Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Jane C. Timm and Natasha Korecki explore how Democrats are pushing early and in-person voting amid mail ballot concerns. Plus, Kristen Welker examines whether the GOP’s midterm convention can help the party solve a key dilemma this fall.
— Adam Wollner
Democrats shift their mail voting message
By Jane C. Timm and Natasha Korecki
Democrats and progressive groups are urging voters to cast their ballots as early as possible — and increasingly, in person — amid concerns that President Donald Trump’s intervention and postal delays could disrupt the mail voting process this fall.
Less than eight weeks from Election Day, the legal fate of an executive order from Trump that would restrict mail voting remains unclear, with a ruling from the Supreme Court over whether it can be implemented expected soon. Aside from the order, budget issues and operational changes to the U.S. Postal Service have slowed mail delivery.
Since the Covid pandemic, Democrats in particular have championed mail voting, which their voters have relied on more than Republicans’ in recent elections.
But ahead of the midterms, with control of the House and Senate up for grabs, they have pumped the brakes on that message.
“State parties traditionally really pushed two key messages when it came to voting: Vote on Election Day or vote by mail. And when we talked about voting by mail, it was, ‘Get your ballot back by Election Day,’” said Jane Kleeb, who chairs the Association of State Democratic Committees and serves as a Democratic National Committee vice chair. “This time around, we are really pushing people … to say, ‘Vote early in person. Go to your county election office and vote early in person.’ And that this is the best way that we can get Democrats elected is if you vote early in person.”
While Democrats are putting a greater emphasis on in-person voting this year, they aren’t discouraging voters if they want to cast a ballot by mail. Rather, Kleeb said the party will stress that they need to put their ballots in the mail or a drop box well before Election Day.
“We say that we still believe that voting by mail is safe and secure,” she said. “This election cycle in particular, you need to give an extra week for your ballot to arrive in time.”
Can the midterm convention rally Trump’s base?
Analysis by Kristen Welker
With their midterm convention in Dallas this week, Republicans attempted to confront one of their biggest dilemmas heading into November: how to fire up President Donald Trump’s loyal base when he’s not on the ballot.
“Pretend that I’m on the ballot,” Trump told the crowd Wednesday night. On Thursday night, Trump had attendees raise their hands and “pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States” that “on Nov. 3 we are going to go out and vote.”
As part of his pitch, Trump said that the government would pay each adult American a $5,000 “dividend” if Republicans maintained control of the House and Senate, though there are major questions around how such a plan would work.
Trump and other Republican speakers at the convention also cast Democrats as extreme and out of touch, often labeling them communists. It does raise the question of whether Republicans are failing to appreciate the energy on the left, which has fueled progressive victories and sky-high turnout in primaries this year.
Turning out the president’s supporters could be key to holding on to the Senate, given that states like Texas, Iowa, Alaska and Ohio that Trump won by double digits in 2024 could decide the majority.
But Republicans will also need to appeal to independents and moderate voters in crucial swing states like Michigan and North Carolina. And the GOP still faces significant headwinds heading into November, even among Trump’s most ardent supporters.
While Republicans still broadly support the president, the share who “strongly approve” of his job performance has dropped 11 points since the spring to 41%, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. Trump’s overall job approval among Americans is at 36%.
That’s in line with a new Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters that showed Trump’s job approval at 33% and Democrats with an 11-point lead in the battle for Congress.
The GOP’s struggles come amid widespread opposition to the Iran war and concerns about the cost of living, particularly high gas prices, including among Republicans.
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged those concerns during his convention speech Thursday, imploring supporters, “Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.” He added, “Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there.”
Trump also acknowledged this week for the first time that he does not expect the Iran war to end or for gas prices to come down before the midterms. So while the president may have fired up his supporters in Dallas, the bigger test will come when voters head to the polls in 53 days.
We’ll discuss the fight ahead in the midterms on “Meet the Press” this Sunday with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. I’ll also speak with Jacob Coxon, the former Anthropic researcher who sounded the alarm about the threats from artificial intelligence.
🎈More from the convention: Republicans attempted to address voters’ economic concerns, with speakers mentioning themes of affordability, prices and costs at least 178 times, according to an analysis by NBC News. On the other hand, the Iran war was largely ignored.
🗞️ Today's other top stories
- 📈 Inflation watch: The prices U.S. consumers pay for goods and services continued to climb in August, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics finding that inflation ticked up even before renewed conflict in the Middle East sent oil prices soaring again. Read more →
- 🔵 Shifting sands: In at least five battleground races, Democratic candidates have declared their opposition to transgender athletes competing in women’s and girls sports, a pivot from their party’s long-standing position. Read more →
- 🗳️ We have a winner: The Indiana Supreme Court ruled after a monthslong recount that a Republican state senator narrowly defeated his Trump-backed challenger in the May primary. Read more →
- 🗽 25 years later: Former Department of Homeland Security secretaries Michael Chertoff and Jeh Johnson called for the agency that was created to prevent another 9/11 attack to be fully revamped. There is also a growing debate in Washington about whether the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has fulfilled its intended goals and whether it should be drastically reformed or even scrapped altogether.
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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