Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya, a former sportscaster, said Wednesday that voters told her it was "embarrassing" to be from Minnesota, amid progressive candidates' wins across the state.
In an appearance on Fox News's "America Reports," host John Roberts asked Tafoya about polling that showed her trailing her opponent, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive who netted the Democratic nomination.
"The cards are stacked against you, it would seem," Roberts said. "No question, you've got a big hill to climb there."
"Minnesotans are exhausted, and John, quite frankly, they're embarrassed. I have talked to hundreds of voters in Minnesota who have told me, 'Gosh, I went on vacation this summer. I didn't want to tell people where I was from because it's embarrassing.' And it's true," she said, detailing how Democrats in the North Star State are wary of shifts in the party toward socialism.
Democrats are set to begin the Minnesota Senate general election with an advantage, according to the early polling from Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. It did not poll specific candidates but reported that Democrats lead Republicans on the generic ballot in the Senate race, 49 percent to 41 percent.

#polling

We have all had the similar experience over the last year. When talking about how bad things are going in this country, whether in-person or online, with either family, friends or strangers you will inevitably get hit with an excuse that begins, "But Biden …"
It seems that no matter how badly things are going, President Trump, his administration, his army of cable news talking heads, podcasters, influencers, and regular supporters have a default excuse. "But Biden," then fill in the blank is supposed to shut you up and accept that the current train wreck should be much, much worse.
It really doesn't work anymore, does it? I mean, back in January 2025 and the early part of the second Trump term, it was very much a safe way to explain why his "day one" promises didn't come to fruition right away. But inflation has gone up since the end of Biden's term. Prices have gone up, the war with Ukraine did not end, we started a whole new war with Iran that was also won on Day One (but not really), gas has skyrocketed, and the list goes on.
It is now August 2026. More than 560 days have passed since Trump took office again. He has attained more power, surrounded himself with yes-men, has a Republican House and Senate, a 6-3 tilt on the Supreme Court, and no excuse to fail. But here we are, with Trump polling in Biden territory and trying to convince Americans that things are going great. And yet, when pressed, Trump and company keep defaulting to how bad things were under Biden.
A leader takes accountability for his job and his mistakes. The effect of tariffs didn't have the impact that Trump promised, they hurt American businesses and our international trade relations. How badly? Well companies were refunded $100 billion and Trump still keeps pursuing this folly. It is hard to defend Trump as this point, but people still do so by blaming someone else.

#going

President Donald Trump is trying to shape how he's remembered through his transformations of Washington's monuments, official buildings and grassy parks — and the honors boards at his golf clubs.
But as a frenetic summer rolls on, his legacy instead risks being dominated by a US strategic stalemate in Iran, the unaddressed economic anxieties of millions of Americans, and Republican Party schisms caused by his personal obsessions.
This unusual political bifurcation means Trump is juggling some of the gravest issues confronted by a modern president, like the war, and some of most trivial, including a dispute over Washington's Reflecting Pool. It helps explain polling by CNN and other outlets three months before midterm elections that reveal low approval ratings and dissatisfaction on issues voters care about most.
By any conventional measure, this is a presidency in trouble. The traditional response would be to behave in a more focused way. But Trump is different from most presidents. He doubles down; he picks fights designed to please his political base; and he engineers sudden changes of course.
Throughout a turbulent weekend, Trump oscillated between profound and preposterous issues that all seem to merit equal time in his mind.

#Trump

With high school soccer season just a couple of weeks away, here is the Enquirer's final list of position previews in boys soccer.
We have saved the top forwards and goalscorers for last. Here is our look at the top players in the city at finding the back of the net.
Make sure to vote in the poll at the bottom of the story. The poll will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. The USA Today Co. network is debuting a new polling service that allows readers to vote more often while protecting against fraudulent voting methods. User experience feedback can be sent to mlaughmanenquirer.com.
More: Kicking off 2026 Enquirer fall football coverage with previews
The senior is the top returning scorer in Cincinnati, posting 30 goals and nine ***** ists to lead the Hurricane to a 14-1-3 record. He enters his senior season with 62 career goals.

