Many Democrats are still down on the Democratic Party, AP-NORC poll finds

Democratic candidates have notched a series of wins in recent special elections — but a new AP-NORC poll finds views of the Democratic Party among rank-and-file Democrats have not bounced back since President Donald Trump ’s 2024 victory.

Only about 7 in 10 Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While the overwhelming majority of Democrats still feel good about their party, they’re much less positive than they’ve been in the past.

The midterm elections are still many months away, and lackluster favorability doesn’t spell electoral doom. Other factors could benefit Democrats this year, including broadly negative views of Trump and other Republicans.

But the lack of enthusiasm could be a longer-term problem for the party. Democrats’ favorability of their party plummeted after the 2024 election. And despite overwhelming victories in November’s offseason elections and a string of wins since then, those views haven’t recovered.

The latest:

UN Security Council to hold high-level meeting on Gaza before Trump’s Board of Peace convenes

The U.N. session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board’s meeting for that same date, and it became clear it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both.

It is a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the United Nations’ most powerful body and Trump’s new initiative, whose broader ambitions to broker global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries that it may attempt to rival the U.N. Security Council.

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia, among others, are expected to attend the monthly Mideast meeting of the 15-member council after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that it discuss Gaza and Israel’s contentious West Bank settlement project before some of them head to Washington.

▶ Read more about the meeting

Who is Les Wexner, and why is he being deposed?

Wexner, 88, is the retired founder of L Brands.

As one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent former friends, Wexner has spent years answering for their decades-long association. In court documents, prominent Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre claimed Wexner was one of the men Epstein trafficked her to.

Wexner’s name appears more than 1,000 times in the Epstein files, which his spokesperson said is not unexpected given their longstanding relationship. The documents shed new light on his relationship with Epstein — which ended bitterly after Wexner and his wife Abigail learned he’d been stealing from them — while raising many new questions.

Wexner has consistently denied any knowledge of or involvement in the millionaire financier’s crimes and says he never met Giuffre. He told L Brands investors in 2019 that he was embarrassed that he ever got close to someone “so sick, so cunning, so depraved.”

He has said he plans to cooperate with a subpoena from Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

▶ Read more about Wexner’s friendship and falling out with Epstein

Billionaire Les Wexner: ‘I have done nothing wrong’

Billionaire retail mogul Les Wexner is preparing to emphatically deny knowledge of or participation in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes at a congressional deposition in Ohio on Wednesday.

In a statement to Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released ahead of the deposition, Wexner says he is an ethical man, philanthropist and community builder who was “duped by a world-class con man.”

The 88-year-old former owner of Victoria’s Secret and other brands says he is eager to set the record straight. “And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide.”

Why Trump’s comment on discussing Taiwan arms sales with China has raised concerns

Trump’s comment that he is discussing potential arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping is raising concerns in Taipei as the island democracy relies on U.S. backing in the face of China ’s territorial claims.

On Monday, Trump told journalists he is discussing the potential sales with the Chinese leader, an unexpected statement experts say might violate decades-old foreign policy principles defining the United States’ relationship with self-ruled Taiwan.

“I’ve talked to him about it, made a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon,” Trump said when asked about Xi’s opposition to the arms sales. He added he has “a very good relationship with President Xi.”

His comments have stirred a debate among some experts and politicians about whether this signals a potential change in U.S. policy toward Taiwan ahead of Trump’s planned visit to China in April.

▶ Read more about the context of and concerns around Trump’s comments

Trump administration appeals order to restore George Washington slavery exhibit

The Trump administration will appeal a federal judge’s order to restore a Philadelphia exhibit about the nine people enslaved by George Washington at his former home on Independence Mall.

The Justice Department insists the administration alone can decide what stories are told at National Park Service properties. Park service workers last month abruptly removed exhibits from the Philadelphia site, prompting the city and other supporters of the exhibit to sue.

