WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - A YouGov poll results suggested most U.S. Republicans hold President Donald Trump solely or partly responsible for their party’s midterm losses.
The YouGov poll conducted one day after Democrats’ sweeping midterm victories asked whether the results were more a reflection of “voters’ opinions of U.S. President Donald Trump”, “voters’ opinions of the candidates on the ballot” or “both equally”, The Washington Post reported.
Far more Americans said Trump was a bigger factor than candidates on the ballot — 38 percent vs. 11 percent — while 32 percent said the results reflected opinions about both Trump and the candidates.
Reactions were similar among Republicans, with 36 percent saying the election results reflected opinions about Trump, 16 percent saying the results reflected views about candidates on the ballot, and 31 percent saying Trump and the candidates were equal factors.
Those reactions suggest most Republicans hold Trump solely or partly responsible for their party’s midterm losses, a perception that could undermine his influence in the GOP going forward.
Less than a month before the midterms, 61 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said the GOP’s leaders should “follow Trump’s leadership”, while 37 percent said they should go in a “different direction,” according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that the Republican Party’s sweeping midterm defeat has complicated Vice President JD Vance’s political ambitions, prompting influential donors and some of his allies to question whether he should pursue the presidency in 2028, a report says.
It carried the report on Saturday, citing six people close to Vance as saying he has yet to decide whether to run, having told associates both before and after the election that he remains undecided.
Some allies have even suggested that no Republican could realistically win the presidency in two years.
Tuesday’s defeat saw Democrats flip seven Republican-held Senate seats, including Vance’s former Ohio seat, and reclaim governorships in traditionally Republican states such as Georgia and Texas, raising questions about the electoral strength of the Trump coalition.
According to the daily, within 24 hours of the election, a veteran New York fundraiser began receiving calls from wealthy Republican donors who said they could not support Vance in 2028. Some instead floated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other potential candidates, fearing that someone emerging from within the administration would be too closely associated with Trump and politically weakened by the midterm losses.