Will midterms create more or less division on Capitol Hill?

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Will midterms create more or less division on Capitol Hill?

Democrats need to flip at least 23 seats to retake the House of Representatives; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," November 6, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Hello, I'm Dana Perino along with Laura Ingraham, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock here at Fox Square in New York City, and this is "The Five."

Fox News alert, it's decision day in America. Control of Congress is up for grabs as millions of Americans cast their ballots in what's shaping up to be historic midterm elections. The first polls are closing in less than two hours from now. We'll also tell you about the key toss-up races to keep an eye on tonight.

Plus, we're debuting our brand-new Fox News voter analysis results. We have a lot of ground to cover this hour. Jesse is getting rained on, so let's bring in Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum who are co-anchoring tonight's special election coverage. They're there in the studio at the election headquarters. How is it going tonight, Martha?

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST, "THE STORY": So far, so good, Dana. We're waiting for that data to come in. And it's going to be a whole new ball game with this information that we have, 125,000 people polled. Exit polls used to be about 25,000.

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR, "SPECIAL REPORT": And so, it's over five days. And you look at the early voting totals, more than 38 million Americans have either early voted or absentee ballots. And you're looking at probably historic early voting. And we might be looking at historic midterm voting before we get to the end of the night.

PERINO: All right. We're going to take it around the table if that's OK with you, and everyone will get a chance to ask you a question. I'll start with Jesse.

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: OK. So, because we know nothing at this point, all we can do is really speculate. But I'm wondering if I can grasp with some straws here. If you look on twitter you hear things like, oh, in this heavily Republican district in Indiana, the lines are wrapped a mile around or, you know, I showed up to vote in traditionally Democratic leaning district in North Carolina, and there was no one there. Can you take these anecdotes to the bank ever with -- in your experience? Are these just, kind of, one-off's that don't really set a trend?

BAIER: You know, ever since 2010, those are usually individual stories about districts. I think, broadly, we can look at numbers on early vote and actually have the numbers. But as far as the anecdotal, who's showing up, you know you get stories all over the place. I think you're going to see in a place like Missouri that doesn't have early voting, a lot of turnout, a long, long lines. And I bet you're going to have some people voting late into the night and polls staying open to try to get those people in.

MACCALLUM: Yeah. I mean, what we're definitely all picking up on is just a general enthusiasm and the interest in this election. In the likes of which, I think, the only time we thought was in the presidential election back in 2016. So, there's clearly enthusiasm. And we've just sort -- you see it and feel it in our conversations with everyone you have out there that there's just an incredible amount of interest in politics in general, in the president, certainly, and in this election, absolutely.

PERINO: All right. Laura Ingraham, our guest here, first time on "The Five."

LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST CO-HOST: I'm really nervous. I'm very nervous.

PERINO: Are you nervous?

INGRAHAM: I don't know. I'm not a guest very often.

PERINO: Any question you like.

INGRAHAM: I'm getting rained on. Juan, I'm going to give you all my rain.

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Oh.

INGRAHAM: Is it still the case, Brett and Martha, that whatever happens tonight, America is a divided nation. We're divided along cultural lines.  We're divided around political lines. Obviously, we're a nation that's more diverse than ever when it comes to ethnicity and backgrounds. But will this nation -- will this nation in any way be less divided after this midterm election?

MACCALLUM: Great question.

BAIER: That is a great question. I don't think whatever the result is tonight that it's going to lead to less division. In fact, if anything, it may turn the other way. If Democrats win the house, and it's an if. I mean, it's not a when, it's an if. If they pull off 23 net gains seats, they're going to have to make a decision, whether they are investing in the president and his administration at every turn, or trying to negotiate for big things they want, infrastructure, other big-ticket items.

MACCALLUM: I think, also, this is the first moment when those who are resisting the president have a chance to actually vote on that, and that may be some sort of cathartic experience for some people who are in that camp. But then they're going to get a chance to see how they, you know, how they like it, how it feels if they have a Democratic house. Is it going to create, you know, logjams? And that will play out in and of itself. But I think at least now, people who feel like they want to register their dissatisfaction with the president are going to get a chance to do it for real in the voting booth.

BAIER: The short answer, no.

PERINO: Juan Williams, hit us with your best question.

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, so, to me, it looks like Trump's name might as well be on the ballot. And especially, I think, it's the case with gallop showing right now, 60 percent of Americans say they want to send a message about President Trump. And, right now, when you look at his numbers, it's about 40, 41, 42 percent approval. And for a president at that standing, historically, you're going to lose seats about 30 plus. Do you have any sense right now what the margin might be in the house?

