By JILL COLVIN and LINLEY SANDERS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approval of the way President Donald Trump is managing the government has dropped sharply since early in his second term, according to a new AP-NORC poll, with much of the rising discontent coming from fellow Republicans.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was conducted after Democrats’ recent victories in off-year elections but before Congress took major steps to try to end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. It shows that only 33% of U.S. adults approve of the way the Republican president is managing the government, down from 43% in an AP-NORC poll from March.

That was driven in large part by a decline in approval among Republicans and independents. According to the survey, only about two-thirds of Republicans, 68%, said they approve of Trump’s government management, down from 81% in March. Independents’ approval dropped from 38% to 25%.

The results highlight the risks posed by the shutdown, which Trump and his administration have tried to pin squarely on Democrats, even as U.S. adults have cast blame on both parties as the funding lapse has snarled air traffic, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and comprised food aid for some of the most vulnerable Americans. But it could also indicate broader discontent with Trump’s other dramatic — and polarizing — changes to the federal government in recent months, including gutting agencies and directing waves of mass layoffs.

Trump’s approval on government management erodes among Republicans

Republicans have generally been steadfast in their support for the president, making their growing displeasure particularly notable.

“I’m thoroughly disturbed by the government shutdown for 40-something days,” said Beverly Lucas, 78, a Republican and retired educator who lives in Ormond Beach, Florida, and compared Trump’s second term to “having a petulant child in the White House, with unmitigated power.”

“When people are hungry, he had a party,” she said, referring to a Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “I thought he seems callous.”

The survey found an overwhelming majority of Democrats, 95%, continue to disapprove of Trump’s management of the federal government, compared with 89% in March.

Trump’s overall approval holds steady

Even with the decline in support for his management of the government, Trump’s overall approval rating has remained steady in the new poll. About one-third of U.S. adults, 36%, approve of his overall handling of the presidency, roughly in line with 37% in an October AP-NORC poll. Approval of his handling of key issues like immigration and the economy have also barely changed since last month.

Health care emerged as a key issue in the shutdown debate as Democrats demanded that Republicans negotiate with them to extend tax credits that expire Jan. 1. But Trump’s approval on the issue, which was already fairly low, has barely changed.

About one-third, 34%, of Americans said they approved of Trump’s handling of health care in the November poll, compared with 31% in October.

And many of his supporters are still behind him. Susan McDuffie, 74, a Republican who lives in Carson City, Nevada, and retired several years ago, said she has “great confidence in Trump” and thinks the country is on the right track. She blames Democrats for the shutdown and the suffering it’s caused.

“I just don’t understand how the Democrats can care so little about the people,” she said, scoffing at the idea that Democrats were trying to use the shutdown to force Republicans to address soon-to-skyrocket health care costs.

“I don’t have any patience for the Democrats and their lame excuses,” she said, arguing that people who are scared about SNAP benefits expiring and struggling to put food on the table are a more pressing issue.

Plenty of blame to go around

When it comes to the shutdown, there is still plenty of blame to go around. Recent polls have indicated that while Republicans may be taking slightly more heat, many think Democrats are at fault, too.

“I truly do believe it’s everybody. Everybody is being stubborn,” said Nora Bailey, 33, a moderate who lives in the Batesville area in Arkansas and does not align with either party.

After recently giving birth, she said, she faced delays in getting a breast pump through a government program that helps new mothers while her son was in intensive care. And she is worried about her disabled parents, who rely on SNAP food stamp benefits.

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Overall, she said she is mixed on Trump’s handling of the job and disapproves of his management of the federal government because she believes he has not gone far enough to tackle waste.

“I don’t see enough being done yet to tell me we have downsized the federal government instead of having all these excess people,” she said.

It’s possible that Trump’s approval on handling the federal government will rebound if the government reopens. But the showdown could have a more lasting impact on perceptions of the president, whose approval on the economy and immigration has eroded slightly since the spring.

Lucas, the Florida Republican, said shutdowns in which civilians aren’t paid are the wrong way to address ideological disagreement.

“Air traffic controllers? Really? You want to not pay the people in whose hands your lives are every day?” she said. “We need to be addressing these conflicts like intelligent people and not thugs and bullies on the playground.”

Colvin reported from New York.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,143 adults was conducted Nov. 6-10 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

By EDDIE PELLS, Associated Press

It will be a busy opening day of action at the Los Angeles Olympics for the fastest women in the world.

As part of a seismic schedule change for the 2028 Games, track and field, and not swimming, will lead off the Olympics. In releasing the detailed schedule Wednesday, organizers revealed that the first day at the LA Coliseum, July 15, will include all three rounds of the women’s 100 meters.

Sprinters normally run a maximum of two races in a day at a major event. It’s a change the men will not have to deal with, but that a women’s field that could include the last two world champions, Sha’Carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, and Olympic champ Julien Alfred are being given nearly three years to prepare for.

