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Polls on Younger Voters; Voters Favor Democrats Heading into the Midterms; U.S. Strikes Iran as War Pulls in More Countries; New Numbers Show the U.S. Economy is Losing Steam; Former ICE Director John Sandweg is Interviewed about ICE at Airports; Americans Consult A.I. about Health. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 30, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:51]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Younger voters are fed up and they want change. That is one of the takeaways from the new CNN polling just out this morning. And there's also something that Harry Enten has been tracking all year, and he is here with us right now.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey, I am here.

BOLDUAN: And excited. How big is this shift?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, we are talking about an absolutely huge shift, a 180. Young voters are fed up and they're taking their anger out on President Trump. We'll start off there.

Take a look here. Voters under the age of 50 on Trump. In the fall of 2024, Kamala Harris led in our polling by just three points. Look at where Donald Trump is. He was within three points of Kamala Harris. Now his net approval rating on the year in the average of CNN polling, look at that, minus 41 points. That is a shift of 38 points away from the president of the United States. He is falling through the floor. If you look at the trend line among voters over the age of 50, or 50 and older, the shift that we've seen amongst them against President Trump is less than half that. In fact, it's under a 15-point shift.

So, the reason why President Trump is so unpopular at this point is the shift among younger voters, those under the age of 50, your gen z, your millennials. They gave President Trump a little bit of a try in 2024. No longer. He is down there, right there underneath the ocean floor.

BOLDUAN: Yes, how does -- does that and how does that translate to when you're looking at Congress?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, obviously, President Trump is not on the ballot this year. But if you're a Republican in Congress and you think you're going to escape the unpopularity that President Trump has amongst younger voters, you got another thing coming. Because just take a look at these shifts. OK, in the fall of 2024, the choice for House margin, Democrats were leading amongst those under the age of 50 by four points. Look at that lead now though. Look at that lead now. It's more than four times that. A double-digit shift. Their lead is now 17 points.

Look at those 50 and older. Look at that. Republicans led by eight. They now lead by six. Basically the same. The reason why Democrats have been able to jump out to the lead in Congress, the reason why that they are likely to take back the U.S. House of Representatives is not older voters. The key game that has shifted here, the key play that has shifted here is younger voters. Those under the age of 50 are taking out their anger, it seems to me, that they have against President Trump. They're going to take it out against Republicans in Congress this fall. This is a Titanic-type of shift away from the Republican Party and to the Democratic Party.

BOLDUAN: A generally believe predictor, of course, in how things will pan out is enthusiasm --the enthusiasm gap, if you will. So, the most motivated voters, the people most excited or most, yes, excited to turn out in the midterms, how is this looking?

ENTEN: Yes, Dem -- younger voters are as excited to turn out for this midterm as I am every single morning I'm here with you as I am off the screens, to quote Emeril Lagasse. And these are, bam, numbers. I mean, look at this.

Voters under the age of 50, the choice for the House. Among the extremely motivated, you know, you go back to the fall of 2024. Democrats only had a two-point lead amongst them. Look at this lead now in the 2026 average. It's a 46-point advantage among the voters who are most likely to turn out because midterm elections have lower turnout than presidential years. The extremely motivated is a very key --

BOLDUAN: That's wild.

ENTEN: That is a -- that's a wild --

BOLDUAN: That's -- this is wild.

ENTEN: This is a wild shift.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ENTEN: Kate, taking the words right out of my mouth. We're talking about a 44-point shift amongst those who are extremely motivated to turn out and vote. These are the types of numbers that blue waves are made of. And if there is a blue wave come November, it will be because of voters under the age of 50, younger voters who gave Republicans and President Trump a try in 2024, they are doing a 180 and they're saying, you know what, we're going back to team blue, at least in the polling we see so far.

BOLDUAN: So far.

It's good to see you, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for "The New York Times," Zolan Kanno-Youngs. He is here with us.

Let's start with this new polling, new CNN polling that we have out that shows basically that Democrats have an eight-point lead when it comes to the midterms, when it comes to how people feel about them and their choice for Congress.

When you couple that with the fact that the poll yesterday from CNN that looked at the president and what he's been doing where people -- it's the worst approval rating he's seen ever at 34 percent.

