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--:-- Scott Simon: Before today's Up First, it's been a wild and exhausting election season. It's felt like a marathon and a sprint and a heart attack sometimes. But as we get closer to Tuesday's elections and continue to follow events with this podcast, we want you to know there are other ways to keep up with developments until Election Day and after, as votes are counted.
--:-- Aisha Roscoe: First, you can find a new episode of the NPR Politics Podcast with context and analysis on the big stories whenever they happen every weekday. And you don't have to stare at your phone 24 hours a day because we'll send you breaking news alerts to let you know when there is new information. And you can find context and analysis a few hours later with the NPR Politics Podcast.
--:-- Scott Simon: Plus, you can also listen to Consider This. It's the podcast where NPR covers one big story in depth every weekday evening. They are all over this election and will be all over its aftermath.
--:-- Aisha Roscoe: So, if you weren't taking notes, let's recap. You've got Up First in the morning, Consider This in the evening, and the NPR Politics Podcast anytime that news happens. An around-the-clock election news survival kit from NPR Podcast.
--:-- Scott Simon: Okay, well, thank you for listening. Now let's get back to business. Inundated with millions of campaign ads and hoping it might let up this weekend? Not a chance. With three days left before the elections, the final push is real and it is intense.
--:-- Aisha Roscoe: I'm Scott Simon. I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. Campaign ads are everywhere, with each candidate slamming the other on everything from the economy to immigration and access to abortion.
--:-- Scott Simon: We'll tell you who they're targeting and in which states. Plus, finding it hard to focus on work because of these elections? Your supervisors may have noticed and will tell you how they're bracing for how you'll cope with the results.
--:-- Aisha Roscoe: And we'll bring you the latest on the deadly floods in Spain. So please stay with us. We've got the news you need. Start your weekend.
--:-- Scott Simon: This message comes from BetterHelp. President Fernando Madeira describes how BetterHelp Online Therapy has helped him.
--:-- Fernando Madeira: For me, sometimes I just need to go and talk to somebody that is not going to judge me, right? Is going to be there and they're going to listen to me. And I can start just saying, look, I'm not feeling right today. And it feels natural.
--:-- Scott Simon: To get matched with a therapist, visit betterhelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
--:-- Scott Simon: This message comes from Sony Pictures Classics. In Eleanor the Great, June Squibb brings to vivid life the spirited 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein, who after a devastating loss tells a tale that spirals beyond her control.
--:-- June Squibb: [voiceover]
--:-- Scott Simon: From director Scarlett Johansson comes a comically poignant exploration of how the stories we hear become the stories we tell. Deadline puts it, there won't be a dry eye in the house. Eleanor the Great, now playing only in theaters.
--:-- Scott Simon: This message comes from NPR sponsor AARP. Where do you see your career in 12 years? What are you doing now to help you get there?
--:-- Scott Simon: The sooner you start enhancing your skills, the sooner you'll be ready. That's why AARP has management, finance, and small business reskilling courses, all to help your income live as long as you do.
--:-- Scott Simon: Because the steps you choose to take today will help you love what you do in the future. Learn more at aarp.org slash skills.
--:-- Scott Simon: Swing states are getting hit hard. With a lot of campaign ads, maybe you've heard some. Take it from the people who knew him best. Donald Trump is too big a risk for America. Under Kamala, there's been a big hike in Medicare premiums.
--:-- Scott Simon: And these ads aren't cheap. Billions of dollars have been spent trying to win what could amount to a small amount of voters who could make all the difference in this race.
