Today is
Tuesday April 29, 2025
(WASHINGTON) -- Democrats, responding to the 100-day mark of President Donald Trump's second term, argue that the American public's opinion of the White House and Republicans in Congress -- as well as consternation around high prices -- give them an opening to flip the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.
In a strategy memo obtained exclusively by ABC News, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the campaign arm of House Democrats, wrote, "In just 100 days, House Republicans and Donald Trump have lost the support of the American people and left a trail of broken promises that will cost them the House majority next year."
Recent polls show approval ratings for Trump and congressional Republicans are underwater -- although congressional Democrats have sometimes performed even worse. In a recent ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, Trump beats Democrats in Congress in terms of trust to handle the nation's main problems.
The DCCC, however, argues in the memo that Democrats have momentum. The group pointed to ads from some Republican members during the 2024 campaign cycle where they said they would work to get costs down, claiming that they and others have abandoned those promises. The group also alleged that the recent budget blueprint passed by House Republicans will potentially lead to cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Republicans have argued that the budget blueprint does not and will not threaten any benefits or entitlements and that Democrats are causing undue fear. Some also blame actions by the previous White House under Democratic President Joe Biden or factors outside of anyone's control have caused higher prices.
"The DCCC and House Democrats will continue to fight back and hold Republicans accountable for their broken promises ... With every new bill that gets introduced, committee meeting held, and amendment vote taken, the American people will know that Republicans don’t work for them, they work for the billionaires," the Democratic group wrote.
And looking to 2026, the DCCC added, "Their trail of broken promises have helped to put House Democrats on offense with an expansive battleground map, including more initial Districts in Play than any cycle since 2018. The DCCC will continue to build upon this momentum on our way to taking back the House next year."
Republicans held on to a slim majority in the House in the 2024 election.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the campaign arm of House Republicans, has expressed confidence that the GOP will hold the House in the 2026 midterms. The group celebrated Trump's 100 day mark on Tuesday as a milestone for momentum for an agenda the group said is revitalizing the country.
NRCC chair Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., wrote in a statement on Tuesday, "In just 100 days, President Trump has reignited American greatness. He's secured our border, put America back on top, and restored the American Dream. House Republicans will continue working with him and building on this historic momentum."
The DCCC's memo comes as Democratic officials and other figures mark 100 days of Trump's second term in office, although the party is still divided over how to rebuild after its losses in 2024.
To mark the 100-day milestone, Democratic mayors and governors have been pointing to federal government spending cuts or new policies that they say have a deleterious impact on their states.
A few well-known governors, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker -- who created buzz during remarks on Sunday in New Hampshire when he said that "these Republicans cannot know a moment of peace" -- will be holding a virtual town hall on Tuesday night about "how Democratic governors are standing up to protect the people in their states," according to the Democratic Governors Association.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of Congress and party officials have been marking the run-up to the 100-day mark with town halls and protests. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., staged an hours-long "sit-in" on the House steps on Sunday to protest Congressional Republicans' budget plans.
Some Democrats have argued that the disparate responses to the administration are actually a strength for the party while it is locked out of power in Washington.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was the running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, said at a talk on Monday night that the Democratic Party needs to "flood the zone" and "fill every single lane, and if there's one that's better than another, then let's all pick that lane and do more of that."
Harris herself is set to deliver remarks on Wednesday in San Francisco, one day after the administration's 100-day mark, at the 20th anniversary celebration for Emerge, an organization that supports Democratic women running for office.
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(WASHINGTON) -- As President Donald Trump nears the 100th day of his second presidency, polling shows Americans largely disapproving of his handling of the economy, tariffs, and recent stock market turmoil.
But his 2024 voters largely say they're still confident in his handling of the economy, and they overwhelmingly stand by their vote for Trump.
"I believe Trump will turn things around; I'm glad he's president," said Jessianna Bartier, 53, of Ohio. "With Biden, I felt there was so much waste. He was causing a lot of damage economically," she said, and she had felt depressed by the former president's efforts. "Trump has definitely got his work cut out for him."
According to a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, only 39% of Americans approve of how Trump has handled the economy; fewer approve of his handling of tariffs on imported goods or recent stock market turmoil. Seventy-one percent of Americans said that Trump's handling of tariffs will contribute to inflation in the United States, although 59% think tariffs will create more manufacturing jobs.
