作者： root

GOP’s midterm defeat sparks bold claims from foreign leaders who’ve clashed with Trump

European Parliament Vice President Christel Schaldemose said she feels ‘cautiously optimistic on Europe’s behalf’ after vote

By Ireland Owens Fox News

Published November 4, 2026 2:11pm EST

Democrats’ agenda takes center stage after midterms

Chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram joins ‘The Faulkner Focus’ to discuss the progressive agenda after Democrats sweep the midterms.

The GOP’s sweeping midterm losses are drawing a positive response from several foreign leaders who have clashed with President Donald Trump, with some expressing hope that Democrats’ victories could lead to a shift in U.S. policy on major global issues.

Democrats secured majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in Tuesday’s elections, setting the stage for a shift in congressional power in January and prompting reactions from officials in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took aim at Trump’s policies in a Wednesday X post, suggesting that American voters had rejected the president’s political agenda and predicting that a similar shift would soon take place in Spain.

“Yesterday, American society voted against policies that only make people poorer,” Sánchez wrote. “Against hate. Against sexism. Against climate denial and against elite privilege.”

AMERICA SAW THE BLUE WAVE COMING — BUT DRASTICALLY UNDERESTIMATED THE EXTENT OF THE DEM TSUNAMI

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BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 03: A voter marks their ballot in the Kern County Elections Office on November 03, 2026 in Bakersfield, California. Americans go to the polls in consequential midterm elections, where control of the House and the Senate is at stake for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s second term in office.(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Sánchez has been an outspoken critic of U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran, accusing Washington in March of “playing Russian roulette” with millions of lives. His opposition to the war and disputes with Trump over NATO defense spending have contributed to tensions between Madrid and Washington.

“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” Sánchez said.

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Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón arrives at Huis ten Bosch Palace for a dinner hosted by the King and Queen of The Netherlands during the NATO Summit 2025 on June 24, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands.(Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images)

“Wild result in the USA last night! I’m cautiously optimistic on Europe’s behalf,” European Parliament Vice President Christel Schaldemose wrote in a Wednesday X post. “Not because everything now changes for the better, but because it could benefit the support for Ukraine, the green transition, and relations with the rest of the world.”

Schaldemose criticized Trump’s interest in Greenland in January 2025, also suggesting that Europeans should “stand up for ourselves both in terms of the economy the global economy but also in terms of digital policy and the climate.”

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Britain’s newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham delivers a speech outside 10 Downing Street after taking office, in London, Britain, July 20, 2026.(REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja)

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that the election results presented an opportunity for world leaders to work together to ease cost-of-living pressures and resolve the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Sky News reported.

“Well, President Trump has accepted the results, and I feel the world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all – and that’s the cost-of-living,” Burnham said. “That has been the issue that I have put front and centre in my first three months in Downing Street, and we’ve made moves, but I can’t get people’s cost of living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved.”

Trump said in July that he had a “very good” conversation with Burnham about trade and security issues, although the two governments have since differed over Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. In September, Britain announced plans to strengthen sanctions targeting settlements and prevent British companies from assisting settlement construction, drawing criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Americans have been grappling with higher costs as the war in Iran has caused energy prices to surge. The U.S. affordability crisis was a major issue for voters heading into this year’s midterms.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad ‌Baqer Ghalibaf claimed in a Wednesday social media post that U.S. voters “said NO TO WAR” amid cost-of-living concerns.

“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf said, according to the Independent. “If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.”

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Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara emphasized during a Wednesday press conference that the Japan-U.S. alliance “remains the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign and security policy regardless of the outcome of the elections,” Kyodo News reported.

Additionally, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks the Democratic Party’s victory in the midterms will “introduce a new era in world relations,” Reuters reported.

Trump confronted Ramaphosa during a May 2025 White House meeting, playing video footage that he claimed showed evidence of widespread violence against White South African farmers. Ramaphosa disputed Trump’s allegations of persecution, while subsequent fact-checks found that some of the footage had been mischaracterized.

Trump claimed in a Tuesday night Truth Social post that if his name appeared on the ballot in the 2026 midterms the GOP would have “won IN A LANDSLIDE!”

Trump nevertheless congratulated Democrats on their victories and expressed a willingness to work with the incoming congressional majorities, while emphasizing that he would retain the power to veto legislation he opposes.

“They’ll send over things that are insane, and I’ll veto them,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Tuesday night, adding that the two parties would eventually have to work together to get legislation passed.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6407913822112

DeSantis calls GOP midterm losses ‘extinction level event’ — and explains why Florida survived

Florida’s outgoing governor highlighted his state as a Republican bright spot after losses in Texas, Ohio and Georgia

By Charles Creitz Fox News

Published November 4, 2026 2:10pm EST

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded off Wednesday on Republicans’ massive nationwide losses, while analysts consider whether his vocal responses are positioning him for a nationwide run.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Wednesday that Republicans have been nearly wiped out nationally after devastating election losses, while highlighting his state as the lone remaining GOP stronghold among the 10 most populous states as speculation builds about his political future in 2028.

