The GOPs underlying midterm problem: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen breaks down the greatest obstacle facing the Republican Party in the midterms.Plus, Katherine Doyle has an exclusive report on a conservative TV network’s plans to branch into entertainment.Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.— Adam WollnerThe GOP’s underlying midterm problemAnalysis by Jonathan AllenRepublicans’ biggest challenge heading into the midterm elections isn’t inflation or the Iran war.Yes, those are the issues at the top of most voters’ minds.

And yes, Republicans have failed to address them to voters’ satisfaction.But the deeper problem for the party is that those issues represent broken campaign promises by President Donald Trump and, at least by association, the Republican majorities in Congress.In the 2024 presidential race, Trump vowed that he would end inflation and end wars.Nearly two years later, prices are still going up, Russia’s war in Ukraine is still raging, and the Israel-Hamas war is still unresolved.

And the U.S.is now six months into a war in Iran that has further exacerbated high costs.A suboptimal economy and an unpopular foreign war would be a drag on any president.

But they are doubly devastating for Trump because he made curbing inflation and keeping the country out of war key components of his brand.Polls show that Democrats are eager to vote against Trump, about three-quarters of independents disapprove of him, and, while most Republicans still approve of the job he’s doing, less than half of them “strongly approve” of his job performance.I recently took a road trip across Interstate 80 from central New Jersey to Omaha, Nebraska, and talked to voters in swing districts and swing states about the midterms, the president and the issues they care about mos...