Happy Friday! I’m Holliday Woodard, back with what you might have missed this week.
Read more How Hidden Donors and $11.6 Billion in Spending Are Rewriting the Midterm Elections
This week’s Decision Points broke down what President Donald Trump has unveiled ahead of the midterms: three “public service announcements” and an AI-poweredwebsite. We also covered state headlines and a fascinating Wall Street Journal survey.
Monday
To start the week, Olivier looked at three recent Trump taxpayer-funded television commercials – one set to JMSN’s “Love Me,” one repurposing his 2024 campaign ad and one using clips from his Mount Rushmore speech. Olivier noted that all resemble campaign commercials but are labeled “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
Democrats denounced the videos, which take a markedly more partisan approach than public service announcements from past administrations. “If President Trump wants people to love him, he can pay for it himself,” lawmakers wrote to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana also objected. According to Olivier, presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter tested boundaries – though not as seriously – by using the Oval Office for campaign messages.
Tuesday
Next, Olivier gathered headlines from around the country for this week’s regional roundup:
Read more Rating the Governor Races: The States Where the GOP Is Poised for Victory
Wednesday
Midweek, Olivier tested out Trump’s new AI-powered America.gov website. The site, which gathers data from a host of federal sources, uses a chatbot to present an array of evidence-backed information that contradicts claims coming from the White House.
The chatbot said climate change is real, although Trump has repeatedly called it a “hoax.” It named “Joseph R. Biden Jr.” as the 2020 election winner and said there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, though Trump and his supporters ardently disagree. And it said the Iran war is among the key drivers of increased diesel prices, contrary to the White House narrative. But it did identify the fifth-largest Great Lake and the gulf off the southern U.S. coast as Lake America and the Gulf of America, respectively, in line with Trump’s new monikers.
Thursday
To close the week, Olivier unpacked a new Wall Street Journal poll that shows political parties matter less than ever to voters. It found bipartisan support for populist positions: 74% back capping childcare costs, 90% want surprise medical bills banned, 79% support capping credit card rates at 10%, and 74% favor higher taxes on those earning more than $1 million.
“Populism is a dominant ideology in both the Democratic and Republican parties,” Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who conducted the poll with Republican Adam Geller, told the Journal. According to Olivier, if Republicans lose badly in November, it may be because voters see them as controlling the big institutions standing in the way of fairness.
Read more Rating the Governor Races: The States Where Democrats Are Poised for Victory
