Trump Approval Craters; GOP Trails Dems on Economy
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- Trump's approval has dropped to a second-term low, with a Fox News poll showing Democrats leading Republicans by 4 percentage points on the economy — the first time the GOP has trailed on that issue since 2010.
- Virginia voters approved a redistricting referendum that could shift the state's congressional delegation from a 6-5 Democratic edge to 10-1, wiping out the five-seat gain Trump engineered through the Texas gerrymander.
- The DOGE initiative left roughly 300,000 federal workers still unemployed a year after Elon Musk's cuts, with many of those displaced concentrated in Virginia.
- The Iran war is fracturing Trump's anti-war coalition, prompting Tucker Carlson to issue an extraordinary apology for his years of Trump advocacy, while a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 78% of voters see gas prices as a "very big concern" and 77% blame Trump.
- The Supreme Court struck down Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, forcing the U.S. to begin refunding more than $166 billion in illegally collected duties, which Trump blamed the justices for on Friday.
- Vice President Vance, the frontrunner for the 2028 GOP nomination, has the worst approval rating of any VP at this stage of a term, according to CNN's Harry Enten.
- White House spokesperson Kush Desai defended the record, citing "trillions in new manufacturing investments" and 20 trade deals, while insisting Trump's Iran strategy will be "proven right all along."
Why it matters: The Republican Party now risks inheriting Trump's broken promises, including $166 billion in forced tariff refunds, while the presumable 2028 standard-bearer Vance already carries the worst VP approval rating at this point in a term — meaning Trump's collapsing standing could cap the GOP's electoral ceiling for years to come.