[08:35:10]

Very low. And when it came to what he's doing and what his priorities are, Americans are saying your priorities are way off. Seventy-three percent of Americans said you do not have the right priorities. You are not focusing on the issues that we need you to focus on to make our lives better. That eight-point jump, do you think that that is a little bit underwhelming, or is this significant?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, I mean, look, on first glance you look at this poll and you say, yes, this is a positive sign for Democrats. It's also somewhat expected, right? I mean, this follows a historical trend. The party that is holding the White House, when you get to the midterms, they're going to face challenges here, right? They're the one with the expectations to basically fulfill their campaign promises, which, as you noted, the CNN poll showed that many voters feel President Trump isn't doing.

But then looking a little bit further into this poll, and what I see is also a challenge for Democrats, possibly. Yes, it has -- it definitely shows enthusiasm. It definitely shows that voters are looking towards Democrats. It also shows that voters, including in the Democratic base, are frustrated with congressional leadership. There was also a line that says six out of ten Democratic-aligned adults want change as well.

This is something we've heard voters, Democratic voters, say going back to the 2024 election. And we didn't -- we have really yet to see Democrats, the party leadership, respond in a consistent way to those calls for change, right? So, yes, this absolutely shows an opportunity for Democrats. But at a time where we have these primaries and this debate over whether to go with outsider candidates, whether to go with more experienced and vetted, yet also some might say status quo candidates, this also -- this poll not only speaks to the enthusiasm that Democrats are building, but also possibly the intraparty tension over who is the best candidate to actually take advantage of that enthusiasm.

SIDNER: You're saying Democrats really need to look down this poll to really get a handle on what's happening.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Not just at the headline.

SIDNER: Not just at the headline, yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: You've got to look deep into this poll, that's right.

SIDNER: Yes, and respond.

I do want to ask you about the hearing on Dr. Anthony Fauci and how he handled the pandemic. Republicans were on the attack, and they really went after him, kind of on a deeply personal, angry level.

Let's listen to what they said. Just a smidgit (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): It you don't want to answer questions. It's because you did all kinds of terrible things. It's because during the pandemic you got rich, didn't you?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Your legacy will not be as a man who -- that saved America from Covid, but as a man who destroyed the public trust in America's public health institutions in exchange for five minutes of fame.

SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): It was about six years ago today that I decided I'm going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for the United States Senate. And here I am, sitting in front of you six years later, saying, who the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) do you think you were for doing that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Yes, he was cursed at. And then you have this interesting twist from TMZ's Harvey Levin, who says he doesn't normally weigh in like this when it comes to a political event, really, or a political hearing, but here's what he says about Fauci and what he thought he saw during that hearing.

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HARVEY LEVIN, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, TMZ: We are in a Senator Joseph McCarthy climate, where there is such fear that people have, and legitimate fear, that they'll end up in prison for what they say, no matter what it is, if they are on the wrong side of somebody in Congress or the administration that they have been silenced. And that's where we are right now. We are in Senator Joseph McCarthy territory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Are you surprised to hear that from someone who has been fairly friendly with the Trump administration, especially in the early years, in the 2016, '17, '18, and '20? I mean, he just called the senators, the Republican senators, using McCarthyism.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes. Yes. Yes, it is surprising, right, when you are hearing TMZ, which obviously is known more for sort of some of the --

SIDNER: Entertainment.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Entertainment, celebrity, sensational news, although they're also on The Hill now too. So, they are getting involved in sort of the political coverage. But it -- but it is surprising when you hear someone like that weigh in on this.

I mean, all of this just speaks to how polarized our, not just politics actually has become, but this is now we're talking about public health and public health officials as well. Yes, we did have the release by the Trump-led HHS, we did have the release of Fauci's pandemic diaries, where he did muse about, you know, origins about -- of Covid and also the fame he was getting that fueled this.

[08:40:03]

But this was the latest step in a long-held feud between the chairman of a congressional committee and Rand Paul and a public health official and Dr. Fauci. And the test -- the hearing that we saw yesterday, both him pleading the fifth over and over again, and the members, you know, using that kind of harsh language, you know, threatening as well, it just speaks to how polarized and divisive, not just our politics have become, but also our policy making, including policy making that used to be void or at least immune to some of this, of this politics.

