Key takeaways from President Trump’s prime-time speech on the election
President Donald Trump spoke about election fraud in a prime-time speech, but did not mention rising gas prices or inflation.
As President Donald Trump faces near-record disapproval ratings, a Washington Post Ipsos poll conducted July 8-13 found Democrats with a slight advantage over Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Still, Democratic voters are increasingly motivated to vote. Two years after Kamala Harris loses to Trump in 2024, Democrats have a three-point lead over Republicans, 48% to 45%, according to the WaPo Ipsos poll.
The poll also found that 53% of motivated voters support the Democratic Party and 45% support the Republican Party, increasing the Democratic lead to 8 points among those who are “definitely going to vote.” Mr. Trump is facing declining approval ratings due to problems with the economy and the war with Iran.
The post-Ipsos poll compared the Democratic Party’s current polling results to 2018. Ahead of the president’s first midterm elections, in which Democrats won 40 seats, they held a 10-point lead in Congress. Republicans maintained their majority in the Senate.
Trump continues to face declining approval ratings. A WaPo-Ipsos poll puts his overall approval rating at 37 percent. A new Economist/YouGov poll conducted July 10-13 found that an equal number of Americans approve of his job performance.
House Speaker Mike Johnson currently has a two-vote lead and cannot afford to leave the party as Republicans want to implement President Trump’s policies. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. Partisan gerrymandering further clouds Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of both chambers.
According to the poll, Democrats are 10 percentage points more likely to vote reliably than Republicans this year, overturning a 2-point lead in 2018.
Contributors: Fernando Cervantes Jr., Zachary Shelmele
