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The full episode, in writing.
Good morning. It’s Monday, October nineteenth. With the November third midterms approaching, two newly published polls put Americans’ concerns about the economy in focus. We’ll start with the national picture, then look at a survey that gives Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults a closer hearing. After that: an important police update from Wichita, and a change to the kinds of NBA bets available through the league’s sportsbook partners.
The broadest political snapshot comes from an ABC News, Washington Post and Ipsos poll published Sunday. Among likely voters, fifty-two percent said they supported the Democratic candidate in their congressional district, compared with forty-four percent for the Republican candidate. President Trump’s job approval stood at thirty-three percent among the adults surveyed, while sixty-six percent disapproved.
Those are poll results, not election results. The House is decided district by district, and the people who ultimately vote may differ from a survey’s estimate of likely voters. Still, the poll offers a clear account of what many respondents say is weighing on them: the cost of everyday life.
Seventy-one percent called gasoline unaffordable, up from twenty-eight percent in the poll’s February comparison. Sixty-five percent said health care was unaffordable. Sixty percent said the same of groceries, and half said rent or a mortgage was unaffordable. On the broader question of direction, seventy-two percent said the country was headed the wrong way.
The survey was conducted October ninth through thirteenth among 2,545 U.S. adults. Its reported margin of error for the overall adult sample is plus or minus two percentage points. These figures describe respondents’ views at that time; they do not tell us what any particular household pays, or which party will win in November.
A second survey, published Monday by the Associated Press, NORC and AAPI Data, looks specifically at Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults. About nine in ten said the economy was one of the most important issues for the midterms. About eight in ten said that about the cost of living, and roughly seven in ten named health care.
Only about two in ten approved of Trump’s handling of the economy. On which party would better handle that issue, Democrats held a roughly twenty-percentage-point advantage among those surveyed. But that did not translate into uncomplicated enthusiasm for Democrats: forty-eight percent had an unfavorable impression of the Democratic Party, while forty-four percent had a favorable one.
The people interviewed illustrate why a party preference is not the whole story. Rebecca Larocco of Iowa, who said she is leaning Republican, approved of Trump’s immigration policies but expressed uncertainty about the economy and rising gas prices. Len Takahashi of Texas said he was open to candidates who would prioritize a more stable economy.
This poll surveyed 1,023 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults from September eighth through fifteenth, with a reported margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points. It is a survey of that population—not a stand-in for all U.S. voters. Taken alongside the broader poll, it shows why affordability is so prominent in this campaign, while also showing that frustration with one party does not necessarily mean confidence in the other.
Now to Wichita, Kansas, where police issued a more detailed account Sunday of Saturday’s deadly crash at the Stryker Sports Complex. Investigators say a pickup that had been parked near the soccer fields drove onto a field and struck children and adults. Six-year-old Cole Adrian and thirty-five-year-old Nicholas Schafer, both from McPherson, died at the scene. Police say the two were not related.
Ten people injured in the crash were taken to hospitals with injuries police described as noncritical. A separate patient was transported after experiencing medical complications unrelated to traumatic injuries. That distinction matters: police counted eleven hospital transports, but ten people injured in the crash.
Sunday’s update also addressed where the investigation stands. Police say they interviewed more than thirty witnesses, including two children who had been inside the pickup. After consulting prosecutors, investigators released the thirty-four-year-old driver pending toxicology results and a mechanical examination of the vehicle. No charges had been filed as of that police statement. The department said it was still working to determine what led to the crash.
For the families, those investigative questions sit beside a loss that is already certain. Wichita’s police chief thanked community members who stepped in to help before emergency crews arrived.
Finally, a recent national sports story with implications beyond the basketball court. NBC Sports reported Friday that the NBA had worked with partner sportsbooks to remove several types of wagers it considers vulnerable to manipulation. The changes include certain combinations of bets that a player will fall short of statistical targets, bets on the under for players expected to play fewer than twelve minutes, and bets on a game’s first basket, first three-pointer, first block or opening tip.
NBC Sports says the league also plans in-person betting-rules training for players, coaches and training staff, and that the wager restrictions will apply to the WNBA starting next season. These are changes involving the league’s sportsbook partners—not a ban on every NBA bet everywhere. NBC Sports reports that they do not apply to prediction markets such as Kalshi or Polymarket.
So, the watch points this Monday are distinct. The polls reveal voters’ stated concerns, but the ballots will determine control of Congress. In Wichita, investigators have identified those killed and clarified the injury count, but have not established the cause of the crash. And in basketball, the league is narrowing specific betting options rather than eliminating sports wagering. Those are the developments—and the limits of what we know—as the week begins.