President Donald Trump has told aides he believes Republicans could still exceed expectations in this November’s midterm elections, even as the GOP’s political headwinds intensify.
Privately, aides note that Trump’s national poll numbers are distressingly low, and the White House has started considering the possibility of losing control of both the House and Senate for the first time.
A veteran Trump ally, who accurately forecast Trump’s sweep of battleground states ahead of the 2024 election, told Inner Loop, “We’re going to get creamed.”
Trump’s approval rating recently fell to 37 % in a Wall Street Journal poll—the lowest for any president entering a midterm since such surveys began in 1990. However, internal polling suggests Republicans are trailing by narrower margins in individual House races, the sources note.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told WIRED, “No one can dispute that President Trump has forged one of the most robust coalitions in political history with the MAGA movement. The choice has never been clearer: doubling down on President Trump’s winning, commonsense agenda versus the Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction.”
Seeking to offset a harsh political climate for Republicans this cycle, Trump’s team began scouting foreign‑policy achievements last month that could be highlighted to rally his MAGA base, according to sources.
This pursuit resulted in Trump swiftly signing a U.S.‑Denmark agreement to increase American military presence in Greenland, though it fell short of the full takeover the president has long advocated.
Trump also announced a major oil agreement with Venezuela. However, the deal may require renegotiation because it proposes a 100‑year concession that conflicts with Venezuela’s national hydrocarbons law prohibiting such arrangements.
Yet, while Trump views foreign policy as a legacy‑defining issue, voters remain more concerned with domestic challenges such as elevated grocery and gasoline prices.
Diesel prices surged to a record high this month, and regular gasoline averaged $4.43 per gallon nationally, per AAA data. Meanwhile, Trump’s stance on technology issues such as AI regulation and data centers often runs counter to prevailing public opinion.
