President Trump called into Fox News after the 2026 midterms and said flatly, “The Democrats did a good job,” even as he insisted the historic Republican losses were not a verdict on him personally.
Story Snapshot
- Trump told Fox News the Democrats “did a good job” after sweeping midterm wins, but said he doesn’t see the losses as “a hit on me.”
- Democrats flipped seats in traditionally red states including Ohio, Kansas, Texas and Iowa.
- Trump’s approval rating sat between 33% and 36% in multiple polls heading into Election Day.
- Reporting shows candidates in 41 of 62 competitive races distanced themselves from Trump before voters went to the polls.
- The Iran war and rising living costs showed up repeatedly in campaign ads and exit polling as reasons for the Republican defeat.
Trump Breaks Down The Results On Air
President Trump phoned into Fox News following the midterm results to offer his own read on what happened. He credited Democrats directly, saying they “did a good job” running their campaigns. At the same time, he pushed back on the idea that the results were a judgment on his own leadership, telling reporters separately, “But I don’t view it as a hit on me”.
CNN described the night as a “stunning rejection of Trump,” reporting that voters turned away from candidates he had personally backed in key races. That framing stands in tension with the president’s own comments, which placed the blame on the Democrats’ effort rather than on his standing with voters.
A Campaign Built On Rallies And Phone Calls
Trump did not sit on the sidelines this cycle. He held 28 rallies across the country between October 1 and November 2, trying to protect the Republican majority in Congress. He also leaned on tele-rallies, phone events connecting him directly with voters in specific districts. During one call for Representative Lawler, Trump called the format “very important,” adding, “The impact they have is just amazing”.
Some candidates stuck by him. One competitive Republican appeared onstage with Trump even as others kept their distance, according to Axios. But that loyalty was far from universal. A Reuters review found candidates in 41 of 62 competitive races either broke with Trump’s policies or played down their connection to him, and at least a dozen scrubbed his name and image from their campaign websites entirely.
Approval Numbers Tell A Harder Story
Behind the rally schedule sat a weaker number: Trump’s approval rating. Multiple national polls placed it between 33% and 36% in the final stretch before Election Day, with a New York Times/Siena poll pegging it at 36%. Those figures gave Republican candidates a real reason to weigh the risk of standing next to the president against the benefit of his loyal base turning out.
Democrats pressed that opening hard. Boston Globe reporting found Trump’s sinking approval dragged Republicans down nationwide, letting Democrats compete in far more districts than they first planned, including flips in Ohio, Kansas, Texas and Iowa. Rising prices tied to tariffs and the war with Iran fed directly into that shift, according to the same reporting.
The Iran War Moved Voters At The Ballot Box
Campaign strategists did not treat the Iran war as a side issue. The Associated Press found Iran-related ads in at least half of 50 examined races, most pairing the war with cost-of-living complaints. Exit-style commentary found 74% of voters called the war a “crucial or major factor” in their vote, and 62% said using military force was the wrong call.
Trump himself acknowledged the war’s role in the outcome, telling reporters, “I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran.” That partial admission puts him closer to his critics than his Fox News comments might suggest, even as he continues to defend the decision itself.
History Suggests This Fits A Familiar Pattern
Midterm losses for a sitting president’s party are not new. The president’s party has lost House seats in 20 of the last 22 midterms since 1938, and job approval has historically tracked closely with how big those losses get. Seen that way, Trump’s low approval numbers made a rough night for Republicans statistically likely well before voters reached the polls, regardless of how many rallies he held.
That history doesn’t erase the candidate-specific dynamics at play. Republicans who kept their distance from Trump and those who stood beside him did not all fare the same way, and no side-by-side turnout study has yet confirmed exactly how much his personal campaigning helped or hurt. What’s clear is that both the president’s travel schedule and his approval numbers were in motion at the same time, leaving voters, and now Trump himself, to sort out which mattered more.
Sources:
youtube.com, cleveland.com, usnews.com, abcnews.com, axios.com
