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Trump's Approval Underwater in Red States Iowa and Ohio; Economy and Cost of Living Top Issue in Ohio and Iowa; Midterm Travel Blitz Takes Trump Back to Texas for Third Time in Weeks; Hurricane Isaias Strengthening as it Heads for Gulf Coast; Attorney Details Threats Against Jane Doe, His Own Family. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired October 08, 2026 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Going down as it gets, but it doesn't. So we go to overtime. In OT, the Liberty were down three in the final seconds.

They had a reset timeout, but Breanna Stewart said the refs told her they didn't. So they don't end up getting a good shot off. Dream win 101 to 98.

They take a 2-0 lead into that series. You know, Kate, I was at the Braves game. Very, very depressing atmosphere there as they lose again.

But the Dream they win to lift the spirits of the city of Atlanta. But, you know, I like to talk about the great sports balance, Kate. You can't have all your teams being good at the same time.

So Braves lose, Dream win. That's just how it is.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I disagree. I think that's the only, like, in sports, the deadly sin of gluttony is totally fine. Like, yes, I want all, all of my teams, all should be winning at all times.

Yes, I could feel your, I could feel your anger when you're talking about the Braves. A little bit. A little bit.

We bet. Well, you got the dream, baby. You can keep the dream.

SCHOLES: You just can't ever get a hit when you need it, ever. Ever.

BOLDUAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

The breaking news, two red states in play for Democrats. Highly contested races very closely watched that could change and decide the balance of power come November. Hinging on who voters are blaming for high prices.

A hurricane has formed overnight in the Gulf and it's breaking records, triggering states of emergency across Florida and Alabama. When we expect landfall and where. And find out what happened when a dog showed up at a police

headquarters out of nowhere, looking to become the county's new recruit.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Brand new CNN polls out this morning, 26 days before the midterms and the numbers are rough for President Trump in two deep red states he won easily. In Ohio, a state the president carried by 11 points in 2024, just 36 percent of voters say they approve of the president. Democrat Sherrod Brown, who lost his Senate seat in 2024, leads Republican Jon Husted said by six points.

This would be a flip. In Iowa, where Trump won by 13 points, his approval is just at 41 percent. And in the Senate race there, no clear leader between Republican Ashley Hinson and the Democrat Josh Turek.

Want to get right to CNN Washington Bureau Chief and Political Director David Chalian for the latest on these polls. I think that Ohio Senate race is going to pop off the screen for some people, David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, there's no doubt about that. I mean, look at that lead that Sherrod Brown, the Democrat, has. Former senator, seeking his old job back, 49 percent among likely voters in our brand new poll from SSRS, 43 percent for Jon Husted, the appointed Republican incumbent senator there, John.

And it gets even a little better for Democrats in the governor's race there. Amy Acton, the Democrat, 50 percent among likely voters, 42 percent for Vivek Ramaswamy. You noted that Trump approval number.

This is telling the story of what's going on there. He's upside down by 28 points in Ohio, John. That is a state, as you noted, he won just two years ago by 11 points here against Kamala Harris.

This is a state that has really become red in recent American politics. The state Donald Trump won three times. And Democrats have leads in the two statewide top tier races.

BERMAN: That approval rating in Ohio is really remarkable. OK, what do you see in Iowa, David?

CHALIAN: In Iowa, you see here in the Senate race, no clear leader. It's a margin of error race. Now, 45 percent of likely voters say they're going to vote for Ashley Hinton on our poll.

43 percent for the Democrat, Josh Turek. When you look at the governor's race there, it's a different story. It is a big Democratic lead.

51 percent of likely voters say they're going to support Rob Sand. 42 percent say Zach Lahn. And you see maybe what's going on here. Trump's approval, not good, is underwater by 17 percentage points. He's at 41 percent approval, disapproval at 58 percent. Again, this is an even more Republican state, I would argue, than Ohio just in its DNA.

You can see that in the presidential result from two years ago. He won this one by 13 percentage points. And John, yes, his approval is underwater.

Democrats are in the hunt here in a state that Republicans probably should have had off the map long ago.

BERMAN: So the question, David, is why?

CHALIAN: Yes, and the answer is the economy, John. I mean, look at the top issues. In both states, economy and cost of living, far and away the most important issue for voters.

Nothing else really even comes close. And when you look at how voters think about the economy, this is astonishing to me. This is the number that jumps out the most in the poll to me.

[08:05:00]

Trump's policies have increased costs. So say three quarters of voters in Ohio, three quarters of voters in Iowa. It's not just that they are feeling economic pain, John, it's that they're tying it to Donald Trump's policies. That presents a problem for the president's party.