BAIER: No. We don't. I mean, we're going to look at this data, probably in about 10 minutes. By the way, you're going to see it on the bottom of your screen. It's going to start scrolling different states and different facts and figures coming from this voter analysis that we've been doing.  But we don't, Juan. And you're right. Traditionally, historically, the party in power loses anywhere from 25 to 33 seats in a midterm election.  This could be different. It could be, obviously, more than that in a blue wave. And, you know, the caveats is it could fall short of the 23. One thing is clear, there is a weakness in the rust belt and that may for the GOP, and maybe tied to some of the tariff situations and some of the backlash for that particular policy.

WILLIAMS: Great point.

MACCALLUM: Iowa is definitely a place to watch where the tariffs may come in to play. And there's a couple of big elections there tonight.

MACCALLUM: All right. I saved the best question for you all, for last.  This is Greg Gutfeld, everyone. Greg Gutfeld.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Hi, all. It's more of an analysis than a question, but I'll try to frame it as a question. So, Obama, during one of his midterms, lost like 60 plus seats, right?

PERINO: First one.

GUTFELD: So the Democrats if they win 30, it's actually kind of a win for Republicans, and it's only a temporary reprieve because in two years, those seats are going to be up when President Trump is running, which he's going to get the whole base out there. So it's very possible that those 30 seats are like a rest stop on the freeway to Trump-ville. It's like a temporary oasis. There's no getting around it. It's not actually a win.  Especially, when you spent two years -- two years doing nothing but planning for this day. If you just only get 30 seats that's like getting dumped after losing 30 pounds.

MACCALLUM: Well, I think this is the argument that you're going to hear from the White House for sure, is that it wasn't as bad.

BAIER: Particularly like that?

MACCALLUM: Exactly like that, I'm sure. Right for right.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

PERINO: All right, Bret and Martha, thank you for being with us and for being there and for anchoring our coverage tonight. We'll see you all night long. Thank you very much. We will see you in a bit.

BAIER: All right.

PERINO: See you, guys. But we are not leaving yet. We're going to have lots more analysis here. Laura, any other thoughts as we head into this election night?

INGRAHAM: Depending on what happens in the house, if it's close, and I think it probably will be closer than people think, these Republicans -- this wrath of Republicans who announce their retirement like Jeb Hensarling, remember he was -- he's head of the house financial services committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida. They might look back and think maybe that decision to retire was a little bit premature because if it's close, they probably would have won by a large margin or would have made it even closer. So I think people might have prematurely announced their retirement.

PERINO: They might. Although -- but people who love term limits, people deciding to retire might not be such a bad thing.

INGRAHAM: Majority is better than that, though.

PERINO: Juan Williams.

WILLIAMS: But I think the reason, Laura, that they decided to retire wasn't that they thought they would necessarily lose, but they weren't Trump Republicans. And so.

INGRAHAM: Pick up their marbles and go home?

WILLIAMS: Yeah. I think a lot of people.

INGRAHAM: Well, that's mature.

WILLIAMS: . not comfortable, I'm not going to defend the guy. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon, which is what most Republicans have done.  I just want to go back to numbers that we know at this point about early people because 35 million, this is incredible, 35 million people have either voted early or cast absentee ballots. In 2014, the last midterm that we had, it was only 14 million. So it's more than double the number.  And, again, an indication of how energized the American people are for these midterms.

PERINO: And as Jesse pointed out to me on the commercial break -- maybe we'll have a moment to talk about it, a lot of Republican races -- Republican candidates did very well in the last 48 hours leading into what are tight races. Everything is on a nice edge, but Republicans doing better in some places.

WATTERS: Right. Our crack research team here at The Five did a deep dive on some of the late polling, Dana. And if you look at Indiana, and Arizona, Missouri, and Florida, and even Montana, you saw a real Republican surge within the last two days of polling. Now people that, for instance, Donnelly now was down in two races. We're talking about in Florida, a Rick Scott was up in two races. And McSally is looking very strong surging late in Arizona. And Tester is now within the margin of error, Democrats in Montana. So, it looks like the Republicans serves late, and Donald Trump's late campaign blitz and to all of these key races may have paid off dividends.

PERINO: And they've got good economic numbers on Friday.

GUTFELD: Exactly. You know, it's weird how much you have to ignore in order to vote Democrat. You have to ignore the job boom. You have to ignore the economy, wages. You have to ignore an improved peaceful world in terms of foreign policy. You have to ignore the fact that an overwhelming number of people in America are happy. And this is why the resistance is so deceptive because their leaders are wealthy enough that they can actually rollback things that are good for the rest of America because they hate somebody so much and they hate that you're happy. It's really kind of sad and disgusting that they're taking this so personally.

