lisa: tonight on pbs news weekend what the largest grocery , store merger in u.s. history might mean, and why one agency wants to block it.

then, with trump and harris locked in a tight race, how undecided voters are feeling 50 days out from decision day. >> in past election cycles, i have not been undecided. this would probably be the first time i've been truly undecided, especially this late in the game. lisa: and popstar politics. how celebrity endorsements play a role, or don't, in presidential elections. >> major funding for the "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular, how may i help you? this is a pocket dial. well i thought i would let you know that with consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contracts. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support

of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. lisa: i'm lisa desjardins, john yang is away. today former president donald trump was the subject of an "apparent assassination attempt" at his golf club in palm beach, florida. secret service agents opened fire on a person with a gun near the spot where trump was playing golf. his campaign says the former president is safe and back and

maralago. after speaking with the former president, fox host sean hannity reported that an ak-47 rifle was found nearby and that secret service quickly acted to protect trump. the agency is investigating. it is not yet known if the shots were related or unrelated to the former president. >> i am hearing from dozens of constituents who are concerned about these issues and i think it is shameful how the american media and forces them.

lisa: vance has disavowed white supremacy and says the view -- the media has the wrong focus. >> i'm more concerned with the vice president failing to do her job than i am about people carrying the wrong slab. let's focus on the real problem, the vice president not doing her job. lisa: we asked a spokesperson for vance to provide the evidence that he says constituents has presented to them about animal abuse in springfield and they have not responded. a long-range missile has been fired from yemen into central israel's today. a spokesperson for the truth the military, backed by -- houthi military, backed by iran, took credit for the strike. >> by the grace of god they carried out a special military

-- operation in palestine. it was executed with a new hypersonic ballistic missile. lisa: the missile landed in a rural area with no injuries reported. israel said it made several attempts at intercepting the missile and fragmented it but did not destroy it. beamin netanyahu responded with strong words. >> we are in a multi-front campaign against iran's axis of evil, and this morning the houthis launched into our territory. they should have known by now that we were exacting a heavy price. lisa: and today world -- word that three of the israeli hostages found months ago were likely killed in gaza by an israeli airstrike. the military concluded that after a month-long investigation. overnight, at least eight people have died trying to cross the

english channel from northern france. today french authorities stepped up beach patrols. more than 50 migrants survived the attempted crossing and received medical attention. venezuelan officials have arrested three americans, accusing them of plotting with the cia to assassinate president nicolas maduro. a total of six foreigners were arrested. late yesterday the u.s. state department confirms one american military member had been detained and said any claims the u.s. brought our false. majora was reelected last month. still to comen pbs news weekend, undecided voters tell us what matters as the presidential race heats up. and in celebrities matter -- and do celebrities matter? we look at their role in modern

politics. >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington, weeknights on pbs. lisa: what could be the largest grocery store merger in u.s. history is at a do-or-die point with closing arguments this week , in a trial over whether the deal could harm consumers and raise prices by blocking competition. kroger's nearly 25 billion dollar purchase of albertsons would bring together a number of well known grocery chains under one company, chains like safeway, harris teeter, ralphs and smith's. earlier this year, the federal trade commission filed a lawsuit to stop the de, arguing it would "eliminate competition". the companies say the merger would actually lower prices, allowing them to compete with industry titans like walmart, target, amazon, and costco. all this as both 2024 presidential campaigns focus

their attention on finding ways to lower food prices that have shot up nearly 30% since 2019. jaclyn peiser is the retail reporter at the washington post. give us some context. where are these companies on the list of grocery chains in the country? >> kroger is number two in sales across the country. albertsons is at number four, tied with amazon. so together they would be number two and a little less than walmart in sales but still a behemoth. lisa: they are already heavyweight companies. why do they say they need to merge to stay proper -- profitable? >> they see a lot of other grocery chains like aldi expanding, there is online groceries and things like costco and sams so they are saying we

need to combine forces to better compete with each other. lisa: what's that fdc saying? >> that it would eliminate competition. their definition of supermarkets is very specific. they are not counting cost or walmart or amazon so they say by eliminating the competition it will dis-incentivize lower prices. lisa: how does the ftc define a supermarket? >> for them they look at it as a one-stop shop kind of shopping experience. so you go to a safeway and you can get a cake for your son's birthday, medications, the deli counter. you can do it all in one but then you look atostco and that is a club membership you have to pay to go in. so they say this is a unique shopping experience and it does not really compete in that sense with a dollar store or lidl.

