October 20, 2025 08:00:18 AM
October 20, 2025 08:00:18 AM
Americans are increasingly concerned about their ability to find good jobs under President Donald Trump, a potential red flag for Republicans as a promised economic boom has been replaced by a hiring freeze and rising inflation.
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President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
How Americans feel about their opportunities in the job market
High prices for food, housing and medical supplies remain a persistent concern for many households, while soaring costs for electricity and pump gas are also a source of anxiety, according to an Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Center poll.
About 47% of U.S. adults say they are “not very confident” or “not at all confident” that they can get a good job if they want, up from 37% when last asked in October 2023.
The survey suggests that President Trump, who returned to the White House in January by claiming he could quickly rein in inflation that soared after the pandemic during Democratic President Joe Biden’s term, remains vulnerable. Instead, Trump’s economic popularity remains low amid a combination of tariffs, federal worker layoffs, and partisan attacks that led to a government shutdown. read more.
Note:
At a fundamental level, Trump finds himself in the same economic dilemma that plagued Biden. Although the economy is showing signs of relative strength with low unemployment, a rising stock market, and decent economic growth, the public remains skeptical about the health of the economy.
China borrows US strategy to fight back in trade war
China likes to accuse the United States of reaching too far outside its borders to make demands on non-American companies.
But when China tried to counter US interests this month, it did exactly the same thing. It’s the latest example of China relying on American precedent as the lever it needs to confront the United States in what appears to be an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Expanding China’s export controls on rare earths, the Chinese government announced for the first time that it will require foreign companies to obtain approval from the Chinese government if they wish to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare earth materials originating from China or manufactured using Chinese technology. read more.
Note:
Anyone familiar with U.S. trade practices knows that China is simply borrowing from decades of U.S. policy: the Foreign Direct Goods Rule. The law extends the reach of U.S. law to foreign products and is regularly used to restrict China’s access to certain U.S. technologies manufactured outside the United States. Even if it is in the hands of a foreign company.
Abortion is the reason we lost Virginia’s gubernatorial race.
A careful exchange between a doorknocker and a Virginia voter reveals the complexity of one of the sharpest policy differences between the two women vying to become the state’s first female governor. A winner is likely to influence abortion laws in the only Southern state that has maintained broad access to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the public’s right to the procedure in 2022.
Former Congresswoman and Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger supports an amendment to the state constitution that would only go to voters if Democrats maintain a majority in the House of Representatives. Winsome Earl Sears, the Republican candidate for Virginia’s lieutenant governor, has been an outspoken opponent of abortion rights throughout his political career.
Nationally, abortion rights advocates from all walks of life are looking to Virginia for clues about how the issue will resonate in the 2026 midterm election campaign, when control of Congress and dozens of statehouses is at stake. read more.
Note:
About 6 in 10 Virginia voters in the 2024 presidential election say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to AP VoteCast. More than half of Virginia voters said they oppose banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. Slightly less than half, 45%, said they supported such restrictions.
