CNA Team US Midterms Briefing

The last time a US president was this unpopular a month before the midterms, his party lost the House and the Senate.

That was George W. Bush in 2006, at 35.6%. Trump is at ~35% today.

That's where our CEO Steven Okun started when CNA asked him back this to brief its journalists and producers on the midterms, the third election cycle in a row he's done it. 

The Senate map is harder for Democrats this time, but the House looks likely to change hands.

For a newsroom in Asia, what happens after that is the bigger story. A president losing ground at home tends to push harder abroad, and a Democratic House gives China hawks more room to set the agenda.

You can already see it in chips and telecoms, where new US rules could make anything China-linked slower and costlier. Parts of Asia stand to win business from that, but not without strings attached.

Those are stories Asian newsrooms will be covering well after the results are in.