come up with some sort of fancy garnish, a wedge of lemon, it's a gin sling, you have to market health reform if you want to benefit from it politically now. that does it for us tonight. have a great weekend. weekends with alex witt starts now. powerless, a summer storm leaves hundreds of thousands in the dark in and around the nation's capital but bad weather is not done for d.c. or the nation. the political wins of health care, does the gop stand to lose if it goes ahead with a plan to overturn the law? chuck todd joins us on that. the man behind the supreme court decision, would john roberts have done the exact same thing if he was an associate and not chief justice? made in the usa, two big companiesç bringing business t america. will it mean more jobs? good morning, everyone. welcome to weekends with alex witt, i'm richard liu. millions of people are without

power after the destructive storm struck states from inds to maryland. hurricane force winds knocking down hundreds of trees in dv and virginia. fallen limbs there killed two people and the entire state of west virginia is under a state of emergency. weather related power outages are reported in seven states. residents and officials will assess the damage today. officials are uncertain when power will be restored there. all of this during a time of dangerous heat. forecasters expecting more storms and record high temperatures again today sean nbc meteorologist bill cakarinss here with the forecast. >> thunderstorms and this amazing heat wave, the worst we have ever seen in the month of june in our recorded history of our nation. the record heat wave continues over the top of tennessee through alabama and through the southeast, including the carolinas and virginia.

the other story, the thunderstorms last night. this radar goes back over the last 18 hours, this is what we call a derecho wind event. widespread wind damage. let's track the storms through ohio and west virginia and washington, d.c. before they headed off coast. what was left in its wake, millions without power, all of these blue dots are wind damage reports, over 760 reports of damaging winds with this amazing line of thunderstorms as it rolled through the ohio valley and off the mid-atlantic coast. we have a chance of more storon storms in the same area. those will head towards washington, d.c. late are today. power crews are trying to get power back on, not only is it going to be sweltering heat, but we could deal with more thunderstorms. let's talk about the heat. yesterday was one of the hottest day ever recorded in the southeast and mid-atlantic. 109 in nashville, 109 in

columbia, south carolina, that has never been measured before. june measures were broken from atlanta to raleigh. we were still very hot all the way back through kansas and the kansas city. today, heat warnings are in effect for many areas, including the big cities of kansas city, st. louis through louisville, raleigh and richmond and charlotte and south of atlanta. you get the picture it will be another sweatering day. we're expecting 105 to about 106 degrees from atlanta to charlotte and nashville and do it again tomorrow. slightly cooler on sunday. slightly cooler from 105 to say 100. the biggest concern for areas that lost power, check on the elderly today. we don't want them in the heat indoors with no air conditioning and no fans running trying to gut out this heat wave. >> a lot watching there for us, bill karins, there's some record highs in washington, d.c., 104, broke 138--year-old record on ç

friday. at least 20 other cities across the country hitting record highs, bowling green, kentucky, all time record there of 110. nashville, 109,ag athens, also 109. to front page politics, a new poll shows americans are sharply divided over the supreme court ruling. the new poll shows 46% of americans agree with the decision. while 46% say they disagree. meanwhile, republicans are not letting up, wyoming senator john barrosso, take a listen. >> the goal of health care reform all along should have been to ensure that people get the care they need from the doctor they choose at a lower cost. under president obama's health care law, they got the exact opposite. tax increases and government control. >> president obama has signed a

short-term bill passed by the senate extending federal funding for highway and infrastructure projects for two years, $120 billion measure also provides a one-year extension on current stone loan rates. the justice department will not prosecute attorney general eric holder for contempt. the house voted thursday to hold holder in contempt of congress after he withheld information about the bungled gun tracking operation known as fast and furious. joining me now, reporter for the "washington post," felicia somez and andyç kroul as well. good day to you. >> good morning. >> he finished one of the best weeks of his administration so far. when you look at what happened the last week, how does he pivot starting tomorrow? we have the sunday talk shows. what will he leverage and how is he going to do it? >> you're going to see the president's campaign aides go out there and make clearly the point, the issue over the

affordable care act has been fought in all three branches of government and it has survived in a way that this fight has been fought and has been fought at every level and the conservative chief justice of the supreme court has come down mostly on their side. i think you're also going to see them and they don't -- the obama folks never pass up a chance to hammer their opponent mr. romney. i think you're going to see them put mitt romney in the same spot as house republicans, mitt romney came out the day of the supreme court decision, talked about replacing and repealing, that same day we saw house -- >> will the tone being similar to president obama's statement after that came out, fairly down the middle, not gloeting. >> the president is not going to spike the football on the day of the decision. but you're going to see his aides and campaign staffers take a sharper edge in criticizing mitt romney and linking him to house republicans who the day of the court decision are already talking about scheduling a vote to repeal the bill.