--:-- Scott Simon: I'm Scott Simon. I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. And Pierre Senior Political Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro joins us now.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Scott Simon: How much money in the swing states do we know?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: It is an incredible amount of money overall that's been spent this cycle. Billions more than ever spent on political ads. This is for everywhere in the country. That from campaigns and outside groups for the presidential race, the competitive House and Senate races, all the way down to county commissioner races.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: So this is all political advertising wherever you see it, on your TV, radio, online, social media, which, by the way, has seen a huge investment this cycle.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And what kind of messages do people see? Well, let's look at the most run ads this cycle to give people a taste of that.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: More than $36 million, really a staggering amount for just one ad, has been spent on this ad. It's from a pro-Harris outside group FFPAC.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Here's a bit of it, which features a Republican who says he voted twice for Trump but is now switching to Harris. Kamala Harris is for regular people. She wants a tax cut for 100 million Americans. So we keep more of our hard-earned money.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: I'm a proud Republican, but this year I'm voting for Kamala Harris.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Certainly a big piece of the Harris campaign has been trying to appeal to disaffected Republicans.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: On the Republican side, MAGA Inc., which is the major super PAC supporting Trump, has had this ad in high rotation.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: There's about $27 million behind it and tries to frame Harris's time as a prosecutor as too liberal.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Here's part of that one. As San Francisco DA, liberal Kamala Harris let killers go free. And as California attorney general, Kamala continued to put criminals first. Don't make America her next victim.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: The Harris campaign refutes some of those claims.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And it's a bit ironic considering that she became district attorney running to the middle against a much more progressive candidate.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: But this has been the challenge for Harris in a shortened campaign to try and define herself amid this barrage of overwhelmingly negative messaging from the Trump side in the past month.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Domenico, back to that $10 billion number. For all the races, how much into the presidential race?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Yeah, I mean, only about a third has been on the presidential election, but that's still $3 billion, which is a massive amount.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And it's a lot that's been spent in a smaller number of states. Just seven swing states have seen three out of every $4 spent.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: We're talking about Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, those blue wall states, as well as North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada in the Sun Belt.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Overall, though, 23 states have seen more than $100 million in ads overall.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Which state's getting the most advertising thrown at it? I could guess, right?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Liberty Bell, Phillies? Yeah.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: I'm sure no one wants this election to be over more than the good people of Pennsylvania.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: The birthplace of American democracy has seen an astounding $1.2 billion spent on it.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: It's the first time we've ever seen a single state see over a billion dollars spent in political advertising.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Almost $600 million of that has been spent on the presidential election, which, by the way, Scott, that might be a good opening bid offer to someone like, I don't know, Juan Soto, who might go to the Mets or something.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: I'm not sure that'll be enough.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: But Pennsylvania has been important for a few cycles, hasn't it?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Does this really increase spending?
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Yeah, it has. But the spending this year is almost three times as much as what it was in 2020.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And the major focus in 2020, if you remember, was Georgia.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: It saw about $800 million in total advertising that year.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: But that's still well short of what we're seeing in Pennsylvania.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: So follow the money here. The campaigns really see Pennsylvania as the critical state this year.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: And Pierce Domenico Montanaro, thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: You're welcome.
--:-- Scott Simon: It's been a tense election season, and some of us haven't been able to keep that tension out of the workplace.
--:-- Scott Simon: Yes, that's right. A human resources group that keeps track of these things reports that major disagreements over political views have caused a huge increase in workplace incivility this year.
--:-- Scott Simon: NPR's Maria Aspen talked to HR leaders about what they're preparing for on Tuesday and beyond, and she joins us now.
--:-- Maria Aspen: Hi, Aisha.
--:-- Aisha Roscoe: Hi, Maria. So we've seen lots of disagreement online and even at polling places. But what has that looked like at work?
--:-- Maria Aspen: So there are a lot of tense water cooler conversations at the physical office, but also over Zoom or social media.
--:-- Maria Aspen: In fact, let me play you a clip. It's getting hot out here.
--:-- Maria Aspen: That's Johnny C. Taylor Jr. He runs a group of HR managers called SHRM.
--:-- Maria Aspen: We literally are seeing month over month increases in incivility and incivility specifically in response to one political opinions or one perceived political affiliation.
--:-- Maria Aspen: And there a financial cost to all of this tension.