PERINO: Bur we're not sad or discussing here.

GUTFELD: well, I am.

PERINO: A little bit. All right, up next, will President Trump final pitch to voters pay off? That's next on The Five live from Fox Square.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: President Trump hitting the trail hard yesterday, making his final pitch to midterm voters in key tossed-up states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But the key is you have to go out there and vote because, in a sense, Democrats produce mobs. Republicans produce jobs. If you want more caravans, if you want more crime, vote Democrat. Together, we have made extraordinary progress, and we are just getting started. This is the greatest political movement in the history of our country. What you've done. The greatest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: For more on what's going on at the White House, let's go to John Roberts. John?

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Jesse, good afternoon to you. First of all, look at this beautiful sunset over the EEOB right beside us here.  This is outside of our live location. Isn't that pretty? Waiting for the president to get into his election watching evening, which he's going to be doing. He has invited family and some friends over to watch some of the early results. The president believing that there's nothing else he could have done to pull Republicans across the finish line since Labor Day. He's had 13 rallies, did 11 in 8 states over the last six days. And pretty much has said that's all I can do. But he did work the phones today, was working twitter as well. So now they just have to sit back and see the results.

But the feeling around here is they'll probably net pick up a couple of seats in the senate, so they'll maintain control of the senate and extend their margin. A big question around here tonight, what happens in the house? The predictions are that the Democrats are going to take control of the house. But a lot of people remember that this time in 2016, we were getting briefings and how all the exit polls showed that we're probably going to declare Hillary Clinton the winner of the presidency. About 11 o'clock at night, and then everything started to turn around. At about 9 o'clock in the evening, and they're wondering if that might be the case again in 2018. All the projections would seem to suggest that that won't happen. Here at the White House, they're holding out hope for may be a minor miracle sometime this evening.

I don't know if they'll get it, Jesse.  But there's no question, you heard Martha and Bret talking about it, so much enthusiasm in this midterm election, which is so unusual, so many people coming out in early voting and a lot of people coming out today to vote, despite the weather. So we'll see. It's going to be an interesting night.

WATTERS: All right, John, thank you very much. All right, Laura, the Republicans have held the house for 20 out of the last 24 years. You know, they only lost it in 2006, as well some of the scandals and some of the, you know, the Iraq war was dragging on. But they got it back after Pelosi and Obama overreached. Do you see, right now, with no recession, no scandal, hot economy, do you see any reason substantively for Republicans to lose the house?

INGRAHAM: I mean, I think when you look at these ads across the country, and I've had a chance to travel across the country a lot in the last three or four weeks, there is one issue that they did focus on and its health care. So it was, you're going to hurt the kid with cancer, you're going to hurt the grandmother who needs those special operation. So it's back to the scare tactics on Obamacare. That's the main say. That's the one policy they really focus on. The separation of the kids at the border, I don't think most people are going to vote on that. But they -- that was the one issue I think that they honed in on that might deliver some dividends.

However, I think most of the resistance voters out there are resisting the tone of Trump. They're resisting, as Greg said, his personality. It's like they're putting blinders on of all the greatness. There's never a better time to be an American than today. I think in my lifetime, even during Reagan. This is just -- if you want to work, you're going to work.  If you want to make a better living and you follow the rules, you don't, you know, go to jail or something, you're going to get -- make a better living if you want that.

But the left is so jacked to send a bad -- send a message to the president that, oh, no, we're not going to be fool again. We were embarrassed in 2016. We're going to embarrass you now. It's personal with the left. And Republicans are about -- sometimes about charts and numbers and GDP. The storytelling -- the art of the storytelling sometimes is lost on Republicans. Maybe if it doesn't go the way that the Republicans want, they can learn a little bit about the storytelling of this great recovery.

WATTERS: All right. What do you think, did they tell the right story, Dana?

PERINO: It remains to be seen. And when we get the Fox News voter analysis, we'll be able to see. In the midterm for Republicans, like the Electoral College can't save you, OK? It really is a majority vote. And in these congressional districts, some of them are very close. And a lot of the Republicans that decided to retire were in districts that Hillary Clinton won by a little bit, maybe like you're looking at Dean Heller in his race. That's not a district. That's a whole state of Nevada. But I think that -- the fact that there're some good candidates recruitment on the Republican side does help them. There was some good -- on the Democratic side in the house, in particularly, 172 veterans are running for congress right now, so some of them are going to win.