“To be the pre-eminent event on the first night of competition in the historic LA Memorial Coliseum, I think when we presented it to the athletes that way, there was excitement,” said Janet Evans, the gold-medal swimmer serving as chief athlete officer for the Los Angeles Games. “A majority of athletes said to me, ‘Just let me know. Let me know early, and I’ll start training to run three 100s in one day.”

FILE – Julien Alfred, of Saint Lucia, 4th left, crosses the finish line ahead of Sha’carri Richardson, of the United States, and Melissa Jefferson, of the United States, to win the women’s 100 meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, file)

Swimming to take place at SoFi

Swimming has traditionally kicked off the Summer Games, but because the opening ceremony is taking place at SoFi Stadium, same as the swim meet, organizers decided to make the swap. It was not feasible to set up the pool in the stadium so quickly after the ceremony.

Evans, who won four Olympic gold medals in 1988 and 1992, said the prospect of swimming in what is largely considered LA’s best new stadium in front of 38,000 fans is an opportunity her sport embraced. Also, swimmers are often forced to miss the opening because they compete the very next day.

“I could probably name on my two hands the swimmers I know who have actually been to opening ceremonies,” Evans said.

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Schedule not set up for McLaughlin-Levrone double

The schedule also makes it virtually impossible for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone to try to double in both the 400 meters and the 400 hurdles.

McLaughlin-Levrone is the world-record holder and two-time defending champion in the hurdles. She took a year off from that to run in the 400 sprint this year, where at the world championships she became the first runner since 1985 to run the lap in less than 48 seconds (47.78). (Second-place finisher Marileidy Paulino also broke 48.)

McLaughlin-Levrone’s coach, Bobby Kersee, had hinted at the possibility she might go for the double. In the past — most notably in 1996 when Michael Johnson won the 200 and 400 — organizers have tailored the Olympic schedule to allow marquee track athletes to try for extra medals.

Not this time, though. The 400 hurdles semifinals and 400-meter final are each scheduled for July 20.

Chief of Sport and Games Delivery Shana Ferguson said LA consulted with World Athletics in designing the schedule.

“I can’t speak directly to any particular athlete’s schedule or how he or she is approaching the Games but we are arm and arm in the development of a contest schedule,” Ferguson said

Sometimes, it’s tiresome to plan a vacation. Sometimes, it’s best to let the algorithm do it for you.

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Stepping up to help is travel-booking site Skyscanner, which this October released its top-searched destinations for U.S. travelers in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. “The not-so-obvious (places) are stealing the spotlight,” Skyscanner writes. “U.S. travelers are turning their attention to smaller, lesser-known destinations that fly further under the radar but offer something fresh beyond the big-name spots.”

Goodbye, Hawaii and Disney World. Hello, Limon, Costa Rica, a coastal city that saw a 286% increase in flight searches this year. Other hot spots include Bodrum, Turkey; Zadar, Croatia; and in the United States, New Haven in Connecticut (great pizza!) and Colorado’s mountainous ski-haven, Vail.

Skyscanner’s 10 trending destinations for 2026

1 Limon, Costa Rica

2 Jaipur, India

3 Bodrum, Turkey

4 Madeira, Portugal

5 Vail, Colorado

6 Zadar, Croatia

7 Olbia, Italy

8 New Haven, Connecticut

9 Bilbao, Spain

10 Mykonos, Greece

Source: skyscanner.com/travel-trends/destinations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2011 email that Donald Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a victim of sex trafficking and said in a separate message years later that Trump “knew about the girls,” according to communications released Wednesday.

The emails made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee add to the questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about any knowledge he may have had in what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.

The messages are part of a batch of 23,000 documents provided by Epstein’s estate to the Oversight Committee. The release resurfaces a storyline that had shadowed Trump’s presidency during the summer when the FBI and the Justice Department abruptly announced that they would not be releasing additional documents that investigators had spent weeks examining, disappointing conspiracy theorists and online sleuths who had expected to see new revelations.

In an April 2, 2011, email to Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein girlfriend now imprisoned for conspiring to engage in sex trafficking, Epstein wrote, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. (Redacted name) spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there.”

Maxwell replied the same day: “I have been thinking about that.”

The name of the person said to have spent time with Trump was blacked out of the email, but House Democrats identified the person as a “victim.”

In a separate 2019 email to journalist Michael Wolff, who has written extensively about Trump, Epstein wrote of Trump, “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused the Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

She said in a statement that the unnamed person referenced in the emails is Virginia Giuffre, who had accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager and who died by suicide in April. Andrew has rejected Giuffre’s allegations and said he didn’t recall meeting her.

Leavitt said in a statement that Giuffre had “repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions.”

“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” the statement said. “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments, and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”

Giuffre came forward publicly after an initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty instead to relatively minor state-level charges of soliciting prostitution. He was released in 2009.

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In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, club, when she was approached in 2000 by Maxwell.

Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges.

Lawyers for Maxwell, a British socialite, have argued that she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She is serving a 20-year prison term, though she was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.