U.S. Senior Judge Cynthia M. Rufe on Monday granted an injunction ordering that the materials be restored while the lawsuit proceeds and barring Trump officials from creating new interpretations of the site’s history. The administration on Tuesday filed a notice of appeal with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, also based in Philadelphia.

▶ Read more about the exhibit and order

Following Trump’s lead, some GOP states seek to limit environmental regulations

Some Republican legislators are looking to restrict their state’s ability to set environmental regulations, a move that comes as Trump ’s administration pushes to roll back environmental rules on power plants, water and greenhouse gases.

The Alabama Legislature on Tuesday approved legislation backed by business groups that would prevent state agencies from setting restrictions on pollutants and hazardous substances exceeding those set by the federal government. In areas where no federal standard exists, the state could adopt new rules only if there is a “direct causal link” between exposure to harmful emissions and “manifest bodily harm” to humans.

Supporters said the Alabama measure would ground standards in “sound science” and prevent regulatory overreach. Environmental groups said it would cripple the state’s ability to respond to environmental or health risks, including a group of chemicals known as PFAS, or forever chemicals, that has contaminated swaths of the South.

The measure is the latest effort to restrict state-level environmental regulations.

▶ Read about other states’ efforts

Public health, green groups sue EPA over repeal of climate measure

A coalition of health and environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, challenging its determination that revoked a scientific finding that has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

A rule finalized last week rescinds a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding underpins nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources heating the planet.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the endangerment finding an example of federal regulatory overreach, while the lawsuit says it enabled commonsense safeguards to cut climate pollution, including from cars and trucks.

Melania Trump to donate 2025 inaugural ball gown to the Smithsonian

The strapless black-and-white gown was designed by her longtime fashion designer and stylist, Herve Pierre, who is seen sketching it for the first lady and fitting her in it in “Melania,” her recently released documentary.

Trump is donating the gown to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History on Friday, according to a media advisory issued by the White House. The museum has a popular exhibit on first ladies that features more than two dozen of their gowns.

It will be Trump’s second donation to the exhibit. In 2017, she handed over the vanilla off-the-shoulder gown she wore to that year’s inaugural balls, which also was designed by Pierre.

Democrats hold an edge on health care, but struggle to make gains on the economy

Despite the internal negativity, Democrats have at least one potential advantage going into the midterm year.

About one-third of U.S. adults — 35% — trust the Democrats to do a better job handling health care, compared to 23% for the Republicans.

At the same time, Republicans have lost some ground on issues that were key to Trump’s reelection — the economy and immigration — but Democrats haven’t managed to capitalize on that.

Only 31% of U.S. adults say Republicans are the party they trust to handle the economy, down slightly from 36% last year. But Democrats haven’t made any gains on this issue; rather, slightly more Americans now say they trust “neither” party.

Many Americans are negative about both parties, polling shows

It’s not just Democrats — Americans aren’t thrilled with either party right now.

Only about one-third of U.S. adults have a favorable view of either the Democratic or Republican Party, according to the AP-NORC poll. Roughly one-quarter of Americans have a negative view of both, and that double-negativity is especially sharp among independents and Americans under 45.

But Democrats’ loss of goodwill is more recent. Polling over the past 25 years from Gallup shows that Americans used to feel much more positively toward the Democrats. Around 2010, public sentiment turned against them. Since then, at least half of Americans have held unfavorable views of the party.

Negative views of the Democrats now rival the most negative points in time for the Republicans.

Many Democrats are still down on the Democrats, a new AP-NORC poll finds

Democrats’ positivity about their party fell after Trump won the presidency in 2024. Despite a series of wins in recent special elections, polling shows morale hasn’t bounced back.

New AP-NORC polling shows that 70% of rank-and-file Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party. While the overwhelming majority of Democrats still feel good about their party, they’re much less positive than they’ve been in the past.

Democrats’ favorability of their party plummeted after the 2024 election, from 85% in September 2024 to 67% in October 2025.