A group of independent voters were in lockstep with Republicans during the first night of the Republican National Convention, pollster Lee Carter told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
During her appearing on “Fox & Friends” with host Ainsley Earhardt, Carter said she thinks “overall you saw independents really, really resonating with the messages that they heard.”
Carter acknowledged there were “some blips” but said “the personal stories” from speakers, including former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott and former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, who was raised a Democrat and is a longtime friend of President Trump’s, “really resonated with the voters, and that’s what’s going to be remembered from last night.”
Carter, the president of Maslansky & Partners, broadcast her “voter dials,” which assess the real-time reactions to the debate from voters across the political spectrum, rating candidates’ statements from A to F.
Earhardt pointed to Scott’s “powerful” convention speech where he “talked about his story and the American dream.”
“My grandfather’s 99th birthday would have been tomorrow,” Scott said during his speech Monday night. “He suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third-grader to pick cotton and he never learned to read or write.”
He added, “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime and that’s why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.”
“He hit it out of the park,” Carter said. “You can see that Republicans gave this an A-plus, independents gave it an A and even Democrats gave it a C.”
She went on to say that Monday night was “a big night for Scott and it was also a really, really great capstone for Donald Trump.”
“I think the most surprising thing that I saw last night is how much independents were lock in step with Republicans,” she continued. “We did not see that during the DNC [Democratic National Convention]. Republicans and independents acted very differently in response to that. But here, last night we saw them right in step with the Republicans.”
Earhardt brought up Walker’s speech from the RNC as well, noting that “he takes offense to the fact that many people call the president racist.”
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“It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald. The worst one is racist,” Walker said during his speech Monday night. “I take that as a personal insult that people would think I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a racist.”
“People who think that don’t know what they’re talking about,” Walker continued. “Growing up in the Deep South I’ve seen racism up close. I know what it is, and it isn’t Donald Trump.”
Carter said Republicans and independents reacted “very similarly” to Walker’s speech as well.
“Republicans gave this an A, independents a B plus and Democrats a D,” Carter said. “This was a big, big night for the president and for the Republican Party.”
Earhardt also noted that Trump “talked about how Democrats will blame losing [the 2020 election] on the post office.”
“Every one of you have to watch because bad things happened last time with this spying on our campaign and that goes to Biden and that goes to Obama,” Trump said Monday. “And we have to be very, very careful … And this time they’re trying to do it with the whole post office scam. They’ll blame it on the post office. You could see them setting it up.”
“The Republicans gave this [an] A minus, independents a B, while Democrats gave this an F so a lot of Democrats [are] really upset about this argument, but it is resonating with both independents and Republicans,” Carter said.
Over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed a $25 billion funding infusion to the U.S. Postal Service in a bill that also would reverse new cost-cutting measures and ban any efforts to slow down the mail until at least next year.
Democrats called the rare “emergency” session in the middle of the summer recess because they contend Trump and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are trying to sabotage the 2020 election by delaying service that could compromise mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans dismissed the Democrats’ election concerns as “conspiracy theory.” GOP members said the Postal Service is not in a crisis and can handle any uptick in volume from mail-in ballots, pointing to its $14 billion in available cash and access to a $10 billion loan from the Treasury.
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The legislation is not expected to go anywhere. The GOP-led Senate has no plans to take up the bill and the White House issued a veto threat on Friday saying USPS doesn’t need a $25 billion bailout.
Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