--:-- Maria Aspen: Taylor's group estimates that all of this incivility is costing employers some $2 billion a day in lost productivity.
--:-- Maria Aspen: $2 billion a day. Is that because workers are ignoring their jobs and just sitting around arguing about who should be president?
--:-- Maria Aspen: I mean, there's some of that, but it's not just that everyone's arguing. It's about what happens after you might have a tense confrontation with a co-worker.
--:-- Maria Aspen: On average, after an individual experiences an act of incivility at work, it takes them 31 minutes to recover.
--:-- Maria Aspen: That impacts productivity.
--:-- Maria Aspen: Ayesha, it's worth remembering that we spend about a third of our lives at work, so it's inevitable that we're going to bring some of how we're feeling into our jobs.
--:-- Maria Aspen: And with a lot of people on edge right now, it's going to be even harder to stay focused.
--:-- Maria Aspen: So what's the answer then? Can employers just tell everyone to leave the politics at home?
--:-- Maria Aspen: This is what surprised me. I thought that was going to be the advice I got when I started talking to HR leaders.
--:-- Maria Aspen: We've seen some big companies like Coinbase and more recently Google saying exactly that, telling employees to leave the political debates at home.
--:-- Maria Aspen: But that's really hard to enforce in practice.
--:-- Maria Aspen: And some companies are recognizing that.
--:-- Maria Aspen: I talked to Melissa Anderson. She oversees HR for Albemarle, which makes lithium for car batteries.
--:-- Maria Aspen: The best way for them to handle their emotions is to feel like they have a safe place to talk about it and to be able to engage safely and to feel supported.
--:-- Maria Aspen: So Albemarle has created some employee resource groups and also hosted some internal meetings for employees to get together and talk about current events that are affecting them.
--:-- Maria Aspen: So as we go into this week, what else can employers do and what can we as workers do?
--:-- Maria Aspen: Well, for us workers, I mean, take a breath and remember to treat everyone, including our co-workers, with respect.
--:-- Maria Aspen: For employers, it really varies and some of it is kind of extreme.
--:-- Maria Aspen: Taylor told me that some small businesses are even canceling meetings on Wednesday and Thursday so that employees who voted different ways aren't forced to interact.
--:-- Maria Aspen: But as you know, it might be days before we know the election results, months before the inauguration, and we're going to continue to face a lot of other uncertainty at home and at the office.
--:-- Maria Aspen: So in general, whatever your company's policy is about talking politics or not talking politics, there should be a policy.
--:-- Maria Aspen: If you don't already have one at work, it's still worth starting to think about it.
--:-- Maria Aspen: That's NPR's Maria Aspen. Maria, thanks so much.
--:-- Maria Aspen: Thank you.
--:-- Scott Simon: Valencia, a region of eastern Spain, is still recovering from the catastrophic floods that devastated entire towns on Tuesday night.
--:-- Scott Simon: At least 205 people have been confirmed dead so far, but rescue and recovery teams are still working to access all locations and expecting the death toll to rise.
--:-- Scott Simon: And P.R.'s Miguel Macias joins us now from Seville.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Thank you, Scott.
--:-- Scott Simon: Let's begin with the latest what authorities are saying about the death tolls.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Well, just last night, the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande Malasca, said in an interview that he cannot estimate how many people are missing.
--:-- Miguel Macias: So think about that. We don't even know the potential magnitude of the tragedy at this point.
--:-- Miguel Macias: It's been a few days. How are rescue efforts proceeding?
--:-- Miguel Macias: Slowly. We've all seen the images of cars piled up on top of each other. It's just shocking.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Yesterday, speaking to Gatena Ser, a Spanish radio network, María Isabel Albalat, she's the mayor of one of the impacted towns by Porta, said that many streets were still blocked, so help could not fully access her town.
--:-- Miguel Macias: She's saying that when they get access to locations where one person has been reported dead, they find three or four bodies.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Abala says that some people have died inside their vehicles, some people have even died inside their street-level homes, blocked by cars that were swept away by the river or mud.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Think about this almost as a tsunami, Scott. This was just water accumulating on the streets.
