The Latest: Cost of living and government corruption are top issues, AP Voter Poll says
Election Day is here. Voters nationwide will decide control of the U.S. House and Senate. Democrats must flip four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House to wrest control of the chambers from Republicans. Control of Congress would give Democrats a way to push back against President Donald Trump’s agenda during the final two years of his term. The battle for control is playing out mostly in states and districts Trump previously won by wide margins.
All eyes are on Senate contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas, while House battlegrounds are scattered across the country.
Democrats have homed in on Trump’s poor approval rating, public dissatisfaction with the war in Iran and affordability concerns. Republicans have focused on social issues, while Trump has made himself the central character of the midterms.
Here's the latest:
Most voters want to see Congress provide more checks and balances on the presidency and disapprove of how Congress is handling its job.
The AP Voter Poll shows roughly 7 in 10 voters say Congress is doing “not enough” to provide checks and balances on the presidency. Only about 2 in 10 say it’s doing “about the right amount,” and about 1 in 10 say Congress is doing “too much.”
The survey reflects deep unhappiness with the president and Congress. About 6 in 10 voters disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling the presidency, while about three-quarters of voters disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job.
Voters are in the mood for change, according to the AP Voter Poll, which found that roughly three-quarters of voters say they feel “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the way things are going in the country today. Most appear to blame the Trump administration for high costs. About 6 in 10 say higher-than-usual prices are “more because of Trump’s policies” rather than “more because of factors outside Trump’s control.”
Additionally, about 70% of voters want Congress to provide more checks and balances on the presidency.
The AP Voter Poll, an expansive survey of the electorate, suggests most are deeply unhappy with Trump, with roughly 6 in 10 saying they disapprove of how he’s handling the presidency.
About 4 in 10 say the economy is the most important issue facing the country, while 3 in 10 say the most important issue is democracy, according to the poll, well above the number who said the same about crime, health care and immigration.
Federal immigration officials took to social media on Election Day to warn against illegal voting by noncitizens.
In a message on X, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote: “If you vote illegally, we will find you. We will track you down, arrest you, and prosecute you. There will be no escape.”
The agency did not return messages seeking comment about the post. Throughout Tuesday, it also posted about arrests of noncitizens accused of voting.
While that has been a major emphasis for the agency this year, the number of arrests and earlier investigations in the states demonstrate the problem is rare.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, called the post unfortunate but said heavy early voting suggested the administration’s tactics appeared to have no effect on turnout.
“If there were individuals in this administration who thought that they could scare voters away from this election, they’re going to be disappointed,” he said.
Many incumbents running for reelection in redrawn districts are facing a very different set of voters than they currently represent.
Several districts went from being majority-nonwhite to majority-white after mid-decade redistricting. These are also some of the places that shifted the most toward Trump when comparing the 2024 vote margin under old and new congressional boundaries.
Similarly, a number of districts shifted from being majority-white to being majority-nonwhite. Many of these districts also shifted toward Harris, but some in Texas and Florida moved further to the right.
Michigan election officials objected after hearing that federal poll monitors in Dearborn and Flint were asking workers about their training or requesting to see training materials, a spokesperson said.
“This is not permitted under the law,” said Angela Benander of the Department of State.
The U.S. Justice Department agreed and pledged to inform the election monitors, Benander said.
Separately, she said federal monitors in Lansing were trying to talk to voters, which is OK if the exchange happens after a ballot is cast and is outside the polling place.
“We don’t have any concerns,” Benander said.
Officials in Pennsylvania’s Chester County say they’re extending voting hours in three precincts after “machine set-up issues” delayed the opening of polling sites just west of Philadelphia.
The Chester County Court of Common Pleas granted the three precincts a 30-minute extension, meaning voters will be able to cast ballots until 8:30 p.m. EST, according to the county.
Voters casting ballots at these three sites after 8 p.m. EST — when polling stations close statewide — will use provisional ballots.
Election officials extended voting hours at each location after county election supervisors reported delays caused by technical problems with computers.