Tuesday was an otherwise brutal night for the GOP, as the Trump movement faces major questions amid setbacks in longtime Republican strongholds such as Kansas and Texas, while holding Senate seats in West Virginia and deep-red Wyoming and South Dakota.

“This is close to an extinction level event for Republicans … out of the ten largest states in this union, only one state will have Republican control of their state, the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at a Wednesday news conference, where he also highlighted Florida as the lone bright spot on Republicans’ map of the nation’s largest states.

DEMOCRATS SEIZE MAJORITY OF GOVERNORS’ OFFICES IN ELECTION-NIGHT SHIFT

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DEMS SEIZE THE SENATE AS BLUE TIDAL WAVE CRASHES DEEP INTO TRUMP COUNTRY, TOPPLES GOP STRONGHOLDS

“We’ve built up a record of achievement. We’ve earned trust from a number of our voters that even in the worst situation that you can imagine politically we were able to hold the line,” DeSantis added.

Fox News Digital reached out to DeSantis for comment.

Orlando-based political strategist and pollster Doug Kaplan told Fox News Digital that DeSantis appears to be eyeing a lasting role on the national stage.

“I think last night was a big night for DeSantis. If you’re looking at winners on the Republican side, then I think he’s found his lane if he wants to run for president in 2028.,” he said.

Kaplan characterized DeSantis’ comments as an “opening salvo” in an effort to distance himself from the Trump-led status quo in the Republican Party, though he acknowledged the staying power of Trump’s MAGA movement among GOP primary voters.

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DeSantis also highlighted his own push for the election-cycle buzzword “affordability” in Florida.

Amendment 3 passed with about 62% of the vote Tuesday. It increases homestead property tax exemptions from $50,000 to $250,000 by 2028.

“The existence of Amendment 3 on the ballot is one of the reasons Florida averted the fate of other red states. It drew more voters to the polls,” DeSantis said, highlighting an issue on which Republicans still won decisively.

Kaplan predicted Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, may also follow DeSantis’ tack. Both men saw their party take major losses in their home states, he noted, citing Vance’s former Senate seat going to Democrat Sherrod Brown.

DeSantis highlighted losses in Cruz’s home state but did not reference the senator: “Texas has been the most significant Republican state this century. A Democrat sweep of statewide races — and possible capture of the legislature — takes away one of the anchors of the modern GOP. A huge loss,” DeSantis said, echoing his point that Florida remains the only one of the 10 most populous states with a Republican governor.

AMERICA SAW THE BLUE WAVE COMING — BUT DRASTICALLY UNDERESTIMATED THE EXTENT OF THE DEM TSUNAMI

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference at Florida International University alongside Jared Purdue, head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, on Aug. 26, 2026, in Miami, Fla.(Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

He pointed to stunning upsets that included Kansas, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and potentially Mississippi — which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Segregationist Sen. John Stennis’ last term in the 1980s.

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“If Mississippi goes down, that will give Dems 56 Senate seats,” DeSantis said, as the Magnolia State emerged as perhaps the biggest surprise of the morning, with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith trailing Scott Colom, a Democratic state district judge from Lowndes County, by about one-tenth of 1% in a race most Republicans didn’t even have on their radar.

Former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican whose now-Democrat-run city maintained a 3-1 Republican advantage in its congressional delegation, credited DeSantis with helping set the stage:

“We had a great outcome, right? And I think the 1.5 million-vote registration advantage that Governor DeSantis took four years to build was actually the firewall that prevented Florida from going down the same path as Texas or Michigan,” Suarez told Fox Business’ “Big Money in the Morning” on Wednesday.

“Republicans need to simplify their message. They need to be message discipline like Democrats were in this cycle. And then they got to find young, articulate, attractive candidates like the Democrats have found.”

Speaking with “Straight Shooter” host Stephen A. Smith on Election Night, DeSantis similarly argued that voters supported conservative policies on some ballot measures while rejecting Republican candidates, suggesting a disconnect between the party’s agenda and its appeal to voters.

Former senior Senate advisor and political strategist Mary Marslender told Fox News Digital that DeSantis is doing what any successful governor would in this scenario.

“He’s taking a victory lap on a winning record. That doesn’t means he’s distancing himself from Trump or the MAGA movement. DeSantis successfully focused on state-level results: tax relief, public safety, and electoral success all while underscoring Florida’s position as a reliable conservative stronghold,” Marslender said.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks with President Donald Trump as he arrives at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Fla., on Oct. 23, 2026.(Reuters)

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“If congressional members in Washington could have done the same, we would have seen a very different outcome these midterms. We should expect to hear more from DeSantis on Florida’s proven results and his approach to governance in the run up to 2028.”

For DeSantis, who will leave office in January after his unsuccessful 2024 presidential bid, the question is whether Florida’s success will remain a state-level victory lap or become the foundation for a renewed national political role ahead of 2028.

Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, worked in both the New York and Washington bureaus for Fox News since 2013.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6407906079112

Fox News Voter Poll: 2026 midterm elections usher in a blue wave as Democrats win control of Congress

2026-11-04T12:10:00-05:00 / Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6407895132112

Pollster Justin Wallin joins ‘Fox & Friends First’ to analyze the significant midterm election results as Democrats take control of the House and Senate. Wallin breaks down key races, including James Talarico defeating Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate showdown.