And there's going to be some new energy. And there might be some willingness by some of these people to actually work together. Let's just say that the Democrats take back the house, are they going to deny working with President Trump on an infrastructure bill that they have wanted for a long time? Will they deny an immigration deal that the president might offer to them? Will they deny an opportunity to go against price control for pharmaceutical companies, which is not a conservative position but something that the White House is pushing forward. So I think a lot remains to be seen. It's not the worst thing in the world for anyone to have a midterm as Greg was saying. It's like a -- it's a way station.

WATTERS: Yeah. We can do some wheeling and dealing, Gutfeld.

GUTFELD: Well, to your point, OK, about the idea of working together, which is -- I think it's very hard to do because once you go full Hitler it's hard to go back. If you've been spending two years calling a guy insane, calling him racist, calling him sexist, and calling him Hitler, all of a sudden you're angry base is going to go wait, now you want to work with Hitler? It's like telling your kids there's a monster under your bed.  But now we're having the monster over for dinner. It doesn't work.

WATTERS: What do you predict on that front, Juan?

WILLIAMS: Oh, I think Democrats will have to make a measure of what works for them and what doesn't. But I don't think there's any doubt despite the spin that I hear at this table that when the American people are asked about this midterm election, what they say is Donald Trump's name might as well be on the ballot. It's a referendum on Trump.

WATTERS: But that could be from Republicans too.

WILLIAMS: But here's the rest of the story if you let me finish. You get a situation where 34 percent of the 60 say, you know what, we're voting to oppose Donald Trump. Twenty six percent say they want to support. But the Wall Street Journal-NBC poll showed 59 percent, 59 percent, Jesse, say they want a great deal or some change in the way that Donald Trump is managing and leading this country. So I think when you look at that, you understand that despite all the spin about, well, it's not that many seats, or, gee whiz, he's done so much. People say, you know what, that tax deal, that was a bad deal for me.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: Juan, can I just say -- it's not -- let me speak for myself. It's not spin. I have that job. That's not the job I do here, it's analysis.

WILLIAMS: Right.

PERINO: That's what I was providing.

WILLIAMS: But I'm telling you, I think a lot of people, especially on the health care issue that Laura was talking about all say, hey, you take away the individual mandates, you say you're going to repeal and replace and you don't do it. You say you're going to build a wall, you don't do it. Keep going.

WATTERS: All right. Juan, we've got to go, but there's no spin here. Up next, President Trump makes voting great again, details when we return on our special Election Day coverage from Fox Square.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Welcome back. Well, the midterms use to be like boring, didn't they?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know the midterm elections used to be like boring, didn't they? Do you even remember what they were? People say midterms, they say what is that? What is it, right? Now it's like the hottest thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: It's the hottest thing. The midterms are really more like spring break for older children, a crazed group who see nothing but evil in Trump.  Think Dems gone wild. Now they're even stripping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, like your life depends on it, vote. I'll be at Cathy Potter's campaign headquarters. I'll be at -- campaign headquarters today. And we will be at -- I'll be at UC Irvine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: That's an actual adult. So exactly two years ago, these kids got their blind rage on and never took it off. There was no pleasing them, especially if they're well off enough not to be affected by a great economy or job market. They don't need Trump the way that the rest of America does. And Trump does make a great target. He's a law & order guy, defending the process behind borders, national and domestic security. It's one word, boundaries. Boundaries exist to frame the path toward a goal.  Wyoming without fences is just another chunk of the planet. That fence is -- and you get order and logic. You need them for a country's identity.  And you need them as laws, which allow people to lead free lives without harm. What's the problem?

Well, any law & order stance becomes heartless because the left separates the process, which is enforcing laws from the results which is creating order. So, military, cops, ICE, they're just big meanies. It's childish to pretend that laws don't lead to better lives, but it works. So today votes it's about adults versus those with a teenage view of the world. And even though the kids know that without grown-ups, they'd be dead. Who cares? Because the adults will always be around, hurting feelings, making rules and posing limits. Making life possible. Kids just have a hard time forgiving grown-ups for making life impossible.

You know a perfect example, Dana? Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York.  I call him stupid-zilla.

PERINO: Oh, God. I know him.

GUTFELD: If there wasn't a security bed already made for him by Giuliani and then Bloomberg, New York would be in chaos mainly because his ideology forbids being pro-cop, pro-law and order. So he inherits this so he'll be even more aggressive.

PERINO: Right. And then you can see it eroding. Now he's in his second term, so you can absolutely see that. I think Democrats are going to have to really sit down and try to figure out what are they for on immigration?

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: Because -- aside from building a wall, President Trump's policies are very much like Barack Obama's.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: It's not all that different, the deportation, the use of ICE, the family separation, we've already talked about that. Like, obviously, that was -- course correction on that one. But other than that, the Democrats are going to have to figure out what we can be for because they not win in races where Republicans have won if they don't figure out what they're going to say on it.

