Trump and Pence Hit Campaign Trail Amid Lagging Republican Enthusiasm

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, but they will be heading to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of . Trump's travel on Thursday to Texas and Oklahoma kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3. Vance will be stumping in Florida, putting the Republican Party's highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that . Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low. Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on. According to Trump, his party's headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done. "We're not getting the word out," he told reporters on Wednesday. "I mean, we're just not getting it." That's why, he said, he will be traveling all over and trying to persuade GOP voters to pretend his name is on the ballot. "I'm going out because nobody's selling it," Trump said.