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- [00:03]
Hannah Jewell
A new poll found that Americans broadly disapprove of President Donald Trump. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Monday, November 3rd. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos published a new poll. It looks at how Americans are feeling one year since Trump was elected to a second term and one year before the 2026 midterm elections. Overall, 41% of Americans say they approve of the job Trump is doing, while 59% disapprove. That level of disapproval is the highest in a Post ABC poll since January 2021, a week after the attack on the Capitol. A majority of Americans also say Trump has gone too far in exercising the powers of his office. And a majority believe Trump is not committed to protecting freedom of speech, ensuring a fair criminal justice system, or preserving free and fair elections. Democrats should think twice before celebrating these numbers. The Democratic Party only showed a modest edge on many of the same issues in this poll. There is not much evidence that negative impressions of Trump's performance have benefited Democrats. If you want to dive deeper into the numbers this morning, just follow the link to the poll in our newsletter. You can peer outside your own bubble and see if other Americans are feeling the same way you do. Tomorrow is Election Day. That's our second story. While 2025 is not a big election year, there are a few races the whole country will want to keep an eye on. One is the mayoral election in New York City. 34 year old Democrat Zoran Mamdani is favored to win it. He's polling double digits ahead of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who's running as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Meanwhile, President Trump has a lot of thoughts on this race. He and Mamdani can't stop talking about each other. Trump has sought to portray Mamdani as the face of an extremist opposition. Here he is talking to CBS anchor Norah O' Donnell on 60 Minutes last night. Some people have compared him to a left wing version of you, charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?
- [02:39]
Donald Trump
Well, I think I'm a much better looking person than him, right?
- [02:42]
Hannah Jewell
What if Mandami becomes mayor?
- [02:44]
Donald Trump
It's going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York because if you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there.
- [02:56]
Hannah Jewell
To clarify, Mamdani is not a communist He's a Democratic socialist, and he's also talking about Trump. Mamdani's vow to resist Trump has helped unify skeptical establishment Democrats against a common foe. Here he is at a rally last Sunday talking about Trump's promises to help working class people.
- [03:17]
Donald Trump
Trump, for all his many flaws, had promised them an agenda that would put more money in their pockets and lower the cost of living. Donald Trump lied. It was up to us to deliver for the working people he left behind.
- [03:37]
Hannah Jewell
That audio comes from DRM news on YouTube. If you don't care about New York City, there are other races to watch tomorrow. There are races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey and in California, a ballot proposition intended to counter moves to redistrict in red states. We will keep you updated with all the results later this week. Number three, Funding for SNAP benefits is caught in a legal limbo. On Saturday, federal funding for the food assistance program ran out because of the government shutdown. Snap helps feed 42 million Americans, most of whom are children, elderly or disabled. Two federal judges have ordered the Trump administration in recent days to release backup funds. But but it's not clear how soon that could actually happen. So some cities and states are stepping in. Mayors and governors from San Francisco to Virginia will cover millions of dollars in missing federal assistance to feed their most vulnerable residents. The shutdown is now in its second month. Some 700,000 federal workers are considered essential and are having to work without pay through the shutdown. That includes air traffic controllers and TSA officers. As the shutdown grinds on, it could lead to more flight delays heading into the busy Thanksgiving travel season. Number four, a Post investigation found. Where climate forces are fueling more dangerous floods, there are invisible rivers streaming across the sky. They are massive plumes of moisture borne over the oceans and wafted across the continents. And when this moisture is released back down to Earth, it can result in a drizzle or a deluge. In 2024, unprecedented levels of moisture drove many of the year's worst downpours. In the past 85 years, the amount of water vapor moving through the Earth's atmosphere has increased 12%. That increase is equivalent to 35 Mississippi rivers flowing through the air every second. But this moisture is not distributed equally around the planet, nor are its effects felt evenly. Our investigation revealed where climate change has supercharged the movement of moisture through the skies. In our newsletter today, you can find a searchable map to see which regions are the most vulnerable. A new study has found links between melatonin and heart failure. That's our Fifth Story after reviewing the health records of tens of thousands of adults with chronic insomnia, researchers discovered something concerning People who took prescribed melatonin for over a year had a higher chance of heart failure over five years. That's in comparison to those who didn't take it. The findings were announced by the American Heart association today. If your eyes have just flitted over to the large bottle of melatonin next to your bed, don't panic. This study has not yet been peer reviewed and experts are calling for more research. Number six Some jobs which were once common in the US have now mostly disappeared A reader question prompted our columnist to look into how the American workforce has changed over time. He found that some careers have declined in a huge way. For example, in 1860, more than 32% of free American workers either owned or worked on farms. Today, farmers make up just 0.3% of the workforce. Also, in 1860, shoemakers and blacksmiths were some of the most common jobs in America. Smiths were about as common as restaurant servers are today, but no longer. By 1980, that job was all but extinct. Records of the 19th century workforce, though, are incomplete. Enslaved Africans and their descendants made up about 13% of the population, but gaps in the data mean we don't know much about exactly what kinds of work they performed. Number seven is a controversial one, but we stand by it. We set out to find the real reason pickleball noise is so annoying. There are an estimated 70,000 pickleball courts across the US and they are irritating people tremendously. The sounds you just heard are from a pickleball court in Braintree, Massachusetts. As the sport has exploded in popularity, it's generated bitter municipal fights, litigation, vandalism, equipment redesigns, and even acoustical mitigation contracts. The key issue is as you just heard the sound. So our reporters spoke to experts about why the noise is so maddening to so they found that several things contribute to pickleball's annoying power. Some problems are its high frequency, its tonality, and the timing of its sound. The fact that it occurs frequently but unpredictably like that. It turns out humans react to this kind of noise with a deep instinctual stress response. Once upon a time, we had to listen out for such noises while avoiding lions, tigers, and bears. Now the noise is just some sporty boomers enjoying their retirement, but it's stressing us out just the same. Alright, you're all caught up. If you are a fan of the podcast, you can help us reach a bigger audience. Think of someone you know who wants to stay informed but doesn't have a lot of time to spare. I did my part. Just yesterday, I overheard a group of women in a cafe talking about how they were trying to stay up to date on all the biggest news without getting overwhelmed. I thought, oh my God, this is my moment. I marched on over and told them. I couldn't help but overhear their struggles. I don't know if it worked, but hopefully they are now new listeners of the seven. Welcome to those ladies. If so, and sorry I didn't introduce myself, I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.
- [10:54]
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