Why the Former RNC Chair is Supporting Biden

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Can I first ask you, because I think you have now moved from having been, you know, chairman of the RNC to actually wanting to vote against President Trump and joining the Lincoln Project, which is basically calling on Republicans to vote for Joe Biden. Why would you do that?

MICHAEL STEELE, FORMER CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, there’s more to the presidency than a policy or Supreme Court nomination. You know, for many conservatives like myself, Republicans, across the spectrum, you know, we’ve also valued the quality of the men, unfortunately, just been men but the quality of individuals who have been in that Oval Office who served behind the resolute desk. So, we look at the character. The character — I mean, we were a party that always argued about the character of an individual mattering in how they lead and the direction in which they take the country. So, with this president we’ve seen his character. He’s shown it to us time and time again. It’s not just, you know, I love a good tax cut can. I know both of the — his recent appointments to the Supreme Court and I don’t know, unfortunately, his latest appointment, but they are good jurisprudence and jurists and doing well, I’m sure, but there’s more to it than that and I think the country right now is sort of evaluating what kind of leadership it needs to move it into the future. So, we think that at this point the individual who brings the character to the table, who is willing to take the risk on behalf of the American people, and, look, I’ll disagree with Joe Biden all day on public policy, but right now, the country is not concerned so much about that as it is, can you help us re-establish the relationship with our foreign leaders and partners around the globe, can you help re-establish our faith in institutions and how they help govern the country, and I think that matters a lot more than people realize.

AMANPOUR: So, can I ask you what you make of, you know, we broadcast these polls. Everybody, as always, is looking at the horse race. Obviously, everybody got a big sort of surprise the last time around because it didn’t turn out the way the polls said it would. What do you see — I mean, and you really are an insider who knows how to track these things and knows what to look out for. What do you feel the landscape looks like right now in terms of the election, you know, 27 days from now?

STEELE: That’s an excellent question, and I think the one thing that really separates 2020 from 2016 in terms of how people looked at the polls and how the polls were so wrong in 2016 relative to the outcome is what we’ve seen since July of last year, July of 2019 is a consistency in the lead that Biden has had over Donald Trump going back over a year. We did not see that in 2020.