The longest extension granted by the North Carolina State Board of Elections was 45 minutes at one location in Columbus County, where officials said computer problems forced election workers to switch to backup paper poll books, slowing lines Tuesday morning.
Two precincts in Hertford County and one each in Lenoir and Wilson counties also will stay open an extra 15 to 30 minutes. The five-member board approved each extension unanimously.
The extended hours mean state election officials in North Carolina won’t begin reporting results until after the last polling site closes at 8:15 p.m. ET, said Adam Steele, an attorney for the election board. He said county election officials will tally their votes without delay.
Polls in North Carolina close at 7:30 p.m. ET, unless extended by the board.
At least half of U.S. adults have a negative opinion of the two parties, according to AP-NORC polling.
About half have a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable view of the Democratic Party in an AP-NORC poll from October, while just over half say that about the Republican Party.
Roughly 7 in 10 Democrats hold a favorable view of their own party, which is down from 85% in September 2024. Republicans, however, feel about as positively as they did two years ago, with 85% in the latest polling saying they have a favorable view of the Republican Party.
Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults feel “very” or “somewhat” optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. Republicans are a bit more optimistic about their party’s future than Democrats are — slightly fewer than half of Republicans, 46%, say they are feeling positive, compared to 35% of Democrats.
In southeastern Texas, Juventino Sáenz accompanied a relative to the polls in McAllen.
The 91-year-old Korean War veteran who said he’d voted early shared his feelings about Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran.
Sáenz blamed Iran but also blamed Trump, saying the president should have gone to Congress for permission.
“He couldn’t do it just because he’s the president,” Sáenz said.
He said he’s backed Republicans in the past, citing his votes for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush for president.
But in the closely watched Texas U.S. Senate race, Sáenz said he voted for Talarico, the Democrat, because he didn’t like Paxton’s record or that Paxton’s own Republican Party impeached him.
“He was doing a lot of things that were not right,” he said of Paxton.
Gas prices have shot up by nearly a third since Trump launched his war against Iran, fueling voter distress about the economy and high prices. But another fuel source has risen even higher and caused potentially more pain.
That’s diesel fuel, which powers not just a whole bunch of farming and industrial equipment but the ships and trucks that transport a range of goods and services to voters’ doors.
Diesel prices have nearly doubled since the start of the Iran war. A disproportionate share of the oil that comes through the Strait of Hormuz is used to make diesel. Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries that produce the fuel added to the shortage.
That pushed Trump to take controversial action to try to lower the price of diesel, cutting a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to sell diesel from his country to the U.S. But even that hasn’t significantly brought diesel prices down.
Maryland’s Wes Moore is the only Black governor in the U.S., and he’s only the third elected Black governor in history, all of them Democrats and men.
But Moore, who’s heavily favored for reelection, could soon have company.
There are seven additional Black major-party nominees for governor. They include Republicans and Democrats, men and women. Each would be the first Black chief executive in their respective states.
Georgia’s Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor and a Democrat, and Minnesota’s Lisa Demuth, a former state legislative leader and a Republican, could each make history. No Black woman has ever been elected as governor.
Two Black Republican men are on gubernatorial ballots: Byron Donalds in Florida and John James in Michigan. Both are U.S. representatives currently.
Three other Black men, all Democrats, round out the slate: Aaron Ford in Nevada, Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina and David Crowley in Wisconsin.
More than 59 million people have voted so far, according to an Associated Press analysis.
The advance vote has spiked ahead of Election Day compared to 2022. There were 59.7 million ballots cast as of Tuesday, compared to a little over 58 million in 2022.
The tally includes early in-person and mail balloting.
The election will determine which party controls the House and Senate.
At Trump’s urging, Republicans in eight states adopted new congressional districts to try to gain an edge in the midterm elections. But after a long legal battle, Missouri’s new map was blocked by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Missouri Supreme Court because of a referendum petition.
Voters are now deciding whether to uphold or reject the new map. If approved, it could be used in the 2028 election.
