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Harris and Trump Makes Final Push; Harris Leading in New Iowa Poll Shows; Biden Back in Scranton, Pennsylvania; Trump Rallies in Virginia; s50 Plus Children Killed in Jabalya in 48 Hours; Iran Vows "Teeth-Breaking" Response to Israel and U.S.; Spain Rescue Workers Search for Survivors; At Least 211 Dead in Spain's "Worst Natural Disaster"; U.S. Election Could Impact Climate Policy; U.S. Election's Impact on Ukraine. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 03, 2024 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris make their final push to voters as Harris sees a surprising lead in a deeply red state. From hurricanes to wildfires, the ramifications of a warming planet are everywhere except on the campaign trail. We'll examine why climate change has taken a backseat in this year's election. And in Spain, rescue workers trudge through mud and high water searching for survivors as the country grapples with its worst flood related disaster in almost 60 years.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We are only two days away from the U.S. presidential election. And later today, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be wrapping their last weekend on the campaign trail. Trump is set to make his final pitch along the east coast, stopping in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. Meanwhile, Harris will be in Michigan as she works to maintain the blue wall.

On Saturday, the nominees rallied in different states, including North Carolina. Recent polling there shows neither nominee has established a clear advantage.

So, as of now, more than 71.5 million people have voted early. So, while the contest remains very tight, there is some surprising new data from what was thought to be a safe Republican state. A new poll from the Des Moines Register shows Harris has taken the lead among likely voters in Iowa with a three-point advantage over Trump. Now, Trump has won the state handily twice before. The polling difference is within the margin of error, and the Trump campaign has dismissed the poll as an outlier, but it has raised spirits among Democrats in their home stretch. CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, offered his take on the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't know if Kamala Harris is going to win Iowa or whether her advantages among women plus 20 in this poll, among college graduates plus 30 in this poll are really as pronounced in that state as the poll has it. I mean, it's so head spinning. It's hard to imagine.

But it almost doesn't matter in the sense that Iowa is not going to be within her first 270 electoral college votes. And even if she doesn't get all the way to these numbers in Iowa, it does suggest that among these preponderantly white states in the Midwest, in particular the Upper Midwest, she remains extremely competitive.

You know, and Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are states that vote to the left of Iowa. And if Harris is even approaching the numbers that Ann Selzer found for her in Iowa, it would mean she is in a very strong position in those three states.

And there's a second confirming kind of point about this. I mean, we're going to -- you know, all this vibe shift may depend on what happens tomorrow when The New York Times and the Siena College releases their final polls, but we are also seeing in polling very strong performances for her in that Omaha Congressional District, which again, similar voters to those that are found in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, the states that will likely pick our winner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Vice President Kamala Harris underscored the stakes in this election as she made a final push to voters in North Carolina on Saturday. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRICILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Kamala Harris brought her closing pitch to battleground North Carolina on Saturday as she tries to reach those swing voters who haven't yet decided who they're going to vote for in early voting or on Tuesday. The vice president trying to stress that theme of unity that her campaign has consistently leaned on, but also casting Former President Donald Trump as consumed by revenge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: This is not someone who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and the man is out for unchecked power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, the campaign's closing aide is also going to build on its theme of unity. It's an ad that is going to run during NFL games on Sunday and also going to bookend a $370 million paid ad campaign that launched earlier this fall. Now, the campaign again, trying to project optimism and confidence in reaching those undecided voters, especially in a state like North Carolina, one that in the last three presidential elections has voted for Republicans and now, the campaign maintaining their posture of being bullish on North Carolina, hoping that they can flip it.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, North Carolina.

[04:05:00]

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: President Joe Biden returned to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania Saturday to campaign for Harris. He spoke to a few dozen union workers after staying mostly away from the campaign trail. Biden slammed Trump's plan for the economy, saying it includes another giant tax cut for the wealthy. He vowed Harris would continue to support unions as he did during his presidency. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: This is the most important election any of us have ever voted in. More is at stake in the direction of this country than ever before. And I promise you, you may have difficulty, you may have disagreed with some of the things in the Harris-Walz administration, but I wouldn't have picked her if I didn't think she had the exact view I do about hardworking people. I'm serious. And so, look, folks, we need to elect Kamala as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump rallied in battleground North Carolina Saturday, but he also made a stop in the blue state of Virginia, telling the crowd that if he beats Harris there, he'll win the entire election. CNN's Steve Contorno reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Donald Trump ventured outside of the traditional battleground map on Saturday with a visit to Salem, Virginia. Virginia is a state that Republicans haven't won in a presidential contest since 2004. And many Republicans I spoke to here acknowledge it is a long shot that Trump could potentially win this state.

