Fox Business’ Dagen McDowell Tells Trump Surrogate Poll Criticism Is a ‘Cop-Out’ (Video)

Fox Business Network’s Dagen McDowell argued with President Donald Trump’s campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley Wednesday, disagreeing with the way the president and Gidley disparage political polling.

“Hogan, why is President Trump trailing Joe Biden, who has barely been out on the campaign trail and his only presence is really out of his house? He’s trailing in national polls. He’s trailing in all the swing state polls and Valerie Jarrett pivots to the here and now because the number-one issue for Americans is the coronavirus. It’s not the economy. It’s not even race relations and according to the latest Fox News poll, President Trump trails Joe Biden on doing a better job on coronavirus by 17 points. Why isn’t the president’s message resonating then?” she asked.

Gidley responded by calling the polls “junk.”

*Also Read:* Fox News Continues to Stand by Polling Unit as Trump Again Takes Aim at 'Lousy' Poll Showing More Americans Favor Impeachment

“Well, that’s a cop-out,” McDowell replied. “That’s a cop-out and you know it. You can argue that they don’t indicate how the election turns out. That’s fine, but that’s just a cop-out, Hogan.”

Gidley argued that it wasn’t a cop-out to discuss methodology of political polling, then went on to discuss the H1N1 flu response of the Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president: “So many times we’re talking in the abstract, what would it look like if somebody were president. You don’t have to guess what it would look like for pandemic responses under Joe Biden.”

McDowell wasn’t convinced and said, “Well, Hogan, these polls clearly matter to you and the president because he’s changed his position and tone based on that very polling to focus more on virus because you’re losing on that subject.”

Trump has repeatedly disparaged polling, but has specifically called out the Fox News polling unit on a number of occasions in recent weeks. Fox News has defended its pollsters, whose work shows Trump trailing Biden.

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