BERMAN: It's a big problem, and it's a direct correlation that they're making there on an issue that Donald Trump ran on, and they are saying he didn't do it. And there are 26 days left to go to message otherwise, and that's a tall task. David Chalian, great to see you this morning.

Thank you very much.

CHALIAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, John. As Republicans are uneasy about what all of that might mean, President Trump made his third trip to Texas in less than a month to campaign for Ken Paxton. The president trying to push Paxton across the finish line as Paxton remains neck and neck with Democrat James Talarico.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. Alayna, tell us a little bit more about the messaging you're expecting and the money that's being pumped into many of these states, including Texas. It tells you a little something about how they feel about what's happening there.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, and you just heard from David Chalian there laying out the poll numbers here and how the president's approval is really low in places where he won by more than double digits back in 2024. But the message continues to be, and you heard this from the president last night in San Antonio, Sara, that he wants his true supporters, the ones who will show up to his rallies, he wants them to pretend that he is on the ballot. That is the message he has continued to deliver.

Now, I will say, when you look at this polling, David did a great job walking through it all and all the warning signs that it prevents for Republicans. But a lot of times you're going to hear the president, you're going to hear Republicans across the country try to dismiss those polls, say that they've been wrong in the past. That might be true.

However, if you look at the other resources that are being spent in many of these races, money and time, it gives you a better picture about how the warning bells are a real cause for concern. If you just look at where Republican super PACs are spending in some of their ads, they are pouring more money into ads in red states and pulling money out of some of these tighter, more battleground states that they believe some of these races might be lost causes. We also know that Republicans have been pouring more than $100 million into that Senate race in Texas from Ken Paxton, the Republican against the Democrat James Talarico.

They're also having millions more being spent to defend Senate seats in Alaska, Iowa, and Ohio. And you talked about just where the president has been spending his time. Yes, Texas.

He has been to that state three times in less than a month, twice in just one week. But he's also been to a lot of other red states there. He's been to Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio.

He'll also be going back to Alabama this weekend for their football game. So I think that just gives you a picture of the reason that they're spending so much of their really necessary resources on some of these red states is because they recognize they need to be on defense. And that is exactly what the president is doing with a lot of his travel.

I can also tell you, when I had some of these conversation weeks ago with the president's team and members of his political operation about where should we see the president heading, what will the map look like in the run-up in those final weeks to election day where we are now, of course, they had predicted that he'd be going to a lot more of these battleground states, battleground districts, but he's not.

He's spending a lot of his time in some of these more conservative areas, really trying to go after, again, the loyalists, some of his fiercest supporters, not necessarily voters that they believe that they could persuade. It's all about driving turnout. That is the president's goal.

We'll have to see whether or not it actually works on November 3rd -- Sara.

SIDNER: Absolutely, Alayna Treene, thank you so much, live from the White House for us -- Kate. BOLDUAN: A hurricane is coming for the Gulf Coast. Isaias is gaining strength, triggering emergency alerts and evacuation orders, and we have the forecast and the latest track for you.

And the woman at the center of the Cornell rape investigation is now facing death threats, says her attorney, and was just the target of a dangerous swatting incident at her family home. What is being done to stop this, as calls for action at Cornell grow louder.

And for the first time, we are seeing body cam video from inside the classroom, moments after a six-year-old boy shot his first grade teacher.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, Hurricane Isaias gaining strength. Expected to become a Category 2 storm soon. You can see the calm before the storm.

Live pictures out of Alabama. Ah, let's just sit and stay there for a moment. That's a nice sunrise.

But officials are warning and people are preparing. In Pensacola, grocery shelves have emptied out there. Satellite imagery also showed lightning flashes as the storm gained strength yesterday.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking this for you and joins us right now. Allison, how are things looking? What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, so what we're expecting over the next 24 hours is to continue to see this storm strengthen. It's already done that the last 12 hours and it will continue to do so really for the bulk of the day today as it moves over those incredibly warm waters of the Gulf which is fuel for these kind of storms. Sustained winds of 80 miles per hour gusting up to around 100 miles per hour.

We anticipate it will get all the way up to sustained winds of right around 110 miles per hour at its peak.

[08:15:00]

Keep in mind, 111 is a Category 3 so it's going to get awfully close to that major hurricane status. It could creep over. It may stay down as a Category 2.

Regardless, this is going to be a potent storm as it begins to make its way to the north closer to the coastline. It is expected to make landfall late on Friday, but you will already start to see impacts from this storm well before that, especially with some of the outer bands.

