Networks Hype Bad Polls, ‘Moderate’ in Kansas to Reject Trump’s ‘Golden Age in America’

On Monday’s lead broadcast network morning shows, ABC, CBS, and NBC trumpeted new polls showing doom for the GOP, denounced any suggestion America’s in “a golden age,” and held up a Kansas Democrat running for Senate as a moderate.

ABC’s Good Morning America reiterated its daily strategy of suppressing GOP turnout.

After co-host and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos said Trump was “heading to Kansas today to try to save a Republican Senate seat” despite “approval ratings at a record low,” chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce boasted that Trump has “argu[ed] that we are in a golden age of America, but our new poll shows that’s not how many voters are feeling.”

Bruce doubled down on the constant revelatory tone: “This morning, with the midterms just over two weeks away, Republicans are scrambling to hold on to control of Congress and blunt the impact from President Trump’s low approval.”

She spent the rest of her time painting an insurmountable picture for the GOP and seemed to imply Democrats are headed for a clean sweep in all toss-up Senate races (click “expand”):

TRUMP: Our nation is doing better now than ever before.

BRUCE: But our new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll paints a starkly different picture. 72 percent say things in the country are headed in the wrong direction. Trump’s approval rating, now at just 33 percent. That’s five points lower than it was after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a record low driven by concerns over the economy.

OHIO VOTER MONICA GALLAGHER: Everything has gone up and up and up, and you see no end in sight. It’s just it’s hard.

BRUCE: 71 percent of Americans now say gas is unaffordable, up from 28 percent back in February before Trump launched the war with Iran. In fact, nearly two-thirds of Americans 65 percent, say it was a mistake to use force against Iran. As we enter the final stretch, Democrats have a clear edge. 52 percent of likely voters want Democrats to be elected to the House, an eight-point lead on Republicans. In the fight for the Senate, ABC News now rates six seats currently held by Republicans as toss-ups, with the seventh seat now likely to flip to Democrats. And, as of now, nine million votes have already been cast. A reminder of the math here. Of course, Democrats would need a net gain of four seats to take the Senate, a net gain of just three to take the House.

NBC’s Today kicked off both hours with the midterms, and the combined three segments spanned the gambit.

First, it too clung to the latest negative poll numbers for Trump. Here was co-host Savannah Guthrie in a tease:

The final stretch. President Trump launching a new campaign trail blitz...as the latest NBC News poll shows 71 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. What that could mean for the Republicans’ control of Congress when America decides in just over two weeks, and the deep red states that are suddenly competitive.

Its lead segment was from senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez, focused on the “new poll numbers show[ing] Republicans fac[e] an uphill battle to keep control of Congress” and continue “playing defense” in “typically red states.”

He continued: “The President on the move as a new NBC News poll shows, 71 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is on the wrong track. That’s the highest level of his second term. The President’s approval rating also dropping to 34 percent, with voters especially sour on the economy and soaring gas prices.”

Gutierrez parked the rest of his report on the President’s decision to pause sanctions on and purchase fuel from Russia.

The second segment was the most balanced as Guthrie and chief data guru Steve Kornacki acknowledged tough races in GOP-held seats such as North Carolina (plus, on-screen, Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, and Texas), but then pointed to Michigan and Minnesota (plus New Hampshire on the map) as two Democrat-held seats the Republicans could take to spoil a blue tsunami.

At the other end of the spectrum, though, was the first block of the second hour, which was a lovefest by correspondent Stephanie Gosk for “moderate” Kansas Democrat senatorial candidate Adam Hamilton (click “expand”):

GOSK: Republicans have been pouring in money in recent weeks to shore up what is usually a solid red seat. Democrat megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton is trying to defeat incumbent Roger Marshall in a race that the polls show right now is a dead heat. President Trump won Kansas by more than 16 points in 2024, but in these midterms, the Sunflower State has become an unlikely battleground. This morning, President Trump adding a campaign stop in Kansas as his party tries to keep control of Congress, calling these midterm elections the most important in U.S. history.

TRUMP: We got to get out and vote. And if we do, we’re going to win in a landslide.

