President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, heading to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections. Plus, new AP-NORC polling marks a new low on Trump's handling of the economy and a dispatch from Minnesota on what it's been like to cover the Senate race. |
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President Donald Trump speaks during an East Room event at the White House celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) |
Trump heads to Oklahoma and Texas, Vance to Florida to campaign for GOP — By Michelle L. Price
Trump’s travel on Thursday to Texas and Oklahoma kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
His visit comes as Vance at the same time will be stumping in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races.
Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices and his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
According to Trump, his party’s headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done, hence why he says he's hitting the road trying to persuade GOP voters to pretend his name is on the ballot.
Trump will be campaigning in more politically competitive areas in the days and weeks ahead as he embarks on his travel blitz, but Republican officials will not send him to places where they think his presence could drag down their candidates, according to a person familiar with the party’s strategy who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Read more of Price's reporting on stumping by Trump and Vance. |
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A customer checks gas price while he fills up his vehicle's tank at a gas station in Racine, Wis., Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) |
Most Americans blame Trump for high prices as midterms approach, a new AP-NORC poll finds — By Jill Colvin and Linley Sanders
Americans are deeply frustrated with Trump's handling of the economy and rising prices, with most panning his performance and blaming his policies as higher costs threaten his party's chances in November.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the Republican president's handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
A majority, 65%, of U.S. adults now blame Trump’s policies for persistently high costs more than factors outside of his control, signaling growing weariness over his aggressive use of tariffs and continued unhappiness with the war with Iran.
The dismal numbers come just weeks before midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress and while Trump is hitting the campaign trail with an aggressive schedule of rallies.
But Trump — who has asked voters to pretend that he is on the ballot as he tries to bolster turnout — remains deeply unpopular, with even many Republicans faulting him for failing to deliver on promised relief.
Trump’s current approval on the economy is a 14 percentage point drop from March 2025, just after he took office for the second time. His struggles on the issue mark a significant departure from his first term, when the economy was often a point of strength.
Read more from Colvin and Sanders on what they heard from poll respondents.
Plus: Watch Sanders' synopsis of the new AP-NORC findings.
View the AP-NORC Polling tracker. |
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AP Elections spotlight: What it's like to cover the 2026 midterms |
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., left, and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan participate in a forum for U.S. Senate candidates at Farmfest Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, in Morgan, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt) |
We're continuing our dispatches from political reporters across the country who have been covering the midterm elections. Here's what Phoeix-based reporter Jonathan J. Cooper had to say about his time in Minnesota covering the Senate race:
"At first glance, Minnesota’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary was just like so many other intra-party conflicts that we’ve covered this year — a progressive candidate trying to take down a better-funded rival backed by the party establishment. Just beneath the surface, though, it was apparent how thoroughly the Minnesota race had been shaped by Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Both were killed by federal agents in January, sparking a backlash against the administration and reshaping the conversation around Trump's deportation campaign.
U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, the establishment candidate, came under fire for backing the Laken Riley Act, an immigration bill that many other ambitious Democrats had supported. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan attacked her again and again for her vote, saying she had gone soft on opposing Trump.
I spent the weekend before the primary with both candidates and their supporters as they campaigned across the Twin Cities. Trump’s immigration operation came up in virtually every conversation. The airwaves were saturated with ads, many of them about this issue. And though the streets had grown quiet, vigils remained and protest signs were everywhere.
Flanagan went on to win the nomination by a whopping 20 points despite being significantly outspent, another in a series of victories for progressives this year."
Read more of Cooper's reporting from his time in Minnesota. |
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| Supporters cheer as Vice President JD Vance speaks at a rally in Harlingen Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) |
San Antonio-based photo journalist Eric Gay was there as there as Vance traveled to south Texas this week. Pablo Martínez Monsiváis, assistant bureau chief for photos, takes us to the rally with this image:
"This photo is interesting because it was taken at a GOP rally in Harlingen, Texas, near the U.S.–Mexico border, with the Texas flags and 'Defend Our Future' signs added political meaning. The focus is on the cheering supporters rather than Vance, making the crowd, not the vice president, the subject of the photograph. The prominent Texas flags also evoke Texans’ strong sense of identity and Texas’ long history as an influential force in presidential and conservative politics/elections."
Explore more of this week's AP photos across the campaign trail. |
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