Good morning, Early Birds. Congrats to the Bad News Babes press team for continuing their domination and defeating the lady members of Congress on the softball field, 9-4, in the Congressional Women’s Softball Game. But more importantly, an astounding $671,000 was raised for the Young Survival Coalition to help support young adults diagnosed with breast cancer. Send tips to earlytips@washpost.com. Thanks for waking up with us.
In today’s edition … Meet two swing voters who plan to watch tonight’s debate … Biden and Trump on the economy … but first …
What Atlanta voters will see on debate day
First in The Early: The Democratic National Committee is welcoming former president Donald Trump to Atlanta for the first presidential debate with fixed and mobile billboards highlighting his indictments in Georgia. The billboards also will blame Trump for the fall of Roe v. Wade, which allowed Georgia to outlaw abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy.
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A mobile billboard with a two-minute ad will circle the debate venue at CNN’s Atlanta studio downtown, playing a video in which the narrator states, “Donald Trump is a threat to our freedoms.”
The video includes a recording of Trump telling an election official after the 2020 election, “I just want to find 11,780 votes.” The narrator then says Trump is “responsible for attacks on reproductive freedom.” It also includes a clip of Trump saying during the 2016 campaign that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who get an abortion.
“Donald Trump prepares to lie for 90 straight minutes on the debate stage this evening, but the DNC is on the ground in Atlanta to remind voters of how he tried to dismantle Georgia’s democracy, left working families behind and is hellbent on ripping away reproductive freedom,” DNC spokesperson Abhi Rahman said in a statement. “Tonight, voters across the country will see the clear choice in front of them and make Trump a loser once again in November.”
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Five billboards will also be placed along major highways in Atlanta.
“I was able to kill Roe v. Wade,” one quotes Trump as saying. Another reads: “Donald. Welcome to Atlanta for the first time since becoming a convicted felon. Congrats … or whatever.”
“The DNC can’t save Joe Biden from being forced to defend his disastrous record on inflation and the out-of-control border invasion versus President Trump’s unquestioned first-term record of success,” Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, told us in a statement.
Meet two swing voters who plan to watch tonight’s debate
Only a sliver of the millions of Americans expected to watch tonight’s debate are undecided voters in the six states likely to decide the election: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
We spoke with two of them about what they’ll be watching tonight from Biden and Trump.
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(You can watch tonight’s debate here on The Washington Post’s website.)
- “Honestly, they both suck and I don’t like either of them,” said Jena Samson, 21, a student at Michigan State University. “But we’ll have to see what they say.”
Samson described Trump as “a criminal” following his conviction in New York last month on 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to an adult-film star during the 2016 election. But she is concerned Biden is too old to be president.
Samson will be watching what Trump and Biden say about abortion — she supports abortion rights — the economy and student debt. She wants to know whether Trump would try to reverse Biden’s cancellation of $167 billion in student loan debt if he is elected.
Samson wasn’t old enough to vote in 2020, and she said the debate could sway which candidate she supports, although she’s leaning toward Biden.
“I’m undecided, but Biden is probably my lesser of two evils,” she said.
Leaning toward Biden
Forrest Berrey is also leaning toward Biden.
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Berrey, 31, works in security for a casino in Reno, Nev., and has his own cybersecurity business. He voted for Biden in 2020 and he said he is likely to back him again. But he could be swayed if Biden moves to the right on Israel or the border, he said.
He is also watching how Biden holds up during the 90-minute debate.
- “I think people are unsure of whether or not Biden has the energy and focus to make it through not just the political campaign but the four years that would then follow that,” Berrey said. “He will be four years older than he is now at the end of his presidency. What does that aging arc look like?”
Berrey isn’t too concerned about Biden’s stamina, he said. But he hopes Biden’s debate performance is strong enough that Berrey can use it as evidence to try to persuade friends to support the president.
“That’s a useful tool for explaining why it’s not a wasted vote, or why it is a better vote than Trump,” Berrey said. “If there’s gaffes, if there’s low energy, if Trump is able to go on the attack in some way that really puts him on the defensive, that becomes a much more difficult conversation for me.”
Meet the ‘Deciders’
Berrey and Samson matter more than most voters because they live in states that are up for grabs. Trump leads Biden by three points in Michigan and five points in Nevada, according to Washington Post averages of recent polls in each state.
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They’re also part of a small subset of voters in the six swing states known as “Deciders,” which we expect to have an outsize impact on the election’s outcome.
More than 60 percent of those voters view the economy as “extremely important” in determining their vote, according to a Post-Schar School poll of “Deciders” — and Trump has a big advantage on the issue.
- Fifty-three percent of those voters say Trump would do a better job handling the economy, while 21 percent say Biden would.
- Six percent say they would do equally well, and 20 percent said neither would do well.
