'Nervous' Republicans don't want to be seen with Trump for fear of 'backfire'

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts while speaking to members of the media on board Air Force One en route to the U.S., October 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Whenever a new poll shows President Donald Trump continuing to suffer from low approval ratings, his diehard MAGA base is unmoved. Trump remains the most influential figure in the GOP, and according to NBC News, Republicans running in the 2026 midterms need Trump's support but also know how polarizing a figure he is.

NBC News reporters Peter Nicholas, Melanie Zanona, Matt Dixon and Jonathan Allen explain, "He is the biggest draw in American politics, a sitting president who created a movement that has been steadfastly loyal to him for more than a decade. He may also be the most polarizing figure in American politics, now presiding over rising inflation and a Middle East war with no clear end in sight."

With the November midterm elections roughly five and one-half months away, the journalists note, GOP candidates are struggling with this question: "Should (they) campaign aggressively to hold the party's slim congressional majority, or hang back, lest his presence on the trail boomerang on the people he's trying to elect?"

"There's no easy answer, interviews with 19 current and former Republican lawmakers and political operatives suggest," according to the NBC News reporters. "Midterm elections are often referendums on the president. That being the reality, it makes no sense to try to hide Trump away until the votes are cast, some Republicans argue."

One of those Republicans is former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California).

McCarthy told NBC News, "They need him badly. They need his money. They need him to drive turnout."

But a "complication" Republicans are facing, according to the reporters, "is that Trump's winning 2024 electoral coalition has frayed." A U.S. House Republican seeking reelection facing a "competitive race," they report, doesn't plan to campaign with Trump to "feature him prominently in adds."

That lawmaker, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told NBC News, "I got a few text messages from people, a few vulnerable members, who were like, 'Eh, I don't know if this is the best strategy.' You can tell some of these folks, on some of the comments they're making, they're nervous."

The chair of a state GOP, also quoted anonymously, told NBC News, "I think he can help with things like turnout, but there is some room for backfire on something like that. It would have to be the right audience, and I think folks here would be OK if that did not happen."

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