Roughly six in 10 voters in the US midterm elections disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the presidency, and about as many say the United States made the wrong decision in going to war with Iran, according to the Associated Press’s AP Voter Poll, released as the first polls closed on Tuesday evening.
About 70 per cent say Congress is doing “not enough” to provide checks and balances on the presidency, and most disapprove of how Congress is doing its job, the AP survey found.
The economy was voters’ top concern, named by 39 per cent as the main issue facing the country, followed closely by the state of democracy at 32 per cent, according to the AP. Immigration came third at 14 per cent and healthcare fourth at 8 per cent.
Iran war
Roughly a third of voters said the Iran war was a “crucial” factor in how they voted for Congress, fewer than those who expressed concern about the cost of living and government corruption, the AP reported.
The war has cost more than 47.1 billion dollars, according to a recent Pentagon estimate cited by the agency. Trump has said that the higher fuel and energy prices caused by the conflict will come down, the AP noted.
Cost of living
About eight in 10 voters said inflation had caused their households “severe” or “moderate” financial hardship, and more than eight in 10 said they were “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the cost of fuel, groceries, utilities and healthcare, the AP survey found.
Prices rising faster than wages over the past year have made basic essentials harder to afford for many voters, the AP said. Inflation was a central concern in the 2024 presidential election, when voters looked to Trump to tackle it, but it is now higher than when he returned to the White House, the agency reported.
About seven in 10 voters say the US economy favours the wealthy, while about three in 10 describe it as fair, according to the poll. Roughly six in 10 say Trump puts his personal interests ahead of the country’s.
More than half of voters view the free-market principles of capitalism strongly or somewhat favourably, while only about three in 10 feel the same about socialism, in which the government plays a greater role in the economy, the AP found.
Trump and other Republicans campaigned on the claim that many Democratic candidates, with their plans for universal healthcare, were socialists, the AP reported. Democrats countered that the Trump administration had taken ownership stakes in dozens of private companies.
Background
Opinion polls before the vote showed Democrats favoured to win the House of Representatives, with a handful of closely fought races set to decide whether they also take the Senate, Reuters reported. Democrats need to gain at least three House seats and four Senate seats to win majorities in both chambers, according to Reuters.
Trump’s approval rating is close to the lowest of his career, as voters voice frustration over the war with Iran, higher fuel prices and the cost of living more widely, Reuters said. The president’s party has lost ground in Congress in all but two midterm elections since the Second World War, the agency noted.
White House talking points distributed to allies on Tuesday said nobody had worked harder than Trump to help Republicans in the campaign, CNN reported.
(With information from AP, Reuters and CNN)
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