Hannity Melts Down at His Own Network’s Poll Spelling Trouble for Trump

One of Fox News’s biggest stars contradicted his own network’s polling in a spectacular on-air meltdown.

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Sean Hannity couldn’t fathom that Texas state Democratic Rep. James Talarico is leading perpetually scandal-ridden Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton 51 percent to 48 percent in the race for U.S. Senate, so much so that he rubbished his employer’s survey.

“Did you read your own poll today where Talarico is beating Paxton?” de Blasio asked.

This sent Hannity into a spiral. “OK, I don’t believe it for two seconds,” he said of the Fox News poll. “Not for two.”

The poll aired on Thursday, and it shows the 37-year-old Democrat leading Paxton by 3 points, as well as gaining ground among key constituencies—heralding a potential upset that could help Democrats gain control of the Senate in November’s midterms.

It shows him winning 68 percent of independents, 98 percent of Democrats, and about a quarter of non-MAGA Republicans. Talarico is the preferred choice among white evangelical Christians, white men without a college degree, rural voters, regular worship attenders, men, and voters ages 65 and older.

Talarico is also popular with Black voters, a turnaround after claiming only a fifth of Black votes in Houston and Dallas in a contentious primary win in March over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

He also polled well with moderates, voters under age 30, Hispanic voters, women and voters with a college degree.

Paxton defeated Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination in May after winning Trump’s endorsement despite a string of controversies including longstanding securities fraud charges, impeachment in the Texas House of Representatives, and a messy divorce in which he was accused of adultery.

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But it was Talarico that Hannity wanted to nail, calling him “Six-Gender Talarico,” adding that he “believes God is non-binary…believes biological men should play women’s sports, and believes that biological men should have access to abortion.”

De Blasio reminded the host that Talarico’s main concerns are “commonsense, kitchen-table issues,” calling the scenario “the worst nightmare for Republicans.”

“When you lose [political strategist] James Carville, and [late-night host] Bill Maher, and you lose [CEO of Stagwell Inc] Mark Penn, who was just on, and [Sen.] John Fetterman [D-PA], and [former Sen.] Joe Manchin [I-WV], I’m telling you, it’s a canary in the coal mine,” Hannity claimed.

“Nope,” responded de Blasio. “Young voters are gonna change these elections. You’re gonna be surprised, and they’re gonna be with the Democrats.”

Trump is clearly worried about Talarico, often weighing in to downgrade his campaign. He christened the young politician “Talafreako” during his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month.

The 80-year-old president said Talarico “hates guns, hates oil, hates sex, hates women, and says he is a ‘Christian who hates Christianity.’ Other than that, I think his platform is quite good.”

He has also compared Talarico’s appearance to that of Alfred E. Neuman, the Mad magazine mascot introduced in 1954.

In a Truth Social tirade in May, Trump said Talarico might be “the worst TEXAS candidate I have ever seen.”

Meanwhile, the Fox News poll is not the only one that spells trouble for Paxton. Talarico leads him 47 percent to 45 percent, according to a of 1,200 likely voters by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University released this week. Last Tuesday, a Texas Public Opinion Research survey had Talarico ahead 45 percent to 40 percent.

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