Trump Pivots to Culture-War Attacks on Midterm Trail as Polls Show Voters Focused on the Economy

President Donald Trump is closing the midterm campaign with culture-war attacks on transgender athletes, immigrants and gun rights, even as polls show most voters rank the economy and cost of living as the top issue.

At a rally last week in Wasilla, Alaska, Trump told supporters, “We will not let them cut our children,” referring to gender-affirming surgeries. He then spent several minutes on transgender athletes in women’s sports. “Who the hell ever thought we’d be fighting to keep men out of women’s sports?” he said.

The material is familiar ground for Trump, who ran anti-trans advertisements in the 2024 election. Now, in the final stretch before the Nov. 3 midterms, he is pressing it on daily campaign swings through mostly deep-red states, along with attacks on migrants and warnings about gun rights, according to USA Today.

A strategy to turn out the base

The goal is not to win over new voters, USA Today reported. It is to energize low-propensity voters who backed Trump in three presidential elections and make sure they turn out in a midterm when Trump is not on the ballot.

“They expected him to fix the economy, and he hasn’t. So if you don’t have the No. 1 issue, you have to pivot to a different issue,” said Todd Belt, director of the political management program at George Washington University. Belt said Trump and Republicans want to shift the midterms from a referendum on the president, whose approval ratings have reached all-time lows, to a “choice election” against Democrats.

The polls explain the pressure. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll last week found 75 percent of Americans believe the economy is poor. An Associated Press-NORC poll found 65 percent blame Trump’s policies for high costs more than other factors outside his control, and 73 percent disapprove of his handling of the economy.

Ad blitz and battleground attacks

Since Aug. 1, Republican candidates or pro-Republican groups have spent more than $100 million on 200 ads referencing transgender issues, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks political advertising.

A Senate Leadership Fund ad accuses Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Sherrod Brown of supporting sex changes for minors, citing a 2023 interview. In Texas, ads funded by a PAC aligned with Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton accuse Democrat James Talarico of supporting taxpayer-funded surgeries for minors. The ad is misleading, USA Today reported, because it does not mention that Talarico voted for an amendment that sought to narrow the bill to ban surgeries.

Trump has also personalized the attacks. In Alaska, he railed against Somali immigrants, saying they had “destroyed” and “fleeced” Minnesota, and urged Minnesotans to “fight back.” In Dalton, Georgia, he told gun owners that Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is running against Rep. Mike Collins, would “take away your guns.” In Youngstown, Ohio, he called Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed a “jihadist,” accused Democrats of trying to take away Christopher Columbus Day, and said Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “almost going to be gone.”

He has referred to South Carolina Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews with an anti-trans slur in a social media post, and has singled out WNBA player Sophie Cunningham for her opposition to trans athletes in women’s sports.

Some Republicans question the approach. Texas state Rep. Dade Phelan said the ads could turn off the swing voters who will decide the election, most of whom care more about the economy. Republican pollster Whit Ayres said the cultural issues that worked in 2024 are being “overwhelmed by economic issues of inflation, economic growth and concern about tariffs.”

A CNN/SSRS poll in September found transgender policies rank below 10 other issues in voter importance, with 25 percent calling it “extremely important.” The economy led at 68 percent. Ramiro Sarmiento, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, said voters are growing tired of the “same recycled anti-trans attacks” from three straight election cycles.

At an Oct. 19 rally in Park City, Kansas, Trump found a new target in mass protests in France over education and the cost of living. “If you want to see what’s at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France,” he said, blaming immigration for the unrest and warning the United States could be next.

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today.