Jeremy Zogby: [00:00:00] attacking opposing party, the Democrats, as being socialist, it looks like he himself has now turned MAGA into s- something like a bit of a socialist party by promising $5,000 checks to every American if they win the midterms.

John Zogby: both Democrats and Republicans share is the fa- the sense of broken promises, the sense of non-addressing of issues that really matter.

Jeremy Zogby: anything that he says with regards to, "We're gonna win, we're winning," more and more voters know I'm not even gonna say realize, they know that's not the case, and, the effects of that are hitting home very hard.

John Zogby: It's Friday, September 11th, 2026, and this is another edition of "The Zogby Report: Real Polling in Real Time." [00:01:00] First and foremost, it is September 11th.

John Zogby: It is the 25th anniversary. And not only do we remember, the events 25 years ago, we've never forgotten those events. Those are etched in our memories and in our hearts, and will be forever. A lot of people, a lot of innocent people lost their lives on that day, and, it has changed all of us. But we certainly remember those who lost their lives, the families who have suffered, the first responders who were just incredible, and the heroes of that day.

John Zogby: do you wanna say something and then we'll move on to our topic of the day?

Jeremy Zogby: Only that I did a three-hour radio program this morning, and that was the theme, obviously the twenty-fifth anniversary. we had, a couple, on, a [00:02:00] few first responders. shocked to the degree of the bravery,

Jeremy Zogby: that these men particularly... I don't wanna just say just the firefighters, but the first responders in particular, the firefighters, because they understand, uh, and understood the hazardous materials that were spewed, in the hours following the collapse and, the days. And as we're learning, many of them are passing away and still developing all kinds of diseases, rare cancers, now dementia. these were men and women who were dedicated to, giving it their best shot, even if they knew and probably knew that their brothers and sisters were gone, they were gonna do the everything they could to go through that rubble. And it was powerful hearing those stories this morning

John Zogby: All right. Thanks for that. So [00:03:00] it, is September 11th. It means that the campaign for the midterms is in earnest, and it also means that promises were made that by August... I just wanna run down some of those. We were promised that the price of fuel, for example, would be heading downward by August.

John Zogby: Labor Day has set a record at an average nationwide of $4 per gallon. First time it ever reached $4 a gallon on Labor Day. But 11 days later, it's $4.22, still going up. I paid $4.24 here, five days ago. In addition, we were promised that the rate of inflation would be heading downward, and for a few months it looked like that was the case.

John Zogby: But in the report on, for the month of [00:04:00] August, it actually, is at an annual pace of 3.4%. well above and rising o- over, significant, level of inflation already. thirdly, we were promised that the war in Iran or the war with Iran would be ended, and right now all signs point to the fact that it is an all-out war, a regional war, not only the war against Gaza, the war against the West Bank, the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, but that the Houthis are hitting oil refineries in, in Saudi Arabia, and that, Iran is hitting back at the, it- the regional allies of the United States.

John Zogby: The president says the Strait of Hormuz is open. all [00:05:00] evidence points to the fact that there are very few ships, some days, if any, are getting through the Strait of Hormuz. We've got the Federal Reserve now looking seriously at its next meeting coming up of raising interest, rates, to stem, the tide of inflation, and there's so much more.

John Zogby: The president called a rally, a GOP midterm convention outwardly designed to rally the base of the party, the MAGA base, which he is, starting to lose. There's g- starting to be some real frustration, but we find that a number of candidates on the ballot this fall did not show up and did not acknowledge that meeting, convention in Dallas simply because the president wants to make rallying the base all about him, and these candidates [00:06:00] who are now in competitive races don't want it to be all about him and don't want to associate with him.

John Zogby: And so here we are at the campaign there are six battleground states. Democrats need to pick up three, a net three of those. On the one hand, Democrats are leading in all six of those states. On the other hand, it's very close, and you'd have to say why would it even be close with the litany that I just read to you?

John Zogby: there are a number of close races in the House in what have been comfortable red, districts, pro- Republican districts. we know what's going on here, but I thought what we could talk about after your response and analysis is if you were advising the Republicans, what would you tell them to do and say?

John Zogby: And if you were advising the Democrats, what would you tell [00:07:00] them to do and say? But how about, just some thoughts first about the analysis

Jeremy Zogby: Yeah. I, hate to say this, but of this should be surprising.

