In any normal election cycle, President Trump and his embattled Republican allies would be scrambling to broaden their appeal. With generic congressional ballots showing Democrats ahead by 6 to 11 points, courting wary independents and centrists would seem like a survival imperative for the GOP. But this is no ordinary cycle, and the party is led by a president with anything but conventional political instincts.
Nearly one in four Republicans now say they are financially worse off under Trump than under Joe Biden. Instead of addressing those anxieties, Trump has lashed out at voters' ingratitude and dismissed their economic pain as fabricated. It's an unusual strategy for a party facing a potential wipeout.
Trump's approval rating has cratered to 33 percent in a Reuters poll released this week—a new low for his presidency and a 2-point drop in under a month. If Republicans have a master plan to reverse their fortunes, they're running out of time to unveil it.
The party's latest campaign moves only reinforce the perception that it's out of touch and self-absorbed. On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth barnstormed Iowa to boost Rep. Zach Nunn, a vulnerable Republican. But the appearance left voters questioning why Hegseth wasn't focused on the growing number of sailors attempting suicide aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Hegseth's Iowa stop is another sign that for Trump's GOP, political theater trumps public service. His Pentagon is short on missiles and money, and his decision to pull the USS George Washington from Asia to support Trump's Iran War leaves the Pacific without a U.S. carrier for the first time in years. His stump speeches increasingly look like an escape from a job that's overwhelmed him.
Vice President Vance isn't faring better. He's largely abandoned efforts to end the Iran War, instead promoting his new book, "Communion," which has flopped even among conservatives. The Cato Institute criticized Vance for abandoning the free-market principles that once anchored Republican politics. Vance's retreat from the spotlight coincides with polls showing his popularity sliding among Republicans who will shape the 2028 primary. Voters across the spectrum are tiring of Vance, Trump, and the MAGA experiment, and his pitch to buy his book amid rising grocery and gas prices falls flat.
Meanwhile, Democrats are finally learning to harness the populist anger that propelled Trump to victory. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia has generated buzz for a potential presidential run after a fiery rally where he called Trump "despicable" and blamed Republicans for economic hardship. "Under Donald Trump, it costs more than ever to stock your fridge, to power your home, to make a cup of coffee, to buy school supplies for your kid or a tractor for your farm," Ossoff said. He now leads his Trump-endorsed opponent Rep. Mike Collins by 9 points, offering Democrats a template for using righteous anger as effectively as Trump once did.
Republicans, by contrast, now look like the out-of-touch elites they once railed against. Trump may find solace in Truth Social posts about his friendship with Kim Jong-Un, but voters see a president with no answers on prices or a brutal job market—where desperate job seekers are even paying Etsy witches for "career spells." Perhaps Trump should consider hiring those witches to turn around his sinking numbers. It couldn't be worse than his current strategy.