But his campaign remains bullish that he has an opportunity here. And as they try to look for alternative paths to 270, Virginia has emerged as a place where they feel like they could pull off an upset. Trump appeared on stage with Glenn Youngkin, the state's Republican governor, with the two making their case for Virginians to get out and vote for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've come today with a message of hope for all Americans. With your vote on Tuesday, that's how big day, you got to get out. We win -- I'll tell you what. We win Virginia, we win the whole thing without question.

Now, it's very possible that without winning Virginia, we're going to win the whole thing too. But it would be -- wouldn't it be cool? Wouldn't it be nice? We got to do it. We're going to win Virginia. I really believe it. We felt it. Your governor felt it. I felt it for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Donald Trump's campaign once planned to compete aggressively for the Commonwealth of Virginia, but that was back when President Joe Biden was the Democratic nominee. When Vice President Harris replaced him on the ticket the focus shifted to those seven battleground states that both sides have put so much time, effort, and money into winning.

However, in the closing days of this race, Trump has branched out a little bit, appearing in New Mexico and also coming here to Virginia. He delivered a message that was focused on the major tenets of his campaign, the economy, crime, and immigration.

Steve Contorno, CNN, Salem, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And joining us now from Colchester, England is Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex. Thanks so much for being on with us again.

So, I just want to start with that Iowa poll that put Trump behind, obviously can't make too much of one poll, which is why CNN does its Poll of Polls, and Republicans, as I said earlier, argue it's an outlier, but we heard there from Ron Brownstein that it may be a sort of a harbinger of trouble for Trump in other states. So, for you, what, if anything, are you reading into those numbers?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, it's definitely good news for the Democrats. It's a sign that in some of these states where there hasn't been that much attention, there hasn't been as much polling being done, that she might be doing better than previously thought and it might be driven by college educated voters.

There's a 43-point gap in terms of college educated voters and non- college educated voters and she may be resonating with, and it's predominantly a state that's mostly made up of white voters, but she may be resonating with some of those college educated voters.

It may also be driven by women, as is already mentioned, because there's a 30-point gap with women nationally, according to polls, that's seven points more than it was in 2020. And a lot of women are up in arms about what's taking place regarding the infringements on women's reproductive rights. There's just been a huge story on this and how this really affects women's health, that it's more of a health care issue than anything else.

So, there may be some of these other issues that are driving people to support Harris more so even than this perception that Donald Trump is better at running the economy.

[04:10:00]

BRUNHUBER: So, to capitalize on those issues, what do you make of the messages that the campaigns are kind of leaning into in these last few days before voters go to the polls?

LINDSTAEDT: It's really hard for me to figure out what Trump's closing message is because it has been so all over the place, whether it's just making fun of people from different ethnic backgrounds or claiming that, you know, there should be violence or threatening violence on Liz Cheney. I mean, he's not closing strong, but it doesn't seem to matter. His team probably prefers that he stays really focused on just two things, inflation and immigration, and just stick to that rather than weaving, as he likes to call it, and meandering and threatening his political opponents and really doubling down on this kind of stuff.

Harris' message has been trying to reach out to the middle, trying to reach out to Republicans, less so than really enlivening the base, but she's made it clear that while Trump will prosecute or go after his enemies, those that disagree with her, she'll give them a seat at the table, that's exactly what she said at the Ellipse. And so, she's really tried to move towards the middle.

I don't see the ways in which Trump has moved towards the middle, but maybe it doesn't matter. His base has characteristically always come out in droves to vote for him. So, I think he's extra confident that that's what's going to happen because he thinks that he has so much charismatic appeal that voters are willing to do whatever he says.