In a historic midterm election, Democrats swept both the House and Senate, riding a blue wave spurred by widespread voter discontent. The economy, government corruption, war in Iran and increasingly negative views of President Donald Trump’s job performance created a perfect storm for Democrats to flip Senate seats in Republican stronghold states.

At the time of publication, Democrats held a 54-seat majority in the Senate and have secured 228 seats in the House. The toss-up Senate race in Alaska remains too close to call at this time.

The Fox News Voter Poll surveyed more than 100,000 registered voters nationwide from Oct. 19 to Nov. 3, 2026, combining online and telephone interviews with in-person surveys of Election Day voters.

After the strong rightward shifts in the 2024 election, this year’s midterms marked a turn back to the left. The electorate remained divided by community type, gender and education, a pattern that has become commonplace in recent elections. Suburban and urban voters, women and Hispanics sided with Democrats, while rural voters, men and voters without a college degree favored Republicans.

STATE OF PLAY: BLUE WAVE SWEEPS DEMOCRATS INTO POWER, WITH KEY RACES STILL HANGING IN BALANCE

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into the demographic behind Democratic votes.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into the demographic behind Republican votes.(Fox News)

Groups that helped power Trump’s 2024 win — namely rural, Hispanic, young and independent voters — moved decidedly toward Democrats.

DEMOCRAT SEIZE HOUSE CONTROL IN STUNNING BLUE TSUNAMI, VOW RETRIBUTION AGAINST TRUMP ADMIN

A pivotal group in his win, rural voters backed Trump by 28 points in 2024. That advantage dropped by 10 points, to just 18 points in favor of Republican House candidates.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how rural voters cast their ballots in the House elections.(Fox News)

Republicans underperformed among rural women. After Trump carried them by 21 points in 2024, Republican House candidates led among them by 8 points this year, a 13-point decline.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how rural women voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

At the same time, suburban women marched firmly toward Democrats. Harris won them by a 14-point margin, and they broke for Democratic House candidates by 24 points.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how suburban women voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

That shift extended beyond community divides. Hispanic voters, who showed surprising support for Trump two years ago, backed Democratic House candidates by 27 points, after breaking for Harris by just 12 points. This was driven largely by Hispanic men, who after narrowly voting for Harris by 2 points in 2024, sided with the Democrats by 15 points.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into voting patterns among Hispanic voters.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how Hispanic men voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

Young voters also followed a similar pattern. Often considered a reliable Democratic voting bloc, those under age 30 defied conventional wisdom and narrowly backed Harris by 4 points in 2024. Now, they backed Democratic House candidates by nearly 3-to-1.

‘LAWYER UP’: DEMS IMMEDIATELY PUT TRUMP ON NOTICE AMID REPUBLICANS’ MIDTERM BLOODBATH

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how voters under age 30 cast their ballots.(Fox News)

Young men made a complete reversal in their party preference, going from a 15-point margin for Trump to a 33-point margin for the Democratic House candidates, a 48-point swing.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how young men voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

Slightly more Democrats than Republicans backed their party’s House candidates.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how Democrats voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how Republicans voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

While there was a small amount of defections on the right, the bigger move came from the middle. Independents backed Democratic candidates by 22 points, a 16-point shift from 2024, when they backed Harris by just 6 points.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how independent voters cast their ballots in the House elections.(Fox News)

Within the Republican Party, the divide between MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans widened. A narrow majority of Republicans (54%) considered themselves MAGA, and they voted almost unanimously for Republican candidates (99%). Fewer non-MAGA Republicans stayed with their party (85%).

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

Beyond the demographic shifts, this was an election cycle marked by voter pessimism, economic frustration and disillusionment with the Republican brand.

Voters cast their ballots with a bleak view of the country in their minds. Three-quarters said they felt dissatisfied or angry about how things were going, while just a quarter were satisfied or enthusiastic.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how Americans feel about the direction of the country.(Fox News)

The anger divides along partisan lines: more than 6 in 10 Democrats were angry with how things were going, compared with 1 in 10 Republicans and more than a third of independents. This is a reversal from the 2022 midterms, when roughly half of Republicans were angry, compared with 15% of Democrats and 27% of independents.

Frustration with the present extended into the future. Half said they expected life for the next generation to be worse than life today, twice the share who expected it to be better.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into voters’ expectations for the next generation of Americans.(Fox News)

Voters took those frustrations out on the president. Trump’s job approval stood at 38%-62%, a net rating of -24, and that disapproval was intense. More than half strongly disapproved of his job performance, double the number who strongly approved.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters rate President Donald Trump’s job performance.(Fox News)

Eight years ago, at the midterm point in his first term, his job approval rating was a stronger 44%-56%, a net rating of just -12.