>> felicia, speaking of that point, july 11th, house republicans going to be holding a vote to repeal the health care law. and here's eric çcantor yestery on morning joe. >> there's no question that they've -- the court's decision underscores now and delineates what's at stake in november. we're going to continue to try to fight and repeal this bill. >> game this out for me, cantor mentioning reconciliation as well in that statement. how can they get around the senate and if they can, later on a veto from the president? >> it's incredibly unlikely. back in january of 2011 when the house won the 112th congress came into session, one of the first acts was to pass this so-called repeal the job killing health care law act. they've done that a half dozen times so far and this next vote they are holding on july 11th is their latest attempt to do that. the problem that house

republicans face now is exactly the same as they faced last january. it really serves as a way for them to try to rally the base and make clear that they will focus in on this and try to further the case that they need to retake the senate in order for this repeal to actually go anywhere. >> to go forward and then the two-thirds vote to overturn a potential or probable veto from the president on that. along about with the house republicans, there are the states too, there are a handful of governors such as bobby jindal who have already said, they have not support the law. take a listen to this. >> we're not moving forward with the exchanges. we're not implementing obama care here in the state of louisiana. instead, we'll do everything we can to defeat president obama and get rid of obama care. we're not implementing the exchanges and obama care. >> we listen to jindal here, also the other four governors

with similar messages. how much of a stumbling block would this be in the long run? >> this is a lot of political bluster we're hearing from house and senate and republicans in congress obviously. they don't really have ground to stand on now in terms of trying to fight the implementation of the affordable care act. what they are saying, the same thing that republicans in washington are saying and that is this they are going to now fight this at the ballot box and take their arguments and going to put everything they can into the november election and try to get rid of this law and not have to implement this law by tossing the president out of office and possibly retaking -- >> it's the law of the land now though? >> it is the law of the land. >> and they have three options, either they implement or the feds implement or work together to implement? >> right, parts of the law, for instance, the rule that health

insurers cannot discriminate against preexisting conditions. a lot comes down the road in 2014 but it is on the books now, the republican governors are trying to say they are somehow going to fight this. but really they are not. they are just -- they are making a political statement and they are looking to november in this fight. >, felicia, looking to november and this fight and the political statements made, romney talking tough right now with repeal and replace, we both saw that. doesn't he really want to get off this issue? doesn't he want to move on and talk about the economy? this does not favor him. >> i think if you look at the health care issue, it's kind of playing out in the same way as immigration reform played out over the past two weeks. back at the conference in florida two weeks ago, both president obama and mitt romney were focused in on this. with health care, it's definitely dominating the discussion right now but as things move forward, both sides

want to focus in more on the economy particularly for mitt romney, when s that is clearly the issue at stake when it comes to the referendum on president obama. i think this -- it will -- >> do you think this will be an issue in november? they will not be talking about it with the same intensity? >> it probably will be an issue but not the deciding issue when you look at polls like usa today poll you mentioned earlier today. the battle -- the lines here are largely drawn and people on both sides of the issue have very firmly developed their positions on how they feel about it. the amount of people who are really undecided about it at this point is very small compared to the amount of people who are undecided about how the economy is going and that's much morpher tile ground for republicans when it comes to making their argument in november. >> the gallup polls support what you just said. thank you. developing now, recordç settin wildfires in colorado are spreading.

we're watching that. yesterday president obama got a look at the worst destruction, including a 26-square mile blaze, almost 350 homes have been destroyed and a second person has been confirmed dead in that. the president said that we have to support our first responders. >> one of things i've done here in addition to saying thank you to these firefighters is to let them know that all of america has their back. >> the president has declared the fires a major disaster in colorado so far. will you receive an insurance rebate check now that the supreme court has okayed the o bam ma health care plan? and after the break, we have chuck todd joins us. his take on how the politics of health care will play out this summer. it's about time we made our homes work for us. so let's make our dryers do the ironing.

