Many Republicans in Iowa and Ohio are blaming President Donald Trump’s policies for rising costs ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, according to a new CNN/SSRS poll released Thursday. Fifty percent of Iowa Republicans and 49 percent of Ohio Republicans said Trump’s policies “increased the cost of living” in the new poll, which comes as the two states emerge as critical midterm battlegrounds despite the states backing Trump in all three of his presidential runs. Both states have competitive Senate and governor’s races in this year’s midterms.
Control of the House and Senate could come down to these two Midwestern states. Both are former battlegrounds, having given their electoral votes to former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 before shifting rightward during the Trump era. Trump’s inroads with white, rural voters helped move these states to the Republican column.
But Democrats believe dissatisfaction with the economy during Trump’s second term in office could give them the opportunity to win back voters to make the states competitive again this year. Historically, the party in the White House loses seats when the president’s approval rating is low, and recent polls have found Trump’s numbers falling to their lowest point of his second term, fueling Democrats’ optimism about their chances of competing in states like Iowa and Ohio. The economy has become a “significant drag on Republican prospects” because there is a “very close link” to how people feel about their personal finances and how they vote in elections, Costas Panagopoulos, professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Newsweek.
In Iowa, Republican Representative Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Representative Josh Turek are competing in a Senate race, while Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn are running in the gubernatorial race. Ohio races are also highly competitive. In the Senate race, Republican Senator Jon Husted is facing a challenge from former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.
Meanwhile, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton are running in the gubernatorial race. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek that nobody “can dispute the fact that President Trump has created one of the most robust coalitions in political history with the MAGA movement.” “President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress,” he said. Across all voter groups, 74 percent of voters in Iowa and 76 percent of voters in Ohio believe Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living, according to the new polls from CNN.
Fifty-five percent in Iowa and 58 percent in Ohio said they believe that Trump’s tariffs are a “bad thing” for their state, while 70 percent in Iowa and 68 percent in Ohio said the recent increase in gas prices, which have soared amid the Iran war, has caused personal hardship for them. Both polls were conducted from September 29 to October 5. The Iowa poll surveyed 801 respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points, while the Ohio poll surveyed 760 respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
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