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By Gabe Whisnant
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that President Donald Trump was "speaking facetiously" when he told Reuters in an interview that “when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an [midterm] election" when boasting about his second-term accomplishments.
In a separate question, Leavitt was asked by a reporter, "Americans for generations have fought and died for democracy. Are you saying the president finds the idea of canceling elections funny?"
The press secretary responded, in part, "Were you in the room? Only someone like you would take that so seriously."
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Why It Matters
Trump’s approval rating stood at 40% in January, according to the latest Associated Press‑NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a figure that has remained stubbornly low throughout his second term. The numbers highlight the challenge he faces in energizing core Republicans while appealing to independents at the same time. A separate Gallup survey found that 45% of U.S. adults now identify as independents, a growing bloc that appears increasingly motivated by dissatisfaction with whichever party holds power. Analysts say that dynamic could benefit Democrats in the fall if voters direct their frustration toward the incumbent administration.
What To Know
Reuters reported that Trump voiced frustration in the Wednesday interview that that Republicans could lose control of the House or Senate in this year’s midterm elections, noting the long‑standing trend in which the president’s party often loses seats during the second year of a term.
“It’s some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” he said. He went on to boast about his record, adding that he had accomplished so much that “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”
Pocketbook concerns are expected to dominate this fall’s campaigns. In a December AP‑NORC poll that asked adults an open‑ended question about what they want the government to prioritize this year, four in ten cited health care costs — placing the issue on par with immigration. About one‑third mentioned the cost of living more broadly, and roughly two in ten pointed to housing costs.
Democrats have leaned heavily into affordability, arguing that Trump won in 2024 amid high inflation but has failed to bring prices down. Trump has dismissed the focus on affordability as a political “hoax,” but he has also acknowledged the pressure on families, urging Republicans to strike a deal on health insurance premium subsidies and promising aggressive action to address housing costs.
The president has called on Republicans to promote the sweeping domestic policy law passed last summer as a tax cut for working‑class voters. Democrats counter that the law’s tax benefits disproportionately favor higher‑income Americans and that it cuts health care and other social programs even as household costs continue to rise.
The Republican Party has a slim majority in both chambers of Congress, and the party not in office tends to perform better in midterm elections. Democrats picked up 40 seats in the House during the 2018 midterms during Trump's first term in office. Losing the House would affect the GOP's ability to pass key legislation and advance Republican policies.
Trump has previously expressed concerns that the GOP may perform poorly in the midterms and the party is implementing various strategies to put the party on good footing, including putting Trump on the campaign trail and trying to redistrict states to favor Republican candidates.
What People Are Saying
NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said in a statement shared with Newsweek, “If your record as president is truly popular with the American people, you should have nothing to fear from the upcoming election. But of course, Trump should have a lot to fear, because nothing he’s doing is popular - from tanking the economy, weaponizing federal agents against innocent people, invading sovereign nations, and covering-up pedophiles’ crimes. In the United States, elections are run by the states, not the White House, so regardless of Donald Trump’s ego, the American people will vote, and they will reject his authoritarian attempt to seize control of their government.”
Trump, in an interview with the OAN network in October 2025, expressed doubts about Republican hopes in the November 2026 elections: “The one thing that I worry about is that, if you look over many, many years, I don’t have the numbers, but the person that wins the presidency always seems to lose the midterms."
What Happens Next
The midterm elections will take place on November 3.
Updates: 1/15/26, 3:46 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
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