(CNN)President Joe Biden won the 2020 election in large part because he was able to win the center. He emerged with a 13-point win with independent voters, a group that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lost by 4 points in 2016. (House Democratic candidates, for their part, took independents by 9 points in 2020.)

That's why it should be alarming to Biden that the recent downturn in his approval rating has come disproportionately from independents, as the Washington Post's Henry Olsen first pointed out. This slide could have major electoral implications, if it holds.

You can see this trend among independents in polls that meet CNN's standards for reporting. Biden's net approval rating (approve-disapprove) among independents in polls completed in September and October stands at -16 points. Not surprisingly, his net approval rating is significantly higher among Democrats (+79 points) and lower among Republicans (-84 points).

Biden's net approval rating was better among all groups in an average of polls back in June and July. His net approval rating stood at +88 points among Democrats, +3 points with independents and -72 points among Republicans.

The key thing here though is that while the drop among Democrats (9 points) and Republicans (12 points) is evident, it's even larger among independents (19 points).

Rachele Mussolini, granddaughter of the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini, won the highest number of votes in Rome's city council elections, official results showed Wednesday.

Standing for the Fratelli d'Italia party, which descends from the neo-fascist conservative MSI party-- or Italian Social Movement party -- Mussolini won 8,264 votes.

In an interview with newspaper La Repubblica on Wednesday, Mussolini said she believes voters were focused less on her surname and more on her "initiatives" during her service at the City Council.

"At school they used to point at me, but then Rachele emerged and the person [that I am] prevailed over the surname, however burdensome that name is," she added.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has begun to tell people privately that he plans to run for governor of New York next year, according to three people with direct knowledge of his conversations with fellow Democrats and donors.

Mr. de Blasio, who has been a polarizing figure during his two terms in office, has also sounded out trusted former aides about their interest in working on a potential campaign, according to two people who are familiar with those contacts, and has made other overtures to labor leaders about a possible bid. His longtime pollster conducted a private survey to assess Mr. de Blasio’s appeal beyond New York City. And publicly, too, he has increasingly made it clear that he wants to remain in public life.

“There’s a number of things I want to keep working on in this city, in this state,” Mr. de Blasio said last week, noting his interest in public health, early childhood education and combating income inequality. “That is going to be what I focus on when this mission is over. So, I want to serve. I’m going to figure out the right way to serve and the right time to serve.”

Mr. de Blasio’s move toward a possible run for governor comes even as the city he now leads faces extraordinary challenges and an uncertain future, and should he enter what may be a crowded and well-financed field, he would face significant hurdles.

A first grader’s school photo has gone viral after he took his mother’s instructions to keep his face mask on at school to heart, according to a retelling of the exchange on the mother’s Facebook page.

Mason Peoples, 6, was getting his class picture taken when the photographer told him he could take his mask off for the photo.

“My mom said to keep it on all the time unless I'm eating and far away from everybody,” Mason said, according to his mom, Nicole Peoples.

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Since sharing the exchange on Facebook, a number of people reached out to the Peoples family and have since raised more than $37,000 in a GoFundMe to go toward Mason’s college education.