Poll Watch: Republicans’ Socialism Strategy Has One Bizarre Problem

FORBIDDEN STUDIOS PRESENTS: TRUST THE SAUCE

A true patriot never asks what’s in the bowl.

He eats. He believes. He asks for seconds. pic.twitter.com/tzi8tJb5Yr

— Forbidden HQ ? (@WearForbidden) September 25, 2026

New @CookPolitical: GOP on track to lose House majority as 15 race ratings shift towards Dems. Full analysis by @ercovey: https://t.co/2r1bmKg5by pic.twitter.com/k1rz7jC6Dj

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) September 25, 2026

If you are a Republican campaign consultant who thinks my sources are wrong about the state of play, please reach out and let me know.

My latest column on @Daily_MailUS about the midterms:https://t.co/1Rp2ihPc3q

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) September 24, 2026

As of now, I’ve heard from 17 additional Republican strategists and all of them confirm what I’ve been told is accurate…and none have contacted me to complain or dispute my reporting…. https://t.co/o5vOXFP7TV

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) September 25, 2026

Mark Halperin says the private polls are worse than the public polls.

Daily Mail:

“Perhaps. But why are Republican candidates themselves now openly distancing themselves from the President?

The answer: While public polls are horrendous for Republicans, the private ones are worse. …”

Charlie Cook says that the 2026 midterms is a “Red Undertow” election. Democrats are fired up and out for revenge, but the real story is the collapse of Trump’s coalition.

Cook Political Report:

“Unless you’re politically tone-deaf, you’re by now aware that there are ugly storm clouds ahead for Republicans in this midterm election, now just 43 days away. But how big the storm is and where the destruction will take place is still unknowable. While many have long predicted that Democrats will enjoy a “blue wave” election, I think of it more as a “red undertow,” which will pull many Republicans under and significantly trim the margins for many others.

A blue wave implies an endorsement or affirmation of Democrats and their policies. But Democrats’ brand is still in tatters from 2021-2025, particularly 2021 and 2022, when they not only had President Biden in the White House but also majorities in the Senate and House. Fortunately for Democrats, this election will in most cases not be about them.

It will, of course, be mostly about the occupant of the White House. Over the last 90 days, President Trump’s political standing has transitioned from very unpopular to toxic and now to radioactive. …”

New Yorker:

“Since early September, there has been a noticeable shift toward Democrats,” Doug Sosnik, who served as the political director of the Clinton White House, wrote on Thursday, in one of his closely followed election analyses. The movement of voters away from Republicans “hit a tipping point in recent weeks,” Sosnik concluded, with “Democrats now positioned for gains that looked unimaginable at the beginning of the year,” an outcome largely attributable to voters’ rejection of “the increasingly erratic behavior of an out of touch Commander in Chief.” This assessment is not all that different from what Republicans—both privately and, in some cases, publicly—are saying. “Republicans are running out of runway,” Dave Winston, a longtime G.O.P. pollster, warned this week in an op-ed in Roll Call, blaming this development on the fact that Trump’s economic message has been “falling on deaf ears.” The phrase “ringing alarm bells” was used. …

And this, to me, is the real surprise of 2026: the President may be brought low this fall not by the Democrats who would crawl over broken glass to defeat him but by the very voters who sent him back to the White House in the first place. Iran, it seems, may finally have done what January 6th and all the rest of Trump’s countless misdeeds could not. Has Donald Trump’s lame-duck era already begun? “

Gallup:

“WASHINGTON, D.C. — Forty-three percent of Americans now have a positive view of socialism, marking the first time this figure has exceeded 39% in Gallup’s trend since 2010. Socialism still trails capitalism and free enterprise in public favorability but now ranks ahead of big business. Small business remains the clear leader among the five economic concepts tested, with 95% viewing it positively. …”

The “Socialism Sucks” campaign strategy is calling on deaf ears.