Even without Trump on the ballot, he was on the minds of many Americans. More said they cast their House vote to express opposition to him than to support him, nearly a 3-to-1 margin.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how President Donald Trump influenced voters’ House election decisions.(Fox News)

Part of that opposition came from a sense that Trump did not understand what voters were going through. More voters said Trump prioritized his own personal interests than the country’s.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals whether voters believe President Donald Trump prioritizes his own interests or those of the country.(Fox News)

They also gave him low marks on personal traits. More than 6 in 10 said he lacked the right priorities and did not fight for people like them. Narrow majorities said he was not a strong leader and lacked the mental capability to serve effectively.

The president’s standing was also a drag on his party. Two years after winning unified control of Washington, the Republican Party was -18 points underwater, a -15-point slide from its net rating of -3 in 2024.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters view the Republican Party.(Fox News)

The Democratic Party was unpopular as well, but its net rating held nearly steady, from -7 to -6.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters view the Democratic Party.(Fox News)

Each party’s voters were about equally loyal: nearly all Republicans and Democrats viewed their own party favorably. Independents were more favorable toward the Democrats, with 42% viewing the Democratic Party favorably, while they rated the Republican Party negatively by about 2-to-1.

Views of the party also tracked the views of its leader. Democrats were nearly unanimous in their disapproval of Trump, while about 8 in 10 Republicans approved. Roughly 7 in 10 independents viewed the president unfavorably.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into President Donald Trump’s job approval among Democrats.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into President Donald Trump’s job approval among Republicans.(Fox News)

Two years ago, voters gave the Republicans a chance to bring prices down. This year, they said tariffs, inflation and a war in Iran pushed costs higher, and they used this election to call for change.

The effects of inflation were inescapable for the majority, including 1 in 5 who called that hardship severe.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how inflation has affected American families.(Fox News)

Three-quarters rated the economy negatively, a stark reversal from this point in Trump’s first term, when positive ratings outnumbered negative ones by 2-to-1, as shown in the 2018 Fox News Voter Analysis survey (66% positive, 34% negative).

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into voters’ assessments of the U.S. economy.(Fox News)

Almost 7 in 10 of voters who gave the economy a negative rating voted for the Democrats. Among those with a positive economic outlook, Republicans were favored.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters with a negative view of the economy voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters with a positive view of the economy voted in the House elections.(Fox News)

Within the household budget, concerns about prices varied little across categories. The cost of gas and diesel was at the top, a worry that followed the Iran war and its effect on fuel prices. Healthcare and groceries were right behind, and a majority were very concerned about utilities.

https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/poll-national-concerned-gas-prices.jpgnext The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into Americans’ concerns about rising household expenses.(Fox News)

https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/poll-national-concerned-healthcare.jpgprev next The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into Americans’ concerns about rising household expenses.(Fox News)

https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/poll-national-concerned-food-prices.jpgprev next The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into Americans’ concerns about rising household expenses.(Fox News)

https://news-multimedia-1393112320.cos.ap-guangzhou.myqcloud.com/poll-national-concerned-utility-costs.jpgprev The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into Americans’ concerns about rising household expenses.(Fox News)

Voters’ views on Iran were closely linked to fuel costs. In general, about 6 in 10 believed the U.S. made the wrong decision in taking military action, and they backed the Democratic House candidate. Nearly all voters who called it the right decision supported Republicans.

In an exclusive survey by Fox News and NORC at the University of Chicago, voters were asked about various priorities regarding the Iran war. The survey of approximately 3,000 registered voters was conducted Nov. 1–3 by phone and online using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel.

More than two-thirds said it was very important to avoid a prolonged conflict in Iran, while half said the same about stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Ultimately, gas prices took priority over security threats. When asked to choose, nearly twice as many voters preferred ending military involvement to bring down gas prices as preferred restarting military action to stop nuclear weapons development.

More than 8 in 10 Democrats favored ending the conflict to bring down gas prices, as did around 6 in 10 independents. The same share of Republicans, 6 in 10, favored restarting military action. Still, just over half of Republicans saw it as very important to avoid a prolonged conflict in the region, as did a majority of Democrats and independents.

When it comes to higher-than-usual prices, voters were considerably more likely to point to Trump’s policies than to factors outside his control.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals whether voters blame President Donald Trump’s policies for higher prices.(Fox News)

A majority said his policies had made conditions in the U.S. worse, while fewer said they improved conditions.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how voters believe President Donald Trump’s policies have affected the economy.(Fox News)

Tariffs were a central piece of that blame. About two-thirds said Trump’s tariffs hurt the national economy and nearly as many said they hurt the economy in their own area. About 2 in 10 said tariffs helped the national economy, and even fewer said they helped locally.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters believe President Donald Trump’s tariffs have affected the national economy.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how voters believe President Donald Trump’s tariffs have affected their local economies.(Fox News)

While families wrestled with high prices, voters felt Trump was more focused on his own interests than the people he serves. That frustration extended to the economic system itself: nearly 7 in 10 said it favored the wealthy.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals whether voters believe the U.S. economic system favors the wealthy.(Fox News)

Yet that skepticism coexisted with support for capitalism. More than half of voters viewed capitalism favorably, far more than the third who viewed socialism favorably. Voters liked the idea of the system but doubted how it worked for them.