#Soccer #senior

With high school soccer season just a couple of weeks away, here is the Enquirer's final list of position previews in girls soccer. We have saved the top forwards and goalscorers for last.
And what a list it is.
Greater Cincinnati high school girls soccer fans had much to enjoy as well in 2025, as there is an abundance of players who put up big numbers last season or who will play for major colleges after they graduate. Because of that, limiting to 10 players to spotlight, as we do for other positions, was impossible. So we are listing 16 players to watch.
Make sure to vote in the poll at the bottom of the story. The poll will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. The USA Today Co. network is debuting a new polling service that allows readers to vote more often while protecting against fraudulent voting methods. User experience feedback can be sent to mlaughmanenquirer.com.
More: Kicking off 2026 Enquirer fall football coverage with previews

#players #high #school #girls

With high school soccer season just a couple of weeks away, here is the Enquirer's final list of position previews in boys soccer.
We have saved the top forwards and goalscorers for last. Here is our look at the top players in the city at finding the back of the net.
Make sure to vote in the poll at the bottom of the story. The poll will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. The USA Today Co. network is debuting a new polling service that allows readers to vote more often while protecting against fraudulent voting methods. User experience feedback can be sent to mlaughmanenquirer.com.
More: Kicking off 2026 Enquirer fall football coverage with previews
The senior is the top returning scorer in Cincinnati, posting 30 goals and nine ****** ists to lead the Hurricane to a 14-1-3 record. He enters his senior season with 62 career goals.

#enquirer

The calendar has turned to August, which means the preseason has officially started for volleyball teams in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. First serves are less than three weeks away as teams begin their journey to the postseason.
As The Enquirer wraps up its preview of the top players by position, let's take a look at the top hitters this fall.
Make sure to vote for the top hitter in the city in the poll at the bottom of the story. The poll will close at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 7. The USA Today Co. network is debuting a new polling service that allows readers to vote more often while protecting against fraudulent voting methods. User experience feedback can be sent to mlaughmanenquirer.com.
The University of Washington commit was second in the Girls Greater Catholic League with 319 kills and fourth with 76 blocks in 2025. She will certainly be in the conversation for league player of the year after being named to the all-league and all-state first teams and the district player of the year.
Think about some of the great hitters the Pandas have had just in this decade. Anna Long, Sydney Nolan, Ava Tilden, Audrey Dyas and Grace Portwood come to mind. Now Kondik can join that list after finishing with 310 kills, 105 digs and 30 blocks as a junior. At 6-foot-1 with an approach touch of 9-foot-5, she levitates on the attack and converts any serve placement into a kill. She is committed to the University of Cincinnati.

#league #university #vote #kills

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said he is "very concerned" that President Donald Trump will wield the power of the federal government to thwart the midterm elections this fall as the Republican tries to maintain his grip on power during the final two years of his administration.
In an interview as he becomes chair of the National Governors ***** ociation, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender ticked through Trump's efforts to restrict voting by mail, obtain voter information from states and possibly deploy federal troops or agents to polling places. Moore said there was a role for the NGA, a bipartisan group, to ensure states are able to oversee elections as designed by the U.S. Constitution.
"I don't think that the president is trying to hide the ball on this," Moore said. "It's not even am I concerned about what the president could do? I'm concerned about what he's already doing in broad daylight."
The 47-year-old governor's national profile is rising as he ***** umes the top leadership post for the nation's governors on Saturday, a role once held by Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas. Moore is the subject of frequent speculation that he will announce a presidential run, a prospect he rules out, saying he will not "get distracted" before the November elections.
His travel to early presidential testing grounds such as South Carolina and Nevada, though, suggests he may run. Moore is proving himself a savvy digital communicator and crafts an image as a newcomer to politics while voters demand change.

