Exit Polls Show Voters Blame Trump and Economy in Midterms
Left 60%
Center 0%
Right 40%
3 left · 0 center · 2 right
What happened
In the days surrounding the November 2026 U.S. midterm elections, polls recorded President Donald Trump’s job disapproval at historically high levels. An NBC News survey released less than 48 hours before Election Day found 60 percent of respondents disapproved of his performance and 40 percent approved, a new high across both of his presidential terms. On Election Day, the RealClearPolitics average stood at 39.1 percent approval and 59.1 percent disapproval, while NBC News exit polls found that 38 percent of voters approved of his job performance and 43 percent said one reason for their vote was to express opposition to Trump. Democrats won majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 5 articles
4 of 4 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
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- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Nov 2, 14:29 UTC by The Hill, naming its source.
- Not counted 1
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This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Right-leaning coverage reports Trump's weak job ratings as a midterm repudiation but never says what voters named as the cause. Left-leaning coverage makes the economy the reason for the same numbers. NBC News reports that voters blamed Trump for high prices and said his policies made conditions worse. The Washington Examiner calls the result a "coast-to-coast repudiation," then turns to confirmation fights and investigations without mentioning inflation or living costs.
Left-leaning coverage leads with ballots cast against the president over affordability. Right-leaning coverage leads with the arrival of divided government and Democratic plans to investigate his family.
How much of the record-high disapproval is a verdict on Trump himself, rather than on prices that voters ranked as their top issue?
Bottom line
NBC News found that 65 percent of voters said Trump's policies made the economy worse, a cause the Washington Examiner never attaches to the midterm repudiation.
The receipts — 2 facts one side's coverage lacks
- 65% of voters said Trump's policies have made the economy worse
- Voters held more unfavorable than favorable views of both the Democratic and Republican parties
The Left View
Left-leaning coverage framed the midterms as voters using the ballot “as an opportunity for a major rebuke” of Trump, driven chiefly by the economy. NBC’s exit poll found 75 percent of voters said the nation’s economy was in rough shape and 65 percent said Trump’s policies had worsened conditions—a reversal from 2018, when 68 percent said the economy was in good shape—with about half calling the cost of living crucial to their votes and 62 percent holding him responsible for high prices. The same poll found 57 percent said his immigration enforcement actions had “gone too far,” majorities of Senate voters in Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, and Texas disapproved of his job handling, and Latino Democratic identification rose to 43 percent from 39 percent in 2024 while young voters appeared to shift back toward Democrats. Voters also viewed both parties more unfavorably than in the prior two midterms, though they were likelier to say Democrats could better handle the economy, healthcare, and several other issues.
The Right View
The Washington Examiner described the outcome as “the arrival of divided government” after a “broad-based, coast-to-coast repudiation of the president,” and focused on what a Democratic House and Senate would do with that power. It argued Democrats could pass their agenda in the House, would have a chance to eliminate the Senate filibuster now that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are gone, could block Trump’s judicial and administration nominations, and would devote substantial time to investigating Trump, his family, a “wildly profitable cryptocurrency scheme,” Jared Kushner’s business dealings, pardons, and the Jeffrey Epstein matter. It quoted incoming House Oversight chairman Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) as having vowed to “take on the Trump Crime Family” and issuing the statement “Lawyer up,” and asked whether anyone believes a new Democratic House majority “will not impeach Trump.” The piece’s central warning was that Trump’s pursuers have “an irresistible urge to overreach,” which would strengthen his base and some independents and make the new majority “all about Donald Trump and a desperate battle over his political survival” rather than affordability.
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is that the vote was a performance referendum: NBC exit polling showed a large share of voters citing opposition to Trump, a collapse in economic confidence relative to 2018, and majorities blaming his policies for worse conditions and high prices. The right’s strongest argument, taking the repudiation as given, is that unified Democratic control plus stated plans for investigations and possible impeachment historically produce overreach that recenters politics on Trump’s survival rather than the cost-of-living issues that moved voters. The unresolved tension is whether the high disapproval and dual-chamber Democratic wins represent a durable public verdict on Trump’s second-term record, or a midterm swing whose political meaning will be defined by how far the new majority goes in investigating and attempting to remove him.
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