Donald Trump soothed his nerves with a comforting lie about his job approval as midterm anxiety sets in.
During an interview on Fox News’ The Will Cain Show on Tuesday, Trump puzzled over why the president’s party historically fares poorly in the midterms.
“Nobody can explain why,” he said. “You know, even when we’ve had an amazing year, this has been a record-setting year in every way. Nobody can explain, even presidents, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, when they win, it doesn’t make any difference, they seem to lose the midterms.”
The 79-year-old president then claimed, “Hopefully we are going to change that around, we are doing great, we have the best polling numbers we have ever had, we have the best numbers in the country.”
However, most polls show that a significant majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, and on critical issues such as the economy, his numbers sink even further.
A New York Times/Siena survey conducted between Jan. 12 and Jan. 17 found that 56 percent of voters disapproved of Trump’s job performance, with 40 percent approving.
Nearly half of the 1,625 registered voters said they believe the country has gotten worse over the past 12 months, compared with just 32 percent who believe it has improved.
In a hypothetical question about the 2026 midterm elections, voters are also more likely to back a Democratic candidate (48 percent) over a Republican (43 percent).
Meanwhile, a recent Reuters-Ipsos survey found only 36 percent of Americans approve of how the billionaire president is handling the economy.
That doesn’t bode well for Trump, who rode a wave of economic frustration to reclaim the White House but has since failed to make good on his promises to “end inflation” and ease the cost of living.
Meanwhile, Trump’s polling on immigration—historically one of his stronger issues—has slumped to record lows after federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis killed U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
In a Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted nationally from Friday—before Pretti’s death—through Sunday, just 39 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of immigration. That’s a new low, according to the pollster, which had previously put Trump as high as 50 percent in March.
Regardless of current polling, history suggests Republicans are facing an uphill battle in the midterms. Since World War II, the sitting president’s party has lost ground in the House in 18 of 20 midterms and Senate seats in 13 of the 20 postwar midterms.
“It makes no sense, even if the president did well, they seem to lose the midterms,” Trump said Tuesday, before wondering out loud, “There’s some psychological factor out of there… I don’t know, maybe they want to put up a garden fence, you just don’t know.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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