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Trump campaign attacks Fox News polling expert who called Arizona for Biden
By Helen Coster and Lisa Richwine (Reuters)
President Donald Trump’s campaign on Thursday attacked the Fox News person responsible for the network’s screening calling Arizona for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as a “Democrat who votes for Clinton and donates to Biden “.
With Arizona in Biden’s column, he would have 264 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, moving him closer to victory and narrowing his Republican opponent’s path to reelection.
The Trump campaign website said that “decision desk” director Arnon Mishkin “called Arizona prematurely for Joe Biden before hundreds of thousands of ballots had been counted.
Even left-wing election analysts like Nate Silver (538) have criticized the decision, but Mishkin stands by his terrible decision despite and refuses to back down on his unwarranted call. ”
The website added that Mishkin: “has a long history of giving to Democrats, including the 2008 Obama-Biden campaign.”
Fox News, controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp, declined to comment. Mishkin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The network projected at 11:20 p.m. ET on election night Tuesday that former Vice President Biden would win the Southwest battlefield state of Arizona at a time when Mishkin said he had counted “80-something ”Of your votes.
The Associated Press, which relies on the same poll data as Fox News, did the same screening three hours later.
None of the other major television networks has so far projected a winner for Arizona, saying it was too close to call with so many pending ballots to count.
Even when Biden’s campaign said victory was imminent, a campaign manager said Thursday that it may take time to see full results in Arizona.
On election night, Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts said on air that the Trump campaign was “livid” from the screening.
According to Vanity Fair magazine, Trump called Rupert Murdoch on election night “to yell at the call (from Arizona) and demand a retraction.” Murdoch refused, the magazine said.
The New York Times reported that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner was also in contact with Murdoch.
Mishkin and other members of Fox’s decision table were on the air frequently Wednesday defending the call.
“We are not withdrawing that call,” said Mishkin.
“There is vote, additional vote to be reported in Maricopa County. We do not think this changes the tenor or texture of the race. And we firmly believe that our call will continue. ”
A September New York Times column described Mishkin as a registered Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, and is paid by Fox as a consultant, not an employee.
According to the Times, Mishkin operates independently with an eight-member team of statisticians, political scientists, pollsters and journalists.
Two days before the election, on “Fox News Sunday,” Mishkin said politics would play “zero” role in his projections.
“Arithmetic is more important than politics when it comes to making a decision, and you just have to check your preferences at the door and decide who has won this,” he said.
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