BRUNHUBER: For Harris, she has focused on the threat that Trump poses, but also, she has used a bit of a lighter touch in her campaign, leaning into to moments of fun, like her appearance -- surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live's cold open sketch giving sort of her Maya Rudolph look alike a pep talk and poking fun at herself a little bit. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYA RUDOLPH, COMEDIAN: It is nice to see you, Kamala.

HARRIS: It is nice to see you, Kamala. And I'm just here to remind you, you got this. Because you can do something your opponent cannot do, you can open doors.

RUDOLPH: I see what she did there. Like to a garbage truck, right?

HARRIS: I don't really laugh like that, do I?

RUDOLPH: A little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Yes, a dead ringer there for her laugh. What do you make of, you know, this -- doing this type of appearance, whether it might help at all maybe with younger voters as a final push here?

LINDSTAEDT: Well, these SNL sketches are watched by millions of viewers and particularly younger viewers. And so, I think she's trying to connect with younger voters. Younger Voters, of course, notoriously less likely to vote. And so, she's trying to reach out to these types of voters and just have a little fun towards the end of the campaign. And some of the sketches that have been done on Kamala Harris have, you know, reached 4 or 5 or 6 million people just on YouTube, let alone the people that are watching live. So, it's that last-minute ditch effort to connect with younger voters.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's, you know, a huge -- I guess they have a huge incentive to do that because it is all about turnout at this point, because I guess there are so few left to be convinced. So, few undecideds. And then, with the early voting numbers so massive, I mean, many people have already literally made up their minds. I wonder what dynamic that might have on the race?

LINDSTAEDT: I mean, that's really important to emphasize. Most people have made up their minds, if you haven't made up your mind yet, you might not vote. You're probably not paying attention to what's going on. This is really a low chance voter. So, they're working on their ground game.

And this is where Harris and her team have a huge advantage because they didn't outsource this to Elon Musk, which really was a huge risk. I mean, I almost see what they've done in the Republican side is almost like hiring mercenaries to go door-to-door that don't really have a connection to the campaign. And there was just anecdotal evidence of what's going on in the Philadelphia suburbs, where the Harris team have women and men knocking door-to-door and having long in-depth conversations with people, there's a quota system on the other side.

And so, there was some person on the Republican side that just sort of threw a flyer on the driveway of someone in a Philadelphia suburb and then left because they're trying to meet their quotas. It's not really about connecting with voters and trying to change voters' minds, or at least trying to get them to vote, because Donald Trump outsourced this, he is taking on a huge risk that he's not actually connecting with voters and just hitting the exact numbers that Elon Musk had stipulated. And that could be too big a risk when it comes to the campaign.

[04:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And we'll see whether that risk pays off in a couple of days. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

LINDSTAEDT: Thank you for having me.

BRUNHUBER: And be sure to tune in to CNN's live coverage of Election Night in America. It starts right here at Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. Eastern, that's 9:00 p.m. In London.

The United Nations says the past two days have been especially deadly for children in Gaza. And it's happening while health officials are trying to vaccinate children against polio. We'll have that story ahead.

Plus, it's Europe's worst flood related disaster in nearly 60 years. Just ahead, we'll go live to Valencia, Spain, and get the latest on the search and rescue efforts there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: UNICEF says more than 50 children were killed in Jabalya in Northern Gaza over the course of 48 hours. The agency also says a staff member working to vaccinate children for polio came under fire as she was driving her car. The U.N. resumed its polio vaccination campaign on Saturday after suspending it because of security concerns.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, Israel says it captured a senior Hezbollah operative during a special operation. Now, this video appears to show Israeli troops with one man in custody. Reuters news agency says it confirmed the location of the video but can't confirm the date it was shot.

[04:20:00]

And Iran's Supreme Leader is vowing a quote, "teeth-breaking" response to Israel and the United States after Israel's strike on Iran last month. He says Iran has a right to respond to the Israeli strikes.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now live from Paris with the latest on the situation in the Middle East. So, Melissa, what can you tell us about the latest attacks in Gaza and Lebanon?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the attacks that you mentioned, the strikes that you mentioned in Northern Gaza, being described by UNICEF, Kim, as a dark chapter in a dark time in this already terrible war. This is the result of this ground offensive launched by Israel on October 6th on these three parts of Northern Gaza that have seen 70,000 people flee to Gaza City with 100,000 still there and the subject of these repeated strikes.

