, a Republican-aligned pollster, “the top two responses were ‘garbage mouth’ and ‘dumpster fire’ or, in some cases, ‘Trumpster fire’.
“The former president was up 49.2-47.5 percent a week earlier,” Cahaly said, “but Harris now leads 53.1-19.4 and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also on the ballot although he’s not running, jumped to 33.7 percent.”
Cahaly said opinions like “cute,” “funny,” “smart,” and “not the stupid racist immigrant Trump said she was,” were given by those polled after seeing Harris appear in a Saturday Night Live sketch. “And numerous prospective RFK supporters suggested they’d prefer a president with half a worm-eaten brain than a fully-brained demagogue.”
In Michigan, when the United Auto Workers discovered that the garbage truck Trump used was built by Portofin, a company in Slovenia, Harris’ lead over Trump jumped to 59.6-37.4 with RFK Jr. at 3 percent.
“Trump talks big about American-made products,” UAW president Shawn Fain said. “Well, screw him. Even his wife isn’t American made. Melania’s from, you guessed it, Slovenia. I bet she owns a chunk of that garbage – and I do mean garbage – company.”
In the remaining swing states, where RFK Jr. is not on the ballot, Harris now leads Trump 55.1-44.9 percent in Arizona, 53.8-46.2 in Georgia, 61.7-38.3 in Nevada, 57.8-42.2 in North Carolina and 56.6-43.4 in Pennsylvania, according to the final New York Tribune/Siesta College Poll.
“We tailored our survey to include sanitation workers with a master’s or doctorate degree, insult comedians who never finished high school, and Black women in their late 50s of Indian and Jamaican descent,” Siesta editor-in-chief Dozy Oscitant said.
“Based on our most recent responses to telephone surveys of people pissed off because we interrupted their dinner, or listening to Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow podcasts, or watching the WWE SmackDown or reruns of The West Wing, NFL games or anything on Pornhub,” Oscitant added, “we believe Tuesday’s election won’t be formally decided until 2026, after all the riots and litigation have been resolved.”
lowittlowdown 