| October 20, 2025 08:00:18 AM |
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| October 20, 2025 08:00:18 AM |
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Americans are growing increasingly concerned about their ability to find a good job under President Donald Trump, in what is a potential warning sign for Republicans as a promised economic boom has given way to hiring freezes and elevated inflation.
Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game. |
Policy changes, but facts endure. AP delivers accurate, fact-based journalism to keep the world informed in every administration. Support independent reporting today. |
President Donald Trump waves after arrives on Air Force One, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) |
How Americans are feeling about their chances on the job market |
High prices for groceries, housing and health care persist as a fear for many households, while rising electricity bills and the cost of gas at the pump are also sources of anxiety, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll.
Some 47% of U.S. adults are “not very" or “not at all confident” they could find a good job if they wanted to, an increase from 37% when the question was last asked in October 2023.
The survey suggests an ongoing vulnerability for Trump, who returned to the White House in January with claims he could quickly tame the inflation that surged after the pandemic during Democratic President Joe Biden's term. Instead, Trump's popularity on the economy has remained low amid a mix of tariffs, federal worker layoffs and partisan sniping that has culminated in a government shutdown. Read more.
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Of note:
At a fundamental level, Trump finds himself in the same economic dilemma that bedeviled Biden. There are signs the economy remains relatively solid with a low unemployment rate, stock market gains and decent economic growth, yet the public continues to be skeptical about the economy's health. |
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China borrows from the US playbook to hit back in trade war |
China likes to condemn the United States for extending its arm too far outside of its borders to make demands on non-American companies.
But when it sought to hit back at the U.S. interests this month, Beijing did exactly the same, in the latest example of Beijing turning to U.S. precedents for tools it needs to stare down Washington in what appears to be an extended trade war between the world's two largest economies.
In expanding Beijing's export rules on rare earths, Beijing for the first time announced it will require foreign firms to obtain approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even tiny amounts of China-originated rare earth materials or produced with Chinese technology. Read more.
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Of note:
For anyone familiar with U.S. trade practice, China is simply borrowing a decades-long U.S. policy: the foreign direct product rule. It extends the reach of U.S. law to foreign-made products, and it has been used regularly to restrict China's access to certain U.S. technologies made outside of the United States, even when they are in the hands of foreign companies. |
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Abortion is a fault line in Virginia governor's race |
Polite exchanges between door-knockers and Virginia voters are revealing the complexity of one of the most vivid policy differences between the two women vying to be the state’s first female governor. The winner will likely influence abortion law in the only Southern state that has maintained broad access to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 eliminated a national right to the procedure.
Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger, a former congresswoman, supports a proposed state constitutional amendment that will reach voters only if Democrats maintain their House of Delegates majority. Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears, Virginia’s lieutenant governor, has been an outspoken abortion-rights opponent throughout her political career. Nationally, advocates across the abortion rights spectrum are watching Virginia for clues about how the issue might resonate in 2026 midterm campaigns, with control of Congress and dozens of statehouses at stake. Read more.
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Of note:
About 6 in 10 Virginia voters in the 2024 presidential election said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to AP VoteCast. More than half of Virginia voters said they would oppose banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. Slightly fewer than half — 45% — said they would favor such a restriction. |
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Crowds gather to listen to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during a No Kings protest, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert) |
- Trump hosts Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House on Monday.
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