We saw a residential building collapse on Tuesday as a result of Israeli strikes. And over the course of the weekend, say UNICEF, over just a 48-hour period, 50 children, they say, were killed in Jabalya. That operation continues, even as we're learning more details about what's been happening over in Lebanon, Kim, the overnight, we understand from the IDF, a very rare ground operation in northern Lebanon, Batroun.

What we hear from eyewitnesses is that an army commando, naval commando was seen arriving on the beach capturing a Hezbollah operative during the before whisking her way back to Israeli territory. The IDF have confirmed that he is now in their custody and under investigation, Kim. BRUNHUBER: All right. And, Melissa, we're settling into this all too familiar pattern in the Middle East. Waiting for a response to an attack in this sort of tit for tat attacks. Israel now waiting for Iran's response to the Israeli attacks. What more do we know?

BELL: Well, what we'd heard over the course of the last few days from senior Iranian sources was that the retaliation to those October 25th strikes would come, that it was likely to come before the American presidential election.

Israel, for its part, of course, is at a high level of readiness, officials tell us, keeping a close eye on if and when this retaliation comes. But those remarks by the Ayatollah Khamenei came on over the course of the weekend. He was speaking to students. And until now what we heard him say was that these strikes, the Israeli strikes of October 25th, should neither be exaggerated nor downplayed. So, what you saw on Saturday was a departure from that with the threat that the response would be teeth-breaking. We -- Israeli officials for the airport continue to keep a close eye on their intelligence to tell them when this is likely to happen, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate those updates. Melissa Bell in Paris, thanks so much.

In Southeastern Spain, at least 211 people are now confirmed dead from the catastrophic flash floods that the hit the region earlier in the week. Rescue crews could be seen in water up to their necks searching for some of the hundreds still missing. Some of the teams specialize in underwater rescues.

Now, despite the odds, hope does remain. Here, a woman and her dog can be seen getting help in one of Valencia's many devastated neighborhoods.

All right. I want to go now live to a Atika Shubert in Valencia, Spain. And, Atika, just give us a sense of where you are right now and what's happening behind you.

ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: I'm actually at the volunteer coordination point. There have been so many volunteers that have come out, thousands really, almost hampering efforts sometimes. So, what the government is trying to do right now is coordinate efforts, get everybody who wants to help out with the cleanup effort onto buses, into the affected areas.

And hundreds of people have been turning out this morning. So, this is a good sign. However, there is a lot of anger and frustration at the response by the government to this crisis. Many feel residents I spoke to that the floodwaters arrived before they were alerted or before they received the alert on their phones. And then, the response has been quite late in some cases. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is political sadly. The autonomous government here has to request help from the federal government in order to get, for example, military units deployed. That didn't happen until yesterday.

So, a lot of the anger and frustration is being seen in the voluntary effort that's coming out. There have been some remarkable rescues, as you point out, Kim. One woman was actually rescued yesterday after spending three days in a car. The way -- the flood really just picked up vehicles and tossed them around. So, the fact that they were able to find this woman alive was remarkable.

[04:25:00]

However, there are still a lot of missing people out there and hope for those for any finding anyone else is really diminishing at this point. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, we're looking at the pictures of the rescuers wading through the water there. You get a real sense of the scope of the trouble that they're facing to try and rescue those people. Atika Shubert in Valencia, Spain, thank you so much, really appreciate that.

Well, with the U.S. election just days away, the environmental stakes of the outcome couldn't be greater. Just ahead, the very different ways Kamala Harris and Donald Trump would tackle the world's climate crisis. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are taking their closing arguments to the country's biggest battleground states with only two days left in the race for the White House.

Both nominees made stops in North Carolina Saturday. Trump told his supporters that he's planning to cast his vote in person on Election Day. The vice president's campaign says she planned to cast her ballot by mail to highlight the different options voters have.