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The Fox News Voter Poll found that 32% of registered voters had an unfavorable view of capitalism, while 57% had a favorable view.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll found that 54% of registered voters had an unfavorable view of socialism, while 33% had a favorable view.(Fox News)

Government corruption and the cost of living were the two main drivers of the vote, with roughly half calling each crucial. Immigration and the Iran war followed closely, each crucial for more than a third, with AI and data centers further back. Democrats were the favored party among voters who said corruption, costs, Iran and AI were crucial to their vote, while Republicans held their edge with voters focused on immigration.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals which issues voters considered crucial to their House election decisions.(Fox News)

Frustration with costs and corruption was reflected in how voters saw the state of the country. The economy topped the list of issues facing the country, narrowly ahead of the state of democracy. Immigration came in a distant third, followed by healthcare, foreign policy and crime.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into which issues voters consider most important to the country.(Fox News)

The prominence of democracy came mainly from Democrats, who named the state of democracy as their top issue (48%), ahead of the economy (36%). Independents put the economy first (39%), with democracy close behind (34%). Republicans ranked democracy third (16%), behind the economy (41%) and immigration (27%).

Voters who named democracy and the economy as their top issue backed Democratic House candidates, while voters who prioritized immigration backed Republicans.

Democrats also held an advantage when it came to which party would do a better job handling six of the eight issues tested, though often by modest margins. Their largest edge was on healthcare, followed by transgender policies.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals which political party voters trust more to handle healthcare.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into which political party voters trust more to handle transgender policies.(Fox News)

On the economy — the issue voters saw as the most important facing the country — Democrats led by 6 points, similar to their margins on foreign policy (+5).

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals which political party voters trust more to handle the economy.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into which political party voters trust more to handle foreign policy.(Fox News)

On government corruption, voters narrowly favored Democrats, but a third did not trust either party to handle one of the top issues facing the country.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals which political party voters trust more to address government corruption.(Fox News)

Republicans led only on immigration, with a 3-point lead. The parties ran even on taxes and finished within two points of each other on AI.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into which political party voters trust more to handle immigration.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals which political party voters trust more to handle taxes.(Fox News)

On healthcare, concern about costs was widespread, and those voters backed the Democratic House candidates. A clear majority favored a bigger federal role in helping Americans get care.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters view the federal government’s role in helping Americans access healthcare.(Fox News)

Consequently, they gave the Trump administration poor marks on the issue, with majorities saying its policies made it harder to get the care they needed and made their own costs worse.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how voters believe Trump administration policies have affected healthcare costs.(Fox News)

On AI, voters approached this new political issue with wariness. A majority said it would do more to hurt society, a consensus reached by Democrats, Republicans and independents alike, while a quarter said it would do more to help. Among partisans, Republicans were the most likely to say AI would have a positive impact on society, at 33%.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals whether voters believe artificial intelligence will help or hurt society.(Fox News)

At this point, neither party had a clear advantage on the issue: AI drew the highest share, choosing neither party as better able to handle it, and the two parties finished within 2 points of each other, with Democrats narrowly pulling ahead.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into which political party voters trust more to handle artificial intelligence.(Fox News)

Data center construction drew a similar verdict. Three-quarters of voters opposed a new data center in their community. Those who opposed one backed the Democratic House candidates by 28 points, while those in favor backed Republicans by 45 points.

Among rural voters, data centers had emerged as a defining issue. They also split 3-to-1 in opposition to building one in their community.

On immigration, Republicans were favored to handle, but voters delivered a verdict of overreach on enforcement. A majority said the Trump administration’s actions had gone too far, with the rest split between about right and not far enough.

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how voters assess the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.(Fox News)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement received mostly negative marks, with a majority of voters disapproving of its job performance. Most voters viewed immigrants favorably, saying they do more to help the country than to hurt it.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters rate Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s job performance.(Fox News)

Ratings of the institutions themselves were low. Congress drew approval from roughly a quarter, and the Supreme Court drew approval from about 4 in 10.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals how voters rate Congress’ job performance.(Fox News)

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The Fox News Voter Poll offers insight into how voters rate the Supreme Court’s job performance.(Fox News)

Voters wanted a stronger Congress. A majority said Congress was not doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency, and those voters backed Democratic House candidates by 49 points.

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The Fox News Voter Poll reveals whether voters believe Congress is doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency.(Fox News)

The Fox News Voter Poll is a survey conducted by SSRS with more than 100,000 registered voters nationwide. This survey was conducted Oct. 19 to Nov. 3, 2026, concluding at the end of voting on Election Day. The poll combines data collected from registered voters online and by telephone with data collected in-person from Election Day voters at precincts across the country. In the final step, all the pre-election survey respondents and Election Day exit poll respondents are combined by adjusting the share of voting mode (absentee, early-in-person and Election Day) based on the estimated composition of the national electorate. Once votes are counted, the survey results are also weighted to match the national election results. Results among all registered voters interviewed nationwide have an estimated margin of sampling error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points, including the design effects. The error margin is larger among subgroups. Full methodological details are available here.