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friday's market rally a good sign but what else is moving the economy? let's look at this week's two big money headlines, summer spending, how do you feel and made in the usa. what does it mean? morgan brennan is here. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> school is out. what does it mean for mom and dad? will they open up their wall ets or keep them closed. >> looks like they're open their wallets to the tune of $16.6 billion, the amount beingç estimated from a new survey from american express that parents spend on their children. the average american is expected to spend $600 per child this summer. that's on everything from summer camp to summer school, to swim

lessons and one of things i find the most interesting is the fact that most parents are planning to take their kids on day trips to amusement parks. >> those are always fun and good they are spending. part of opening their wallet is consumer confidence, that's been falling in recent months. when you look at those numbers at the moment, did that trend continue through may? >> it looks as though it continued through may and actually looking at consumer spending makes 70% of gdp, a huge chunk of our economy's growth. if you look at the numbers out this week, it's starting to stall. it was about flat for the first time in six months, americans aren't spending as much on things like autos and gas which is actually a good thing because gas prices have come down. but that being said, it's actually -- this is not particularly good news, not surprising given the fact that economists have been projecting that economic growth would slow in large part -- in large response to the weak jobs data we've been seeing.

so people are pulling back on spending in response. i would not expect the strongest gdp number for the second quarter that's ending. >> what about bringing business back to the united states, that's our third big money headline. i was reading yesterday, google is making a move on that too. >> going back to jobs, this could be a good thing, an interesting trend we've heard so much in the last couple of weeks >> onshore, right. >> this is looking like a trend to onshore jobs. we've heard two companies, google is experimenting with manufacturering a new hardware in the states. we've heard a rumor that european plane maker airbus is bringing a factory to mobile, alabama. it will be the second factory outside of europe. we saw general electric in the past year as well as caterpillar start to bring manufacturing back to the united states.

there's many reasons for this but one of the most interesting is the fact the cost of doing business in china has been going up dramatically. so hopefully we'll see some jobs come back to the states. >> those are big ticket items, $200 million each sometimes. morgan, appreciate it. today's hot weather will likely rewrite the record books for another day. children and elderly are some of the most at risk for heat strokes and exhaustion, julie martin is live in atlanta. we're also looking at the weather out there. what's it like? >> reporter: we're already up around 76 degrees at this early hour and we could see a record in atlanta, 106 degrees, that vifales any temperature set in the dust bowl in the 1930s. it's going to be a dangerously hot day through the mid-atlantic. we've already seen the effects of the heat that was in place yesterday. in fact, some storms, series of

severe storms coming through the washington, d.c. and baltimore areas yesterday left hundreds of thousands of people without power. we could see more storms today riding the ridge of this high pressure. so the big story though is going to be those triple digit temperatures, 25 states, that's about 47 million people could be suffering today, richard. so we're going to have to ask everyone to try to stay cool out there. >> julie martin, live in atlanta from the weather channel, we'll check back to watch this throughout the day. chief justice john roberts under intense scrutiny over the health care decision. did he thread the needle here? judicially or did he across the line? a constitutional lawyer with answers ahead. made in the u.s.a., that's the theme of our three big money headlines, one company setting up shop in the united states might surprise you. olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day!

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♪ all right, there's also a new pole that's shedding light on how persons view the president's health care law. the new gallup poll shows 44% of americans have an unfavorable view of the health care law while 37% say they view the law favorably. joining me now is chuck todd.ç >> they view the law unfavorably. what are your thoughts here? is this just a blip or will this actually drag on the president going forward? >> oh, i think a lot of health care has been banked in and the

danger in this ruling had their been an overturn, that could be more damaging to the president than any other single thing that could have happened this year. getting over this hurdle was pretty important to him because of how politically hurt he could have been by it. that said, i do think there's a window of a week or ten days where the president and democrats have a chance to convince -- this is a muddled group of voters out there, somewhere between 15 and 25% who have mixed feelings about health care reform. they were skeptical about what was passed but believe something needed to be done. so he will -- you would assume those folks will tune in a little bit more right now. the supreme court ruling makes them listen to a few more facts about it. i think it's possible you'll see public opinion in the next week or so. what i would say, wait another week or so to see. if it hasn't moved at all then, if the numbers are exactly what they were in the overnight poll,

