By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
Trump lived by the sword on inflation in 2024. Will his party die by the same sword in 2026?
The single most important measurable variable affecting the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections is likely the president’s job-approval ratings, which have been slowly but surely achieving new second-term lows for months now. But being generally unpopular probably isn’t Donald Trump’s (or his party’s) biggest problem. When you dig into polling on assessments of presidential performance on particular issues of concern, one jumps right off the page and kicks the GOP like a donkey: Trump’s handling of living costs and/or inflation.