Maryland voters are deciding a constitutional amendment that also could pave the way for a new House map in the 2028 election. Democratic proponents have urged a “yes” vote as a means to “stop Trump.”
Some Colorado Democrats also want to redistrict. But a citizen initiative on the ballot there would prohibit any potential redistricting for 2028 from favoring one political party and require approval from both an independent commission and the state Supreme Court.
A few hiccups have come up in Fulton County, Georgia, a Democratic stronghold Trump has long falsely accused of widespread voter fraud that he says caused him to lose the state in 2020.
Some voters have reported receiving texts that were not sent by the county about polling place changes, according to Fulton County’s Facebook page. A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, policy director at election watchdog group Common Cause Georgia, said the group was aware of the texts but didn’t know who sent them or if they were based on incorrect information or were intentionally trying to mislead voters.
Gomez-Leineweber said volunteers have been telling people to double-check information with official sources.
Separately, about 1,000 ballots received during early voting last month will be rescanned “as a precaution” due to equipment failures with two scanners, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Tuesday. He said it would not delay election results.
Democrats’ path to winning the House could rest with progressive candidates challenging Republicans in districts that swung between Trump and Joe Biden.
In California’s 22nd District, incumbent Rep. David Valadao faces Democratic challenger Randy Villegas, who has Sen. Bernie Sanders’ endorsement.
In Colorado’s 8th District, Rep. Gabe Evans faces Democrat Manny Rutinel, who had campaigned with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In Michigan’s 7th District, Rep. Tom Barrett is up against Will Lawrence, a longtime liberal activist and former member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Republicans are hoping their rivals’ political backgrounds are a mismatch in districts that are by and large evenly divided politically.
Astronaut Anil Menon’s sleeping compartment aboard the International Space Station doubled as his voting booth. Menon said in a brief video posted via X on Tuesday that he used his computer to fill out and submit an electronic ballot to Harris County, Texas. Crewmates Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney did the same.
Harris County is home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Mission Control.
U.S. astronauts have been voting in space since 1997.
In the Dallas suburbs, two voters say Christian values factored into their votes.
James Bender said he wants the country to get back to an identity rooted in Judeo-Christian values.
He said he respected Talarico’s religious roots and faith but said, “At the end of the day, I just, I don’t agree with him.”
Bender, 47, said he wasn’t voting for Paxton’s character as much as the policies he’d try to enact if elected.
Paxton has faced a string of legal and ethical problems and allegations of marital infidelity.
April Vindiola said those issues made Paxton a “no” for her. She said a candidate’s morals and values are important.
“I’ve been following Talarico for quite some time,” Vindiola said. “I think whenever I’ve heard him speak … it resonates with me what his beliefs are.”
The last time California elected a Republican to statewide office, George W. Bush was president, entertainer James Brown was still alive and the second “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie was the biggest film of the year.
Republican Steve Hilton is trying to defy those odds and end his party’s 16-year drought in a state with 4.5 million more registered Democratic voters than Republicans.
He’s tried to win over Californians who rarely vote Republican by repeating the motto “Just try it!”; blaming Democratic leadership for the state’s high cost of living; and releasing splashy ads, sometimes using AI to mock his Democratic rival, Xavier Becerra.
Becerra, meanwhile, has campaigned on a promise to uphold the state’s status as a liberal counterweight to Trump’s policies. He’s tried to tie Hilton to Trump, who endorsed him in the primary.
The ballot measure, known as Proposition 40, has racked up support from progressives like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has framed it as a monumental step toward reining in deep wealth inequality, while also drawing criticism from Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats, who say it will trigger wealthy people to flee the state.
The ballot fight has also been defined by the copious amount of money tech moguls and venture capitalists have poured into it. Google co-founder Sergey Brin alone has donated more than $100 million to a political committee working to defeat the proposal.
The first-in-the-nation measure would levy a one-time, 5% tax on the wealth of Californians whose net worth exceeds $1 billion. Most of the money would be used to backfill federal funding cuts to healthcare, while 10% would go toward education and food assistance programs.
