President Donald Trump's economic message is colliding with voter frustration two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm election, and Iowa is suddenly on the list of battlegrounds nobody in the GOP expected. Republican Senate candidates in states Trump won by double digits, including Iowa, are now fighting to hold seats that should have been safe.
Consumer prices rose 3.7% in September from a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August, according to a report released last week, and the sour mood is dragging down the entire Republican ticket. GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the Senate in Iowa, has begun publicly breaking with the White House over the cost of the Iran war.
Trump Says the Economy Is Booming. Voters Disagree.
At an Oct. 10 rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, Trump rattled off what he called perfect economic statistics and said his second term is blowing away the greatest economy in American history. He has touted tax cuts, stock market growth and a coming golden age while campaigning for GOP candidates nearly every day.
Voters are not buying it. A Pew Research Center survey released this month found just 21% of Americans rate the economy as good, while 42% call it poor and 65% believe Trump's policies have made things worse. A Fox News survey released Oct. 14 put Trump's economic approval at 29%, down from 43% shortly after he took office.
It's hard to tell people what they feel is wrong, said Mike DuHaime, a former political director for the Republican National Committee.
Whether or not the stock market goes up or not doesn't matter if I can't afford groceries.
Why Iowa Is Suddenly in Play
Democrats now lead the Real Clear Politics polling average in Senate races in Texas, Iowa, Alaska and Ohio, all states Trump carried comfortably in 2024. Kansas, Nebraska and South Carolina look increasingly competitive as well, according to reporting by Aol and USA Today.
Marc Short, who served as Trump's liaison to Congress in his first term and as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, said the map itself is an indictment of the party's economic record.
We knew this would always be a difficult election cycle, but I don't think people had on their bingo card that we'd be talking about Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa. I mean it's a direct reflection of the president's economic policies that that's where we're fighting right now.
Iowa's Senate race has tightened as a result, a shift covered in