Midterms Near as Polls Favor Democrats and Questions Over Trump's Finances Grow

With two days to go before the 2026 US midterm elections, Democratic and Republican leaders are making last-minute appeals to voters, and polls show Democrats ahead nationally. The RealClearPolling average put Democrats at 51.5 percent to Republicans' 43.1 percent. A THP/MM survey conducted on October 28 and 29 showed Democrats ahead 54 percent to 41 percent, and an Emerson College poll conducted from October 24 to 26 showed a 10-point Democratic lead. Several closely fought Senate races may decide which party controls Congress. On Sunday, President Donald Trump was due to campaign in Iowa and Kansas, while Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has faced a wave of Islamophobic attacks, was to hold events in Michigan. Pollster Natalie Jackson said the president is very unpopular, Americans feel the pinch of high costs partly due to tariffs and the war in Iran, and the sentiment is that Republicans did not deliver in the last two years. Cost of living, worsened by the US-Israel war on Iran, is a key issue. Separately, the president and his family have declined to answer Democrats' questions about their finances, including a luxury jet, a golden ring and thousands of stock trades made in office. Democrats would gain subpoena power if Republicans lose the House.

Left-leaning outlets approach the election from two angles. MS NOW leads with Trump's financial dealings, listing a luxury jet, a golden ring and thousands of stock trades, and stresses that Democrats could use subpoena power if the GOP loses the House. NPR frames its piece around listener questions: whether polls can be trusted, whether debates are dead, and how Trump might work with a Democratic Congress. Neither excerpt gives poll figures. Al Jazeera, the alternative outlet, differs by leading with numbers: three polls, the RealClearPolling average and a pollster's analysis blaming tariffs, the Iran war and high costs. It also names Trump's Iowa and Kansas stops and El-Sayed's Michigan events, details the left-leaning excerpts omit. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. Those covering it focus on Trump's finances, poll reliability and a possible Democratic majority, with Al Jazeera adding cost of living.