On the June 10 edition of MSNBC Live, Thomas Roberts chose to highlight a non-scientific poll that showed several Republican candidates for president polling behind Voldemort from Harry Potter. The segment was based on a Washington Post survey and a story that was highlighted by fellow Newsbusters blogger Matthew Balan.
MSNBC Live regular Frances Rivera noted that the Terminator, the shark from Jaws, and Lord Voldemort all had higher favorability ratings than many of the major Republican players:
As it turns out, Voldemort, the evil wizard, He Who Must Not Be Named himself, actually comes out better than six declared or potential presidential candidates. His net favorability and rating [is] roughly a negative 12. Well, that's slightly beating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, also Senator Ted Cruz, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former Senator Rick Santorum, also Governor Chris Christie as well. Who's blown away? This guy right here, Donald Trump, who has the highest with a negative 56 score.
To her credit, Rivera did note that the Terminator, the shark from Jaws, and Darth Vader also polled higher than President Obama and Hillary Clinton, leaving one to wonder what the point of this segment was.
Still, given that the vast majority of the segment was devoted to hyping the Republican candidates’ unpopularity relative to fictional movie characters, the intention of MSNBC seems clear: attack the Republicans.
The relevant portion of the transcript is below.
MSNBC
MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts
June 10, 2015
2:29 p.m. EasternTHOMAS ROBERTS, host: All right. So get this. Hillary Clinton is now on Instagram. The Democratic front-runner for president’s first post has all kinds of subtle nods to the campaign. You can check out her very patriotic spread of pantsuits pictured in a post that she captioned hard choices. Now, that's kind of funny. I gotta say, that is funny. So the Washington Post is having a little fun with the polling of some of the presidential candidates. The paper tracking their net favorability versus some of Hollywood's favorite villains. Frances is back now with a look at this. Favorite villains?
FRANCES RIVERA: How can you not have fun when you’re talking about these characters like Voldemort from Harry Potter, also the shark from Jaws, even the Terminator, also Darth Vader. The Post used numbers from the latest Washington Post/ABC News and Quinnipiac polls against a survey of Internet users about their feelings towards these villains as they're compared to presidential hopefuls. Okay. As it turns out, Voldemort, the evil wizard, He Who Must Not Be Named himself, actually comes out better than six declared or potential presidential candidates. His net favorability and rating roughly a negative 12. Well, that's slightly beating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, also Senator Ted Cruz, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former Senator Rick Santorum, also Governor Chris Christie, as well. Who's blown away? This guy right here, Donald Trump, who has the highest with a negative 56 score. So sorry there.
ROBERTS: Come on.
RIVERA: The Donald. All of them, though, they fail in comparison with other villains that the Post tracked. The Terminator, he’s up there. Darth Vader, also the shark from Jaws rate all rate higher than those presidential candidates. And even, get this, President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders aren't any match for this famous trio right. So how about we put these guys on the ballot and make it even more interesting and the debates a little bit more interesting, as well.