#elections #national

When you are reading this, we will be TWO WEEKS AWAY from the start of the Marquette women's soccer season!
We'll do a lot more season previewing as we get closer to the start of action, but for now, we have to beat the league office to the punch. Last year, we got the preseason Big East awards just a couple of days before the Golden Eagles got going with their season. That means we have to get waaaaaay out in front of the official results of the polling of the league's women's soccer coaches and make some picks for who is going to get honored as the season gets started. My guiding light on these picks is, as always, trying to predict how the coaches will vote. I have my own preferences as to how things should turn out, but at the end of the day, the goal is to try to get these right.
Okay, let's jump right into it, as we've got three individual awards to discuss, as well as a preseason all-conference team and a predicted order of finish for all 11 teams in the Big East!
These things don't have to be complicated: Kohls is the leading returning point scorer in the Big East this season. She had six goals and eight ***** ists last season for the Musketeers for a total of 20 points. Here's the catch: Since the last time the Big East updated the stats for last season was on November 10th, before the NCAA tournament started, Kohls was tied for eighth in total points a year ago and tied for ninth in points per game. She's still the best returning player. Part of that is because there were A LOT of seniors on the All-Big East teams last fall, and another part is because two players in front of Kohls transferred after the season was over. That includes her own teammate, Samantha Erbach, who was the top scorer in the Big East last year with 18 goals and 16 ***** ists, but now she's at Florida State.
I'm going by the points and points per game here, because I value the contribution of ***** ists to offensive production. Sometimes the coaches don't agree with me on that topic, and so I should note that the Big East's top returning goal scorer from last season is Marquette's Jocelyn Leigh, who finished the year with seven. That was tied for eighth in the league in total goals and alone in sixth for goals per game as of the last time the league ran the stat sheet. Marquette was third in the Big East in team goals for as of November 10th with only Georgetown and Xavier in front of them, so there's an argument for Leigh to get the nod here.

#kohls

EXCLUSIVE - Far-left Democratic congressional candidate Oliver Larkin of Florida says he supports abolishing the U.S. Senate, agrees with socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested during his upcoming trip to the U.S., and refers to Israel's ruling coalition as a "religious supremacist regime."
Larkin, who is challenging Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz in next month's Florida primary, is one of just four congressional candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
The 33-year-old Larkin, a veteran of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, is also the only DSA-endorsed House candidate running in one of the roughly two dozen key swing districts that will determine if Republicans hold onto their razor-thin majority in the midterm elections.
Moskowitz, who is running for re-election in Florida's newly redrawn 25th Congressional District, a Broward County-anchored seat in the southeastern corner of the red-leaning state, is heavily supported by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). He currently holds a polling and fundraising lead over Larkin.
Midterm Battle For The House: Check Out The Fox News Power Rankings

#midterm

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Browns fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The most revamped position group in a long time for the Cleveland Browns is this year’s offensive line. Gone are Cam Robinson, Joel Bitonio, Ethan Pocic, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin.
We feel pretty confident that Spencer Fano will start at left tackle, Tytus Howard will be at right tackle, and Zion Johnson will be at left guard. The other two positions are up for a debate, with a caveat. Even though two positions are available, Elgton Jenkins is practically guaranteed to fill one of them: the team is just trying to figure out if that will be at center or right guard.
If Jenkins is at center, then that opens up a competition at right guard between Teven Jenkins and KT Leveston. If E. Jenkins is put at right guard, then it could mean a spot for for rookie Parker Brailsford at center.
The names are a bit truncated in the Reacts poll below due to the new polling method we’re using, so I’ll try to keep that in mind for the future. For now, though, tell us which tandem you think is most likely to start at center and right guard for the Browns to begin the 2026 season.

#jenkins #guard #start

Half of President Donald Trump's MAGA base thought the Iran war was worth its economic costs in May. Now, just a little more than a third do.
That precipitous, 13-point drop in just two months, according to a new POLITICO Poll, reveals how the president's most die-hard supporters are starting to agree with the majority of Americans who have long opposed the U.S.' involvement in the war.
Additionally, 37 percent of self-identified MAGA Trump voters say the U.S. should continue its involvement only if it doesn't increase costs, up from 29 percent who said the same in May, according to the survey, conducted by independent polling firm Public First. Nearly 1 in 5 MAGA voters believe that the U.S. should end its war in Iran, regardless of the costs.
That flagging support among the president's most loyal supporters is the clearest sign that Americans' patience is wearing thin as the economy continues to dominate as voters' top concern heading into a critical midterm cycle.
But Trump on Monday gave little indication that he was looking for a quick end to the war. The U.S. military has pounded Iran for the last two weeks, and speaking to reporters on Tuesday the president claimed that Iranian officials "want to desperately meet" but that "until they are ready to meet in a meaningful way we have no interest in even talking."