SIDNER: And to be fair, Americans do have questions about the pandemic.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Sure. Absolutely.

SIDNER: There are some questions that should be answered and studied and looked at and shared. But, wow, I mean, a lot of people saw that. And seeing Harvey Levin react that way, I -- it stood out.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes. And I don't know -- yes, you're totally right, there are valid questions about Covid, about how public health officials handled it.

SIDNER: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: I don't think that Americans are expecting to get those answers from a congressional hearing anytime soon, especially given where our politics is leaning.

SIDNER: Not any more.

Zolan, thank you so much for coming in.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Thank you. SIDNER: Have a great weekend.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Thanks a lot.

SIDNER: I know we're getting close.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: The war with Iran is now expanding across the Middle East. Egypt now confirms that it has come under attack for the first time since the war began. And just yesterday, U.S. Central Command said that Saudi Arabian forces joined American forces in conducting joint strikes against Iran-backed terrorist sites in Iraq. Overnight. CENTCOM says it conducted a new wave of strikes across Iran. They say it was in response to Iranian attacks on U.S. forces.

The strikes were forecasted by President Trump earlier, who said it was -- who said from the Oval Office that it was, quote/unquote, "our turn." The question now is, how many more turns will there be before any negotiations to end this war start back up in a real way again?

Joining me right now is CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner.

It's good to see you, Beth.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, they're now involved in this thing. What does this mean for the war?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I don't think Egypt is involved yet, which is really an important kind of nuance here is that the Iranians -- or we don't actually know who struck a U.S. LNG facility. It's not exactly a facility, a platform, in Egypt. Egypt hasn't responded. And I don't think they will. I'm not sure Iran wanted (AUDIO GAP) I don't think they wanted Egypt to respond.

But this is part of a potential kind of horizontal and vertical escalation of what's going on, right, that we're seeing more territory horizontally, more geography involved. But most of it is aimed at U.S. and then also Saudi assets. And -- but the kinds of assets are also changing. So, we're seeing this vertical escalation in terms of not just U.S. military bases, but also this kind of logistics or energy facilities.

And so, we are seeing an escalation now. And again today, Iran has responded with attacks on Jordan and Kuwait. And so we're seeing this tit-for-tat, Kate. And, you know, there's some big questions here because there's got to be an off ramp at some point. But the president now is deciding, up or down.

BOLDUAN: Yes. The Saudi -- yes, exactly. The Saudi Arabian foreign minister, he met with the U.S. after the joint strikes were conducted. And the kingdom's assessment, according to sources CNN is reporting, is that Iran will seek to create leverage through escalation and will continue trying to use pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Yemen's Houthis to do so. And I read that thinking, two straight weeks of nightly strikes by the

United States did not bring Iran to the table. And then you have kind of this declaration of, they want to -- the assessment is, they are going to escalate in order to gain themselves leverage. What does this do? It kind of gets us back to the same question, is like, what's the off ramp?

SANNER: It's really difficult to say. And I think that this is something that, you know, all of us who are watching this closely have been saying for weeks now is that there doesn't seem to be a very clear off ramp. Someone has got to basically, I don't want to say capitulate, but has got to stop in order to get the negotiations back.

But it takes two to tango. And I think what Iran is showing that, you know, they escalated during the pause, right? So, we had this pause and then they did this surprise attack on Jordan. I think it was purposeful. I think it was to send a message that they -- it happened when the president was meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval Office, and it happened when there are these discussions about what's going to happen to the Strait of Hormuz.

[08:45:02]

And I think Iran is showing very clearly, they have very clear red line on control of the Strait of Hormuz. Huge leverage.

The Saudi Houthi issue is slightly separate. Obviously connected. But the Houthis also have their own problem with the Saudis in terms of a blockade on Yemen that they are -- they want broken. So, now it's all coming together and in a couple hours we're going to see the head of the Houthis give a press conference. And at that press conference, they're going to threaten to escalate some more against the United States, which they have not yet -- it's only been Saudi, but if the United States resumes the full-scale war against Iran, the Houthis say they're coming in and they're going to block the Bab-El-Mandeb Strait for everyone, not just Saudi ships.

So again, more escalation is in the picture.

