Clip: Can Democrats hold on to power, or will Republicans pull off a red wave?

Alcindor : This past weekend -- this past Labor Day weekend marked the traditional kickoff of the midterms general campaign season. President Biden and former President Trump are campaigning in battleground states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, states will be talking about a lot I’m sure.

On Thursday, at a Democratic National Committee meeting in Maryland, President Biden made his pitch for electing more Democrats.

Biden : Imagine if we just elected to more Democrats in the Senate and keep the House of Representatives. Imagine. We’ll codify Roe v. Wade. We’ll ban assault weapons.

We’ll protect Social Security and Medicare. We’ll protect voting rights. We’ll pass election reform.

Alcindor : Meanwhile, Republicans have been accusing President Biden of wasting money and hurting the economy.

Here is Senate Minority Whip John Thune taking aim at the president’s student loan forgiveness program.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) : The Democrats demonstrated once again, they don’t care about fiscal responsibility. They don’t care about debt or deficit reduction. Right now, they care about one thing and that is buying votes going into a November election.

Alcindor : Joining the conversation now is NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns. She’s been running all across the country.

So, let’s discuss the races to watch ahead of November’s elections.

So, Dasha, like I said, you have been crisscrossing the country, going to battleground states including Pennsylvania. Talk about what your reporting has shown about what is at stake in this midterm election, what voters are talking about, and how Pennsylvania in particular is sort of a microcosm of what’s going on out there.

Dasha Burns, News Correspondent, NBC : Yeah, Yamiche. You know, I have been spending a whole lot of time in Pennsylvania, so have you. And we are about to spend a lot more time. All of our lives are regarding more absorbed with this state and the races that we see there. Not just because it is probably the Democrats’ best shot of picking up a Senate seat, something President Biden was pointing to in his some bite you played there, but also it really is pretty representative of politics in the age of Trump.

Look, you’ve got Dr. Oz, a celebrity candidate who nobody really thought would be running in a race like this. People still, voters that I talk to are a little bit confused to see a celebrity doctor, reality TV star running for Senate. But he is and has received Trump’s endorsement.

On the other side, you have his opponent, Democratic candidate John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor who himself is a bit of a larger-than-life character. This 6’8" guy with lots of tattoos who has painted himself very much as an outsider, and I’ll tell you, Yamiche, the language that I hear voters use when they talk about Fetterman is pretty similar to the language I’ve heard voters use talking heard voters use talking about Trump in 2016 and in 2020, this guy is not a typical politician. He tells it like it is.

So, you’ve got these two battling it out. Oz has recently been focusing on Fetterman, attacking him as soft on crime, not willing to debate. Meanwhile, Fetterman, and we will talk more about this, I’m sure, has started to put abortion as an issue that is front and center. On Sunday, he’s going to hold an abortion-rights rally in Pennsylvania.

So, you’ve got --

Alcindor : Yeah, a lot to talk about there. A lot of sort of --

Burns : Absolutely.

Alcindor : -- fighting it out.

And, Amy, when you think about this -- I want to put up this poll from NBC -- I’m sorry, from NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist. And it shows that in a generic ballot, 40 percent of registered voters are saying they prefer a Democratic candidate, and 44 percent are saying they prefer a Republican.

Of course, we have you. We are excited to get you on the program because you could break down what is at stake here, what are the big trends that we are seeing when you think about that poll?

Walter : So, we have seen some movement in the so-called generic ballot where voters that question, who would you vote for in November? Democrats or Republicans? Now, Republicans have been up a couple of points earlier in the year. So it has been a 3, 4, 5 shift in Democrats favor.

The most fascinating thing, though, Yamiche, which is even people who have been doing politics years and years, folks I talk to say this is the strangest election I’ve ever been through because the president is still really unpopular. Even though his approval rating is not as bad as it was, say, at the end of July when it was at 38 percent. At 42 percent, that is not a great place to be when you are the party in power.

But underneath it, we’re seeing -- like you just put that number up, Democrats at 48 percent even of the president is at 41 percent. Democrats somehow outperforming the president, that is not something you typically see.

The real question, again, the other had scratcher is, what role is abortion going to play in this?

Alcindor : I want to ask you a quick follow-up which is New Hampshire, why is that interesting to you? What stands up there?

