Voters are angry, blame Trump for prices ahead of midterms, AP poll finds

Americans head to the polls Tuesday with a sour mood and a score to settle, according to the AP Voter Poll. Roughly three-quarters of voters say they feel angry or dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and most of them are pointing at the White House. About 6 in 10 say higher prices come more from Trump's policies than from forces outside his control.

The issues driving them: the economy (about 4 in 10 call it the most important problem) and democracy (about 3 in 10), both far ahead of crime, healthcare and immigration. Roughly 70% want Congress to put more checks and balances on the president. Democrats are chasing majorities in both chambers to do exactly that, plus several governorships, after two years of little friction from Republican-held Congress.

More than 59 million ballots were already cast before Election Day, and the map isn't doing Democrats many favors. Republicans opened this Congress with a 220-215 House edge, and strategists in both camps think Democrats are on track to take it, though redistricting and the metro-rural split mean fewer true toss-ups than in 2018. History says the president's party almost always loses seats midterm — but both chambers have flipped in the same midterm only three times since World War II: 1946, 1994 and 2006.

Watch Pennsylvania's 1st District, where Republican Brian Fitzpatrick defends his suburban Philadelphia seat, Florida's redrawn 22nd and 25th, and Virginia's 2nd and 1st. In the Senate, Republicans hold a 53-47 edge and Democrats need a net of four seats, forcing them to win states Trump carried, including Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Texas and Alaska. Early East Coast results will tell a story: Democrat Roy Cooper is favored to flip an open North Carolina seat, and Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is widely expected to hold Georgia. Miss on both, or win by a whisker, and Republicans may be in for a better night than expected.

Democrats and nonpartisan watchdogs have trained tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor polling places, spooked by Trump's yearslong record of baseless fraud claims and recent federal moves. In Alaska, a judge rejected a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of the Senate race if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses; Trump called it 'voter fraud at the highest level.' The administration also failed to stop California from counting 20,000 ballots from people the federal government flagged as 'likely' noncitizens. Trump's DOJ is sending about 1,000 staff to observe voting, and although the administration says it has no current plans to send immigration agents or the National Guard to polling sites, observers aren't convinced. Democratic leaders have war-gamed more than 150 interference scenarios in a pre-midterm 'War Room.'

However the night ends, the Democratic brand is battered too, and the results will feed an internal fight between progressives and the establishment. Michigan is the marquee test, where Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, the cycle's highest-profile progressive, faces Republican Mike Rogers. Minnesota matters just as much, with Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan defending an open Democratic seat against Republican Michele Tafoya. Lose either and the finger-pointing starts the morning after.