--:-- Miguel Macias: You can see videos of a wave of groundwater advancing until it turns into a violent river.
--:-- Miguel Macias: People are devastated and sometimes also angry at what they see as a lack of response.
--:-- Miguel Macias: And Miguel, what has been the government response?
--:-- Miguel Macias: I understand there's been some controversy over the way people were alerted to the floods.
--:-- Miguel Macias: That's right, Scott. The official agency that oversees weather events started to warn citizens about the storm as early as Thursday the 24th.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Then they also issued warnings, including a red alert on Tuesday early morning around 7 a.m.
--:-- Miguel Macias: But the direct alert to people's cell phones, that loud beeping alert that came from the regional government of Valencia, went out just past 8 p.m. that night.
--:-- Miguel Macias: By that time, the flooding was up to two meters in some areas.
--:-- Miguel Macias: This is also a rush hour in Spain, so many cars were on the road going back home.
--:-- Miguel Macias: In other words, the destruction was going to happen regardless, but the human toll might have been avoided.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez spoke just this morning and said that the government will deploy 5,000 more troops to the region, 5,000 additional police officers.
--:-- Miguel Macias: He also said that the regional government of Valencia, in the hands of the opposition party, only has to ask for what they need and the central government will deliver.
--:-- Miguel Macias: And that it was time for political unity. No so subtle message to the conservatives.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Miguel, what kind of reaction are you seeing among the people in the region to this crisis?
--:-- Miguel Macias: We've seen an outpouring of help and solidarity.
--:-- Miguel Macias: There has been some looting as well, but mostly people helping each other.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Yesterday was a national holiday in Spain, and we got to see some images of hope with thousands of people from Valencia walking to the most impacted areas in the outskirts of the city to help.
--:-- Miguel Macias: And I want to leave you with a happy story.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Laura Hernandez was driving back from work with her husband when the flooding started on Tuesday.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Their four children were back at home waiting for them.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Well, Laura and her husband had to shelter inside an office building.
--:-- Miguel Macias: She spoke to Catena, said.
--:-- Miguel Macias: When they finally reunited, Laura says that their 17-year-old and her 12-year-old could touch them, hold them, in disbelief that the family was finally together after this nightmare.
--:-- Miguel Macias: So here's to more of those moments in the Hours to Come, Scott.
--:-- Miguel Macias: And Piers Miguel Macias, thanks so much for being with us.
--:-- Miguel Macias: Thank you.
--:-- Scott Simon: And that's up first for Saturday, November 2nd, 2024.
--:-- Scott Simon: Just three more nighty nights until Election Day.
--:-- Scott Simon: I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Aisha Roscoe.
--:-- Scott Simon: Andrew Craig produced today's podcast with help from Gabe O'Connor.
--:-- Scott Simon: Our director is Michael Radcliffe.
--:-- Scott Simon: Our editors are Dee Parvez, Melissa Gray, Dana Farrington, and Nick Spicer.
--:-- Scott Simon: Hannah Glovna is our technical director with engineering support from Stacey Abbott, Nisha Hines, and Arthur Halliday-Lorent.
--:-- Scott Simon: Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor.
--:-- Scott Simon: Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer.
--:-- Scott Simon: And Jim Kane, our deputy managing editor.
--:-- Scott Simon: Tomorrow on the Sunday Story, the gang at NPR's politics podcast.
--:-- Scott Simon: Take a look at how Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are going big in the swing states.
--:-- Scott Simon: Tune in for a detailed analysis of each candidate's campaign strategy.
--:-- Scott Simon: And for more news, interviews, sports and music, you can tune into Weekend Edition on your radio.
--:-- Scott Simon: Just go to stations.npr.org to find your local NPR station.
--:-- Scott Simon: Transcription by CastingWords advice when you need it.
--:-- Scott Simon: You can also invest on your own and trade on Think or Swim.
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