Josh Marcus takes a look at what the 2022 midterm candidates’ fashion choices can tell us about race, gender, and the future of their parties.

In news that will bouy Democrats’ hopes for the November elections, a new poll shows President Joe Biden’s approval rating jumping six points from the low point it hit over the summer.

The survey of 1982 adults — commissioned by CNN and conducted from 3 September to 5 October by SSRS — found 44 per cent of respondents approving of Mr Biden’s job performance. That’s a six-point rebound from the 38 per cent who approved of the president in July and August.

Despite the rising approval for the 46th president, the survey also found more than half of voters — 56 per cent — disapproved of how he’s doing his job.

Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman promised that he would be “much better” in January after an NBC reporter disclosed the support the Democrat needed during a sit-down interview that aired this week.

Mr Fetterman took to Twitter to say by next year he will have improved but his opponent Dr Oz will still be a fraud.

Johanna Chisholm reports.

Sarah Palin, who is running to try and bag the Alaska House seat she lost in the summer’s ranked-choice special election, appeared on Fox News this morning to answer questions about the election, Tulsi Gabbard, and broader policy matters – including the war in Ukraine.

While she acknowledged the “suffering” of the “innocent people” bearing the brunt of the conflict, she stopped short of nailing down a position of her own, simply pointing to “debate” about whether the US has much of an interest in helping Ukraine fend off Russia.

Vague though it was, her answer was rather more lucid than some of those she gave in foreign policy-related interviews during her car-crash vice presidential campaign in 2008.

In today’s Inside Washington dispatch, Eric Garcia makes the case for why Nevada’s Senate race is the diciest one on this year’s ballot.

Exhibit one: polling, which shows incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in the fight of her life to hang on in a state the Democrats have got used to winning, if only narrowly.

Read Eric’s piece below.

Having announced that she is no longer a member of the Democratic party, ex-congresswoman and former presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is making the media rounds – including a Joe Rogan interview – and also planning to campaign for a Republican Senate candidate in New Hampshire.

Ms Gabbard, a periodic guest on Tucker Carlson’s show who has drawn praise from Russian state TV commentators by taking an anti-intervention line on the Ukraine conflict, announced her departure from the Democrats in a video this week, describing her former party “elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness”.

An row has been sparked by NBC News after a reporter provided details about the support John Fetterman needed for a sit-down interview, as well as a comment suggesting the Democratic Senate candidate had trouble following their conversation without closed captioning.

Mr Fetterman, the Democrat candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, has spent most of the summer recovering from a stroke and has only recently returned to in-person campaigning.

While his campaign has made no secret of his ongoing trouble with communicating, NBC reporter Dasha Burns told viewers about the support Mr Fetterman needed for a new sit-down interview with Meet The Press, which was broadcast on Tuesday.

“Because of that auditory processing, he still has a hard time understanding what people are saying,” Ms Burns said, while explaining the use of closed caption technology for her interview.

Joe Biden offered a brief reaction to Herschel Walker’s deepening scandal surrounding the mother of one of his children, who says she had an abortion paid for by the candidate in 2009.

The president was asked by reporters outside of the White House for his feelings about the floundering Republican Senate candidate, and responded that his assessment of Mr Walker was “negative”.

He also predicted that Democrats would hold on to the seat currently held by Senator Raphael Warnock, Mr Walker’s opponent, in November.

“What has your reaction been to the Herschel Walker controversy in Georgia, and do you think Democrats can hold that seat?” asked CNN’s MJ Lee.

“Negative,” Mr Biden responded. “And yes.”

John Bowden has the story.

Right-wing Utah Senator Mike Lee, who infamously said Donald Trump was entitled to “a mulligan” after the 6 January Capitol attack, is facing an unexpectedly strong challenge from independent candidate Evan McMullin, with polls showing the two men within the margin of error.

In a mark of how serious Mr Lee’s position is, he appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show to beg fellow Senator and Trump critic Mitt Romney for help.

Mr McMullin, meanwhile, has been in a Twitter spat with Ted Cruz:

The Democrats are not standing a candidate in the seat in hopes of giving Mr McMullin a clear path to defeating Mr Lee.

Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who is running for the US Senate, has given his first in-person interview describing how his life is different since he suffered a stroke before the May primary.

Mr Fetterman spoke with NBC News’ Dasha Burns while using closed captioning. He is currently running against former television physician Mehmet Oz for a crucial Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

The Democrat said that it affected every aspect of his life.

“It changes everything,” he said. “Basically having a conversation with your wife, to having a conversation with your children, just things, especially early after the stroke, the ability to really understand what I’m being heard.”