lisa: it brings us to the topic of grocery prices themselves. what is your reporting on what the merger could mean for grocery store prices? >> it depends on who you ask. kroger says they will lower costs. the ftc is saying they are not necessarily doing that, they are combining forces and don't have much competion so why would they want to lower prices and kroger now says they have to be able to compete with walmart cosco so the only way to do that is by coming together, having more leverage over suppliers, having more efficient production, supplyhain, all of that. lisa: some are asking about the workers, it could often mean

cutting jobs. one grocery store worker is thinking about a former merger she participated in when she was with albertsons. >> one minute you have job security you have had for 24 years and now you need to pick it to what am i going to do next and how am i going to make money and support my family and pay rent. initially when i started in the industry there were multiple grocery store all in southern california. now there are only two companies. lisa: union representing grocery store workers is opposing the merger. how do the companies respond when workers say they are nervous and then it means their livelihoods and community on the line? >> kroger like -- kroger likes to say they were one of the only union shops and they are very

good for unions and that those agreements will continue after the merger but workers are concerned, saying i have these companies go up against each other is a really good way for them to get a better bargaining agreement. they can threaten strikes and look at the albertson across the street and say we want an equally good deal and then not having leverage anymore could negatively affect them getting a better deal, better wages but kroger is saying they are investing 1.3 billion dollars in better wages and benefits so both sides have different views. lisa: the decision would be made by a judge. this is a preliminary injunction. why is it the case that company say this decision could actually seal their fates? >> the kroger attorney in the opening argument sent to the judge if you allow this injunction, the merger is done.

they announced the merger in 2022. it's been a long time. time is running out. lisa: they will not spend more time on this? >> no. lisa: thank you so much. less than two months until the election and we can hear the candidates voices nearly every day. but what about voters? since june, the newshour has followed a group of undecided voters from across the country and across the political spectrum. in our latest installment of the deciders series, we found some movement and a lot of thoughts. >> my name is stephen back, -- beck, and i am from madison, alabama. in past election cycles, i have not been undecided. this would probably be the first time i've been truly undecided, especially this late in the game. >> my name is jessica dalton and

i am from salt lake city, utah. undecided i think is too vague a term. i've always been open to listen to what each candidate h to offer and making my decision based on who the candidate is rather than what the party is offering. >> i am zach horn. and i'm 35 years old, based in chambersburg, pennsylvania. i'm one of those voters that does wait till the last second. i remember even back to like 2008, 2 i always wake up on 1000 12, 2016, election day and make that choice because there's a lot of things that can happen between now and november. >> my name is stephen stone, and i'm in brooklyn. i have to choose between kamala or just not voting for the president in this election. >> i'm robert lilly, i'm from wickenburg, arizona. i have a -- i typically do not decide for sure i'm not 100% , until election time. >> my name is anna and i live in the suburb of phoenix, arizona. before the debate, i was already against trump. that's not i don't trust either them as happening. commander in chief or even as

necessarily head of government. >> i would say that neither lived up to my expectations. one of the things that i had difficulty with throughout the entire debate was the lack of specifics. >> it seems like a race to the bottom, more than anything. it's not about anybody having any sort of real ideology and the concerns of the majority of the american people that at heart it felt very much about , just being better than your competitor. >> she went in for the handshake. it actually meant something to me. i think civility is going to be the number one thing. we have to get back to that before we can get back to anything else. >> what was interesting and not surprising from donald trump was how easily he was baited into getting his ego hurt. >> there's just too many lies told by kamala harris in the debate. and i suspect that to go on.