Also, the wind pushing all of that water inland, you're going to start to see those storm surge numbers begin to tick back up starting early Friday. The orange area you see on the map here, that's where you're going to have the highest storm surge. So Mobile, Pensacola, Panama City, those types of areas looking at five to seven feet of storm surge.

But even some of the surrounding areas, both on the east and western side, could be looking at three to six feet of storm surge. Here's a look at the storm as it slides north. Again, by Friday morning, some of those outer bands already starting to push some rain bands into a lot of these coastal locations.

By Friday afternoon, that's when we start to see some of the heavier rain beginning to pick back up and then obviously things will peak right there along the coast Friday night as we expect landfall to slide in around that time. But after that, then it becomes more of an inland concern. A lot of these other areas well far away from the coast, Montgomery, Birmingham, Atlanta, all have the potential for very heavy rainfall from this storm, even though they are not on the coast.

You look at the maximum wind threats, you're looking at about hurricane force winds are right there around the coast. But even farther up, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, still looking at wind gusts around 40 to 60 miles per hour. Rain is certainly going to be one of the most widespread components to this particular storm.

You've got a lot of these areas that are looking at four to six inches of rain, but you can have some isolated amounts that could reach all the way up to 10 inches total. This is also going to be a concern, not just on Friday, but also Saturday as the storm continues to slide north.

BOLDUAN: All right, we'll continue to watch it. Allison, thank you so much for the update -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate. Ahead, terror plot foiled. A man arrested and accused of planning to kill dozens of people at America's largest mall.

And unprecedented student protests are rocking France at this hour. Where things stand this morning. Those stories and more ahead.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, pressure is growing on Cornell University over its handling of a former student's allegation that she was gang raped at a fraternity in 2024. And this morning, we're hearing the threats the former student is facing now. Her attorney says someone targeted her parents' home this week by calling in a false report of a shooting.

He also said his own family is now receiving threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS GIUFFRA, ATTORNEY FOR JANE DOE: She's not the only one, because right after this happened, she got a text message threatening to blow somebody's head off. And my wife had received several calls from the same number. And today, I received a call at my office threatening to kill my family.

I received more calls. And it's gotten to be really out of hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's Jason Carroll joins me now. We know that they are not the only ones. The attorneys for one of the accused is also receiving threats.

And students are talking about receiving threats when they put things online. What is happening here?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's going all around. And let's start with the attorney representing Jane Doe, because he's basically saying the hate has got to stop. Not only has he received threats, but you heard him there.

His family has received threats. Jane Doe has received threats. And now he's saying those threats have extended to her family.

And he talked about a swatting incident. Swatting, of course, is when someone makes a fake emergency call to police, right, in order to trigger a police response. He says that's what happened most recently at her parents' house.

He goes into a lot of detail about what he says happened. Take a listen to a portion of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIUFFRA: This person had called the police, said there was a shooting in progress. People were being slaughtered in Jane Doe's parents' house, the house she grew up in. And a crew of swat team with automatic -- well, with assault rifles, heavily armed tactical gear, drew guns.

Her friend, her brother, her father, who's an older man like me, all machine -- you know, automatic weapons. And my client was there, screaming, stop, stop. And somebody could have been killed.

And this has gone too far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, he's saying that there's just too much hatred going all around. And meanwhile, you've got the attorney representing one of the accused, who says his client is also being treated unfairly. He's one of two of the accused who are still on campus there at Cornell.

He says that his client is being harassed constantly while he's at school. And when it comes to the case, I want to point out one other thing. This very same attorney has filed a motion to have the special prosecutor, in this case, Letitia James, the attorney general, to have her removed from the case, because, of course, because of that Facebook posting that she posted before she was appointed, basically supporting Jane Doe. SIDNER: There are a lot of threads to this, but it is really disturbing to see how many people are literally trying to get other members of this entire case --

CARROLL: This case has triggered --

SIDNER: -- in a terrifying way, it's triggered such hatred.

CARROLL: Emotions all across the board.

SIDNER: Jason Carroll, thank you for reporting that. I appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a CNN exclusive. ICE agents being asked to boost their arrest numbers just weeks before the midterms.

And the USS Lincoln set to dock in San Diego after an epic deployment at sea.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: News about those of us in our 30s. Where is this crucial age group leaning? Just 26 days before the midterms.

With us now, my age cohort, Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You dream, General, you dream

BERMAN: So, we're talking about millennials in a group that I know very well.

ENTEN: Of course.

BERMAN: Again, as we head into the midterms, what are millennials saying?

ENTEN: What are millennials saying? I would just say that Donald Trump's numbers are dropping with millennials faster than the odds that the New York Yankees actually make the World Series. This is what we're talking about.

I mean, just take a look right here.

[08:30:00]