Walter : So, this is sort of the last chance for Republicans. Earlier this year, they thought they were going to be able to put four, five Senate seats in play because the environment looked good and the incumbent senator there, her first reelection campaign, not -- doesn’t have as strong numbers in that state.

But they have a primary on Tuesday between, surprise, surprise, a Trumpian kind of candidate and a more establishment candidate. Right now, the more Trumpian candidate is ahead. It’s going to be very hard for that candidate to survive.

This is another place where had Trump not been engaged -- he has not endorsed here, but he was really responsible for making it really hard for the popular Republican in that state, the governor, to say yes to a Senate run. And --

Alcindor : Yeah.

Walter : Yeah. So, we’ll look back. If Democrats to hold onto the Senate, we’ll look at the place what could have been.

Alcindor : Nia, I want to come to you. We have seen Biden and Trump fighting it out and going to states like Ohio, what are you hearing when you think about how these two presidents are dueling it out when there are so many issues like abortion, like inflation on voters’ minds?

Henderson : Well, listen, I mean, you obviously hear Biden trying to make this a choice election rather than a referendum election. He gave that big speech, really pointing the finger at Trump and his more ardent followers as a danger to the country, as a danger to democracy.

And you have Trump doing what Trump does, going to different states, Pennsylvania. I am sure he will be in Georgia. Ohio, for instance, where he’s got a big following, attacking his message about 2020 being a fraudulent election. They are taxing his message about him being a target of a witch hunt from the FBI, from the DOJ, and from everyone and their mother. So, that very much resonates with his voters.

I think the problem that Republicans are seeing, and you can see a firing squad already circulating among these Republicans who I talked to is that some of these Trumpist candidates might be great for primary voters, but not so great for independent voters. Not so great for suburban white women voters who are reacting to a lot of the news we are seeing, particularly around the Dobbs decision.

You see something really happening in the data. Inflation is certainly a huge issue. I think it is the number one issue among voters. The second most important issue is health care.

Alcindor : You bring up abortion -- I want to talk about the importance it has. Dasha, you have been talking to candidates, especially Republicans who had to sort of shift their messaging I think in Washington state. Tell us what you are hearing on the campaign trail?

Burns : Well, look, I have had the privilege of being on the ground in several states, so we’re sort of bellwethers, that gave us the signal that abortion would be a big driving issue for voters. I was on the ground in Kansas in the month leading up to that big decision where voters voted down the antiabortion amendment. What’s really important, when I have been talking to voters in 2020 and over the last couple of years, there was a lot of focus on politics of personality, right?

Is this a candidate that I like? Is this somebody I want to get a beer with? Is this somebody I trust? Is this somebody’s authentic? That is how Donald Trump won over a lot of voters. Recently, especially since Dobbs, it has been much more a politics of policy. For the first time in a while, I am hearing voters bring up these issues like abortion and inflation that are actually impacting them, that they feel that direct connection that whoever I like, who I vote for will impact my life.

And it’s true. Running as a Republican in the post-Dobbs era is a bit of a challenge. I heard that in Washington state I was there last week. I interviewed Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley who has made it very clear, she’s tried to make it clear that she is pro-life, but she would not vote for a federal abortion ban.

You saw Blake Masters, right, NBC News reporting that he’s saying he scrubbed his website of antiabortion language. When I was reporting on New York’s 19th district race, generic Republican versus generic Democrat, no offense to them, but it was really a contest of issues, Republicans running on inflation, Democrats running on abortion. The Republican in that race walked back the message, saying, look, I think the Supreme Court upended what I thought was lost.

You are seeing this shift in messaging and seeing voters very much coming out to the polls based on this issue. So many folks I have been talking to, I asked them what to do vote on, what did you think about when you cast your ballot and they said Roe.

Alcindor : And, Amy, last 30 seconds, when we think about sort of race in conversation, what do you say -- actually I’m being told 10 seconds. How much are these other cultural issues playing a factor?

Walter : It’s definitely a factor. And, look, you’re going to -- you are already starting to see Republicans, they want to change the conversation. Talk about crime, inflation, the border. Democrats, you can see, ad after ad, really focusing in on roe and abortion and that issue. So, it’s going to be a fight.

Alcindor : Well, definitely more to talk about. Thank you so much to our panel for joining us and for sharing your reporting.