#costs #according #supporters

Throughout the year, we will be asking and answering questions about various Ohio State teams, the players, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us LandGrant33, or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
As preseason camp begins this week, Land-Grant Holy Land is diving into its final theme every week of the off-season. This week is all about taking stock of where the Buckeyes are compared to where they were. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Then vs. Now” articles here.
With the start of preseason camp now just a few weeks away, for our article theme this week, we are looking back at previous Buckeye squads to compare them to the team that will be on the field this season. So, in this week’s fan survey, we want to know which position group you think has improved the most since last season.
Now, SB Nation’s polling technology only allows for six options, so I had to make some executive decisions on what would and would not be included. So, if the group you think should be No. 1 isn’t included, please feel free to write them in via the comment section at the bottom of the article.
So, take a look at the options below, then vote in the survey at the bottom of the article. Over the weekend or early next week, we will share the results, so make sure to check back in with us in a few days. And if you want to explain your rationale or add another option, head down to the comments and break it down.

#theme

A confidential report prepared for Iran's presidency is raising a consequential question for Washington and its allies: Do extraordinary levels of public anger and support for systemic change justify reassessing whether the Islamic Republic may be more vulnerable to regime change than previously believed?
The classified document, ***** led "What Iran Wants," reportedly found that only 9% of respondents supported maintaining the status quo, with 53% calling for fundamental or structural reforms and more than 19% favoring changing the political system outright.
Taken together, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed reportedly supported either deep structural reform or replacement of the existing system — findings that could strengthen arguments that Iran's political crisis has moved beyond dissatisfaction with individual leaders or policies.
Iranians Speak Out Over Possible Trump-regime Deal
IranWire reported on July 13 that it had obtained the document, which was compiled by Ali Rabiei, President Masoud Pezeshkian's social adviser and a former government spokesman. It was based on polling conducted by the Ara Opinion Research Center in May 2026 and circulated among institutions within Iran's governing structure in June, according to the outlet.

More than half of Pennsylvania voters in a new poll want Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to leave the Democratic Party.
Fetterman's approval rating, at 48 percent, was above water in Quinnipiac University data. But 52 percent of respondents said they'd like to see him depart the party amid speculation that Republicans have been wooing the famously centrist Democrat.
The share of voters who want him to switch sides includes 57 percent of Democrats, 55 percent of Republicans and 46 percent of independents.
"The Democrats would like to show him the door. The Republicans seem to be welcoming him in. Thus is the political irony of Senator John Fetterman," Quinnipiac University polling ****** yst Tim Malloy said in a release.
Since winning the Senate seat long held by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.) back in 2022, Fetterman has often voted with Republicans on Capitol Hill and has been critical of his party at points.

Sean Spicer, a White House press secretary in President Trump's first administration, acknowledged negative reactions from some in the Republican Party to the president's Thursday speech about U.S. election security and said Trump should've presented more of a path forward.
"I saw a lot of negative comments from the MAGA faithful saying, 'What else can we be doing? What else are we doing?'" Spicer said on NewsNation's "Morning in America" on Friday, using the acronym for Trump's campaign tagline "Make America Great Again."
"Raising an issue and not having a solution is a bit of a problem," he added.
Spicer has supported Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. During his speech on Thursday evening, the president called on Republican lawmakers to push through his top legislative priority, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.
This legislation would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and an ID when casting ballots at polling sites. Democrats say these new requirements would disenfranchise many voters.