then it proves to you it's baked in and nothing will change. >> the president is trying to leverage specific parts of the affordable care act. this is what he said on thursday. >> insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on the amount of care you receive. they can no longer discriminate against children with preexisting conditions. they can noç longer drop your coverage if you get sick. they can no longer jack up your premiums without reason. >> so chuck, when you talk about the 15 to 25% and we're listening to the president, which the best parts he's trying to pick from the law and try to emphasize those, will that help to move the npts independents? >> it could and it depends on what your own personal situation is with health care. that's always been the challenge here, in that -- the people sometimes most concerned about health care are actually the folks that have it and what they are upset about it is cost

issues and nervous about losing it. the president's been having a conversation about people who haven't had it. well, that's actually the smallest percentage of people. when you look at it as a numbers game, that's why you see the negati negativethe unfavorables outweigh the favorables on that point. that's always been the challenge. the democrats talking about expanding coverage which is actually the fact is some 80% of the country has their health care, may not be crazy about it but they have it and they are certainly worried about losing it or seeing it change. >> when you look at what the campaigns are trying to capitalize on the ruling and romney trying to repeal the law and his campaign saying they raised over $4.5 million in the 24 hours after the ruling. on the other side the democrats saying they raised money as well, without releasing a number on that. >> forç romney, can you capitalize on this politically

given his former support for individual mandate? >> i think it's a thin line for him to walk on this. i think he certainly will attempt fate. health care never got litigated. never got litigated in the republican primaries, a lot of people thought it would. if he does try to make this a center piece of this campaign, you'll see the obama folks trout out the best of romney. it hasn't been that long ago when he was touting the individual mandate and touting the fact that a mandate was the way to bring health care costs no matter where you were talking about doing health care reform, not just in the state of massachusetts. so i do think he tempts fate which is why i expect him to pivot off of health care in the next week. that doesn't mean house and senate republicans won't be talking about health care. that's where i think the issue could have a bigger impact which is on house and senate races. >> on that issue, chuck, this leveraging of the point of it being a tax, is that going to help them when you talk about senate races? >> it could but they've been

talking about the tax issue for some time. it will be interesting to see how democrats push back on this because when you really look at it, is a penalty a tax? that's taking the expansion of what a tax is to another level. so you start penalty a tax, speeding tickets taxes? what's not a tax at that point. mitt romney himself has an interesting background when he balanced his budget in massachusetts, he notes he didn't raise taxes but he raised a lot of fees. again, if you're going to talk about this penalty being a tax- then all of those fees are taxes too. what's not a tax at that point is that any check you write to the government -- >> slippery slope, right? >> all right, chuck, thanks so much. we appreciate it. >> a programming note for you today on melissa harris-perry, nancy pelosi talks about the supreme court ruling on health care at 10:00 a.m. olympic dreams dashed for a

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threatening as many homes as it was a few days ago. still, there are tens of thousands of people that have been evacuated and the fire is

still active, it is the highest priority fire anywhere in the country right now. >> miguel ama ger. a new republican response on the supreme court upholding to president obama's health care reform. take a listen. >> the president and his allies are going to convince the public that the supreme court just gave the health care law a seal of approval. the fact is that this is the same failed policy that won't lower the cost of health care in america. >> these are the latest in a slew of talking points from both sides of the aisle. do you to the claims we've heard so far, joining us today is emily etheridge. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> let's start with this one. as we talk about fact or fict n fiction. everyone will payç a tax for t health care law.

what's the verdict? >> complete fiction. the only people paying a tax under this law are the people who don't have health insurance, even then not all of them, some who are the poorest who don't qualify or have low income, they won't be paying the tax either. if you have health insurance, you're good. >> in addition to this, we've hea heard, we've been making this point several times that the health care law will take $500 billion out of the medicare budget. >> we hear that a lot from republican, both mitt romney and republicans in congress. that's also a fiction. the $500 billion figure is a decrease in future medicaid spending growth. it's going to rise by less than it was without this law. the $500 billion is really in future spending that we haven't seen yet and it dont come from benefits that medicare