GUTFELD: What should they do, Laura?

INGRAHAM: Well, I just have to say this. Reuters right now just could get into how the media has been so in the bag -- the mainstream media so in the bag for the Democrats. Right now, on Reuters, there is a headline that says, "Whatever the results tonight, Beto set to emerge victorious." I'm sorry, so if you lose, you win. If you win, you win.

I think the way we have to look at this is people do you like divided government.

GUTFELD: Yes.

INGRAHAM: They like a check on --

GUTFELD: It's so true.

INGRAHAM: If they think Trump is a little too much here.

GUTFELD: Yes.

INGRAHAM: We'll try it for a few years where there's a check on him.

GUTFELD: Absolutely.

INGRAHAM: If things don't go well then, maybe they're going to throw that party out.

PERINO: Right.

INGRAHAM: I mean, people are in the mood to kind of give -- give report cards. But I'm telling you, Jesse and Greg, on the substance, you cannot argue with Trump's policies.

GUTFELD: Yes.

INGRAHAM: They're winning across the board.

Right track/wrong track, by the way, Juan, has been trending upward the past year, and it's better than they were in 2010. So that's an interesting mark.

WILLIAMS: Maybe that's why his approval rating is so low, Laura.

GUTFELD: Actually --

INGRAHAM: Well, I think that's about personality.

GUTFELD: -- like, 51, I just read.

WILLIAMS: No, it's not 51. That's ridiculous.

GUTFELD: It's not.

WILLIAMS: To your point, your monologue, I just want to say, as the oldest person sitting here, I want to stand up for the young people. Because guess what?

GUTFELD: They're the only one voting for you.

WILLIAMS: In terms of the young people tonight, what we know is that in Georgia, a state like Georgia, four times the rate of turnout in 14. In Texas and Nevada, five times, Greg. In Arizona, three times.

So what you see is young people more engaged. This goes to the top of your monologue, which is Trump has made midterms more relevant, more interesting, more essential for Americans. And I think we engage people in the political process who previously thought, "Ehh, midterms," or "Oh, elections." And a lot of those folks, from the Democratic perspective, thought, "Hillary Clinton is going to win, so why bother?"

GUTFELD: Yes. Yes. Jesse.

WATTERS: I mean, Trump makes everything hot right now. I mean, the economy, Twitter, trade. "Liars, Leakers and Liberals," that book's flying off the shelves.

Also some negative things. You know, we now know how hot the special counsel is. We know who Jim Acosta is, unfortunately.

But if you put Trump's name in front of everything, it just makes it good.  A For instance, I only eat Trump steaks. And I didn't even know what a steak was until I saw Trump steaks.

GUTFELD: You are pathetic. You're just trying to angle for free steak.

WATTERS: Yes, send them over to FOX, please.

GUTFELD: Yes. All right. Up next, Shannon Bream gives us a first look at our brand-new FOX News Voter Analysis. FN Voter Analysis.

PERINO: Oh, yes.

GUTFELD: That's up next when "The Five" returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Fox News alert. We're debuting a brand-new way to analyze the decisions made by voters in the midterm elections. Let's go straight to Shannon Bream with the very first look at our Fox News Voter Analysis -- Shannon.

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, Juan, as you all have talked about earlier, we are using a new, innovative approach this year to find out what is motivating voters? Fox News Voter Analysis. We're talking with more than 130,000 Americans all across the country, so let's jump in.

First of all, the economy. Now, most voters feel it is an excellent or good shape, 65 percent. That's great for incumbents out there.

Now on the issue of immigration. Such a hot topic in the final days of campaigning. Views are divided on the border wall. Forty-six percent say they favor it; 53 percent say they oppose it.

On Obamacare, the views are even more closely divided. Half want to repeal at least part of the law. Half would keep it all in place and even expand it.

All right, next up, lots of Republicans complaining about the P.C. culture these days. Two-thirds of voters agree. They feel the pressure to be politically correct. They say that it has gone too far. Republicans are nearly twice as likely as Democrats to feel that way.

Now, last one. We've heard the Democrats talk a lot about voter I.D. laws, how they can be used for suppression, in their estimation. So we asked nonvoters, "Why aren't you getting out and voting this year?" And many of them say they're not into politics. They don't like the candidates. At the bottom of the list, though, there is a percentage that says they don't have identification, about three percent.

Now, all night long, we'll have a lots more voter analysis through the evening. State-by-state, we'll be able to dig into individual races and issues throughout the night as those polls start to close.

Guys, back to you.

WILLIAMS: Shannon, thank you so much.

