Joel Benenson, the chief strategist for the Hillary Clinton campaign, struggled Wednesday to defend Clinton against poor poll numbers.
CNN co-host Kate Bolduan showed Benenson some recent Quinnipiac University polls on various traits. Several of these polls show Trump beating Clinton. Benenson then struggled to explain why Clinton is still leading Trump.
"Let's go to the polls and see what the voters are saying these days. When you look at, we're working off the Quinnipiac polls that came out recently, when you look at them, Hillary Clinton has almost the same unfavorable rating," Bolduan said. "Hillary Clinton loses with independents to Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton loses on the question of honest and trustworthy. Hillary Clinton loses on who is more inspiring, Joel. What are you going to do about that?"
"Did you read the one on who fights more for people in the middle class?" Benenson asked.
"You don't care about who's more inspiring?" Bolduan asked.
"I care about who is going to be the person at the end of the day who's going to demonstrate to people that she will fight to make their lives better because that's going to be the most driving factor for voters in this election, who will keep us safe, who will make our economic lives better," Benenson said. "That's Hillary Clinton."
"Joel, what does this say that a person you just said, Hillary Clinton said, is temperamentally unfit to be president is rated as more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton?" co-host John Berman asked.
"Look, let's see the Democratic Party consolidate here, which I believe it will," Benenson said. "Hillary Clinton was also leading in that poll, I believe. I, correct me if I'm wrong."
"True fact," Berman said.
"So, the question you should be asking yourselves, and I think as analysts, is, why's Hillary Clinton leading?" Benenson said. "She's leading because people are making decisions based on things that may not be asked in that poll."