SOTU Scoop

By CNN's Tracey Webb

Your daily scoop of what State of the Union is watching today, October 15, 2014.

1. Ebola in the U.S. A second nurse at Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has contracted Ebola. Amber Vinson, who helped care for Ebola patient Thomas Duncan when he was most infectious, also took a flight from Cleveland to Dallas one day before she was diagnosed as having the virus. Vinson is being transferred to Atlanta's Emory University Hospital, which has successfully treated two other Ebola patients. Meanwhile the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking speak with all passengers who were on Vinson's flight, Frontier Airlines Flight 1143. The first nurse who contracted Ebola has been identified as Nina Pham. She also cared for Duncan and is in improving condition, according to Texas Health Presbyterian.

2. The White House response. President Obama canceled his campaign travel plans Wednesday to address the Ebola situation. He is meeting with the heads of cabinet agencies who are coordinating the federal government's response to the outbreak. A new Washington Post/ABC news poll found 65% of people surveyed are concerned about possibility of a widespread Ebola epidemic occurring in the United States and 64% think the government should do more to prevent additional Ebola cases in the country.

3. Low marks for Obama and Democrats. With only 21 days until the midterm elections, two new polls find President Obama and his party with some of their lowest approval ratings. A Washington Post/ABC News survey finds 40% approving of the president's job performance, while an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found him with a 42% approval rating. The Post/ABC poll also found that only 39% of people surveyed held a favorable view of the Democratic Party, a 10-point drop from August. The drop off is in part due to a decline among African-Americans and women, two of the party's key constituencies.