More than 71 million ballots have already been cast in early voting as national polling shows Harris and Trump still in a dead heat.

Now, whoever wins the U.S. presidential election could have a significant impact on climate policy for at least the next four years. Most voters will likely choose between two candidates who couldn't be further apart on the issue. One plans to build on the clean energy growth of the Biden administration, while the other calls the issue a hoax.

CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir explains what's at stake for the planet.

[04:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the devastated West Coast of Florida, where back-to-back hurricanes have upended life for so many, Susan Glickman takes stock.

SUSAN GLICKMAN, VP OF POLICY AND PARTNERSHIPS, CLEO INSTITUTE: Before Hurricane Helene, we had huge sand dunes here and those all washed out to sea.

WEIR (voice-over): And she swirls with both worry for the future and anger over the decisions of the past.

GLICKMAN: In 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, three weeks after his inauguration, said this generation is altering the composition of the Earth's atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. So, in anybody's book, we have known about this for a very long time.

WEIR (voice-over): After an early career fighting the tobacco industry, Susan now works in climate education and sees how decades of deliberate misinformation by polluting industries has filled her neighbors with confusion and doubt.

SANDY DAUGHTRY, PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA RESIDENT: Maybe it's just a hundred-year cycle or, you know, some kind of a cycle that we go through.

WEIR: Even though all the scientists are telling you this is what climate change looks like?

DAUGHTRY: Well, yes. Well, that's the point. I'm not sure all the scientists are in agreement.

WEIR (voice-over): That skepticism mirrors Former President Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It'll start getting cooler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish --

TRUMP: You just watch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish science agreed with you.

TRUMP: Well, I don't think science knows actually.

WEIR (voice-over): Two years after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tiebreaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, there are tighter regulations on polluters, and hundreds of billions of public and private investment are flowing into the climate fight, mostly in Republican districts. Solar, wind, and storage are now so cheap that Texas leads the nation in clean energy installations.

But Trump is vowing to undo as much of it as he can on day one, which concerns one of the world's most active climate investors.

WEIR: You lobbied for the Inflation Reduction Act. How would you assess it's working now?

BILL GATES, FOUNDER, BREAKTHROUGH ENERGY: I'd give it a high grade so far. We need -- you know, we need some understanding of what constant policy looks like because stop and go for things that involve 2030 or plant investments, you -- you'll just scare the whole industry away from a country that's inconsistent. GLICKMAN: It's very simple. This is about parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere and that's warming the Gulf. It's supercharging storms. It's melting glaciers and ice sheets and raising the sea rise. And here we are.

WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And for more on this, I am joined by Henna Hundal. She's a three time delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences, and she'll also be at this year's conference, COP29 in Azerbaijan, which is starting in just nine days.

Thanks so much for being here with us. So, climate change has been basically the forgotten topic in this election cycle. It's, in general, an important issue for Democrats. Why hasn't Harris been talking about it much during this campaign?

HENNA HUNDAL, U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCES DELEGATE: Yes, thank you for having me, Kim, and thank you for covering this very important topic. And it is an important topic, but I think, unfortunately, the lack of sufficient visibility of climate change on the campaign trail is really part and parcel with how climate change is treated in general as a backburner issue. That's despite the fact that more than half of 18- to 35-year-old Americans view it as a very important issue, that's despite the fact that nearly 70 percent of the coalition that brought President Biden to victory in 2020 views it as a very important issue.

And for good reason. It intersects so many of the problems that affect our daily life, including economy, public health, public safety, food prices, where people can live, the type of air that they can breathe. So, unfortunately, it's often treated as a nice to address issue, when in reality, it should be a need to address priority.

BRUNHUBER: I had thought that there maybe was a disconnect between people's election priorities and the candidates. But when you look at the actual polls, which are listing the voters' priorities in this election, addressing climate change really doesn't appear, at least it is relatively far down, even among millennials and Gen Z. So, I don't think people are necessarily making that connection with some of the pocketbook issues that you're talking about.

HUNDAL: That's so true. They aren't making that connection. In fact, it's been found that only 10 percent of the American voters who say they view climate change as a very important issue actually know a lot about what the Biden administration has done on it. And that record is enormous. And it's truly a treasure trove of a record for Vice President Harris to run on.

