Americans are deeply frustrated with President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy and rising prices. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
The new numbers come as Trump and Vice President JD Vance 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. Trump will go to Texas and Oklahoma while Vance stumps in Florida, areas where GOP candidates were once expected to glide to victory but are now facing tougher races.
The Latest:
Trump is headed to Oklahoma to ‘thank’ voters
The president’s travel schedule in the coming days has been a bit of a curiosity: Why is he spending his time in deep red territory that should be easy political ground for Republicans?
Trump’s answer: He wants to thank the voters of Oklahoma for supporting him overwhelmingly in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections.
“I’ve won 87 out of 87 counties,” Trump said, inaccurately stating the number of counties in Oklahoma. He continued: “They’ve been just an unbelievable state.”
He insisted that “you have to give back, too” when a state supports someone in such large margins. Trump also noted that Oklahoma has a key governor’s race this year, and later got the number of counties in the state correct.
US takes aim at Iran’s automotive and rail industry in latest effort to get Tehran to capitulate
The Trump administration on Thursday targeted the remaining sector of Iran’s already heavily-sanctioned industrial infrastructure, singling out entities based in Indonesia, the UAE and Germany.
Among those sanctioned are two of Iran’s largest auto manufacturers, Iran Khodro Company and SAIPA Iranian Automobile Manufacturing Company, as well as several foreign auto industry supply providers and overseas companies in China and Germany that provide the country with source materials like mining and metals.
The actions by the U.S. Treasury come as Trump officials are touting the latest number coming out of Tehran this week, showing its currency falling to new record lows.
The administration credits the continued erosion of the Iranian economy to its months-long economic campaign and has no plans to cease the financial penalties anytime soon even as negotiations between the two countries have restarted.
A new online center opens to support borrowers defaulting on their student loans
The joint announcement by the Trump administration’s Treasury and Education departments follows a surge in defaults since payments came due again following a lengthy pause intended to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further complicating the situation has been the end of the most affordable income-driven repayment option, the SAVE plan, sharply raising loan payments for many borrowers.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in Wednesday’s announcement that the “Department of Education was never intended to serve as the fifth largest bank in America.”
Borrowers can use the online portal to get their payments back on track through consolidation or “loan rehabilitation” using a digital process that replaces what the agencies described as an “arduous paper-based approach that has been in place for decades.”
Borrowers have frequently complained that figuring out the status of their loans has been confusing and involves hours on the phone.
The portal also will make it easier to sign up for a temporary interest rate reduction available to some borrowers who sign up for auto payments.
New ad in GOP-leaning Wisconsin district speaks to Democrats’ upset hopes
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has released its first ad this campaign in a congressional district Republicans have held for more than 30 years.
The ad released Thursday is for first-time Democratic candidate Mitchell Berman. He’s a nurse who’s trying to knock off four-term Republican incumbent Rep. Bryan Steil, who worked as a lawyer for a plastics manufacturer before going to Washington.
The DCCC's willingness to spend in a district that has consistently favored Republicans is another sign of growing optimism among Democrats that they can pull off the midterms upset they’re hoping for.
The ad contrasts Berman’s hunting deer with Steil making money while serving in Congress.
“Bryan Steil and I both chase bucks,” Berman says in the ad. “Difference is, mine has antlers.”
The DCCC said it was spending $271,000 initially on the ad’s visibility, but that could increase.
AP-NORC poll measured how much blame for inflation Republicans attribute to Trump
The poll found about two-thirds of Republicans say higher than usual prices are because of factors outside of Trump’s control, but about one-third say it’s because of Trump’s policies.
“It definitely doesn’t feel like we have trended in the right direction,” agreed Kristen Slaven, 41, a mental health therapist who lives in Gluckstadt, Mississippi, and typically votes Republican.
“Obviously, wars don’t help. When they’re necessary, I understand. But our focus on renaming bodies of water and pieces of land, that’s just stupid to me when people can’t feed their family.”
Republicans surveyed by AP-NORC voice concerns about Trump
Trump is hitting the campaign trail with an aggressive schedule of rallies, having asked voters to pretend that he is on the ballot as he tries to bolster turnout in midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress.
But Trump’s dismal numbers in the poll published Thursday show he remains deeply unpopular, with even some Republicans faulting him for failing to deliver on promised relief.
“Groceries are just like kind of out of control. It seems like everything is going up,” said Bethany Lnenicka, 41, who operates a small farm in Fairfax, Iowa. “It’s just insane. And of course your income doesn’t go up.”