Since the AI hiring correction took hold, tens of thousands of employees have watched their jobs disappear, despite the companies that cut them posting some of the strongest earnings in their history.
Oracle (ORCL) eliminated 21,000 positions over the past year, even as its full-year adjusted earnings per share jumped 27%.
Salesforce (CRM) cut jobs across three separate rounds since September 2025, while its AI platform, Agentforce, grew revenue 205%.
Block trimmed its workforce nearly in half, and Meta laid off 8,000 people while pushing its annual capital expenditure guidance as high as $135 billion to build out its AI infrastructure.
That contrast, record profits next to shrinking headcounts, has now shown up in polling. A new survey suggests most Americans are done waiting for tech companies to fix it themselves.

President Donald Trump marked the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding on July Fourth with a speech touting a roaring stock market, urging election reforms, and hailing military interventions in Venezuela and Iran.
But another anniversary went conspicuously unmarked: the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by Trump exactly one year earlier.
At its ceremonious signing, the act seemed poised to be a defining legislative achievement for Republicans to run on in November.
But 12 months later, the law's cutbacks to key safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps have fueled a chorus of criticism, challenging the effort to promote its populist and business-friendly tax cuts.
While the president and his party have sought to play up the law's most popular provisions, even attempting to recast it as a "Working Families Tax Cut Bill," Democrats have seized on negative polling and the Republican rebrand as evidence of its failures.

The Cleveland Browns hit a home run in the 2025 NFL Draft with multiple Day 2 selections. One of those selections was the MAC Player of the Year and tight end from Bowling Green, Harold Fannin Jr.
During his rookie season, Fannin amassed a massive 731 yards and six touchdowns on 72 catches from a multitude of different Cleveland quarterbacks. And because of the immediate success he saw as a rookie, he already has the threat level raised around the NFL and has earned the respect of coaches, scouts, and executives.
While he did not crack the top-10 of tight ends around the NFL in ESPN's anonymous polling of personnel, he did receive a shoutout as an honorable mention in the annual rankings. Here is what one NFC executive had to say on the second-year tight end from Bowling Green:
"His arrow is up. He's a chess piece that can maneuver in ***** e. He should be a 100-catch guy."
With the departure of long-time tight end and Pro Bowler David Njoku, the Browns will rely even more heavily on Fannin in 2026. The other tight ends in the room are journeyman veterans and two rookies selected in the 2026 NFL Draft. He produced with a lack of quality quarterback play a year ago, and the Browns will need more from him again this season for the same reason.

The entire landscape of the NFC West changed this offseason when the Los Angeles Rams traded for superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett. Now, the defending division ******* le and Super Bowl 60 champion Seattle Seahawks must divise a plan to slow him down. Garrett is expected to cause chaos throughout the NFC West.
ESPN has been slowly unveiling their top 10 players in the league at every position. The lists are created by polling coaches, executives, and scouts around the NFL. Unsurprisingly, Garrett was voted as the No. 1 pass rusher in the league.
"It's a clean sweep for Garrett, who was No. 1 on every ballot," Jeremy Fowler wrote. "That's rare for this exercise, which usually features at least one detractor. But Garrett is undeniable after a season for the ages that included an NFL-record 23 sacks -- and perhaps an even more impressive 33 tackles for loss. Garrett had a stronghold on the voting last year too, well before his banner season. Garrett won on more than 20% of his 448 pass-rushing attempts despite facing a double-team nearly 30% of the time. What makes him great is what he has to overcome."
Garrett is the best pass rusher in the NFL after setting the single-season sack record in 2025. Seahawks offensive tackles Charles Cross and Abe Lucas will be tested this season. Garrett could make the Rams Super Bowl favorites in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: ESPN names NFC West pass rusher as No. 1 in the NFL

Former Alabama cornerback Pat Surtain ll has been nothing short of elite over the first five seasons of his NFL career.
The cornerback was a star during his time at Alabama as well. Surtain was originally selected by the Denver Broncos with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, and the defensive back has cemented himself as a top player at his position over the past five seasons.
That thought has been echoed by a number of executives, coaches, and scouts across the NFL, with ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently polling multiple across the league to see who they felt was the top player at each position. The former Alabama star ranked No. 1 among cornerbacks entering the 2026 season.
“Surtain held a convincing grip on the process, eliciting more than 75% of the first-place votes.” Fowler wrote. “Surtain is the prototype, with the ideal combination of size (6-foot-2, 202 pounds), lateral agility, downfield speed and instincts. The 2024 Defensive Player of the Year missed three games due to a shoulder injury in 2025 but still deflected 12 passes.”
Now a star with the Broncos, the former Alabama defensive back played an essential role on the Tide’s defense from 2018-20, and Surtain was nothing short of a star throughout Alabama’s national championship run in 2020.