I mean, we're talking about the administration putting us back in the Paris Agreement. We're talking about the passage of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act of which the lion's share of clean energy investments are actually going to Republican districts. We're talking about the fact that President Biden created the American Climate Core, which has now put more than 15,000 young people to work in the clean energy economy of the future. There's so much to run on here.

[04:35:00]

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And you talk about that paradox of it actually benefiting Republicans. Donald Trump is a climate skeptic. The other day in a speech he referred again to the Green New Deal as the Green New Scam. Many Republicans share his skepticism. But interestingly, and this is something you've looked into, the polls show that young Republicans are way more invested in addressing climate change. Is Trump maybe missing an opportunity here?

HUNDAL: Absolutely. I think President -- Former President Trump and the Republican Party would do well to recognize that there's actually a growing coalition of young Republicans who want to see climate action as well. And that really bears out in the data as well as my personal interactions with folks.

You know, in terms of the data, we know, for example, that young Republicans generally view climate change as an important issue and also acknowledge the role of human activity. In addition, there's actually a good chunk of 18- to 29-year-old young Republicans who would more likely vote for a candidate in favor of immediate climate action.

And then, also just based on my interactions with young Republican voters, there seems to be kind of a movement to want to return the party to the conservationist roots of Former President Theodore Roosevelt or Former President Reagan. You know, Theodore Roosevelt famously was a key figure in gifting us the national park system that millions of Americans enjoy today, and Former President Reagan actually once said, what is a conservative without wanting to conserve things, including the environment?

So, President -- Former President Trump and the rest of the Republican party would do well to really acknowledge that there's a good chunk of young Republicans who want movement on this issue as well.

BRUNHUBER: We've touched on what's at stake here for the U.S., but there must be concern in the larger international climate change community as well. I know you're going to the U.N. climate conference in just a few days after the election. So, the mood there, I imagine, will be largely dependent on who wins because, you know, we could see another seesaw in the U.S. climate policy if Trump wins.

HUNDAL: He certainly could. You know, Former President Trump took us out of the Paris Agreement in his first term in office. He's promised to do the same, Project 2025, although, he's attempted to distance himself from it. We know that it's authored by many former members of his administration and it would be truly disastrous for climate.

And in my times at the U.N. Climate Change Conferences, although you have a convening of 198 parties from around the world, truly, the United States sets the tone for the climate negotiations. And I think amongst us in the climate community, this election is truly a nail biter for that reason. BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. All right. Well, listen, it's been great to connect with you again. Henna Hundal, thank you so much for being here with us. Really appreciate it.

HUNDAL: Thank you, Kim. Appreciate it.

BRUNHUBER: A judge here in the swing State of Georgia has rejected a Republican backed lawsuit that would have stopped people from hand delivering mail-in ballots. Fulton County was named in the suit, a county Donald Trump falsely claimed defrauded him in 2020. It's a Democratic stronghold that includes the city of Atlanta and is home to 11 percent of the state's voters. Republicans wanted to stop election offices opening on weekends to allow hand return of absentee ballots. The ban would have affected at least five other populous counties that also tend to vote Democratic.

All right. Coming up, the stakes of the U.S. election are high for Ukraine. We'll tell you what they could expect with a Harris presidency or another Trump administration. That is coming up, please stay tuned. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: Both Kyiv and Moscow will be closely watching the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. The outcome will likely influence what comes next in Russia's two-and-a-half-year long war in Ukraine. Republican Nominee Donald Trump has promised to end the war, quote, "in one day," with the suggestion that his administration won't support Ukraine's defense. But Democratic Nominee Kamala Harris says she is committed to Ukraine's defense, saying that anything else would be capitulation, quote, "a gift to Vladimir Putin."

U.S. official has told CNN that the Biden administration is working to get military aid to Ukraine by January before a potential Trump presidency.

I want to bring in now Tymofiy Mylovanov, who's the president of the Kyiv School of Economics and the former Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development Trade and Agriculture, and he joins me now from Kyiv. Thanks so much for joining us again here. Really appreciate it.

