With voters' concerns about affordability showing no sign of fading, some Democrats are rediscovering a traditionally Republican tactic for putting money back in people's pockets — cutting taxes.
Plus, new polling on AAPI adults on President Donald Trump's immigration policies, and we're on the ground in New Jersey with Rep. Tom Kean Jr. |
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks during a news conference as he introduces a tax bill at the Capitol, March 12, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) |
How Democrats learned to stop worrying and love tax cuts — By Nicholas Riccardi & Mike Catalini
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland proposes effectively ending the federal income tax on individuals making $46,000 or less annually and reducing it for individuals making up to about $60,000 more than that amount. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker wants to ensure households pay no income tax on the first $75,000 of earnings.
It's an early sign that Democrats are trying to revamp their reputation by taking a page from the playbook of Trump, who stormed back to the White House with soundbite-friendly promises for things like “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime.”
But the plans could also undermine Democrats' other goals, taking large pots of money off the table that could cover the cost of reversing Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy or restoring funding to Medicaid. They would also limit funding for new initiatives that Democrats inevitably promise on the campaign trail.
Even with their latest tax reduction proposals, Democrats are still sticking with their longstanding call for higher levies on the ultra wealthy. Van Hollen would slap a surtax on every dollar of income over $1 million, which would pay for the tax cuts for lower incomes. Booker would raise the corporate rate nationally, but his proposal would still run a sizable deficit of about $7 trillion, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Booker said the study undercounts the money he could save by ending “tax avoidance schemes” by the wealthy. Read more of Riccardi and Catalini's reporting on Democrats' tax proposals here. |
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Law enforcement officers walk out of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, Oct. 11, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane) |
AAPI adults broadly opposed to Trump immigration approach — By Didi Tang and Linley Sanders
Most Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe President Donald Trump has done more harm than good on the issue of immigration and border security in his second term so far, according to a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll.
About 6 in 10 AAPI adults say Trump has hurt immigration and border security “a lot" or "a little," according to the survey from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, compared with about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in a January AP-NORC survey. About two-thirds of AAPI adults — who are generally more likely to be Democrats than U.S. adults overall — also say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, compared with about half of Americans in general.
Trump's administration has instituted sweeping immigration measures since he took office, but the past two months have been especially tumultuous. This past January, Trump suspended processing immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries. Arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen dramatically, but the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and detentions have soared. In December 2024, daily detentions averaged just under 40,000. Last month, they numbered about 70,000.
Read more of Tang and Sanders' reporting on this new poll here.
View the AP-NORC Polling tracker. |
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AP is there: In NJ as Rep. Tom Kean Jr. tries to retain House seat |
Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., listens during a Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs about Belarus on Capitol Hill, Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) |
Handing it over to AP's Mike Catalini, our national politics reporter on the ground in New Jersey:
"I spent some time in the hills, farm towns and suburbs of New Jersey's 7th District — viewed as one of the most competitive in the midterms — where Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is fighting to hang on to a seat that flipped party control in 2018 and 2022. The Democratic primary is still unsettled, but already Democrats are attacking Kean over not doing in-person town halls and tying him to President Donald Trump. Kean is hinging his reelection on the state and local tax deduction cap increase in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — a big deal in the wealthy district where property taxes are perennially an issue. I also spoke to one of Kean's GOP predecessors, who lost in Trump's first midterm."
Read Catalini's reporting on Kean's reelect effort here. |
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A federal immigration agent is seen as people wait in a TSA line at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Emilie Megnien) |
I spend a lot of time traveling through airports around the country, and today there's a new sight greeting travelers: federal immigration agents whom Trump has ordered to help with security during a budget impasse.
The move is drawing concerns that the agents' presence may escalate tensions among air travelers frustrated over hourslong waits and screeners angry about missed paychecks.
AP journalists including Emilie Megnien began seeing the officers Monday morning at airports including Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the definitive signal that Trump's order was being carried out.
Read more from Megnian and Wyatte Grantham-Philips. |
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