Lisa Singh

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
936 ABC HOBART – BREAKFAST SHOW, COMPERE RYK GODDARD 
TUESDAY, 8 NOVEMBER, 2016

Subject: US election.

RYK GODDARD: Lisa Singh is a Labor Senator for Tasmania. She is currently seconded to the United Nations and is in New York for the election, and we are following her through as they’re about to go to the polls, although many people have gone to the polls already. Lisa Singh, good morning.

 

SINGH: Good morning Ryk, good morning to your listeners.

 

GODDARD: Where do we find you today?

 

SINGH: I’m in New York today, I’m in the Australian mission in my office at the moment, Ryk. Obviously it’s still Monday here and it is the afternoon, it’s the eve of the election, so it’s countdown, almost.

 

GODDARD: The impression that we get here on media reports is that every single part of the country is obsessed with this, that they’re all on the streets. Is it business as usual, or is there that degree of engagement?

 

SINGH: Look, there is a lot of engagement and I have to say the Democrats have been better at that. They’ve been really out there, organised, trying to encourage people to turn out to vote. They call it the ground game and it’s certainly on in that sense. Both candidates though are just going full-on for the last day, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are in those key swinging states, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania. I think Hillary Clinton’s doing about four rallies today, and similar for Donald Trump.

 

On top of that you’ve got the current President Barack Obama out doing pretty much the same thing in attending a lot of these rallies which, I’ve been told by a number of Americans, is quite unusual, to see a sitting President being so actively engaged in campaigning. But of course Barack Obama’s been very outspoken against Donald Trump, and says he is not fit for office, and so both he and Michele Obama are campaigning really hard. As are Al Gore and Joe Biden, but also a number of celebrities just over the last weekend, have come out campaigning and singing in support of Hillary Clinton. There’s been Jay-Z and Beyonce, and I think Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are performing today. So it certainly is game on, and they’re really pushing those key swinging states where it could determine the outcome.

 

But on the outcome, there has been a new national poll come out today, which has got Hillary Clinton ahead by around two per cent, so it’s still quite tight. It does mean she is leading but certainly by not much and, as I said to you and your listeners yesterday, it does come down to that break-up between the electoral college vote in those key larger states, compared to the overall popular vote, and that will really determine who becomes President when polls close tomorrow night at 7pm.

 

GODDARD: Black voters had an enormous influence on the previous election. I read somewhere that Latino voters are coming out strong for this one.

 

SINGH: Absolutely, and that’s a really interesting thing because this does all come down to voter turnout. There is no compulsory voting here in America. At the last election in 2012 there was 54 per cent voter turnout in this country. So Latino voters, some of them who haven’t voted in the last twenty years, are actually turning out to vote and most of them, the majority of them, are voting for a Clinton presidency.

 

So, that Latino voter turnout will be very interesting and may actually swing the outcome. At the same time there’s a lot of white voters who are voting for the first time as well, and they are mainly voting for Trump. So you’ve got two groups there that are turning out to vote that weren’t in previous elections, so it’s really hard to predict. Even though the average polling has Hillary Clinton ahead, it is really hard to predict [indistinct].

 

GODDARD: Lisa Singh we will check in with you on Thursday when polls have closed and we are a little bit closer to a result, but thanks for your insights this morning.

 

SINGH: Thanks Ryk, can I just also add one thing. The other thing that’s really interesting that has occurred is of course that the FBI has now confirmed that Hillary Clinton has committed no criminal wrongdoing. So she has been exonerated again, for the second time, in relation to that email server issue. But I still think it has done a bit of damage, but that’s been an interesting thing that’s gone on in this campaign and I think people will be writing about it for a long time to come.

 

GODDARD: I’m sure they will be as well, and there was also that issue with Trump allegedly being taken away from his Twitter account by his own staff. But they’re denying it this morning, so we’ll have to see. Good to talk to you.

 

SINGH: That’s right. Okay, thanks, bye.

 

GODDARD: Lisa Singh, Labor Senator for Tasmania, in New York.