The Fox News/NORC AmeriSpeak Study is a national survey of registered voters conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. This survey was conducted Nov. 1–3, 2026, concluding as polls close on Election Day. The poll is based on a random sample of approximately 3,000 registered voters drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, interviewed online and by telephone in English and Spanish. Survey weights adjust to population totals for demographic and geographic characteristics, as well as voter-specific information including partisanship, and, once votes are counted, the results are weighted to the national popular vote for the House of Representatives. Results among all 3,464 registered voters interviewed nationwide have an estimated margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, including the design effects. The error margin is larger among subgroups.

As head of the polling unit, Dana Blanton runs the Fox News Poll and oversees the Fox News Voter Analysis election survey.

Florida DeSantis describes GOP midterms wipeout as ‘close to an extinction-level event’ for Republicans

Outgoing Florida governor says ‘Democrats are unpopular’ and results were a ‘rejection of Republicans in Washington’

By Greg Norman-Diamond | Fox News

Published November 4, 2026 1:48pm EST

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded off Wednesday on Republicans’ massive nationwide losses, while analysts consider whether his vocal responses are positioning him for a nationwide run.

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Outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that the Republican losses in the midterm elections are “close to an extinction-level event” for the party “in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last 100 years.”

DeSantis spoke after Republicans lost control of both the House and Senate on Election Day. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida House Republican, won the contest for DeSantis’ seat despite other GOP candidates losing their gubernatorial races around the U.S.

“Here’s the thing. Democrats are unpopular. They were able to win based off the sentiment that exists in the country right now. They did not earn a mandate to indulge all their left-wing fantasies. And they’re going to be in there governing, and we’ll see what ends up happening,” DeSantis said.

“But this was not a positive view of the Democrats. This was a rejection of Republicans in Washington,” he added. “And Democrats just happened to be the beneficiary.”

TRUMP-BACKED BYRON DONALDS MAKES HISTORY AS FLORIDA’S FIRST BLACK GOVERNOR

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Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a press conference regarding Hurricane Isaias on Oct. 8, 2026.(USA Today Network via Reuters)

DeSantis, who has not ruled out a 2028 presidential bid, said, “In January, when everyone in office leaves, who were either term-limited or got voted out of the 10 largest states in this union, only one state will have Republican control of their state, the state of Florida.

“Last night we witnessed — to call it a wave, I don’t think would be fully accurate — it’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States. Blue states, red states, everything in between,” DeSantis said. “And the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida.

“If you look at our chief rival, in a healthy sense, the state of Texas, and I would say over my lifetime, Texas has been the crown jewel of Republican politics. I think we’ve been the leader for Republicans and conservatives since I’ve been governor. But if you go over the whole generation, no one holds a candle on the Republican side to the Lone Star State. And yet, not only did they lose a very highly publicized U.S. Senate race, they lost everything,” DeSantis continued.

BLUE WAVE SWEEPS DEMOCRATS INTO POWER

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6407906079112

“The governor, attorney general, all the other statewide. They lost four Republican Supreme Court justices on the Texas Supreme Court. They may even lose the Texas Legislature or one house or even both. Let’s just be clear that that is going to hurt, not just for the next two years. That’s something that can reverberate for the next decade or more,” he also said. “And if the Republican Party doesn’t have Texas as an anchor, then we are not going to be viable nationally going forward.”

DeSantis predicted that in the 2028 election cycle, “You are not, as Republicans, going to be able to retake the Senate under this current map just two years from now.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks with President Donald Trump as he arrives at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Fla., on Oct. 23, 2026.(Reuters)

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“And with all the House seats that have been done, probably not viable to take that back as well. So this is really going to have an impact,” DeSantis added. “Two years, four years, six years, maybe even longer before Republicans could exercise unified control in Washington again like we’ve enjoyed over the last two years.”

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

Trump asking advisers if Hegseth should stay after midterm losses, sources say

Updated on: November 4, 2026 / 1:45 PM EST / CBS News

Washington — President Trump has been asking advisers around him and on the phone whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should stay in his job, following Republicans’ catastrophic losses Tuesday night, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell CBS News.

Some White House aides have predicted some of the blame for GOP midterm losses will be trained on Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, who both played big roles in guidance on the Iran war.

Still, other sources said the president hasn’t decided to replace Hegseth. Before the election, Democrats were already trying to impeach Hegseth, and the likelihood of an impeachment effort could increase with Democrats holding strong majorities in both chambers.

Vice President JD Vance is blaming the war for the GOP defeat. “The reason we lost is the war,” he said in a lengthy post on X Wednesday morning.

One source told CBS News that GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for Hegseth, arguing DeSantis could go through Senate confirmation in the lame-duck period and then take the post when his term as governor expires Jan. 5.

Mr. Trump was asked Wednesday afternoon whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, and he told reporters, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.” The president was also asked if he’d like to see Hegseth appointed to fill the seat that will be vacated by Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn when she takes office as governor. “I actually think he’d be very popular if he did that,” Mr. Trump said, “but I haven’t heard that at all.”

Asked for comment about reports that Hegseth’s future as defense secretary was in question, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the president “has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth.” In the statement, Kelly also praised the military operations in Iran and Venezuela and Hegseth’s efforts to reverse the Biden Pentagon’s prioritizing of “DEI and woke ideology.”