Joni Borrell, 67, and her father, Herman Jamerson, 91, described themselves as solidly Republican. They voted that way a week before Election Day, casting ballots in Henrico, Virginia, for GOP Rep. Rob Wittman and Bert Mizusawa, the Republican mounting a long-shot bid against Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Warner.
Jamerson, a retired plumbing contractor, said he thinks the president has “done a great job” so far this term.
“He’s for the common person. To me, that’s his biggest success. I mean, he looks out for the little guy, just the average person,” Jamerson said.
As for Trump and the economy, Jamerson added: “Well, he ain’t done yet, that’s the thing. And it was in such a mess.”
Borrell, a retired nurse who now works with youth camps, said her strong objections to Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger factored into her vote. Keeping Republicans in control of Washington would help preserve some “balance,” she said.
Abortion is on the ballot in four states including Missouri, where voters are being asked to erase the constitutional right to abortion they adopted two years ago.
The Republican-dominated state legislature advanced the measure, which also would write into the state constitution a ban on much gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors.
Conservative Idaho’s question would remove a ban if it were adopted.
A measure in Nevada would ensure access until at least fetal viability and one in Virginia would create a right to abortion for the first two trimesters of pregnancy.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and allowed enforcement of state abortion bans, abortion-rights supporters have prevailed on 14 of the 17 ballot measures across the U.S.
Trump spent part of Election Day complaining about reaction to his Monday speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, criticizing a news outlet and a Democratic congressman.
Trump spoke in great detail on social media about his upgrades to infrastructure and plumbing at the Reflecting Pool, devoting more time to that project than to Republican candidates he hopes will help the party retain control of Congress.
Trump ripped the Daily Mail for describing the speech as a “final midterms speech.” He said his rallies Sunday in Iowa and Kansas were meant to close out the campaign.
He also went after Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who on social media shared an edited clip of Trump suggesting he might rename the iconic spot on the National Mall the “Trump Reflecting Pool.”
Trump followed up by saying he was joking.
“I said, very clearly, ‘I’m joking,’” he wrote.
Later tonight, we’ll start sharing data from The AP Voter Poll, a large survey of verified voters conducted for The Associated Press and the major broadcast news networks.
It’s a high-quality preelection survey of voters merged with the best practices of the historic exit poll, which major broadcasters have relied on for decades. Reflecting the complexity of American elections, it uses a combination of methods to find voters no matter how they cast a ballot, whether early, by mail or on Election Day.
We’ll start sharing data around 5 p.m. EST.
An Oklahoma City man is charged with sending hundreds of letters containing nonhazardous white powder to public officials ahead of the 2024 and 2026 elections.
The powders turned out to be yeast or flour, though not all letters have been fully tested, the FBI said in a court filing.
Robin Martin is charged with conveying a hoax and mailing threatening communications. He was in custody, and online records didn’t list an attorney who could comment on his behalf. He is expected to make an appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City.
Authorities said last month that they were investigating suspicious letters mailed to congressional and election offices nationwide and urged recipients to treat the mailings as “potentially hazardous.”
Some letters bore ominous messages that could only be read under ultraviolet light. The sender wrote a return address as “U.S.T.E.A., United States Traitor Elimination Army, Takoma Park, MD.”
Outside an early voting site in Dripping Springs, Texas, 25-year-old Ian Brown said he had just voted for a straight Republican ticket.
He referenced some of Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s past statements about God and gender, which Republican Ken Paxton has highlighted in attack ads.
“He claims he’s Christian, but he says you know there’s multiple genders. That’s not even biblically accurate,” Brown said.
The self-described Republican Libertarian said he thinks Trump is “the best thing for our country right now.”
Sofia Sites, meanwhile, voted for the first time this election and supported Democrats.
Sites, 21, has a transgender sibling, and Talarico’s stance on transgender and LGBTQ+ rights was something that drew her to him, she said.
“There’s no perfect politician; there’s no one I like to bow down to,” Sites said. “I just think that I’m wanting to see more empathy."
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