NEW YORK (AP) — After four years in exile, the prediction market platform Polymarket has begun a well-funded campaign to sell a new version of itself to the American public.
To do so, the company is trying to convince policymakers, regulators, the public and prospective customers that the business it is building onshore is a more disciplined operation than the freewheeling offshore exchange that has at times been the subject of unfavorable headlines.
Polymarket has hired social media influencers to produce viral marketing on TikTok and other platforms. Its account on X, formerly known as Twitter, is now followed by millions and posts about current events throughout the day. It has signed partnership deals with major sports teams and Major League Baseball, as well as news organizations ranging from CNBC to CNN. It's all part of a pitch that its real-time markets are a more accurate read on the future than traditional polling or punditry.
The campaign is, effectively, an effort to sell Polymarket as something different from the Polymarket people know today.
What the American public knows as Polymarket has, at least by the letter of the law, been unavailable to Americans. In 2022, it was pushed offshore after settling federal charges that it operated an unregistered derivatives market. But Americans have regularly found ways around the prohibition, and the offshore business faced criticism over allegations of insider trading and allowing wagers tied to war and other violence.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A referendum held in Slovakia on Saturday to decide whether to cancel lifelong payments for populist Prime Minister Robert Fico and other leaders after their terms in office expire failed to produce a valid result due to low turnout.
With the votes from 99.5% of all polling stations counted by the Slovak Statistics Office, turnout was 16.1%, far less than the required 50%.
The Slovaks were also voting on whether to reopen the office of the special prosecutor and the National Criminal Agency, which both dealt with major crime and corruption.
The referendum followed a petition organized by the Democrats, a non-parliamentary pro-Western opposition party, and was signed by more than 350,000 citizens in the nation of 5.4 million, the threshold required by law.
Only one of the 10 referendums in Slovakia's history — the 2003 vote on the country's European Union membership — was successful. Others failed due to low turnout.

Got into the car after work yesterday, and the thermometer showed it was 102 degrees.
We’re getting older, but we don’t remember moving to Arizona.
Stay safe out there!
Predicting impact: Browns rookies expected to help the most in 2026 (Jared Mueller) – Polling Cleveland Browns fans, the 2026 NFL draft class is predicted to make a bigger impact than the DC, OL coach.
With Myles Garrett gone, who becomes the Browns’ defensive leader in 2026? Reacts Survey (Chris Pokorny) – Who becomes the new defensive leader of the Browns?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans have grown less proud of their country's history or the way its democracy works over the past decade, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
Americans' pride in the U.S. on several key attributes has dropped since 2017 — including the nation's military and its political influence around the globe — according to the survey from The ****** ociated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This poll was conducted in April, as the United States and Iran fought over the Strait of Hormuz in a prolonged war that started with the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran.
New Gallup polling also finds that only 53% of U.S. adults are "extremely" or "very" proud to be an American, the lowest reading in the trend dating back to 2001.
The findings point to a broad decline in patriotic sentiment over a tumultuous period that included most of President Donald Trump's first term, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation that contributed to a backlash against President Joe Biden. That timeframe also covers Trump's return to the White House, where he's taken more aggressive actions on immigration and issues abroad.
Much of the falling positivity comes from Democrats, who have become increasingly disenchanted with the country since Trump's first term.