Jeremy Zogby: We've been talking about, look, even before the Iran war on this podcast, we, were concerned about an Iranian war. Why? the plan was written 30 years ago by Benjamin Netanyahu to invade seven countries. And in 2020, At the beginning of 2026, there were six nations, that he laid out that had already experienced regime change in one way or another. And how shocking would it be that the s- the seventh and the last one, the mother of them all, Iran, [00:08:00] was actually gonna happen? Now, our intelligence agencies said that there was, no credible threat. That is that whatever uranium the Iranians were enriching not for nuclear bombs, were rather for nuclear energy. the president, for whatever reason, and we certainly have our strong speculations why, listened to Benjamin Netanyahu. This wasn't surprising that this war was going to happen, and frankly, it shouldn't have been surprising for anybody this war is still going on now has no scope, regarding an end. And so what happens in the process? there's a spillover effect. Okay, what, what looked like potentially that there was some increasing activity in the Strait of Hormuz with ships bypassing, but [00:09:00] also an east-west pipeline going across Saudi Arabia was relieving the pressure of the rising prices in, oil. now that's gone because I woke up this morning, maybe it was late last night, to the news that there was a massive fire, and it looked like that pipeline had been blown up by the Houthis. of course, there's an escalating war with Ukraine and Russia. We're still talking about an escalation between U- Ukraine and Russia four years later. And that is, throwing the markets into tizzy having effects on of oil. diesel has reached $6 a gallon. Uh, that's a record. there are analysts who are saying f- a $5 national average of gas [00:10:00] is just around the corner, . and isn't going to go away because look how long it's taken. Look, look how invested the president is this war, and, he, actually had the opportunity to walk away from it, and now it looks like that window is closing. so anything that he says with regards to, "We're gonna win, we're winning," more and more voters know I'm not even gonna say realize, they know that's not the case, and, the effects of that are hitting home very hard.

Jeremy Zogby: So now to your question, what does he do? or what do we... what would we advise the Republicans? would've been easier to advise a couple days ago, but now the one strategy that, or one of the main strategies the president was hinging on by attacking opposing party, the Democrats, as being socialist, it looks like he himself has now [00:11:00] turned MAGA into s- something like a bit of a socialist party by promising $5,000 checks to every American if they win the midterms.

Jeremy Zogby: Make no mistake about it, that's like socialism, isn't it? the president is shooting himself in the foot with... One thing that I could say, o- one of a few things that I could say were actually in his favor, that he could brand the opposition party, the Democrats, as rabid socialists who are out of control and, wanna get the country, hooked on, being taken care of the government. And look what he's turned around and what he's done. So what would I now pivot, n- now that he's put himself in, a much more difficult position is, you've already alluded to it, the president's tendency to make the midterms all about him and his successes, [00:12:00] which are becoming increasingly difficult defend or even say that there are successes. So the strategy would then have to be for the Republicans in these battleground races to detach themselves from, the president. Now, whether that can even be done, don't even think that can be done, but that would be the one way that I think that there could be some success in, in, in some of these battleground races, would be to distance themself from the person who's becoming very much o- the main liability of his own party.

John Zogby: Okay, good. Wow. so I'm gonna focus on the Democrats and, th- this internal battle that has become an all-out war between the left and the center in the [00:13:00] Democratic Party, because we've always had this left-center split, and sometimes it's gotten rather bloody. but this time around it has all the earmarks of open hostility, and in fact, of the m- establishment, Democrats, really going to war on, the DSA and on, portraying even some progressives as dangerous socialists and number one, I would advise them to lay off of that because it's only cannon fodder for the Republicans.

John Zogby: I will recall, and I'd mentioned this before, the famous Willie Horton ad that was used in 1988 by, George H.W. Bush, against, Michael Dukakis actually had its roots within the Al Gore campaign. the [00:14:00] Democrats used the Willie Horton ad long before the Republicans did. I would s- say to, drop that immediately.

John Zogby: it also is not working. It doesn't seem to, at least yet, have any impact on Democrats' numbers. As I pointed out, even though the races are close in several congressional districts and states, Democrats still continue to lead. Secondly, the impact on the progressives, this war between progressives, and center, is that candidates who are trying to steer a middle ground are actually becoming neutered, as candidates.

John Zogby: I point to Hakeem Jeffries, who stands to become the next, speaker of the House. Hakeem Jeffries was-- had a meeting in Bedford-Stuyvesant in his district and, folks wanted to know why did you meet [00:15:00] with Jared Kushner? Why aren't you talking about the issues that matter to us? And Jeffries appeared in a baseball cap that was too big and proceeded to say, "The real issue is affordability.

