Trump’s low ratings in the US complicate Republicans’ fight for Congress — Dawn
The final stage of the campaign ahead of the US midterm elections to Congress, scheduled for November 3, is beginning. President Donald Trump’s low popularity threatens the Republican Party’s chances of retaining its narrow majority in Congress, Dawn reports, citing Reuters.
According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump’s approval rating is at a record low. Most respondents are dissatisfied with the war in Iran and the state of the economy. The president’s net disapproval rating is nearly twice as high as during the same period in 2018, when Democrats gained 40 seats in the House of Representatives.
Fight for the House of Representatives
Democrats show greater willingness to vote than Republicans, while registered voters prefer Democratic Party candidates by a margin of five percentage points. At the same time, Democrats have internal problems: in a number of party primaries, progressive candidates, including democratic socialists, defeated moderate politicians backed by the party leadership.
Republicans currently hold 218 seats in the House of Representatives compared with 214 for Democrats. The party can gain up to ten additional seats only thanks to changed district boundaries after midterm redistricting. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and about one-third of the 100 Senate seats will be contested in the elections.
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If Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives, which Reuters assesses as likely, they will be able to launch investigations into the Trump administration and force the White House to seek compromises on most legislative initiatives. Party leaders have already stated their intention to investigate what they call Trump’s corruption.
A difficult Senate map
The fight for control of the Senate, analysts estimate, remains too close to call. Even if Democrats win in Georgia, Maine, Michigan and North Carolina, they will need to win in at least two of four states where Trump won the 2024 election by a double-digit margin: Alaska, Iowa, Ohio or Texas.
Democratic candidates have generally raised more money than their Republican opponents. However, the Republican Party’s national committees and affiliated super PACs have significantly outpaced Democratic organizations in funding. A super PAC linked to Trump has a reserve of $400 million.
Republicans plan to hold a party convention this week, an unusual move for midterm elections. They hope to mobilize party supporters there and remind voters about Trump’s tax cuts and other achievements. The president is due to speak on both days of the event, but such a concentration of attention on him, Reuters assesses, may also tie vulnerable Republican candidates more closely to the president.