>> she did a fantastic job during that debate. i thought that there was some policy depth that was offered. i did feel when i was watching it that they did question him more than they questioned her on some things. >> i expected them to say what i would have appreciated they said. additional specifics. i'm sure that in the coming months, i'll be able to do some more additional research. so i'll take some time to look and examinthat more closely. >> after watching harris come into the debate and how she handled herself, there's no question in my mind that i will be voting for harris and walz. >> i'm holding out hope and believing that potentially some of these other movements, these leftist movements, again, the green party to move more lefas opposeto the right. it does not feel good. at best i would be holding my nose to vote for kamala. >> not knowing enough about her is part of the indecisiveness as far as who i'm going to vote for at this point. >> donald trump, i see is just a much lesser of two evils. so that that's the man i have to vote for. >> these are not easy decisions to make. they touch on so many aspects of our lives and they don't just affect us individually, they affect us globally.

>> leading up to election day, i'm looking forward to vice president harris and governor walz speaking more to their economic policies, specifically their small business initiatives. i think those are very important as well as childcare. i think those go hand in hand and their stance on women's health care. >> i wish i could vote for my values in this election. i'll still be voting because there's a lot of down ballot votes that are important to me, as they should be to everyone. >> not voting is never an option. that is my privilege as an american citizen. people have laid down their lives for that and i will vote in every election that i am asked to vote in. >> as divisive as it is, i still think that i still like this belief that we're going to be okay and that we're going to do the right thing and that things are going to be all right. ♪

lisa: pop culture and politics have a history of crossover. and these intersections take on new significance during an election year when campaigns , jockey for endorsements from the entertainment industry's biggest stars, hoping their candidate will latch onto mainstream pop momentum. this summer, it was the florescent "kamala is brat" phenomenon, a meme started by british singer charli x-c-x on social media and then echoed by the harris campaign and voters across platforms. 100 years earlier, when "viral" was not a good thing, a different kind of celebrity endorsed the country's 29th president, warren g. harding. vaudeville movie star and singer al jolson wrote a song especially for him -- "harding you're the man for us." ♪

the idea hit, and by 1960, another superstar, frank sinatra, sang of his "high hopes" for a john f kennedy presidency. >> ♪ everyone is voting for jack because he's got what all the rest lack ♪ ♪ lisa: sinatra's rat packmate, sammy davis jr., threw his weight behind richard nixon. and the celebrity role was locked . boxing legend muhammed ali endorsed ronald reagan, a celebrity actor in his own right. in 2008, it was oprah, a beloved multimedia icon, making her first political endorsement for barack obama. eight years later, pop stars katy perry and demi lovato backed hillary clinton. the 2024 presidential race is no different. on the last night of the republican convention in milwaukee, singer kid rock kicked off a big-name line up .. -- line-up. a few minutes later, retired wrestler hulk hogan ripped off his shirt to reveal a trump-vance logo.

just a few weeks later, rapper lil john strode into the democrats' convention in chicago one of a bevy of , celebrity endorsements -- actress eva longoria, and singers pink and stevie wonder, lent their voices to the harris walz ticket, the latest in generations of stars giving shine to politicians. but how important are the celebrity endorsements, and do they actually make a difference changing minds? earlier this week, i spoke with mark harvey, author of celebrity influence, politics, persuasion and issue-based advocacy, to help answer that question. does celebrity make a difference at all? and let's switch it around, why do celebrities do this? what's in it for them to get involved in politics? mark: that's a very complicated question. first of all, i think you could say that, you know, many of them just have the same impetus as any of us would be, that is, maybe they feel very strongly