beneficiaries have. it comes from provides and other things like that. it's not that your medicare is get being slashed by the law. >> many senior citizens watching that one. president obama has made this point several times, millions of americans will receive rebate checks from their insurance company this summer. >> that would be really nice, we would like to see checks in the mail and also unfortunately a fiction. there are 13 million americans who are going to get some sort ofç rebate from she's insuranc companies but for a lot of us, that's not us, but our employers. they might pass it on to you or might invest it some other way. you may not get the check but have it applied for future premiums. so don't stand by your mailbox and wait for that check quite yet. >> i won't do that then. we've heard this too, there's a lot of threats coming from conservatives about the death

panels and independent panel advisory board. it's a big one. the advisory board will not receive what health care you receive. that true or false? >> that's true. you hear a lot about this leveled ration care. it says in the text of the law the payment board cannot ration care, can't cut benefits for medicare or change eligibility for medicare. it's really restricted. its goal is to reduce the spending growth in medicare, supposed to save money but can't do it by rationing care -- >> no death panels. >> no death panels. >> the health care law will add to the deficit in the long run, that has been an argument being made? >> that's because it is an expensive law, it cost a lot of money but also has a lot of savings provisions. the congress at budget office finds this law will save $210 billion over the next ten years. it actually saves money and reduces the deficit over the

long term and doesn't add to it. >> fact or fiction, thanksç so much. emily ethridge. a poll of new college graduates support president obama. 52% of recent grads would vote for president obama if the election were held today. 27% would vote for romney. the poll is from those who graduateded from four-year colleges since 2008. from matt lauer to los angeles mayor, you'll hear the practical joke mow ham he had ali played on matt lauer. we start with road stories first. >> more than anything else that everyone says to me, they say where in the world is matt lauer? it allowed me to see places i

would have never seen and never gone to the slopes of mount everest or to an oil or natural gas platform off the coast of scotland. >> this guy walked up to me and says, hi, are you the mayor? yes, i am. he said, i can't say it on tv. he has a right to his own opinion. you know. feels strongly about things. >> i love riding my bike, one of my favorite things to do, just in terms of thinking through stuff. i find it like gives me a real -- people talk about runner's high which i never experienced, i hateç running. >> i do get a biking high for sure. >> ali was a childhood idol still is. there's a photograph behind you. i called and said i have this

great photograph of this fist. he said he wants to sign it for you. i took it out of the frame and put it down on the champ's lap and looked and went -- what do you mean? he goes, not my fist. i thought, i just paid a lot of money for that thing. are you kidding me? then he smiled and said, yeah, it's and he signed it. >> the image of a hand rolled native indian cigars, i'm a big fan of the one and only winston churchill and he used to smoke cigar between each course. four or five an evening. >> it has an old spanish feel to it. it's spectacular. >> when i first decorated i didn't do all of that.

that's been here from the beginning days. >> my love affair with the sport of golf goes back to my dad. my parents were divorced when i was 8 years old. my weekends with my dad wereç enormous. >> you could look at it all day. >> are you kidding me? are you kidding me? >> she is so adorable. >> i want her to be em pathetic and compassionate and everything else is gravy. >> has my daughter and that's when i was elected speaker for the second time. and my daughter was upset because her brother was in the first picture. so she wanted to be in the second picture. >> i'll be walking her up the aisle which will be extremely painful because i found the whole thing difficult to come to terms with. the idea of handing over my little girl -- >> i'm a doting father, my 8-year-old daughter will roll her eyes and my son who is 10

when i drop him off at school, kisses me in the car so he doesn't have to have his friends see me. >> i was 22 when i got married and just celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. >> that's her shoulder. >> what are you doing there? >> seeking a little kiss after some ball. we like that photo. >> chris hayes, the best of part two comes together, the mayor talks about how his son countered al gore and matt lauer talks about a tough interview. a in take on the supreme court health care decision and john roberts' balancing act. ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance.