Weijia Jiang contributed to this report.

This story published first on CBS News at 11:39 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2026.

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Vance blames Iran conflict for GOP midterm defeats: “The reason we lost is the war”

November 4, 2026 / 11:41 AM EST / CBS News

Washington— Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that he believes Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress because of voters’ opposition to the war in Iran and suggested that the conflict may not have been worth the cost of losing the GOP’s hold on the Senate.

In his first public comments since Democrats’ rout of Republicans in the midterm elections, Vance said Republicans must be honest about the impact the war had on their campaigns in order to determine the best path forward for the party.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote in a post on X. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

The vice president said many voters who backed President Trump and him in the 2024 presidential contest cast their ballots for Democrats in 2026 for four reasons: to end the war with Iran, focus on the cost of living and inflation, put America first and change the U.S. relationship to Israel.

“Our voters showed up,” Vance wrote. “And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats.”

The vice president highlighted Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy’s call to reach a “diplomatic resolution” to the conflict with Iran, saying that her recommendation was “sound.” Vance spent much of the spring leading U.S. negotiators in talks aimed at ending the conflict and reached an ill-fated agreement with Iran to halt the fighting that soon fell apart.

In his post, the vice president said an unnamed data analyst told him that voters who backed him and Mr. Trump in 2024 were angry and would vote for Democrats in the midterms. He said that analysis “looks prophetic now.”

“Our voters did show up,” he wrote. “In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. “

Vance also said it’s likely the GOP’s economic messaging “wasn’t sharp enough” in the closing weeks of the campaign.

“I remain hopeful about our country,” he said. “To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘II told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.”

Democrats are expected to hold at least 54 seats in the Senate following wins in 10 of 11 battleground states. The Senate elections in Alaska and Mississippi are unresolved and rated as toss-ups. CBS News estimates Democrats will control between 251 and 268 seats in the House when all votes are counted.

Mr. Trump launched the war in Iran in late February and had pledged at the time that it would last only four to five weeks. But it has since stretched into its eighth month, leading to a spike in gas prices.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, the president suggested that the war with Iran was partially to blame for Republicans’ losses, but he said “people understand the importance of what I’ve done.”

Still, Mr. Trump has repeatedly defended his decision to go to war with Iran and told CBS News on Tuesday that Tehran must not be able to develop a nuclear weapon.

The president said the war will end “when I say it ends.”

The U.S. launched limited defensive strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Twenty-three U.S. service members have been killed during the conflict, and 865 have been wounded, according to the Defense Department.

Rep Marie Gluesenkamp Perez notably voted with Republicans to rescue their agenda in defiance of Leader Hakeem Jeffries

By Elizabeth ElkindFox News

Published November 4, 2026 1:59pm EST | Updated November 4, 2026 2:20pm EST

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Trump rallies voters in sprint towards midterms

‘The Big Money Show’ panel analyzes President Donald Trump’s economic messaging on the campaign trail and reviews the latest Fox News polls in the Ohio and Texas Senate races ahead of the midterm elections, where cost of living remains a top concern for voters.

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A Democratic lawmaker who publicly defied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., twice beat the odds to win re-election in a district that President Donald Trump carried in 2024.

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., defeated Republican Washington State Sen. John Braun to win a third term in the House of Representatives, The Associated Press reported.

It’s an important victory for House Democrats in their quest to claw back the majority in Congress, but one that could also create drama for party leaders on key votes over the next two years.

JEFFRIES THREATENS ‘SERIOUS RESPONSE’ AFTER DEMOCRATS HELP GOP ADVANCE ANTI-SOCIALISM VOTE

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Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., arrives for a vote series at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 25, 2024, in Washington, D.C.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Gluesenkamp Perez, who has been known to buck her party on votes in the past, infuriated her fellow Democrats twice in September when she sided with Republicans on procedural votes that helped GOP leaders rescue their agenda from conservative rebellions.

If not for her and Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, siding with Republicans on those two votes, the House GOP’s agenda would have been paralyzed.

The first time earned her a rare public rebuke from Jeffries, who called it a “breach of trust.” Other left-wing lawmakers called for her to be removed from the powerful House Appropriations Committee over the move.

But one could argue that Gluesenkamp Perez’s public defiance of her own party was critical for her political survival. Trump won her district by roughly 3 percentage points in 2024, and she first won her seat by defeating an incumbent House Republican.

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President Donald Trump looks on during the trophy ceremony after the U.S. Team wins 17-13 following the Sunday’s Singles on day four of the Presidents Cup 2026 at Medinah Country Club on Sept. 27, 2026, in Medinah, Ill.(Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Washington’s 3rd Congressional District includes rural areas and the city of Vancouver, and smaller coastal towns in the southwest portion of the state.

HOUSE DEMS OVERWHELMINGLY REJECT ANTI-SOCIALISM RESOLUTION AFTER 2 MODERATES DEFY JEFFRIES

Part of what bolstered Gluesenkamp Perez in her previous two races was her opponent, Joe Kent, suffering from electability issues because of his association with far-right groups. He was later named Trump’s director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center, but resigned over disagreements on Middle East policy.