A political independent who typically votes Republican and has voted for Trump three times, Lnenicka said “I just do not feel like it has gotten a lot better.”
DC judge permanently dismisses case charging ex-Olympian with vandalizing Reflecting Pool
D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case against David Hearn with “prejudice,” which would block U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office from refiling the felony charge under political pressure from Trump.
Hearn’s lawyers say Trump administration officials have continued to falsely accuse the Maryland resident of vandalizing the reflecting pool despite Pirro’s decision to drop the case on July 31. Trump responded by saying Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella.”
In an embarrassing setback for the White House, Pirro informed the court that new evidence produced by the Interior Department showed the damage resulted from a botched installation by a contractor rushing to complete the project in time for this summer’s America 250 celebration in Washington.
Rising bond yields rattle markets worldwide and overshadow hopes for AI stocks
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 5.32% on Thursday, near its highest level since 2002. It was less than 4% before the war with Iran began. The higher borrowing costs are helping to overshadow optimism that the artificial-intelligence industry can keep climbing.
The S&P 500 is heading toward its seventh loss in the last eight days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq composite are trading downward. The losses were even sharper in Europe, where bond yields saw a significant jump overnight.
High yields slow the overall economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, while undercutting prices for stocks and other investments. Worries about high inflation are festering as oil prices climbed again Thursday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude jumped 3.3% to $101.24, swinging on uncertainty about any end to the U.S. war with Iran.
Renee Good’s family describes a Trump administration conspiracy
The civil rights suit says the shots fired by Jonathan Ross, the immigration officer who killed Good, “were the predictable and intended product of the operation.”
A news release from the family’s lawyers says the lawsuit describes as a “carefully planned, coordinated effort between senior federal officials and private actors to make two ethnic communities — Minnesotans of Somali and Hispanic descent and origin — the object of aggression and abduction, and to silence by intimidation, arrest and violence the neighbors and allies of those targeted communities who observed, documented and warned of that campaign.”
The lawsuit also alleges “collaboration of federal agencies and individuals with private entities for an operation with discriminatory design, racially targeted pursuit and seizure of individuals without regard to their legal status, and each defendant’s participation in the conspiracy.”
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuits.
Renee Good’s family sues US government and immigration officials
The family of the 37-year-old woman killed by an immigration officer during a federal crackdown in Minneapolis is alleging wrongful death and other violations of federal law.
The two lawsuits were filed by Good’s partner, Becca Good, and Renee’s brother Brent Ganger. One says her death was caused by battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. The other alleges a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.
The named defendants include Jonathan Ross, the immigration officer who shot her; White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; former Homeland Security head Kristi Noem; former U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino, Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, and others.
Supreme Court grants review of Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy for immigrants
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review a Trump administration policy denying bond hearings for immigrants as the government carries out a sweeping immigration crackdown.
The justices will consider whether immigrants who have been living in the U.S. have a right to a hearing to determine if they should remain detained while challenging their possible deportation.
Appeals court judges from nine of 11 federal circuits have concluded that detaining immigrants without a bond hearing violates federal law.
Those decisions conflict with rulings by the 5th and 8th circuits, which held that immigrants accused of illegally entering and remaining in the U.S. must be detained while their deportation cases are pending.
Trump says he’d pardon administration officials
In the Time magazine interview, the president indicated he’s open to issuing pardons for members of his administration.
“Yeah, sure I’d do that,” he said.
Scrutiny is sure to ramp up on key members of the Trump administration should Democrats take one or both chambers of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections.
Trump justified his thinking by pointing to former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons he issued for key government officials and family members as he was departing the White House.
Trump exaggerated what Biden did, saying: “Sleepy Joe Biden, he gave pardons to everyone.”
Trump says his low poll numbers are ‘fake numbers’
The president said in an interview with Time magazine conducted on Monday that “pollsters are corrupt” and the bad polls “are fake.”
Trump, in the interview published Thursday, said his own pollster told him his numbers “are much higher than the numbers.”
“I would beat anybody running today by 20 points,” he said.
Trump dismisses reports that Netanyahu was warned about Hamas operation days before Oct. 7 attack
The president said in an interview with Time magazine conducted on Monday that he was hearing about those weeks-old reports for the first time that day and said, “I can’t imagine this.”
If Netanyahu had known about it, “he would have done something about it. Certainly, he would have had people at least alert,” Trump said in the interview published Thursday.
An Israeli newspaper reported in early September that Netanyahu was directly warned by the president of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive just days before the militant group attacked on Oct. 7, 2023.