But among Americans who voted for Trump in 2024, 87% approve of how he is handling the economy, while 78% approve of his handling of tariffs. A softer 71% said they approve of his handling of recent turmoil in the stock market.
Furthermore, among 2024 Trump voters, 74% think his economic policies will put the U.S. economy on a stronger foundation for the long term; at the same time, 45% of those voters think it's very or somewhat likely that his economic policies will cause a recession in the short term.
An overwhelming 96% of those who voted for Trump believe how they voted was the right thing to do.
Bartier, a former flight attendant, now works as a bartender and lives in Ohio. She said she used to be a Democrat but became Republican as she "started dating more mature men." She said she has always voted because "my voice matters."
Bartier said her family is struggling financially at the moment, because her fiance lost his job and her own income is "definitely not enough."
But she's optimistic that Trump will be able to strengthen the economy.
She has mixed feelings about Trump on some issues, saying she appreciates his border crackdown but is at odds with his views on LGBTQ issues and abortion.
But on tariffs, she said she feels they may cause challenges at first but will be effective later on -- although the recent stock market turmoil does give her pause.
"I think the tariffs are, in the short term, going to hurt us economically; but in the long term, [they're] going to bring back jobs to America," she said. She acknowledged feeling uncertain about how the tariff news impacted stocks: "Do I like seeing the Dow go down on itself? No."
"[Trump's] gonna do what he's gonna do. He's kind of a rogue agent," Bartier added.
Anthony Romano, 64, a retired purchasing agent who lives by himself in Philadelphia, said he feels positive about Trump but has some concerns about the stock market.
"Overall I think he's doing a really good job," Romano said, but he added that it "seems like the stock market has been crashing -- it'll put a lot of stress on people."
Stocks have fluctuated in the wake of what some experts described as continued uncertainty over the White House's tariff policies and announcements. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the White House is "setting the fundamentals for a strong dollar, a strong economy, a strong stock market".
Romano said he's still confident in the president, citing Trump's experience as a businessman.
"I have my trust in him; he knows what he's doing," he said.
Another of Trump's voters who took the poll, Deborah Williams, 71, of Nevada, considers herself an independent politically and said she just retired from running a home-based business. Her husband, 78, has a part-time job and earns minimum wage.
She said she's keeping an eye on the economy, especially given their dwindled income, and is "cautious about where I'm spending my money these days," including with travel.
On tariffs, she has mixed feelings. She's concerned they could impact prices and may be being done too bluntly, but called Trump's philosophy behind them "a noble idea."
"I want America to be the tough kid on the block again," Williams said, and she does not want think Americans should be paying for or subsidizing other countries' expenses. "Trump's my man for doing that at this point," she said, adding later, "He has the opportunity to put our economy back together by playing hardnose with some of these people we import from."
The poll only asks respondents for their first names; some respondents contacted by ABC News declined to share their last name.
Irene, 63, who works for the library and local government in a northern New Jersey town, told ABC News that she has mixed feelings over how the Trump administration has rolled out tariffs.
"I'm kind of favorable for the tariffs, because I think we have been taken advantage of by different countries," she said. "It's just that, maybe he's going a little overboard or too fast with all of this. And the tariffs are going to affect a lot more than they were originally going to."
She hasn't felt any impact on her or her family's finances yet. Asked what she hopes to see from the White House going forward, she said she was hoping for the economy she felt America had during the first Trump administration.
"I look back to when he was in the office the first four years, and I just felt like the economy was in better shape," she said, mentioning interest rates and gas prices. "I was kind of hoping we could get somewhere towards that point."
She also told the poll she feels a recession is somewhat likely, and she hopes it does not impact the jobs she holds or her finances.
"But I'm at the point where I'm trying to get in a better financial position, just in case that recession should happen, it won't hit me as hard," she said.
That has not caused her to rethink how she voted for Trump in November: "I'm still behind my vote because I definitely didn't have a good feeling about the Democrats," she said.
The ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® April 18-22, 2025, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,464 adults. Partisan divisions are 30%-30%-29%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.
Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, including the design effect. Error margins are larger for subgroups. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.
See details on ABC News survey methodology here.
ABC News' Gary Langer and Christine Filer contributed to this report.
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