Trump Holds Wild Cards as Midterms Enter Final Stretch — SkimNews
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- Trump's approval rating sits at 33% per a July AP-NORC poll — down from 37% in June and well below the 42% who approved when he took office — with majorities disapproving of his handling of the economy and immigration.
- Trump's crypto windfall of $1.2 billion last year sits alongside a $400 million campaign war chest, complicating a bipartisan Senate effort to regulate cryptocurrency, with Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland demanding stronger ethics provisions.
- Partisan redistricting has reshaped the midterm map across Texas, California, and Florida, while Missouri's Republican attorney general appeals a court ruling that blocked a Trump-backed congressional map.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged that "some of these things are out of our control" when pressed on whether the political tumult will hurt Republican midterm prospects.
- The Democratic Governors' Association, chaired by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, has spent $5 million backing Rob Sand in Iowa — a state that hasn't elected a Democratic governor in 20 years — as part of a broader push to flip GOP-held seats in Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, and Nevada.
- Trump's tariffs on Canada could intensify economic fallout as Election Day nears, while his push to limit mail ballots threatens to inject uncertainty into voting in states like North Carolina, home to a competitive U.S. Senate race.
Why it matters: With Trump underwater at 33% approval yet holding a $400 million war chest and $1.2 billion in crypto earnings, the midterm map is being reshaped by his personal brand as much as by partisan policy — and Democrats' $5 million Iowa gubernatorial bet plus broader gubernatorial targets in Georgia, Ohio, and Nevada could redraw the 2028 presidential map even if the narrow House path falls short.
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