Trump squandered the Republicans’ typical advantages in two key areas because of the war in Iran and tariffs - media

The political standing of U.S. President Donald Trump is now so low that he has squandered the Republican Party’s advantage on two major issues that are almost always beneficial to Republicans: the economy and national security, reports UNN, citing CNN.

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A Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted this week found that Democrats and Republicans are virtually tied on “war, foreign conflicts and terrorism.” After the 2024 election, Republicans held an 11-point advantage over Democrats on this issue. Today, 37% of U.S. adults believe Democrats have a more effective approach, compared with 36% who believe Republicans do.

A Fox News poll conducted several weeks ago showed something very similar: on national security, 50% of registered voters preferred the Republicans, while 48% preferred the Democrats. That compares with a 12-point Republican advantage in January, before the war with Iran.

Both of the latest results are within the margin of error. But even such a close gap in the figures is virtually unprecedented.

Fox News polls regularly examine how registered voters compare the two parties’ positions on terrorism and national security. Before the war with Iran, Democrats had never trailed Republicans by even a double-digit percentage margin on either of these issues.

Republicans have also consistently led on national security in Gallup polls. Democrats have pulled ahead on this issue only once in the 21st century: in 2007.

Gallup’s data on which party is better on “international terrorism and military threats” are even more unequivocally favorable to Republicans.

In 22 polls conducted after the year following September 11, Democrats led on this issue only once—again, in 2007—and Republicans generally led them by a double-digit percentage margin.

And, finally, the economy.

The latest Fox News poll found that Democrats led on this issue by nine points, 54% to 45%. It was the Democrats’ largest advantage since 2006, when they led their opponents by 20 points.

And when they moved ahead on economic issues in April, it was the first time since 2010, shortly after the 2008 financial crisis that began during George W. Bush’s administration.

A CNN poll conducted in May showed a narrower gap between the two parties on economic issues: 35% of adults preferred the Democrats, compared with 33% who preferred the Republicans.

Previously, polls had asked people to choose between Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The last time Republicans did not lead on this issue was in 2009.

The figures in both areas appear to show that Trump badly miscalculated the consequences of starting the war with Iran, as well as other controversial measures such as global tariffs.

By imposing tariffs, he effectively assumed responsibility for everything that happened to the economic situation. He then worsened public sentiment by essentially evading responsibility for addressing the inflation problems that concern Americans. Now he has to deal with a stagnant economic situation, as before, when the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July.

Americans do not like Democrats; in fact, Democrats remain quite unpopular in polls. So the fact that they apparently lead on economic issues really says a lot.

And the national security figures may be even more striking—because Democrats almost never compete with Republicans on this issue.

Just as education and health care are almost always advantageous to Democrats, national security and homeland protection are almost always key Republican issues, and this occurs with an obvious advantage.

This remained true even when Bush launched wars in the Middle East that gradually became quite unpopular.

However, Trump appears to have mishandled the war with Iran so badly that Americans have suddenly begun to see Democrats as being on par with Republicans—even on issues traditionally in the Republicans’ domain.