Trump dodges on whether Netanyahu deserves reelection
In the Time magazine interview, Trump repeatedly avoided answering directly whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be reelected later this month.
“I can only say that I’m not involved in politics anymore,” said the U.S. president, who is ramping up his campaigning for Republicans in the November midterms.
Trump then touted his own record on Israel rather than answering directly whether Netanyahu should be reelected, despite several attempts from Time journalists.
Trump finally answered: “Well, people have written off Bibi many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times. I wouldn’t underestimate Bibi.”
Of Netanyahu’s opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said: “I don’t hear bad things about him.”
More bombing of Iran ‘possible’ after midterms, Trump says
Trump said in a Time magazine interview published Thursday morning that it’s “possible” he’ll ramp up bombing in Iran after the Nov. 3 midterms.
When pressed further by Time journalists, Trump continued: “I can’t tell you that because look, you know, you’re asking, where are you going to bomb?”
He said in the interview, conducted Sept. 28, that he rejected the latest ceasefire proposal from Iran because “things that I wouldn’t have approved a year ago I wouldn’t have today.”
Trump cited as an example an offer from Iran to “open up the Strait” of Hormuz, but said the overall proposal was “not good enough.”
Inside Ken Paxton’s jet-setting lifestyle: California wineries, European hot spots and ski resorts
An Associated Press records review shows Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton has traveled frequently and spent less time in Texas as the state’s attorney general since becoming a star in Trump’s MAGA universe.
When the conservative firebrand launched his Senate campaign on Fox News, he cleared his calendar for a trip to the Masters golf tournament in Georgia that cost Texas taxpayers at least $25,000. Overall since assuming office in 2015, Paxton left about 730 workdays blank on his official calendars and took over 275 out-of-state trips to places such as California wine country, Caribbean resorts and European tourism hot spots.
Records show Paxton’s travel cost Texas taxpayers a minimum of $1.9 million to cover expenses charged by his security detail. It’s unclear how Paxton has financed much of his portion of the travel.
Trump praises Boeing-made FlyDubai aircraft for remaining airborne
The president, in an early morning social media post, credited the “GREAT Boeing Company” with building a plane “that was able to withstand G Forces and Strain far beyond what it was designed and expected to do.”
On Wednesday, a copilot stabbed his captain and attempted to crash a flight bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates that was carrying 174 people. Passengers, most of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.
Aviation experts were also surprised the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the tail.
“It is about time that The Boeing Company, which builds, by far, the finest commercial airliners in the sky, was given credit for this airplane’s incredible ‘genius!’” Trump added in his posting about the Arlington, Virginia-based aircraft manufacturer.
Trump’s economic approval hits a new low as midterms approach
Just 26% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy overall, marking a new low in AP-NORC polling.
Trump’s numbers on the economy represent a 14-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.
Trump’s low grade on the economy rivals President Joe Biden’s economic approval rating in June 2022, when there was record-high inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Americans were less likely to blame Biden in the lead-up to that year’s midterm elections, a sharp contrast to the solid majority who hold Trump responsible now.
Costs drag on Trump as the economic pain keeps coming
Americans have grown more worried about being able to afford basics like groceries and gas over the last few months, the new AP-NORC poll shows.
About half of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the coming months, up from 39% in July.
And about half are highly concerned about being able to afford food.
Pedro Sanchez, a 52-year-old from California who voted for Trump, told the AP: “I used to have a lot more disposable income. I don’t have that anymore. It’s gotten eaten up because of all these increases in the cost of everything.”
AP-NORC Poll: Most Republicans now disapprove of Trump on costs
Americans are deeply frustrated with rising prices under President Trump, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
Only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the president’s handling of the cost of living. That frustration is also reaching Republicans. About 6 in 10 Republicans now disapprove of how Trump is handling costs, up from about half in April.
Robert Gault, a 66-year-old from Bradford, Pennsylvania, told the AP about Trump: “He said, ’Make America Great Again.′ And I have not seen him do that.”
Despite the overall frustration, about two-thirds of Republicans don’t blame Trump personally for high prices and say factors outside of his control are more to blame.
But Americans overall disagree. A majority, 65%, of U.S. adults blame Trump’s policies for persistently high costs more than factors outside of his control.
Trump and Vance hit the campaign trail in deep-red areas where GOP candidates seek a boost
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, but they will be heading to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
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. Vance 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 as 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.
“We’re not getting the word out,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I mean, we’re just not getting it.”