John Zogby: It's always been affordability. It's gotta be affordability." But he had nothing to say about attacking affordability, not wanting to, attack the mayor of New York outright, and not wanting also to, alienate the, the s- establishment wing of the, party, and he looked foolish. Democrats need to stand for reestablishing, what was taken away, from Obamacare.

John Zogby: I'll tell you what's working is Medicare for all, and we just saw in a recent poll that we did certainly works among Democrats and rallying Democrats, and that's what they have to do. it also works [00:16:00] well among, independent voters as well, who don't really care about labels. What they care about is getting the job done Gaza is another issue that Democrats need to talk about. the war in Gaza was never popular. It spun out of control in terms of unpopularity still while Biden was president. In many ways, Joe Biden can be blamed for enabling and supporting that war.

John Zogby: It was a major factor in Kamala

John Zogby: Harris's defeat, and it's a major factor as well, as to why the Democratic socialists and progressive candidates are winning against establishment Democrats, in races all over the country

John Zogby: The war in Iran is very unpopular. It is, stands right now in our polling at about 29, 30% support. That's very low. It's across the [00:17:00] board. a majority of Republicans support, the war against Iran, but it's not a high majority as it once was, and it's disastrous among Democrats and, and independents who are polled.

John Zogby: And so Democrats need to take a very strong stand and to say there was no plan going in. Whatever that plan could have been in somebody's head is not successful. It needs to end, and that's one of the major keys of dealing with reestablishing normal trade, that and, ending tariffs, and then reestablishing then a pricing, that is more in line with what Americans can afford

Jeremy Zogby: only thing that I would add to that, and I'll focus in on getting money out of politics in Gaza, I'm in complete agreement that I think more of the sentiment within the Democratic Party [00:18:00] aligns with tragedy in Gaza the, desire for that recognition and for the United States not to have its hands in that through funding Israel and, weaponizing Israel.

Jeremy Zogby: but I think the issue that could be problematic the, Democratic Party is in going w- along with that messaging and with that stance, could be a backfire in which, there's an interpretation that the Democratic Party would be abandoning Israel. this ties into the getting money out of politics, and I think that maybe this is where the Democrats who are arguing that, a lot of them are also very critical AIPAC's role in funding [00:19:00] politicians and funding races. And so th- there's gonna be some landmines here between balancing those issues, between having the sympathy, the empathy, and the humanitarian, support for Gaza, but at the same time, not coming off like they want Is- Israel and Israeli citizens to get pulverized. meanwhile, dealing with getting money out of politics and also acknowledging that the Democratic Party, as well as the Republican Party, make no mistakes about it, have taken a lot of money from Israel over the years.

Jeremy Zogby: So those are, val- very challenging, and complex issues

John Zogby: I agree. And I'm only gonna hint at this for now, and I think we ought to do a full podcast on it. I gave a talk last night, and I said that we'd moved into a different era. And you and I like to talk a- about breaking [00:20:00] history and recent history into, eras. going back from 1992 until very recently, I would describe as a politics of anger.

John Zogby: anger in both parties and a major reason why, w- we have the hyperpolarization that we do have. I think we're entering a phase right now, the politics of disappointment. And one thing that both Democrats and Republicans share is the fa- the sense of broken promises, the sense of non-addressing of issues that really matter.

John Zogby: Addressing the sense that, and we've seen this in our numbers as well as other numbers, the fact that, voters think that, our leadership is just too old. And that doesn't mean octogenarians only necessarily. It just means just not with the times, and not [00:21:00] addressing what r- really people are talking about at their dinner table, and their lunch breaks, and in the barbershop, and beauty salon.

John Zogby: And so we'll develop that later, but, I think that's where we're at. Both parties are really at a low point in terms of American people trusting them. And one of the reasons why it's so close is that the deal just hasn't been closed yet. "Yeah, I don't like Trump." Th- this is what people are saying. "I don't like Trump, but give me something on the other side.

John Zogby: No, I don't like the Democrats and I don't trust them, but look at Trump and the Republicans." democracy can be beautiful, but when you've got two political parties that are in a race course to hit a concrete wall, that makes for a very difficult choice for people

Jeremy Zogby: I'd say very well [00:22:00] said

John Zogby: then let's end on that note

Jeremy Zogby: All right

John Zogby: All right. Okay, we'll talk s- we'll talk in five minutes, but we'll talk soon on the podcast. Thanks.

Jeremy Zogby: Have a good weekend

John Zogby: You too