BOLDUAN: It sure seems that way.

Beth, it's great to see you. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, breaking just moments ago, key new data showing the U.S. economy losing steam heading into the summer, slowing down as the Iran War rocks energy markets.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan, who is looking at these numbers as they're coming in.

Give us some sense of what you're seeing here, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Sara, we're seeing a slowdown, right? The U.S. economy did lose some steam this spring. Growth did come in a bit softer than expected. This was mostly driven by some swings in trade. Importantly, some of the underlying drivers of the economy, namely consumer spending, they held up much better. So, let's go through some of the numbers. GDP, this is the broadest measure of economic growth, coming in at 1.5 percent. So, that missed the forecast, which was for 2.1 percent. And that is a slowdown, as you can see on that chart, a bit of a slowdown from the first quarter, which was also at 2.1 percent.

So, what happened here? Well, the biggest negative was trade, right. Imports skyrocketed more than exports. And any time that happens, that just mechanically drives down GDP. One of the factors may have actually been the A.I. boom because economists have said there's been this big spike in A.I. related chips and equipment, and that that would subtract from GDP.

Now, what's notable is that core GDP, which excludes trade and government spending, that was pretty solid. And that's because consumers continue to spend money. In fact, consumer spending, it accelerated during the month. So, that is important. And I think that's why the economists are probably going to look through some of this softness because, again, some of the underlying drivers, they did hold up here.

Sara, back to you.

SIDNER: Yes, and you digging into that, you have to wonder how you're spending. Are you putting it on credit cards and then leaving a big balance. There's all those questions, right, that have to be looked at as well.

I do want to ask you about inflation because that is key to how far your money goes and how far Americans can go with a dollar. What gauge do you get from the Federal Reserve on this?

EGAN: Yes, Sara, we did just get the PCE inflation gauge. This is the Fed's preferred metric on inflation. And it did show progress during the month of June. So, prices actually fell by 0.1 percent month over month. That is the first monthly decline since April of 2020, and that reflects the fact that gasoline prices went down so sharply.

However, on an annual basis, prices -- the PCE index came in at 3.7 percent. That was in line with expectations. However, that is something that could change, right? All of these numbers are kind of coming with an asterisk because it's all looking at prices during the month of June. And we know that the ceasefire caused oil prices to plunge, gasoline prices came down. And that did take some pressure off inflation.

However, we also know that prices have come back up this month because the ceasefire imploded and because of new rounds of fighting, we've seen gasoline prices go back up. So, yes, some progress during the month of June. However, it's expected to be short lived, all because of the war in Iran.

SIDNER: Yes, we're on a little bit of an economic roller coaster, if you will, when it comes to the effect the war is having. And what happens there has a lot to do with things like inflation.

Thank you so much, Matt Egan, for those brand new numbers. Appreciate it.

Ahead, new reporting this morning on how ICE agents could be ramping up arrests at airports across the country. What that means. That and much more ahead.

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[08:53:36]

SIDNER: New this morning, attorneys say ICE arrests at airports across the country are ramping up as ICE tries to deliver on President Trump's deportation agenda. In one arrest captured on video this month, a Ukrainian woman was detained at the San Francisco International Airport. Take a watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Ukraine. Please, somebody. You're (EXPLETIVE DELETED) choking me. You're (EXPLETIVE DELETED) choking me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am. They're not actually chocking you. Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This may be a growing tactic, as DHS and ICE are under pressure to meet the president's goal of around 2,000 arrests per day.

Joining me now is John Sandweg. He is a former acting director for ICE.

I do want to get some comparison, compare and contrast here, how common was it during your time to arrest people at airports before, and what do you make of this tactic that attorneys are saying, look, some of the people being arrested are here legally because they're in the asylum process and yet they're being picked up like this?

JOHN SANDWEG, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, ICE: Yes, Sara, this wasn't something you saw ICE doing on any widespread levels during any administration. Frankly, even during the first Trump administration.

The reason is, you just don't find your criminals at the airports, right? Your MS-13 gang member typically isn't taking that flight from Oakland to Detroit. So, what's happening here?

What's happening is, you know, the administration realizes that an easy way to get larger numbers, and increase those numbers.