Laura, this is an intriguing moment. You see the divisions on so many issues in those polls, from the wall to health care. What do you think?

INGRAHAM: Well, I think on health care, I'm going to go back to that for a moment. I think, again, the storytelling on what Republicans were going to do with health care was really lame. I don't think they explained it well to the American people. I don't think a lot of people still understand what Obamacare actually does. And it was Republicans' responsibility to make their alternative clear, even if John McCain was going to go and vote against it at the last minute.

I don't think the American people, I don't think Paul Ryan, I don't think the Senate leadership really made this clear. I think that was a missed opportunity.

Today, most people don't know that the Democrats do have a plan for health care. It's called Medicare for all, and it will cost about $32 trillion to implement. Thirty two -- people get what that is.

PERINO: Yes.

INGRAHAM: That's unattainable, unreachable.

So on the issue of -- and this is a favorite for Gutfeld, is the P.C. culture. People don't want a speech code from college campuses foisted upon American society. It's too much, it's too repressive, it's too anti- free speech. That is Trump. That's the Trump effect.

Not everything's racist; not everything's anti-Semitic. There are some things that are racist, and there are some things that are anti-Semitic at that should be called out. But not everything someone says or not everything on television that disagrees with your point of view is racist.  I think that is an interesting barometer of where we are today.

WILLIAMS: Jesse, what you heard from Shannon on the wall, 53 percent of Americans oppose it. Forty-six percent favor it. What do you make of that?

WATTERS: It's evenly split. I think a lot of maybe even Republicans that don't want the wall, don't like the cost of it, or are more business friendly.

But if Republicans look at those numbers from that analysis that we just showed, I think they come away with a positive afterglow. If you look at the economy, two-thirds are very satisfied. That's fantastic.

On Obamacare, we've heard for years how Obamacare is even more popular now.  And everybody loves Obamacare. In fact, a majority, although slight, wants it repealed.

And then the P.C. culture, overwhelmingly people reject P.C. culture. And we've been all hearing for years about how we have to be so sensitive and walk around on eggshells with everything you say and hear. Look at that.  That's not where the American middle is.

And I would just finally close with this. The white working men and women of this country, the working-class, blue-collar voters, that is the Trump base. They usually swing elections. Those are the people that Clinton got, Bush got, Obama got, and then Trump recaptured with his trade, immigration, and un-P.C. narrative in 2016. Whether those white working- class voters stay with the Republican Party, because they're not cemented down at all, I think that's going to be the key to the election.

WILLIAMS: Dana, what did you make of the idea that, among people who said they're not voting, the biggest reason was, "I don't like politics"?

PERINO: Well, I think that's probably right. Right? Those are people that are, like, not into it. And it's not everybody's cup of tea. But also in America, like, not voting is a vote. Like, you get a choice.

So I think that the number, the 65 percent of people saying the economy is wrong, if the president can find a way to make these gains durable for the next 18 months, his reelection is probably in pretty good shape.

WILLIAMS: Greg.

GUTFELD: Well, you know what I noticed was not in the analysis? Nothing about the Russian probe, because nobody cares about the Russian probe.

You know what? And this is an important point, because Adam Schiff said that if they flip the House, they're going to renew the Russian probe, which has been failing for the last -- I don't know how long. Renewing the Russian probe is like giving CPR to a corpse.

PERINO: All right.

WILLIAMS: Well, how about that?

GUTFELD: I wouldn't know about that, though.

WILLIAMS: Take that. Take that, Robert Mueller.

Ahead, Nancy Pelosi supremely confident that Democrats will retake the House. See it right here, next on "The Five."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you 100 percent sure of the green light (ph) in your mind?

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., MINORITY LEADER: Yes, I am.

I feel confident that we will win. It's just a question of what the size of victory is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Nancy Pelosi saying there's no doubt she'll be the next speaker of the House, and let's face it: if Democrats succeed in flipping enough seats tonight, you can be sure that they're going to investigate, resist, and obstruct President Trump every chance they get. Don't believe me? Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: And I will fight every day until he is impeached. Impeach 45.

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ, D-N.J.: If the Democrats take over, we will rectify that failure. We will -- we will hold hearings.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: We also want to determine whether financial motives are motivating the president and the first family. This is the very problem with the president not releasing his tax returns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So we know what's in store for Republicans. Are they ready, if this should befall the House of Representatives?

Let's go right to Jesse. Jesse, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, they're going to look at everything from the branding of Trump properties, the Emoluments Clause, probably. Who knows? Jared -- Jared is going to get his cell phone looked at. I mean, you never know what they'll be up to.

