In “Democrats use new tactic to highlight Trump’s gutting of Medicaid: billboards in the rural US,” Jessica Glenza writes at The Guardian: “The road to four struggling rural hospitals now hosts a political message: “If this hospital closes, blame Trump.”…In a series of black-and-yellow billboards erected near the facilities, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seeks to tell voters in deep red states “who is responsible for gutting rural healthcare”…“UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH, STILWELL GENERAL HOSPITAL IS CLOSING ITS DOORS,” one sign screams. The billboards are outside hospitals in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana…Donald Trump’s enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cut more than $1tn from Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, insuring more than 71 million adults…A recent analysis by the Urban Institute found rural hospitals are likely to see an $87bn loss in the next 10 years…A June analysis by the Sheps Center found that 338 rural hospitals, including dozens in states such as Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma, could close as a result of the OBBBA. There are nearly 1,800 rural hospitals nationally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a healthcare research non-profit…That perspective was buttressed by the CEO of the National Rural HealthAssociation, Alan Morgan, who in a recent newsletter said 45% of rural hospitals are already operating at a loss…“This is what Donald Trump does – screw over the people who are counting on him,” said Martin, the DNC chair. “These new DNC billboards plainly state exactly what is happening to rural hospitals under Donald Trump’s watch.”

At Daily Kos, Andrew Mangan explains why “Trump 2.0 makes history—and not in a good way“: “Donald Trump is somehow only six months into his second presidency but if it feels like it’s torturously longer, you’re not alone. Americans are souring on him quickly…Gallup finds Trump with his lowest approval rating since retaking the White House in January. Just 37% of Americans approve of the way he’s handled his job as president. That’s down from a high of 47% in January, and it brings him very close to the numbers he exited the White House with in January 2021, when 34% approved of him…Independents are primarily the ones steering his approval rating south. Only 29% approve of the way he’s handling the presidency, down from 36% in June…Altogether, Trump’s poor approval rating is historic. Literally. Among presidents who first took office after World War II, none have had a lower average approval rating in the second quarter of their second term, which, for Trump, spans April 20 to July 19 of this year…The reason for this souring public sentiment appears to be his falling numbers across many key issues. Since February, he has fallen 8 percentage points on his handling of immigration, 6 points on foreign trade, 4 points on foreign affairs, and 4 points on the situation between Israelis and Palestinians. Since March, he’s slipped 8 points on his handling of the situation in Ukraine and a shocking 14 points on his approach to the federal budget…Most damning for him, though, is his grade on inflation. Data from YouGovfinds Trump with his worst approval on that issue since retaking office in January. Only 1 in 3 Americans approves of his handling of inflation, while 61% disapprove, according to the latest polling. That makes for a net approval rating of -29 points. In January, he was +6 points on the issue.”…That finding is backed up by a new poll from the famed Marquette University Law School, which finds Trump 30 points underwater on handling inflation. Worse for him, inflation is the most important issue to Americans, with 1 in 3 flagging it as the top problem.”

“Working-Class Voters Are Not Centrists,” writes Isaac Rabbani at The Nation. An excerpt: “Above all, working-class voters are economically progressive. Seventy-five percent favor an increase in the minimum wage, 88 percent are for the government’s reducing prescription drug prices, and 65 percent agree that corporate boards of directors should be required to include workers. Interestingly, 63 percent of these voters also favor import limits to protect jobs in the US. This suggests that, if the GOP can only execute tariffs with careless disregard, then the Democrats may stand to gain from deploying them thoughtfully, perhaps to enforce common labor and environmental standards…On cultural questions, working-class voters are onboard with the cornerstones of the progressive agenda, though not every item. Roughly 80 percent oppose outlawing abortion, support laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination, and wish to strengthen controls on gun purchases. That said, only about half consider themselves “pro-choice” or support an assault weapons ban. Finally, only around 10 percent of working-class voters wish to see the state or federal government spend less on law enforcement…What about immigration? Though other work has shown that working-class voters (and indeed Americans overall) tend to trust Republicans more on this issue, the full story is more complicated. Roughly 70 percent are against family separations, and don’t believe immigrants will take American jobs. And 61 percent support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a rate that would surely be higher if not for backlash against Biden-era border policy. (Indeed, the backlash may now be going the other way.) The Democratic Party can find the audience for an empathetic immigration policy, but it will have to be willing to fight a serious messaging battle for it…Generating wider enthusiasm for a national Democratic campaign will take serious message discipline. But what this report shows is that the constituency for a progressive party is out there and waiting to be courted. The alternative is to court further destruction by Republican government.”

Now for the bad news. Politico’s Ben Johnson reports that “Democrats tumble in new poll,” and writes: “President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains underwater. But Democrats are faring worse, according to a new poll from The Wall Street Journal released Saturday…The new survey, conducted by Democratic pollster John Anzalone and Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, found Democrats’ popularity at its lowest point in three decades of WSJ polling, with 63 percent of voters holding an unfavorable view of the party…Only 33 percent of voters hold a favorable view of Democrats, with a meager 8 percent holding a “very favorable” opinion, for a net negative favorability of 30 percentage points…While voters still have significant concerns over the president’s and the Republican Party’s handling of the economy, inflation, tariffs and foreign policy, the majority of respondents nonetheless say they trust Republicans more to handle those issues in Congress…Despite criticism of the administration’s handling of inflation — disapproval outweighed approval by 11 points in the poll — the Republican Party, by 10 points, is trusted more than Democrats to deal with inflation…That’s the same case when it comes to thoughts on the president’s drastic tariffs policy…By 17 points, voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of tariffs, while still trusting Republicans more on the issue to Democrats by 7 points…Health care and vaccine policy are the only two policy issues in which respondents favor Democrats to Republicans on.” However, “Both Trump and the Republican Party at large are also disliked by more Americans than liked, but by far lower margins than Democrats in this survey. The president has a -7 point net unfavorability, while the GOP is at -11 in the WSJ survey.”