Weeks ahead of Election Day, 71% of U.S. adults think the country is on the “wrong track.” It’s the highest share yet in President Donald Trump’s second term, illustrating the grim national mood his party faces in the midterms, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.
Poll respondents expressed deep unhappiness over economic conditions and widespread distrust toward both major political parties, but Trump and Republicans bore the brunt.
A majority of Americans view the president’s administration as uniquely corrupt, even as they look skeptically at corruption in both parties. And they say Trump is failing to improve their material financial conditions. The president’s approval rating slipped to 34% among U.S. adults, a second-term low in this poll, while his disapproval rating rose to 66%.
Americans continue to hold a negative view of Democrats, too. Among adults, just 43% view the Democratic Party favorably.
Boy and man killed, 10 injured after woman drives through youth soccer game in Kansas
A 6-year-old boy and 35-year-old man were killed and 10 others were injured when a woman drove a truck through a youth soccer game at a city sports complex in Wichita, Kansas, Saturday afternoon, police said.
The 34-year-old driver was in custody, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the incident at the Stryker Sports Complex was intentional, police said.
“She has been cooperative up to this point in the investigation,” Wichita Police Capt. Aaron Moses said at an evening news conference.
There were two children in the truck, Moses said. One of the women’s children had a game at the complex, though at a different field.
The injured include five children, ranging in age from 5 to 9 years old, as well as five men and women between 28 and 68 years old, he said.
‘Meet the Press’: Zelenskyy warns U.S. against ‘historic mistake’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the U.S. formally siding with Russia’s Vladimir Putin would be a “historic mistake,” but said he still sees Trump as an ally despite a series of moves that have unsettled his country and its friends on Capitol Hill.
“We want to trust him,” Zelenskyy told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” referring to Trump. “I hope that he will change his decisions, because I think that it’s all mistakes, and it will not help us, and it will not help United States.”
Trump on Friday waived sweeping new sanctions against Russia passed by Congress. The move came days after U.S. intelligence sharing was briefly “blocked,” Zelenskyy said, leaving Ukraine blind to incoming ballistic missiles. Limits have also been placed on Starlink technology critical to intercepting jet-powered drones.
Zelenskyy told moderator Kristen Welker that Ukrainian officials believe SpaceX imposed the Starlink limits in response to a “message from American government.”
Amid escalating tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dodged three times when asked whether Ukraine is an ally of the United States.
“We provide the three different things … to Ukraine, so that’s what you do for an ally. We’re not providing those to Russia,” Bessent told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” the second time he was asked whether the U.S. considers Ukraine an ally. (Earlier, Bessent said U.S. support includes providing intelligence, Starlink support and allowing NATO to purchase U.S. weapons to resell to Ukraine.)
Asked for a third time, the treasury secretary simply said, “I’m not the secretary of state. I’m not the president.”
Politics in brief
- ‘No Kings’: Rallies opposing Trump were held Saturday in cities and communities across the U.S., with an aim of getting people out to vote early in the midterm elections.
- D.C. makeover: Trump announced plans to redevelop the East Potomac Golf Links course in Washington, D.C., which has been at the center of a legal battle over his renovation push.
- Foreign endorsement: Trump endorsed his ally Benjamin Netanyahu as the longtime Israeli prime minister struggles for an edge in next week’s parliamentary election.
Pope Leo discharged from hospital after lung cancer surgery
Pope Leo XIV was discharged from the hospital on Saturday after undergoing surgery for lung cancer, with his surgeon saying he could make a full recovery within about 10 days.
Dr. Stefano Margaritora told Vatican News there were “no clinical reasons” why the pontiff should not make his planned trip to Latin America next month.
Leo, who had been recovering at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since Tuesday, walked out unaided and spent a couple minutes speaking to well-wishers. He appeared to accept a gift of a homemade smiling figure of the pope before getting into a car to return to the Vatican.
He thanked well-wishers on Sunday as he recited the Angelus prayer from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
‘The house was toast’: Surf swallows California homes
The worst of El Niño is still months away, but Southern California’s fragile coastline is already being transformed by record-setting king tides and storm surges.
An unusually active hurricane season triggered a trio of storms that pummeled Hawaii and Mexico earlier this year. The historic weather pattern claimed more than a dozen homes along the shore in Long Beach, swallowing up boardwalks and portions of the Pacific Coast Highway farther south.
“This is just a little bit of a taste of what we will see in the future,” warned Timu Gallien with the Coastal Flood Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Golden State Valkyries take Game 1 of WNBA Finals over Atlanta Dream
In front of a sold-out sea of purple at the Chase Center, the Golden State Valkyries shook off an early deficit and shooting struggles to beat the Atlanta Dream 68-64 and take Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
Valkyries star Gabby Williams led all scorers with 26 points on 8-of-22 shooting. She hit two free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining to ice the game. Allisha Gray led the Dream with 19 points on 5-of-19 shooting but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter.
The Valkyries forced 12 Atlanta turnovers and scored 17 points off of them. Golden State center Kiah Stokes recorded four blocks in the first half to add to the team’s total of 10.
More sports news
- Boxing champion Daniel Dubois retained his WBO heavyweight title with a brutal second-round stoppage of Fabio Wardley on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London.
Notable quote
It seems to me that this won’t stop Putin. On the contrary, he feels joy and happiness that there is such support.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responds to Trump suspending new sanctions against Russia that Congress had passed. Trump had signed the legislation, named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., just last month.
In case you missed it
- Police arrested at least 1,800 people across France after violent groups clashed with officers and looted shops during demonstrations over rising living costs and poor conditions in schools.
- Canada’s defense minister said four people were killed and multiple were injured in an incident at a military base in Alberta that caused a major fire.
- A man died after being shot during a dispute at a subway station in Manhattan’s Theater District, according to police.
- Val Chmerkovskiy received a one-week suspension on “Dancing with the Stars” after a comment he made on social media.
- A 71-year-old man died after an alligator attacked him while he was fishing, authorities said.
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