Trump’s midterm messaging spotlights the economy
‘The Fixer’ host Marcus Lemonis joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s nationwide tour to speak on the economy as polling suggests Americans feel things are less affordable heading into the highly contentious midterm elections.
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President Donald Trump, taking to social media earlier this month, touted, “The highest Poll Numbers I have ever received.”
“Obviously, people like a strong and powerful Country, with the best economy, EVER!” the president added in a post on his Truth Social platform.
But on the day of his annual State of the Union Address, Trump’s poll numbers remain in negative territory in the vast majority of national surveys.
The president’s approval rating stands at 44% in the latest Fox News national poll, which was conducted late last month, with 56% disapproving of the job he’s doing in the White House.
And he stood at 39% approval among all adults and 41% among registered voters in an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos survey conducted Feb 12-17 and released on Sunday.
An average of the most recent surveys conducted over the past four weeks puts Trump’s approval ratings in the low 40s, with disapproval in the mid-50s.
Trump started his second term in positive territory, but his approval ratings sank below water last March and have slowly edged down deeper into negative territory in the ensuing months.
The latest surveys point to a massive partisan divide, with continued strong support for the president among Republicans, a thumbs down among independents and near total disapproval among Democrats.
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“Support among Republicans has remained in place, but the opposition has become even more calcified,” veteran Republican pollster Daron Shaw told Fox News Digital, as he pointed to Democrats.
Deep concerns over inflation boosted Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories at the ballot box in 2024, as they won back the White House and Senate and kept their House majority.
President Donald Trump gestures at the end of his speech after touring the Coosa Steel Corporation factory in Rome, Georgia, Feb. 19, 2025. (Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images)
“We had record inflation. We don’t have it anymore,” Trump said at a campaign event last week in Rome, Georgia. “I’m going to make a State of the Union address on Tuesday. I hope you’re going to watch and we’re going to be talking about it.”
But the president’s approval ratings on the economy are, on average, slightly lower than his overall approval ratings.
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And Democrats say their decisive victories in November’s 2025 elections, and their overperformances in special elections and other ballot box showdowns in the year since Trump returned to office, were fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation.
A slew of surveys, including the latest Fox News polling, indicate Americans are pessimistic about the economy and say things have not generally improved during the second Trump administration.
“He can’t unstick the notion that inflation is too high and that the economy is not moving in the right direction,” added Shaw, who helps run the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson.
But Democrats don’t have much to brag about when it comes to the polls.
The party’s brand dropped to historic lows last year in a slew of polls, with the trend continuing into the new year.
The president’s primetime address in front of Congress comes with just over eight months to go until the midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their razor-thin majority in the House and their narrow control of the Senate.
Last week, the president’s political team huddled in a closed-door strategy session with Trump administration Cabinet members and their top aides on how best to sell the president’s agenda to voters in this year’s midterm elections.
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According to sources familiar with the meeting, the message during a slide presentation by chief pollster and strategist Tony Fabrizio was that the economy will be the top issue on the minds of voters, and that the White House needs to spotlight its efforts on easing affordability.
“Team Trump will deploy every resource necessary to win the midterms, protect our majorities, and ensure President Trump keeps delivering results for America’s working families,” a source in the president’s political orbit told Fox News Digital.
President Donald Trump takes the stage to speak during a rally at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, on Jan. 27. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Regardless of Trump’s overall approval ratings, he remains very popular and influential with Republicans. And in what may be a base election, the GOP sees the president as their best tool to motivate low-propensity MAGA voters, who don’t always vote when Trump’s not on the ballot, to show up at the polls during the midterms.
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Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital last month that Trump was the GOP’s “secret weapon” that will help Republicans “defy history” in the midterms.
“We got to make sure we turn our voters out, and we got to make sure that we have people energized. And there’s nobody that can energize our base more than President Trump,” Gruters said.
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