Trump also has an advantage among this group of voters on how he would handle threats to U.S. democracy, crime and immigration, according to the poll, while Biden has the edge on handling racism and abortion.
Some Democrats who represent swing states say they would like to see Biden come out with a strong economic message.
“The economy is the issue in Nevada,” said Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.), who represents a district Biden won by about eight points in 2020. “We’ve made a great comeback since covid, but prices are still high.”
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“Communicate that we understand that the economy is still recovering from the mess that we were in and we’re not through it yet but that we’re getting there,” said Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), who represents a swing district. “I know that’s a hard message to land, but that’s reality.”
What we’re watching
In the House
On the floor: The House today will vote on dozens of amendments to the State Department funding bill and start considering the Defense Department bill, which has as many as 193 amendments.
As our colleague Jacob Bogage reports, the House’s partisan bills are setting up a potentially bitter fight with the Senate in the fall. House Republicans “abandoned a deal congressional Republicans struck with President Biden last year on spending caps, and they contain dozens of combative social policy provisions, often called ‘riders’ because they ride along in unrelated legislation.”
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“These aren’t the final products,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told Jacob. “These are negotiating positions.”
In the committees: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is marking up a dozen bills, including one dubbed the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024, a bipartisan measure to protect consumers’ online data.
This bill has been a big priority for retiring Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), but she is facing pressure from Republican leadership to alter the bill. We’re watching to see whether she accommodates their requests or plows through.
In the courts
Nine decisions are left this Supreme Court term, with more expected to be published today and tomorrow. We’re still waiting on the decision about Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution for all acts during his presidency. Yesterday, we got a sneak preview of another hot-topic case after the opinion in Idaho v. United States was published prematurely. According to the copy of the decision quickly downloaded by Bloomberg Law before it was removed from the website, the court is poised to allow hospitals to perform emergency abortions in states where abortion is restricted or banned. The decision did not rule on the merits of the case, meaning future suits on the same subject are possible. It is also possible that the officially announced decision will differ from the one published yesterday.
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You can read about the cases yet to be decided and all the other cases this term at the Washington Post Supreme Court tracker.
The campaign
Biden and Trump on the economy
Biden and Trump are presenting very different portraits of the economy and visions for its future this election cycle. Our colleague Rachel Siegel breaks down what the two candidates are saying:
- “Biden’s argument focuses on being pro-consumer and pro-union — and with an eye toward the middle class, which has been squeezed by high inflation and steep housing costs. He has also been putting a spotlight on wealthy Americans who he argues don’t pay their fair share in taxes and is intent on implementing many of the landmark pieces of legislation — including on infrastructure and clean energy — passed during his first term,” writes Rachel.
Biden’s campaign is focused on trying to convince Americans that the economy is, in fact, doing well. Despite many markers of a successful economy — including low unemployment and declining inflation — consumers still express concerns about the economy.
Trump has affirmed that belief in his campaign. He has promised to fix the economy, with tariffs and a potential tax overhaul at the center of his plan. He has also called for stricter immigration restrictions and ending subsidies for green energy.
- “In stump speeches or off-the-cuff remarks, Trump is rarely specific about how he would make good on his promises. Some of his proposals might not be supported by Congress or hold up in court. But he has broadly outlined his economic priorities — some of which experts say would worsen inflation or deal a blow to the labor market,” writes Rachel.
From The Post Live stage
On Thursday, Leigh Ann spoke with Rural Utilities Service Administrator Andrew Berke and Virginia’s broadband office director, Tamarah Holmes, about the nationwide effort to provide broadband to Americans who don’t have access.
“The current FCC maps say that there are still 6 million locations that don’t have access to 25 download speed, three upload speed. We’re trying to get everybody to 100 over twenty, that’s part of President Biden’s pledge to connect every single American and to do internet for all. These projects take years, but … in the last couple years we’ve connected about 620,000 Americans,” Berke said.
Watch the entire program here.
The Media
Must reads
From The Post:
- What Biden, Trump need to do to win Thursday’s president debate. By Amber Phillips.
- The presidential debate that could make or break CNN. By Jeremy Barr.
- DEI programs toppled amid a surge of conservative lawsuits. By Peter Whoriskey and Julian Mark.
- Americans once feared Trump in a crisis. They now prefer him. By Aaron Blake.
- Long before La.’s new law, Ky. parents won a major Ten Commandments case. By Anumita Kaur.
- U.S. war aid of $6.5 billion discussed during ‘productive’ Gallant visit. By Karen DeYoung.
From across the web:
- Top Senate GOP super PAC drops major ad buy to boost McCormick in Pennsylvania. By Politico’s Ally Mutnick.
- Biden seizes debate limelight for “Project 2025” push. By Axios’s Zachary Basu.
Viral
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