Washington Examiner editorial director Hugo Gurdon said that President Donald Trump’s declining popularity could create significant issues for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, making another impeachment effort more likely if Democrats regain control of the House.
“President Trump is decreasingly popular. His unpopularity is increasing,” Gurdon said on CNN’s Lauren Coates Live on Wednesday. Gordon pointed to Wisconsin as an example of a state where a Republican candidate could determine that distancing himself from Trump may be politically advantageous in a statewide race.
“So, you can see why someone running in the state, up in Wisconsin, is gonna think, ‘Is it gonna be an advantage to me, or is it not gonna be?’ It’s gonna be easier for him to distance himself from President Trump because it’s a state race rather than a federal race,” he said.
A new Economist/YouGov poll found that just 1 in 3 Americans approve of Trump’s performance, putting his approval rating at 33%, the lowest it has been during his second term.
In June, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted seven seats slightly toward Democrats, increasing their odds of regaining control of the House.
When Coates asked whether holding the Senate majority and shielding Trump from impeachment would be a galvanizing force for Republicans in Wisconsin, Gurdon cited the historical tendency for the president’s party to lose roughly 25 House seats in the midterm elections.
“I don’t know if it would be the galvanizing force. I think that one of the things that we have to remember, where we look at the various little things, the differences between one state and another and the middle, and the fact is that history suggests that Republicans are gonna have a very difficult time trying to hold the House, anyway,” he said.
Gurdon said that trend makes a Democratic takeover of the House more likely than Republicans losing control of the chamber, while suggesting the GOP has a stronger chance of retaining the Senate. “I mean, the Democrats, it would need to be a miracle for the Democrats to lose a House. I think it’s much more likely that the Republicans would hold the Senate,” he said.
TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATING SINKS TO NEW LOW AT 33%
Gurdon also weighed in on the possibility of a third impeachment attempt if Democrats retake the House, noting that Democratic leaders may be reluctant to pursue another effort.
“Democrats have impeached President Trump twice. I don’t know that the leadership really wants to go there again, but there’ll be a lot of pressure, because, you know, Trump is extremely unpopular, continues to be extremely unpopular with the Democrats, and he’s probably given them some ammunition, too,” Gurdon said.