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this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. chief justice ron john roberts right after the supreme court decision on health care, two days ach the ruling both sides are analyzing the implications and many surprised

>> well deserved break after an extraordinary term at the supreme court and what roberts leaves behind is a decision that interestingly has left both sides of the aisle with something to be happy about. not just the liberals who were hoping for -- but the conservatives who found one of their key argument was supported. >> whether he planned that early or late, we don't know in his schedule. when we look at chief justice roberts decision, might he have made a different decision if he were an associate justice. it is said, i think the mandate is a tax argument is a dodge and

a flimsy one at that. the tax is punitive and regulatory and intended to compel. perhaps that's not how roberts would have ruled if he were an associate justice and not the chief. but that's how he did rule. >> what's your thought, if he was an associate judge instead? >> i think all feel an obligation to the court, yes in that sense. i think this particular chief justice john roberts has repeatedly said that he's very concerned about the institutional role and legitimacy of the court. i don't think it's just the role of the chief justice, butç als the temperament of john roberts as well. >> what's your thoughts, this fis sof cal versus institutional debates he may have had? >> i think with kenji, one of the winners this week, in addition to people proponents of the health care law was the supreme court itself. while we'll never know all of the factors that went into his thinking before he wrote, surely he was aware of poll numbers and

other indication that's people really were concerned about the court's legitimacy, its ability to call balls and strikes. >> kenji, was he able to restore or maintain the neutrality of the court? did he accomplish that? >> i think he did. i don't think it was just him. one of the hidden issues here is that justice briar and kagan broke ranks with the liberals. they drifted to the right. he drifted to the left. i think it's very good to have a supreme court where you can't point to a particular justice and say i know exactly how the justice is going to rule. justice kennedy is no longer always a swing vote in these cases and justice roberts is reclaiming the court for himself. >> put this in context for us, lisa, let's think back to lbj in 1965 and medicare and what pete williams said, this could be one

of the most important opinions in 80 years. >> pete is right. this is something that people were bracing for the possibility of the first overturn of a major social justice set ofç legislation since the new deal that didn't happen and the restraint that see in justice r decision is elegant. this intellectual magic to get to the decision. he was able to get a majority to reach. scholars will look back for decades. >> to be a fly on the wall there. how are you going to teach this in future classes? >> i'm going to teach it as what are the positives and negatives here from a government perspective. both sides claimed victory. i think i would want to see all the legitimacy points but also to see there is a potential poison pill here. on the one hand he upheld the affordable care act that's a major piece of social welfare

legislation. on the other hand, he didn't do it on the theory liberals wanted him to do it on and he joined with the four conservative dissenters could not cover this. just to give context from 137 to 1955 no piece of legislation was struck down. that goes back to constitutional legitimacy. that goes back to the point. >> good insights. while the impact of the health care ruling on the presidential election there is little doubt can economy will sway voters. nearly 6 in so say the personal finances will be a majopç deciding factor. 50% say the outcome of the election won't make inasmuch difference in personal finances. up next, romney's divide and conquer providing hillary

clinton in crucial swing states. to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters.

mitt romney is out with a counter attack to president obama's campaign ads in the battleground states. the romney camp is seeking to create a divide between president obama and hillary clinton, his secretary of state. >> barack obama's attacks against mitt romney just aren't true. the washington post says on just about every level the ad is misleading and untrue. that's barack obama. he attacked hillary clinton with vicious lies. >> he continues to spend millions of dollars perpetuating falsehoods. >> joining me now is senior political editor mark murray. these ads are airing in several pat battleground states. the latest poll looked at michigan, new hampshire and north carolina. what did you find? >> we show a very tight race in the battleground states indicative of what we are seeing across the country. one thing we had in our nbc wall

street journal poll, we did another subgroup of 12 complete battleground states and show president obama with a 50 to 42 advantage over mitt romney, much larger than the 47-44 margin in the poll. one of the things going on is that mitt romney is getting pummelled in the battleground states. his favorable unfavorable rating is worse in the patle grounds than nationwide. attitude about his business experience at bain capital are worse than nationwide. the ad interestingly enough is ç response to the she lacking that the obama campaign ads are having on mitt romney now. that's one of the more interesting developments as we get into the dog days of summer where obama has tough ads defining mitt romney. >> 30s and 40s for mitt romney. what about president obama and his approval ratings? >> his approval was at 47%.

you end up looking in battleground states and he's in the high 40s. that's good territory, but not great. >> okay. >> when you are an incumbent president you want to be closer to 50%. he's close but not quite there. >> i'm sorry to do this to you. thanks for the latest on the polls we have been watching. i'll be back in four hours. up with chris hayes is next. [ valeda ] since the very beginning,

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