Is that what the voters -- aside from the real resistance types, is that what the voters are voting for tonight?

WATTERS: No, they're not voting for subpoenas and investigations. They're going to try to go after Trump's taxes. They're -- Maxine Waters is going to be in charge of Wall Street. I don't know if I can even wrap my head around that.

I mean, if I were Trump, I'd much rather have the Senate than have the House. If you have the Senate, you can still confirm judges, and then you can knock down all of Pelosi's crazy bills.

Matt Lewis in The Beast has a great article. Here's the headline: "Losing the House Could Be Good for Donald Trump, And Here is Why." And a lots of Republicans or a lot of presidents lose the House in the first two years and then come back and win reelection.

Pelosi is going to go hard left and overreach. If something goes south, you can spread the blame around. Trump can campaign against the do-nothing Congress, and who knows? You could pivot and wheel and deal. So there's going to be plenty of options.

INGRAHAM: Juan, is there in investigatory overreach for the Democrats, should they take the House?

WILLIAMS: Yes, especially when you think about a president who can say, "I'm being victimized or obstructed."

INGRAHAM: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And that plays big with the Republican base. They're very grievance-oriented and, in a divided country --

INGRAHAM: Democrats don't, though?

WILLIAMS: No, I just said --

INGRAHAM: OK.

WILLIAMS: -- I think grievance plays really well. And in a divided country, what you're going to get is there are a lot of people who will therefore say, "Our guy is under attack. We better support." So that could help him in that -- in that regard, Laura.

INGRAHAM: It helped Obama in the end after 2010. Right? The Republicans came in, Dana, and they went hard at Obama. He was reelected.

PERINO: Yes.

INGRAHAM: He was reelected.

PERINO: And it's the same for Bill Clinton. Right? So the 1994 midterm, the Republicans take it all, all across the country. And Bill Clinton wins reelection quite handily in 1996. So yes, there is precedent for that.

I -- I was there in 2006 when the -- George W. Bush lost the Republican majorities, and the thing that happened immediately was almost all legal.  It was every day, document request, document preservation. They wanted to destroy Karl Rove. They're going to subpoena everything. And it just never ended.

Even if Nancy Pelosi is telling her troops -- and there's going to be a lot of new committee chairmen. They're going to -- everybody's going to want to get a bite. Even if she's telling them to tap the brakes, it's going to be very hard for them not to.

Because some people are voting for that, right? They want these investigations. Somehow they think that will save them.

INGRAHAM: And Greg, when you think of someone like a Jerry Nadler, who would be in charge of Judiciary, OK, he has not thrown out the possibility, dismissed it, that Justice Kavanaugh --

GUTFELD: Yes.

INGRAHAM: -- they would proceed to impeach him, after we find out that two of these accusers are going to be criminally investigated by the Justice Department. How is that going to play?

GUTFELD: It will be awful, and I kind of hope they do it, because I think what's really hypocritical is that they claim they believed these women --

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: -- until he got confirmed. And then all of a sudden, these women just went away.

And by the way, I love how the media pretends that they didn't take these accusations seriously. They all -- they mentioned all five of them every chance they could get. They grouped them together to create a larger narrative. They had five weak cases.

INGRAHAM: All right, up next, "One More Thing."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: OK, it's time now for "One More Thing." So I voted today, and I didn't know that there was this big controversy about the "I voted" stickers. So they're -- this started, like, in the 1980s. And then everyone started doing them.

Well, apparently, they're very expensive, about $0.10 apiece.

GUTFELD: Wow.

PERINO: So there are some localities that have decided not to do any "I voted" stickers today, and this has created a whole thing. So I got a couple of extra today, and I brought them to the staff, because they voted out where they didn't have enough.

And New York Suffolk County election commissioner said he would not spend $20,000 in taxpayer money on adhesive participation stickers. It does create a lot of peer pressure. A problem.

GUTFELD: Dana, you can't use this as a Christmas gift for the staff.

INGRAHAM: Oh, my God.

PERINO: Yes, that would be -- but do you want to give it to them on my behalf?

GUTFELD: Yes, sure.

PERINO: Anyway, voter stickers. Anybody get one?

GUTFELD: No.

WATTERS: No.

INGRAHAM: I didn't wear mine.

PERINO: I got one. All right, Juan, you're next.

WILLIAMS: All right. So as you know, in a midterm election, turnout is everything, and this time around, this season there's been record turnout.

Now in my family, in my home back in Washington, D.C., we're a very political family, right down to the grandkids. My youngest son, as you know, works for Dr. Ben Carson. Here he is with, Dana, his "I voted" sticker.

PERINO: There you go.