So, now that we're days away from Americans going to the polls, how interested and invested are Ukrainians in these elections?

TYMOFIY MYLOVANOV, PRESIDENT, KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, FORMER UKRAINIAN MIN. OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TRADE AND AGRICULTURE AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: Extremely. Ukrainians understand that the future of Ukraine will be determined in many ways -- not completely, of course, but in many ways by what happens in the United States. The United States leadership is critical and there is a clear difference between two candidates. And so, Ukrainians are, in fact, somewhat polarized about -- I would say as polarized as the U.S. appears to be in terms of who is the most preferred candidate. BRUNHUBER: Really, why would any Ukrainians be supportive of a Trump presidency that has almost explicitly said they would cut off aid to Ukraine and seems so aligned with President Putin?

MYLOVANOV: Yes, that's the intrigue, in fact. I think Ukrainians have no illusion that Trump has no love for Zelenskyy or for Ukraine in general, but there are some people, rightly or wrongly, who believe that a deal, whatever the deal might be, might be better for Ukraine than continuation of the war of attrition.

However, people, I think, ironically and incorrectly assume that this deal might be favorable for Ukraine. So, I think that's where people are wrong, but that's what some people are thinking.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's interesting because so far Trump's policies seemed pretty much aligned, as I said, with basically President Putin's wish list. It -- do you have any idea whether -- regardless of who wins the White House, whether Russia would actually come to the table?

MYLOVANOV: Well, so Russia is signaling that it is not interested. It has advances, successful advances on the frontlines. The rhetoric is that guys, you know, we don't need any negotiations. Actually, Lavrov and Putin has been making those statements almost explicitly in the recent weeks, but at the same time, there are reports that some backdoor negotiations about slowing down air attacks on both countries, mutual countries are happening.

So, it looks like it's a lot of brinksmanship where both parties are trying to increase their bargaining power, but they are actually preparing for negotiations.

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BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Now, Ukraine, of course, hasn't been just watching and waiting for the election to take place. Ukraine and its European allies have been trying to kind of Trump proof aid. So, how far down the road are they with that, given things could drastically change in just two months with Trump in the White House?

MYLOVANOV: Absolutely. So, in terms of commitments, in terms of policy decisions, people have done, both in the United States and in Europe, as much as I think is feasible both financially and militarily. But in terms of actual deliveries, there are logistical challenges, there are bureaucracy, there are delays. And so, I think that's what the real concern is, how to, on the technical level, get this aid to Ukraine, which has been authorized.

BRUNHUBER: Finally, with so much of the world's attention on the conflict in the Middle East, there's been much less attention on the war in Ukraine. So, just looking at the big picture, what is the state of the battlefield for Ukraine right now?

MYLOVANOV: It is actually much more intense than in the previous two years. So, the number of attacks, daily attacks, fighting between different units, Russian and Ukrainians, are up to 200, whereas throughout most of the world, it was about 60 or 50. And the number of drones that parties exchange, both Ukraine and Russia, is extremely high.

So, this night I couldn't sleep because there were explosions of air defense all around Kyiv. And every day we get about 60, 70 Shahed, this Iranian producer design drones, hit in Kyiv. And that has been nonstop. So, the number of attacks, air attacks has increased 40 percent months to months from September to October. So, there's definitely an escalation. It's not on the news.

And also, Russia is making advances, steady advances, not fast advances, but pretty steady advances all across the frontline in east and south, northern north. So, escalation is there, but I think, again, this is a sign that both sides are preparing for the outcome of the election in the United States.

BRUNHUBER: Away from the battlefield, you're talking about these increasing attacks and you can understand how Ukrainians would be so war weary right now. Just give me a sense of what the morale is among ordinary Ukrainians.

MYLOVANOV: So, partly Ukrainians feel betrayed by the west that it's not in the spotlight. There's not enough attention. People understand why this is the case, but it definitely feels that the west is distracted. There are concerns also, because it's close to us, about elections in Georgia and Moldova, neighboring countries basically, being very, very polarized and pro-Russian parties gaining an upper hand there or potentially.

