U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., en route to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, August 21, 2026.
The state of Alaska is one of many red territories in which Republicans are suddenly having to fight for their lives this November. But complicating that effort is the pong of President Donald Trump, which appears to be hanging over the GOP’s argument, according to voters.
“Yeah, I know all that,” said three-time Trump voter Carl Cleveland speaking with MS NOW reporter Alex Tabet about Trump’s campaign promises to bring down fuel prices. “That's why I voted for him, because he was saying all that stuff. And now it's totally different. I think that's the way it is for all politicians. They say something, get elected. And then once they're in office, they're totally different.”
“Do you regret your vote at all?” asked Tabet.
“Yeah. A little bit,” confirmed Cleveland.
“He talks a lot, but I haven't seen anything come to fruition yet,” said Alaskan Trump voter Jason McNulty. “You know, of course I understand that [Iran] don't need nukes, but we — I mean, I need to live and not be able to spend all my money on gas.”
“How does it make you feel watching all those campaign promises?” asked Tabet.
“Like he's just lying,” said McNulty.
“That’s just not accurate,” said three-time Trump voter Gayle Michaelson, after hearing Trump claim that “gas prices have come down today.”
“I would just say I'm disappointed,” said Michaelson. “I’m disappointed in him. You know, Americans expected so much more. And what he promised isn't happening.”
“I mean, obviously that's frustrating. You know, hearing, promises and them not being kept,” said Alaskan Trumper Ryan Boyer, after hearing Trump claim at a recent event that “gas prices are not very high.”
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump also said, but a third Trump supporter Tabet interviewed complained “everybody is still waiting” on all the winning Trump promised.
The issue with gas prices in Alaska appears to be striking Trump supporters particularly hard, with dollar signs for a gallon of diesel creeping up to $10, said Tabet.
“Alex, Alex. Did you just say $9 a gallon for regular [gas]?” demanded astonished MS NOW anchor Katy Tur.
“It's a $9 a gallon for regular,” repeated Tabet. “You talk to one gas station owner who has an old-time pump from decades ago, and he says he doesn't know what to do because the pump is manually and mechanically set. He has to open it up and change the numbers. And he's worried because they don't have the capability to show double digits, and he's worried that they're heading towards ten or even $11 a gallon this winter if the war in Iran doesn't come to an end. If gas prices don't come down, he’s going to have to buy whole new pumps because he's not going to be able to display the prices correctly if things continue the way they're going right now.”
After hearing the report, former California GOP Party Political Director Mike Madrid warned he was hearing the same complaints in Texas, long a Republican stronghold.
“It's exactly what I was hearing in south Texas last week when I was talking to these Latino voters that decidedly moved towards Donald Trump [in 2024.] And keep in mind, diesel does move the economy. It's goods movement. It's shipping, as you just heard, it's airline flights. But in a place like Texas, for example, and presumably in Alaska, the largest number of pickup trucks fueled by diesel engines for ranchers, people in manufacturing, people in the construction housing industry. Blue-collar, working class people have diesel truck engines,” said Madrid. “Their own pickups are diesel. So, they're getting destroyed in this economy. These are the reddest states.”
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