about an issue and they just want to share. taylor swift, for example, for a long time wasn't involved in politics, but then she claimed that she got involved because she wanted to be on the right side of history. so there is an individual aspects. however, there's always a risk when they get involved in that, that taking one side or another may also alienate some of their core fan base. lisa: we've mentioned a major celebrity in thistory, oprah, a major celebrity, of course. what do we know about exactly how her endorsement mattered for barack obama? and is she the rule or is she the exception? mark: as far as what we know, she's the exception to the rule -- that's not to say that celebrities don't make a difference at all, it is just difficult to measure. however, in this specific case, we can demonstrate that oprah winfrey probably made the difference in maybe a million votes or so in the democratic primary in 2007, 2008, that brought barack obama to become the candidate. lisa: and we know that was a

very close primary, that hillary clinton and bara obama went back and forth in the early days. how did she make a difference? was it just the fact that people admired her? mark: yes. i honestly think that has a lot to do with it. she has a certain amount of gravitas. she already had the so-called oprah effect where she could endorse a book and suddenly everybody is reading it. and so she really had that kind of unique, that unique credibility at that particular moment. lisa: you have said that celebrity endorsements really work when the endorsement kind of matches some aspect of their profile, that there could potentially be a mismatch. what exactly does that mean when does it work and when does it fail? mark: let me give you an example to put it in context. there was a study done a number of years ago with jessica simpson. and the question is, what is she able to sell? and what the study indicated is that she was quite good at selling perfume, not good at all at selling pocket knives. and so a lot of this really has to do

with image, you know, like what kind of and it's sort of an evasive and elusive thing, but what makes this particular person match up with this particular product? it is true for the sales of product but i also would argue it's probably true in terms of selling an issue or selling a candidate. lisa: but how does that apply to politics? mark: here is a good example. taylor swift recently endorsed harris. what would happen if she had instead endorsed donald trump? i know it seems a little bit far fetched given her predisposition on the way she stands on certain issues and we know how she feels about it. lisa: i'm sure donald trump thought about this very question. >> exactly. in fact, you know, he created an image to try to make it look like or at least rebroadcast an image that suggested that maybe she did support him. buthat is the thing all you , have to do is watch the arab tour's movie or follow taylor swift in the smallest amount, and you realize that she's not a donald trump person.

so there is a little break in credibility when somebody does something that just seems against character for that person. lisa: now, in your book, you specifically look at issues, advocacy. is there a set of issues that really seem to get more traction from celebrity help and some that don't? mark: absolutely. the ones where most celebrities are most likely to be persuasive are those ones that are sort of in the middle that people aren't 100% committed to yet, so maybe certain foreign policy issues at times. there's a whole host of issues where maybe if they're not too solid, there is some room. but if you look at other issues like gun control, the death penalty, abortion, people are really set in on those issues, and taylor swift is not going to be able to persuade you that it's time to give up your guns. lisa: you mentioned a study where people talked about foreign policy and said, what

if's -- what if a celebrity could influence you on that and the answer in the study was yes. i want to ask you, in terms of the voting groups we're talking about, though, are there different age groups that are more influenced by celebrities? and are these the same groups that vote in large numbers? mark: yes. a lot of research suggests that maybe young people areore influenced by celebrity. in my research, there was no correlation that it really didn't matter what the age group was, there wasn't any sort of connection that i could find any way in terms of age group. there's some recent research, in fact, some stuff that i've done. we just did a survey a month ago with 1000 respondents that suggests that maybe fandom has a lot to do with it. that is, you have to not only know about the celebrity, but care about the celebrity in order for that celebrity to be influential. lisa: mark harvey, thank you so much. mark: you are welcome. lisa: an update.

a potential suspect has been taken into custody and what the fbi is calling an apparent assassination attempt of donald trump at his golf course in west palm beach, florida. secret service spotted a gunman and engaged in while trump was 500 yards away. authorities received a backpack with an ak-47 with a scope. the fbi is taking the lead in the investigation. the former president is safe and unharmed. and that's our program for tonight. i'm lisa dejardins, for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. see you tomorrow. >> major funding for the "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪

>> this ogram was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

-in early 2023, it rained in california -- a lot. then, after all that rain came down, it rained again, more than it did before. and when that rain ended, the real storms came in, and it just kept on raining. the weather forecasters called it an atmospheric river, a new term to help grab the attention of people too busy