--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Wednesday, November 8th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, we're focusing on U.S. politics. From the latest election results and victories for abortion rights advocates yesterday, to how the war in Gaza may hurt Biden's re-election chances, to the growing possibility of a Trump-Biden rematch in 2024.
--:-- Shamita Basu: First, the latest election results. Among the typical state and local issues driving voters, there were some important national themes, and abortion was at the top of that list. In many races, it was either on the ballot directly or heavily debated by the candidates. And supporters of abortion rights have a lot to be happy about this morning.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Abortion is health care. And abortion access is the law of the land in Ohio. That was Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio leader Lauren Blauvelt at a rally after numbers came in showing that the ballot initiative to protect abortion rights in the state constitution passed.
--:-- [Audio clip of Lauren Blauvelt plays]
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe v. Wade last year moved the reproductive rights debate to state politicians and voters. And in every state referendum since, voters have supported access to abortion rights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Virginia, Democrats won big on an abortion rights message, taking control of the state legislature. Candidates hammered Republicans for pushing a proposal to ban most abortions after 15 weeks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in Pennsylvania, a Democrat won a closely-watched Supreme Court race after targeting his Republican opponent as too far to the right on abortion.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many Democrats are looking at the victories in Virginia and Pennsylvania as a path to more wins in higher stakes races next year. Abortion is seen as an issue that will turn out progressive voters who will drive up votes for Biden and other Democrats down the ballot.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The party is also celebrating a win in Deep Red, Kentucky, another race we mentioned this week. Democratic incumbent Governor Andy Beshear fought off his Republican challenger, Daniel Cameron.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tonight Kentucky made a choice A choice not to move to the right or to the left but to move forward for every single family
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yesterday wasn't a total landslide for Democrats. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves won a second term. We talked about how Democratic nominee Brandon Presley sought to win in the deeply Republican state by turning out Black voters.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But in the end, it was Reeves making the victory speech. I want to thank someone that I spoke with just a few minutes ago, President Donald J. Trump. I want to thank him. He was very, very adamant. Please tell the people of Mississippi, I love y'all.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I will tell you, we're going to make sure he carries Mississippi again in 2024.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Elsewhere in the country, Rhode Island elected its first black representative to Congress, Democrat Gabe Amo.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And Philadelphia voters chose the city's first woman mayor, Democrat Sherelle Parker.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in Uvalde, Texas, a candidate whose daughter was killed in the Robb Elementary shooting, lost the race for mayor. Kimberly Matarubio was defeated by Cody Smith, who served two terms as Uvalde's mayor more than a decade ago.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find more election results and analysis on the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's look ahead now to the 2024 race. With one year to go, President Biden faces a big new issue in the campaign, war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
--:-- Shamita Basu: New data shows Arab-American voters who strongly backed Biden in 2020 are now furious with him over his strong support of Israel.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Right now, Israel's military says it's operating with ground troops deep inside Gaza, along with launching more airstrikes. More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Israeli troops invade, they're backed by American weapons, American money, and American rhetoric.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Biden administration has spoken about the need to protect civilians, and it supports an independent Palestinian state But overall many Arab Americans think the administration is tilted too far toward Israel
--:-- Shamita Basu: And a new poll from the Arab American Institute reveals the impact The survey shows only 17 of Arab Americans saying they vote for Biden That's a more than 40-point drop from 2020.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another poll focused on the battleground state of Michigan has similarly low numbers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Time magazine reporter Yasmeen Serhan is covering this collapse in support. She explains that while Arab Americans may only be around 3 million people, they're important to Biden's re-election chances.
--:-- Yasmeen Serhan: What is significant about this voting bloc is that in a number of key states, and I'm thinking of states like Michigan, like Pennsylvania, like Georgia, these are communities that do have the numbers to potentially swing what are races that often come down to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of votes.
--:-- Yasmeen Serhan: She points out that in all of those states in 2020, Biden flipped them from red to blue. And in each case, his margin of victory was smaller than the Arab-American population.
--:-- Yasmeen Serhan: Surhan says the polling doesn't show a shift to Republicans among Arab-American voters, but it does indicate that they may not turn out at all if the new trend holds.
--:-- Yasmeen Serhan: Anger at Trump's immigration policies and rhetoric may have helped drive them to the polls in 2020. But depending on how the war goes, anger at Biden over Gaza may be a stronger force.
--:-- Yasmeen Serhan: Arab Americans, according to this poll, are signaling very clearly that saying, you know, we're better than Donald Trump isn't going to be enough for them.
--:-- Yasmeen Serhan: They're not going to grade the president on a curve. They're going to need something more to really animate them. And if they don't, they might just stay home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, let's turn to the Republican field for 2024. Tonight, five GOP candidates hoping to get the nomination will debate in Miami.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And again, former President Donald Trump is choosing to sit this one out. He's consistently had a large lead over the rest of the field.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So right now, Wall Street Journal White House reporter Ken Thomas tells us a 2020 rematch is looking likely.
--:-- Ken Thomas: There appears to be a collision course that President Biden and former President Trump are on right now.
--:-- Ken Thomas: And he says many people are not looking forward to that, voters or political insiders.
--:-- Ken Thomas: Both parties worry that these candidates have unique weaknesses I think on the Republican side there a lot of worry that Trump legal problems will make him unelectable
--:-- Ken Thomas: And I think there's this fear among some Republicans that Biden is very vulnerable, but they may wind up nominating the wrong person.
--:-- Ken Thomas: Age is an issue. A rematch would mean Biden, the oldest U.S. president in history, will turn 81 this month, against Trump, the second oldest at 77.
--:-- Ken Thomas: It's a small gap, but Thomas says questions of age seem to be hurting Biden more.
--:-- Ken Thomas: Voters don't seem to view Trump's age the same way they do Biden's.
--:-- Ken Thomas: Recent polling shows that this hypothetical 2024 matchup could be a very tight race, and it would be between two relatively unpopular candidates.
--:-- Ken Thomas: Both men have high unfavorable ratings.
--:-- Ken Thomas: Thomas explains some of what we might see if Trump wins the nomination.
--:-- Ken Thomas: There's a long way to go. I think for Trump, it's, you know, do you miss me?
--:-- Ken Thomas: For Democrats, they feel like as we get closer to Election Day, when it becomes more of a choice, that voters will look at Trump as a real threat and that Biden, they hope, will be able to show more progress on the economy.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Thomas mentioned, lots of people are weary of revisiting the 2020 election. But if nothing else, a replay would offer something for history buffs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This would be the first rematch of major party nominees since 1956, when Republican President Dwight Eisenhower beat Democrat Adlai Stevenson a second time.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Also, Trump's attempt to get back into the White House after a loss has only happened successfully once in American history.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It was done by Grover Cleveland all the way back in the 19th century.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As I mentioned, you can head to the Apple News app for much more coverage and analysis of the election results and the potential 2024 implications.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now and you want to totally get away from politics, stick around.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've got a narrated article from Town & Country about ChatGPT and how AI is transforming the way college campuses police cheating.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