Real Madrid’s moves this summer have been precise, targeted and swift. Their approach to the transfer window has seen them secure targets with minimal news or rumours, almost as if they have been working behind the scenes.
One publicly known objective of theirs, however, is securing the transfer of a ‘Galactico‘ this summer – something Florentino Perez promised during the presidential election.
The president gave a deadline of two days after the election at the time, and sent a bid of €150 million for Julian Alvarez which was rejected. Yet, the bid counted as the president living up to his word.
As confirmed by Ramon Alvarez de Mon in a recent report, Real Madrid are indeed still looking out for a new Galactico signing. The chosen one is still Michael Olise, the same target Los Blancos had before the election polling.
Olise has a great chemistry with Mbappe. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Democratic-led states are racing to safeguard November's midterm elections against potential interference from the Trump administration and its allies, passing new laws that restrict the presence of law enforcement at polling places or seek to thwart the federal government's efforts to obtain sensitive election material.
Five states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Washington state — have recently enacted legislation to shield their elections from federal actions, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks election-related legislation, and CNN's research.
Sponsors say they are responding to President Donald Trump's continued rhetoric about fraud in voting and the administration's increasingly aggressive moves to reshape how voting is conducted. The US Constitution gives states the primary task of running elections and Congress the power to set the ground rules for federal contests.
"It's infuriating that the Trump administration believes they can ignore the Constitution of the United States and try to take over our elections," said Maryland state Sen. Cynthia Kagan, a Democrat who co-sponsored a new law aimed at maintaining the state's deadline for counting mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day.
Since returning to the White House last year, the president has repeatedly tried to single handedly change election procedures as his attempts to muscle through new voting restrictions have faltered in Congress.

Technology leaders who have taken the podium as graduation speakers of late may have figured out AI evangelizing isn't polling well with young professionals, and tweaked their messaging accordingly. But it turns out, AI isn't the only point of tension between high-powered speakers and graduates this commencement season.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is the latest tech executive to get the cold shoulder from graduates this year. Members of Stanford's 2026 graduating class walked out of their ceremony on Sunday as Pichai, who holds a master's degree from the university, took the stage.
The walkouts were organized by the Stanford chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a nationwide network of student-led activist groups advocating for Palestine's liberation. In a statement published on Instagram, the chapter accused Google of allegedly collaborating with the Israeli government and companies like Palantir, the AI and ***** ytics firm that has inked contracts supporting the Israeli military and the Trump administration's immigration enforcement plan.
Activists have long criticized Google for Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract Israel signed with Google and Amazon in 2021, which grants the Israeli military access to sophisticated cloud computing and AI software. Google's leadership has even been the target of protests from the company's own employees, as multiple pro-Palestinian groups have organized in recent years.
When asked for comment, a Google spokesperson referred to Pichai's comments during his speech. Stanford University did not immediately reply to Fortune's request for comment.

Florentino Perez will continue to lead Real Madrid for another four years after securing re-election as club president until 2030, and the veteran executive wasted little time in outlining his ambitions for the future.
Following the confirmation of the election result, Perez addressed members and the media, celebrating what he described as another significant victory for both himself and the club.
The Real Madrid president began by highlighting the level of support he received throughout the voting process and insisted that the outcome demonstrated the trust that club members continue to place in his leadership.
Reflecting on the election result, Perez said, “We have won the election and we will continue to work hard to keep winning trophies.
“We won at every polling station and achieved the second-best result in the history of Real Madrid elections. We also achieved the best result in 2004. It is an extraordinary result.

By Lucy Papachristou
YEREVAN, June 8 (Reuters) - Armenia's ruling Civil Contract party is leading in a parliamentary election with 54.44% ‌of the vote, according to early voting results from ‌Armenia's electoral commission that were broadcast on public TV.
Sunday's vote, Armenia's first general election since a crushing military defeat by Azerbaijan in 2023, was viewed as a test of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's push to deepen ties with the West and secure a peace deal with ‌Azerbaijan after years of ⁠conflict and political turbulence.
The preliminary data, from about 16% of Armenia's polling stations, showed the pro-Russian Strong ⁠Armenia alliance in second place, with about 22% of the votes. The Armenia Alliance was in third place with 8.8%, and the Prosperous Armenia party was trailing in fourth with roughly 5%.
Turnout in ‌the landlocked country of 3 million was strong at nearly 59% of eligible voters. The Central Election Commission is expected to announce official preliminary voting results on Monday.