[08:55:03]

And again this is what we talked about before and as you mentioned a moment ago, it's about those quotas, is to take that TSA data that you provide when you buy a plane ticket, screen it for any basis to make an immigration arrest, and then dispatching officers to execute those arrests in the airport.

Historically, the only time you saw immigration arrest in the airport would be if it was an individual who was -- posed a serious criminal threat or potentially a fugitive was trying to sneak out of the United States boarding an international flight.

This really is different. This is mining that TSA data, looking for people flying domestically in order to really just pad those stats at ICE, those arrest stats.

SIDNER: I'm truly curious about something else that is happening, which is Trump officials launching a new plan, this week it's been launched, to reduce by a third the nearly 1.4 asylum cases that are pending in the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. They made this new rule, and I just want to put it up for people to see, that is a -- that is a change that the public did not get to weigh in on. But the rule basically says this. It says, "the Department of Homeland Security is amending its regulations to permit U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to refer certain affirmative asylum applications to the Department of Justice Executive Office for immigration review without an interview."

What does that mean? Does it mean that people who are going through asylum legally can be just taken out of the country, deported without having a hearing?

SANDWEG: Certainly means that there's -- it could accelerate that process, Sara. So, historically, individuals who stepped forward and said, I'm fearing persecution in my home country, would make a claim with DHS. And what would happen is a trained asylum officer, who really has expertise on what is on -- going on in those country -- the country conditions, you know, what's happening back in their home country, what are the types of persecution that exist, would do -- conduct an interview of the individual, assess the evidence and make a determination. If that officer decided they were not eligible for asylum, the case would then be referred to an immigration court for deportation proceedings.

So, what the administration has done here is to try to, to just fast track, right, some of these asylum denials, is given the authority to just wholesale deny tens, if not hundreds of thousands of these applications. They will immediately get sent over to an immigration judge. Ostensibly, Sara, they would -- those individuals would now get an opportunity to prove to an immigration judge their eligibility for asylum. But, of course, there's a catch. The administration earlier put in place a rule that allows the immigration judges to summarily deny these asylum cases.

So, yes, there's a real opportunity here that people came forward, stepped up and said, I fear persecution in my home country, may never get an opportunity to demonstrate that to anyone and find themselves the subject of a deportation order.

SIDNER: Wow. All right. John Sandweg, I do appreciate you walking us through this. You know this like the back of your hand. And it's really important that the American public understands what's going on as well. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: More and more people are turning to A.I. for answers about their health. A poll found that one in three Americans say that they have consulted an A.I. chatbot with health questions, with some even going as far as uploading medical records and other health data to try to help -- to get help.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking at this.

And, Sanjay, there's a -- I mean questions abound when it comes to this type of a thing and how much we should and shouldn't do and trust when it comes to A.I. and its evolution. ChatGPT is now offering like additional services here to help. What -- how can that -- how is ChatGPT saying they can help here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, you can now upload your records to ChatGPT. And, you know, everything from Apple health, if you wear a tracker of some sort, to things from My Chart and Epic. So, you're -- you could do your entire medical record.

And I'll tell you, doctors are already doing this for their patients in the sense that you have a patient coming in. Doctors may have already uploaded their medical record to A.I. and gotten a summary from A.I. Patients, in some sense, will all -- be allowed to do the same thing if they want. And, you know, it can help with all sorts of different things. Help sort of make sense of a note from a doctor that you just got. I think one of the big things is you can ask it to sort of summarize your health over the last whatever number of decades, and even create a chart of your health, like follow certain lab results, really increasing the understanding overall from -- between the doctor or physician. That's what they're saying they're going to do.

And it's already happening, as you point out. I mean hundreds of millions of people are going to these A.I. platforms for questions. They want to make it more personalized by allowing you to update your -- upload your records.

BOLDUAN: One thing we know is that A.I., and these chatbots, can sometimes be wrong, Sanjay, when it comes to ones health.

GUPTA: Yes. Yes.

BOLDUAN: That, you know, makes me concerned, of course. So, how does that apply? What do you do? What are your concerns? What do you -- how do you approach this now?

[08:59:59]

GUPTA: Well, I've thought about this a lot, as you might imagine, Kate. And here's how I'd sort of talk about it.