President Donald Trump looks on while walking after disembarking from Marine One as he returns following campaign rallies in Iowa and Kansas, in Washington, DC, November 2, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee
On Monday, with the country ticking down the hours to midterm Election Day, President Donald Trump was hit with a final “brutal” humiliation that doesn’t bode well for his party. According to that last polls before what is projected to be a consequential Tuesday, voters in key battleground states have had it with Trump, and they’re taking it out on his candidates.
As the Daily Beast explains, the latest numbers from the New York Times and Siena College offer a “brutal outlook” for Trump and the GOP’s future. While Trump has been jetting around the country relentlessly in a “desperate” attempt to win back disillusioned voters, despite the breakneck pace of his campaigning efforts, new polling puts Democrats ahead of Republicans in all seven key battleground states that must be won to control the Senate and challenge Trump’s power over the final two years of his presidency. Notably, Democrats have made major headway in Texas, where a Democrat has not been elected to the Senate since 1988, and also Kansas, where the last was elected in 1932.
While Trump has spent a great deal of time and money campaigning in Texas for MAGA ally Ken Paxton, the latest polls show that Democratic candidate James Talarico has pulled well ahead of his opponent, receiving 50 percent to Paxton’s 43 percent. This is despite Trump’s decision to host the first-ever Republican midterm convention in Dallas in September, and a string of appearances in the state over recent weeks. According to the Daily Beast, “The results were even worse for another key state, Michigan, where rising Democrat star Abdul El-Sayed has 53 percent of the vote, while Republican candidate Mike Rogers is languishing on 42 percent. Trump’s fascination with the rear-end of Republican Jon Husted has not helped his popularity in Ohio, where Husted is at 44 percent, behind Democrat Sherrod Brown at 49 percent. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson leads Republican Sen. Susan Collins by 51 percent to 45 percent. In Iowa, where Trump attended a rally on Sunday to support his pick Ashley Hinson, polls showed she is in danger of losing to Democrat Josh Turek, who is at 48 percent, with Hinson [at] 47.”
What’s more, “Republican incumbent Roger Marshall is seeking a second term in Kansas, but polls show Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton is leading at 49 percent, to just 44 percent for Marshall.” Things also look bad for Trump in Alaska, where his pick, Dan Sullivan, is polling at 46 percent, with Democrat Mary Peltola holding a slight lead at 48 percent.
While Republican candidates each have different weaknesses, there is a common factor dragging them all down. As the Daily Beast explains, “The new results found that only 38 percent of likely voters approved of Trump’s performance as president in the seven key states in the poll, which the Times pointed out was ‘strikingly low’ considering Trump had won five of the states by double digits only two years ago. Those polled said they believed Democrats would do a better job of bringing the cost of living down, dealing with foreign wars and doing what is best for ordinary people.”