NEW YORK (AP) — Virtually two weeks after Republicans misplaced badly in elections in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, many GOP leaders insist there isn’t any drawback with the celebration’s insurance policies, its message or President Donald Trump’s management.
Trump says Democrats and the media are deceptive voters who’re involved about excessive prices and the financial system. Republican officers aiming to keep away from one other defeat in subsequent fall’s midterms are encouraging candidates to embrace the president totally and speak extra about his accomplishments.
These are the foremost takeaways from a collection of personal conversations, briefings and official speaking factors involving main Republican decision-makers throughout Washington, together with contained in the White Home, after their celebration’s losses Nov. 4. Their evaluation highlights the extent to which the destiny of the Republican Celebration is tied to Trump, a term-limited president who insists the financial system below his watch has by no means been stronger.
That’s whilst an growing variety of voters report a special actuality of their lives.
However with few exceptions, the Trump lieutenants who lead the GOP’s political technique haven’t any need to problem his needs or beliefs.
“Republicans are coming into subsequent 12 months extra unified behind President Trump than ever earlier than,” Republican Nationwide Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels stated. “The celebration is totally aligned behind his America First agenda and the outcomes he’s delivering for the American individuals. President Trump’s insurance policies are fashionable, he drives turnout, and standing with him is the strongest path to victory.”
Trump’s approval is just like former Presidents Barack Obama, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, on the identical level of their phrases, nevertheless. Their events had main losses in midterm elections.
Trump insists there isn’t any affordability drawback
For the reason that election, the White Home has quietly determined to shift its message to focus extra on affordability.
A lot of the primary 12 months of Trump’s second time period has been dominated by his commerce wars, his crackdown on unlawful immigration, his resolution to ship Nationwide Guard troops into American cities and the longest authorities shutdown in U.S. historical past.
Trump has talked extra about affordability within the days since Election Day. On Friday, he slashed tariffs on beef and different commodities that buyers say value an excessive amount of. However Trump’s main message is that the financial system is healthier and shopper costs decrease than as reported by the media. It’s a lot the identical message that Democratic President Joe Biden and his allies spent years pushing, with little success.
In a social media submit Friday, Trump stated prices are “tumbling down.”
“Affordability is a lie when utilized by the Dems. It’s a full CON JOB,” Trump wrote. “Thanksgiving prices are 25% decrease this 12 months than final, below Crooked Joe! We’re the Celebration of Affordability!”
Just a few days earlier, on Fox Information, he asserted, “We have now the best financial system in historical past.”
Trump’s numbers about the price of Thanksgiving dinners are off. Grocery costs are 2.7% increased than they have been in 2024.
Financial worries have been the dominant concern for voters on this month’s elections, in response to the AP Voter Ballot.
Republican strategist Doug Heye stated Trump’s strategy is just not essentially useful for the Republican Celebration or its candidates, who already face a troublesome political setting in 2026 when voters will resolve the stability of energy in Congress. Traditionally, the celebration occupying the White Home has important losses in nonpresidential elections.
“Republicans must relay to voters that they perceive what they’re going by way of and that they’re attempting to repair it,” Heye stated. “That may be onerous to do when the president takes a nonmetaphorical wrecking ball to parts of the White Home, which distract a lot of Washington and the media.”
“Candidates can’t afford to be distracted,” Heye added. “As we noticed within the current elections, particularly in Virginia, when you’re not speaking about what voters are speaking about, they are going to tune you out.”
A view from a key governor’s race
The fact outdoors Washington means that not each Republican candidate shares Trump’s outlook.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Home Republican chief who started a marketing campaign for governor final week, stated there isn’t any query in regards to the high difficulty for her constituents: affordability. She additionally performed down her celebration’s deal with conservative cultural priorities, together with transgender athletes, which was a high Republican focus within the current Virginia governor’s race.
“Actually I assist ladies and ladies sports activities and defending them, however as you see in all of our messaging, we’re targeted on the highest points, which each dialog with voters is in regards to the excessive taxes and spending, the unaffordability,” Stefanik instructed The Related Press.
Stefanik provided a nuanced perspective on Trump’s management.
She was unwilling to criticize any of the president’s main insurance policies or governing choices. However Stefanik, who has fought for Trump’s agenda as a GOP chief in Congress, shifted the main target to New York’s Democratic governor when requested in regards to the power of the Republican Celebration’s assist for the president.
“My sense is our celebration is totally united behind firing Kathy Hochul,” Stefanik stated earlier than highlighting Trump’s assist from New York voters in current elections.
Whereas Stefanik stated it will be important for the governor to have “an efficient working relationship” with Trump, she declined to say whether or not she would assist a hypothetical Trump transfer to ship the Nationwide Guard to New York Metropolis, as he has threatened. “It wouldn’t must occur if there was a Republican governor,” she stated.
Final 12 months, Stefanik known as for the Nationwide Guard to assist management pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia College.
Defiant speaking factors
The Republican Nationwide Committee, which serves because the political arm of Trump’s White Home, issued a collection of speaking factors that shrug off the current election losses as a byproduct of Democratic voter benefit within the states the place the highest races performed out.
The speaking factors, obtained by The Related Press, ignore Republican losses in Georgia and Pennsylvania. In addition they overstate Trump’s political power, claiming that he’s extra fashionable than Obama and Bush have been on the identical time of their tenures.
The declare has been echoed throughout conservative media in current days.
An AP polling evaluation finds that Trump’s approval is just not increased than Obama’s or of Bush at an identical level of their second phrases.
Trump’s approval, at 36% in a November ballot by The Related Press-NORC Middle for Public Affairs Analysis is barely increased than it was at this level in his first time period. However each Obama and Bush has approval scores have been within the low 40s at this level of their second phrases, in response to Gallup polling, which is analogous to the place Trump landed in Gallup’s newest approval ballot in October.
For Obama and Bush, their events had huge losses within the midterm elections that adopted.
The Republican messaging crafted by Trump’s workforce, nevertheless, doubles down on supporting the president and his insurance policies.
The current elections “weren’t a referendum on President Trump, Republicans in Congress, or the MAGA Agenda,” the RNC speaking factors state. To win in 2026, “Make America Nice Once more” voters “might want to present up on the poll field; President Trump and Republicans are going to make that occur.”