GOSK: A new NBC News poll finds 71 percent of adults think the country is on the wrong track. In the Republican stronghold of Kansas, there’s a sense that the political winds may be changing. We met up with voters for Friday Night Football at Newton High School, north of Wichita. [TO ORTIZ] Did you vote for Donald Trump?

ORTIZ: I did.

GOSK [TO ORTIZ]: And how do you feel about this election?

ORTIZ: Very disappointed, frustrated, let down, bamboozled.

GOSK: Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century. But in recent weeks, the race has gotten very close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOTER: I talked to different people. [SCREEN WIPE] There are Republicans, but they don’t like what’s going on.

GOSK: Democrat Adam Hamilton, a moderate and a pastor in a popular church, is taking on incumbent Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican who had himself closely to the President’s policies. What the President will find here across party lines is an economy under strain for everyday Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER: I got to get a tank of gas every week, so I see it every week.

GOSK: Diesel prices in Kansas have increased nearly 80 percent compared to a year ago, largely because of the war with Iran. 85 percent of the land in Kansas is used for agriculture, and the farmers are already living on razor-thin margins. So, when diesel prices go up, it hurts. And they are feeling real pain here in the country’s breadbasket. Mark Wallace is a fifth-generation farmer, and like most farms, diesel is critical.

MARK WALLACE: And we are in the time of the year we’re consuming the most fuel we can possibly consume. So does it hit? Absolutely.

GOSK: But for Wallace, that economic pain will not turn into a vote for the Democrats. So, will the President’s visit today help? Former Trump voter Andy Ortiz doesn’t want to hear it.

ORTIZ: And no, I will not be going to that convention or rally or whatever you call it. And I don’t think I would have said that 18 months ago. I might have been trying to be in the front row.

GOSK: So over and over, voters told me just how important the cost of living is to them. One woman I spoke to said she had to get a second job to make ends meet. Another couple told me how they have two incomes and are still living paycheck-to-paycheck. The cost of living, guys, is going to be first and foremost on voters minds in this election, for sure, and certainly in Kansas.

GUTHRIE: And things like gas prices and diesel prices. Economic indicator that everybody feels.

Here are some examples of Hamilton delivering some not-so-moderate statements:

CBS Mornings framed the first portion of its midterms segment around Trump and Russia.

“Turning to politics, we’re two weeks until the midterm elections and President Trump is facing backlash over a move to bring down gas prices. The President signed an order to block new Russia sanctions just before they could take effect, and it comes as he continues his campaign swing to support Republicans in red states,” said co-host Norah O’Donnell.

Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang relayed that the “unexpected reversal comes less than two weeks after President Trump announced U.S. would purchase diesel from Russia and despite warnings they would help Moscow in the war.”

“It stresses, though, the importance of addressing high energy prices, which is, of course, a defining issue for voters,” she added.

The second half heralded Michigan Democrat senatorial candidate Abdul el-Sayed’s answer about the Muslim Brotherhood (click “expand”):

JIANG: Michigan’s Republican Senate candidate, Mike Rogers, says he supports sanctions against Russia. 

ROGERS [on CNN’s State of the Union, 10/18/26]: I’m just a little skeptical this will work in the way the administration wants it to work, and we’re paying a heavy price here in Michigan. 

JIANG: Rogers accused his opponent — Democratic nominee Abdul el-Sayed — of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which el-Sayed has repeatedly denied, including during this exchange at a town hall gathering on Saturday.

TOWN HALL ATTENDEE “TOMMY” [TO EL-SAYED]: Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?

EL-SAYED: Sure, absolutely. I want to — I want to ask — to the question that you’re asking, why are you asking the question? [SCREEN WIPE] [APPLAUSE] You assume, Tommy, cause I am Muslim, that somehow I would have some allegiance to something that is not our Constitution. That’s your assumption.

JIANG: El-Sayed and Rogers are locked in a tight race that CBS News considers a toss-up. President Trump plans to campaign there in Michigan on Sunday after making stops in Kansas, the Carolinas, and Iowa this week. A busy one[.]

To see the relevant transcripts from October 19, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).