On the October 19 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews again falsely claimed that “Republicans know from the polls they got two strengths right now” -- “terrorism” and "[t]axes" -- and then added: "[W]hether the current polls back that up or not."

As Media Matters for America has noted (here and here), recent polls show that Americans trust Democrats more on taxes than they do Republicans, a finding that is reaffirmed in the most recent Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll on the subject, which showed a 46 percent-to-35 percent Democratic advantage on taxes in February 2006 and an advantage of 45 percent to 30 percent in September. Nevertheless, Matthews has repeatedly claimed Republicans have an advantage over Democrats on taxes, including on October 11 edition of Hardball, when he declared that “Democrats cannot match” Republicans “on the issue of taxes,” which “I believe, having watched politics for a number of years, is the best Republican strategy.” Matthews has recently returned to the claim that the tax issue benefits Republicans despite admitting in March that polling indicated “people trust Democrats more on tax cutting.”

Further, as Media Matters has also documented, recent polling indicates that Democrats hold an advantage over Republicans on dealing with terrorism. For example, an October 6-8 CNN poll found that 45 percent of respondents felt Democrats “would do a better job” in dealing with terrorism versus 40 percent who indicated a preference for Republicans on that issue. The poll's margin of error was +/- 3 percent. Similarly, an October 6-8 Gallup/USA Today poll, also with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent, also gave Democrats a five-point advantage over Republicans -- 46 percent to 41 percent -- on “who would best handle terrorism”; a Newsweek poll conducted October 5-6 gave Democrats a seven-point advantage -- 44 percent to 37 percent -- on the question of “which party is more trusted to fight the war on terror”; and an October 5-8 ABC News/Washington Post poll gave Democrats a six-point advantage -- 47 percent to 41 percent -- on the question of “which political party” would “do a better job handling [t]he U.S. campaign against terrorism.” The poll had a +/- 3 percent margin of error. As with taxes, Matthews has repeatedly labeled terrorism a Republican strength, but does not appear to have yet acknowledged polls showing Democrats ahead on the issue.

From the October 19 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, which also featured author and Washington Post reporter John F. Harris:

MATTHEWS: I'll just ask you the question. I saw in the NBC poll the other day that -- it may not have been our poll, but one of the other big polls -- Gallup, I think -- that only 15 percent of the people think moral issues, the way we usually describe them -- you know, sexual mores, things like that, abortion rights, gay marriage -- only 15 percent think those are top issues coming up into these elections next month.

HARRIS: Right.

MATTHEWS: What does that tell you? That we're tired of all those discussions, the divisive kind of discussion we've had on these issues?

HARRIS: It tells me that the war is a huge issue in American politics. It's bigger, and, you know, this election might be Karl Rove's Waterloo in one sense, if Republicans get beat in this. But Karl Rove is still among the most influential strategists. Look how his techniques are actually starting to predominate --

MATTHEWS: What's he got up his sleeve?

HARRIS: -- in the Democratic Party.

MATTHEWS: What's he got up his sleeve?

HARRIS: We'll find out. I guarantee you he's got something up his sleeve. He's incredibly --

MATTHEWS: Well, let's go to the -- let's go to the usual suspects. Republicans know from the polls they got two strengths right now. One is terrorism. Anything that reminds us of 9-11 reminds us of Bush's leadership back them -- and since then. Taxes -- Republicans are good at cutting taxes; Democrats are notorious for not cutting them, whether the current polls back that up or not.