So, people are worried about the geopolitics. People are tired and looking, you know, a little bit wary about the winter coming. But there is sort of this mood of not even resilience, but normalcy, which is pretty bizarre, that people have found a way to live through the war. And it looks like -- it doesn't look like Ukraine is going to, you know, collapse or people are exhausted. People are tired, but very solid.

BRUNHUBER: Listen, it's been great checking in with you. Tymofiy Mylovanov in Kyiv, thank you so much for being here with us.

And as our guest mentioned, polls are now open in Moldova. The country is holding the second round of a presidential election that could bring it closer to Europe or towards Moscow. Pro-western incumbent Maia Sandu is seeking a second term against Alexandr Stoianoglo, a pro-Russian candidate. Sandu won 42 percent in the first round of the elections, just short of a majority. The first round was held the same day as the referendum on E.U. membership, which just barely passed. And Moldova's government says the votes were tarnished by a vast Kremlin-backed vote buying scheme. Sandu calls it an unprecedented assault on the country's democracy.

All right. Now to Britain, where in a historic moment, Kemi Badenoch has been elected the new leader of the Conservatives, becoming the first black woman to lead a major British political party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another glass ceiling shattered.

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BRUNHUBER: Badenoch defeated rival Robert Jenrick on Saturday after a month's long leadership contest. She has railed against identity politics, transgender rights, and state spending, and is expected to take the party further to the right. Speaking after her victory, she vowed to lead the party through a period of renewal.

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KEMI BADENOCH, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER: Our party is critical to the success of our country, but to be heard, we have to be honest. Honest about the fact that we made mistakes. Honest about the fact that we let standards slip. The time has come to tell the truth.

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BRUNHUBER: She replaces Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who led the Conservatives to historic losses in July.

The race for the White House is neck-and-neck, but there is one Election Day outcome we can predict with some certainty. We'll have the latest forecast just ahead. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, as the race for the White House heats up, so does the weather across much of the U.S. Record highs can be expected from the Ohio Valley down to the southeast and back up into the mid- Atlantic. CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa breaks it down for us.

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ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're going to keep these temperatures pretty warm on Sunday. Highs in the 80s from Houston, New Orleans, even up towards Nashville. All of this warm air coming ahead of a strong cold front that continues to erupt with some showers and storms in the Central Plains. It will do that again on Sunday with the continued threat for some damaging winds, large hail, and even some isolated tornadoes.

We're also concerned about the threat of some heavy rain on over the same places as we go through the weekend. Now, we need the rain. A lot of the lower 48 has some drought conditions because of the incredibly dry October that we just wrapped up. If you look at a place like Oklahoma, 83 percent of the state there under drought conditions, 74 percent of Missouri under drought conditions the same for Kansas and Texas.

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So, we need the rain, but the problem is we're going to get a lot of rain in a short amount of time, and that's going to cause some flooding problems, especially for urban areas or areas that are flood prone or sensitive. Because look at how much rain we're looking just in the next couple of days. You're looking at some six to 10 inches of rain possible from parts of at Northeast Oklahoma into Southwest Missouri and then stretching through the state there. Again, that could cause some flooding problems if you get too much of that rain in just a short amount of time.

That front continues to work its way east on election day. We'll find some showers and storms stretching from the Great Lakes through the Missouri Bootheel down to the Gulf Coast will keep some of that wet weather.

Now, ahead of the front, it's going to continue to surge some of those very warm temperatures not feeling November like at all. You have some cooler air coming in behind that front, that can prompt some snow showers in the Pacific Northwest.

I mean, look at the temperature difference. Look at that cool air plunging in for parts of the Northern Plains. You're looking at highs in the 40s, daytime highs on Election Day, 47 degrees in Billings, 57 degrees in Wichita. Ahead of that front, that warmth continues to surge highs in the 70s and 80. That is not only much above average for this time of year, but could break multiple records as you head out to vote on Election Day.

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BRUNHUBER: Warmer than usual autumn and the hottest summer in decades have led to a first in Japan, picturesque Mt. Fuji, still without snow. On average, snow caps begin to form on October 2nd. This is the first time the Sacred Mountain has been snowless at this time of the year since records began 130 years ago, and it's fueling fears about the impact of climate change.

All right. That wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Please do stay with us.

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