New Poll Shows Democrats Have Midterms Momentum, and Trump Calls A.I. Fears ‘a Hoax’

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Tracy Mumford (0:32)

From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, September 15th, here's what we're covering.

The Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration's attempt to restrict mail-in voting just weeks before the midterms. It's a major loss for the president, who has claimed for years without evidence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, while still using the method himself. At the same time, it's a resounding win for Democratic-led states and voting rights groups, which had challenged the administration's attempt to enlist the Postal Service to screen ballots, calling it unconstitutional. They'd also pointed out that the proposed system wasn't ready yet. The USPS site where states would have been required to upload voter lists was still under construction, even as some states were already sending out ballots.

Chief election officials in multiple Republican-controlled states had also urged the justices not to allow major changes to voting so close to election day, writing that it would, quote, almost certainly lead to mistakes, delays, and confusion. As is typical in emergency rulings, the Supreme Court's majority response came down last night as an unsigned single paragraph, rejecting the administration's voting overhaul. While two of the court's most conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented, saying they would have allowed the plan to move forward.

Nick Corsoniti (2:04)

The most important takeaway for voters is that mail voting will continue unrestricted, unimpeded, and unchanged by the federal government for the upcoming midterm elections. But simply having this legal question answered doesn't fully solve the quagmire that this has created for voter confidence across the country.

Tracy Mumford (2:26)

Nick Corsoniti covers voting for the Times. He says, so much confusion so close to the midterms has left state and local officials scrambling to try and reassure people that they will be able to vote and that their votes will be counted.

Nick Corsoniti (2:40)

Mail voting is happening now, so election officials will need to work quickly in order to restore trust in a method of voting that was used by 30% of the country in the 2024 election.

Tracy Mumford (2:53)

Meanwhile, even with this big question settled for now, many of the president's other efforts to assert control over elections are continuing. Last week, the Department of Justice sent threatening letters to 30 election officials as it tries to get access to private voter data. Trump's Homeland Security Secretary has pushed an investigation into whether commonly used voting machines can be trusted, and hundreds of federal agents have been reassigned to hunt for non-citizens on voter rolls. Trump has argued that he's trying to ensure the integrity of the vote, even as his claims of widespread fraud have been investigated and debunked repeatedly. Critics say he's sowing doubt about whether Americans can trust this year's election results.

Now, looking ahead to the midterms, a New Times Sienna poll out this morning shows that Democrats have gained an edge as President Trump drags down the GOP. Americans' intense frustration over how Trump has handled cost of living issues in particular has made Republicans more vulnerable as Democrats try to win control of both the House and Senate. In the poll, likely voters favored Democratic candidates over Republicans in their districts by close to nine percentage points. Notably, the poll also showed that voters now say they trust Democrats more than Republicans on a growing number of issues, including immigration and the economy—issues that powered Trump's victory in 2024 You can find the full poll results and methodology at nytimes.com.

Three updates now on artificial intelligence and the high-stakes debate about the future of the technology. First, in Los Angeles yesterday, Jensen Wong, the CEO of NVIDIA, the AI chipmaker that's become the world's most valuable company, was on stage at a conference when his phone rang.

SPEAKER_1 (5:02)

How do we put on quotas?

SPEAKER_4 (5:05)

Do we put them on speaker? Speaker.

Tracy Mumford (5:06)

It was President Trump who called to weigh in on all the recent warnings from some Silicon Valley leaders about the dangers of AI.

SPEAKER_4 (5:14)

I also have common sense about AI.

SPEAKER_5 (5:17)

The robots will not be taken over. The AI will not be taken over.