WILLIAMS: Now here's my older son, Tony. He ran as a Republican for city council in D.C. Here he is with his "I voted" sticker.

And here's my daughter, who is, I think, the politically wise woman of the world. Here she is with her "I voted" sticker.

But best of all, how about a 6-year-old granddaughter with her "I voted" sticker?

PERINO: Not allowed.

GUTFELD: Typical Democrat.

PERINO: Not allowed.

WILLIAMS: It's proof that -- oh, yes.

GUTFELD: Typical Democrat. Illegal voting.

WILLIAMS: Proof that family voting can be a family affair.

PERINO: All right, Jesse, you're next, please.

WATTERS: OK, so a guy was running for office in Los Angeles, and he changed his name. His name was John Lowe. Changed his middle name to John Lower Taxes Lowe. And he's going to lose, but let's get that out of the way.

I'm going to make a prediction, OK? I predicted Trump was going to win in 2016, so I have a good feel for these things. So if I screw this one up, at least I'm 1 for 1.

I'm saying in the Senate, Republicans add 4 Senate seats, and Democrats pick up 20-28 seats in the House.

PERINO: That's not that bold in the House.

WATTERS: That's how specific I'm going to get, and you guys can take that to the bank. No one else can maybe -- no one else at this table is making predictions.

PERINO: Only four? Only four, Jesse?

WATTERS: I'm the boldest one of us all.

PERINO: Only four?

WATTERS: I'm going with five.

PERINO: All right. So he's going to go with five. Greg.

GUTFELD: I'm actually going to say pick up four, and for the House, it will be 23.

WATTERS: Oh, dead even.

GUTFELD: Yes.

All right, let's go to this.

GRAPHIC: Greg's Furniture News

GUTFELD: "Greg's Furniture News." I get very excited when they invent a new piece of furniture, and they have finally invented the one that I've always wanted. They call it the otterman. Let's take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(TWO OTTERS ON AN OTTOMAN)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: It's basically -- what it is, it's a typical ottoman, right?

PERINO: Right.

GUTFELD: But it has otters on it.

PERINO: Oh, that's great.

GUTFELD: It's an otterman. Now look at this. I have -- these are my otters.

PERINO: Does it come with the otters?

GUTFELD: Yes, it comes with the otters.

PERINO: Do you have to buy them separately?

GUTFELD: And they're quite comfortable.

WATTERS: Otters, two "T's."

GUTFELD: Y es, that's true.

WATTERS: I like that.

GUTFELD: All right, enough of this.

PERINO: I kind of liked that.

PERINO: All right, Laura, your turn. "One More Thing."

INGRAHAM: All right, we otter get going here.

WATTERS: Oh!

GUTFELD: Nicely done.

WATTERS: You fit in well.

INGRAHAM: All right. So apparently, it's not just your hair, OK, that the humidity can mess with, guys. Your vote may be messed up, too. I kid you not.

Voters in Wake County, North Carolina, struggled to get certain voting machines working and their ballots. And here is what Wake County Board of Elections Director Gary Sims said was at the root of the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY SIMS, WAKE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS DIRECTOR: First thing this morning, a lot -- there was a lot of humidity. There was a lot of, you know, fog. Even right now, you can feel how humid it is outside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: That's amazing.

INGRAHAM: Wait a second, wait a second. Humidity. They also said the size of the 17-inch ballot is also partially to blame.

The machines have been in place since 2006, and they're reportedly going to be replaced after this election. It's raining outside in New York, and we women generally don't like humidity, and neither do certain voting machines.

PERINO: That's good to know for the future, if you're thinking about that.  You've got to check the weather forecast.

And think -- anyone -- Juan, do you want to make a prediction?

WILLIAMS: I don't -- I don't make predictions, because I'm usually wrong.  I certainly was wrong in '16, Dana.

WATTERS: Good. So make a prediction.

WILLIAMS: I do think -- but I think this time around, if you just look at all the models, including the improved Fox model, I don't think there's much question Democrats will do well.

INGRAHAM: Whatever happens tonight, the mainstream, lame-stream media will conclude that it is a total repudiation of Trump's policies.

WILLIAMS: I can only hope.

PERINO: All right. It's like even if you lose, you win.

WILLIAMS: I can only hope.

INGRAHAM: And the prosperity.

PERINO: Gregory, any other last thought?

GUTFELD: I'm going to go get a drink.

PERINO: OK. Make it a good one.

INGRAHAM: Margaritas.

PERINO: All right, that's it for us on "The Five." I hope you stay tuned for Fox News Channel's special live coverage of the midterm elections, co- anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

We're going to send it over to you guys. Here you go.

INGRAHAM: Perfect.
 
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