This time, however, the race was expected to be much closer, with Braun running as a more mainstream GOP candidate.

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Joseph Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 11, 2025(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Braun is a former Navy captain who also helps run his family’s company, Braun Northwest, a manufacturer of emergency vehicles.

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More than $20 million was spent on their race, according to the Washington Standard, a sign of its critical position for both parties.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Black candidates for governor make history with 2026 midterm victories

November 4, 2026 / 1:38 PM EST / CBS News

Americans elected their first Black woman into a gubernatorial role during the 2026 midterms, alongside three other Black candidates who won races for governor around the United States on Tuesday. And in Nevada, Democrat Aaron Ford, who is also Black, is leading in the governor’s race by more than 70,000 votes.

The races culminated, respectively, in victories for Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, in Georgia; Byron Donalds, a Republican, in Florida; David Crowley, a Democrat, in Wisconsin; and Wes Moore, a Democrat, was reelected to serve a second term as governor of Maryland. He became the state’s first Black governor when he was elected in 2022.

Including Moore, only three Black Americans have previously been elected to serve as U.S. governors. Former New York Gov. David Paterson, who is also Black, became governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008.

Once Bottoms and Crowley were projected the winners in their races, Moore reflected on their wins to CBS News on Tuesday, calling the victories “incredibly important.

“This is exciting, because up until this moment, I was the only Black governor in America. And I was very clear that that’s a title that I did not want to hold onto for very long,” said Moore. “I’m only the third African American ever elected governor in the 250-year history of this country, and, now, in one cycle, we have at least doubled that number. I just think it’s incredibly important. It’s a historic moment.”

Bottoms has been hailed as a trailblazer for more reasons than one, as she will become the first Black woman elected to a gubernatorial position in U.S. history. She will also be the first woman to serve as governor of Georgia when she joins the ranks of a record-high number of women — 17 — in governor’s offices nationwide.

She told CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King on Wednesday that she had been trying to tune out the results when she learned that she won.

“I had put in my AirPods to work on my speech, and my husband was on the sofa near me, laying near me, and he kicked me,” said Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor. “I went like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘They called it.’ And I said, ‘Called what?’ And so that’s how I knew.”

Donalds, who served as U.S. representative for Florida’s 19th District after his election to that spot in 2020, is now also slated to become Florida’s first Black governor. He is also the first Black Republican elected governor in the nation.

In Wisconsin, Crowley, a moderate Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Tom Tiffany in the culmination of a governor’s race that played out in one of the country’s most purple states. Tiffany, a U.S. representative, is also one of President Trump’s top allies.

The race in Nevada between Ford, who was elected as Nevada’s attorney general in 2018, and Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo is still a toss-up, CBS News estimates. If Ford wins, he will become the state’s first Black governor and the first Black governor ever elected west of the Mississippi.

Fox News Voter Poll: How Democrats took control of the Senate

2026-11-04T13:13:22-05:00

Dems flip control of House and Senate in major Capitol Hill power shift

Democrats flip control of Congress as Cheryl Casone and Todd Piro break down the 2026 Capitol Hill power shift. Chad Pergram details key victories, including in Michigan and Texas. Austin Petersen, a former libertarian presidential candidate, also joins ‘Fox & Friends First’ to provide his analysis.

The much-touted “blue wave” came to fruition as Democrats won a stunning run of victories in both red and blue states.

They also came out ahead in key governor’s races.

The Fox News Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters nationwide, highlights the central themes and demographic groups that defined these important races.

STATE OF PLAY: BLUE WAVE SWEEPS DEMOCRATS INTO POWER, WITH KEY RACES STILL HANGING IN BALANCE

SOUTH CAROLINA

Democrat Annie Andrews won a close-run race against incumbent Republican Darline Graham to flip a Senate seat that had been in the hands of Graham’s brother Lindsey for more than 20 years.

Appointed to the seat after her brother’s death in July, Graham underperformed his electoral strength; he won re-election to the Senate in 2020 by 11 percentage points. She also underperformed President Donald Trump’s strength among key groups from two years ago.

Rural voters, for instance, backed Trump with 63% in 2024 – Graham this year garnered only 51%. Former Vice President Kamala Harris received 36% of the rural vote in 2024; Andrews bested that by about 10 points.

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South Carolina graphic on rural voters for Andrews and Graham.(Fox News)

Graham did manage to hang on to non-MAGA Republican voters, amid concerns that they would defect. But again, she got 70% of their vote, while Trump pulled in 79% two years ago.

Independents: Andrews ran away among these voters, getting about 7 in 10. Trump received 39%, while Graham managed less than 20%.

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Graphic of the South Carolina independent voters on Andrews and Graham.(Fox News)

Andrews did well with women, college graduates and urban voters.

She also benefited from Democrats being more unified behind her than Republicans were for Graham. Almost all Democrats backed Andrews, while just about 8 in 10 Republicans voted for Graham. More than 10% of Republicans crossed party lines to support Andrews.

The economy was by far the top issue in the state, with more than four in 10 putting it in the top spot. Andrews received the majority of those voters.

THE ECONOMY IS ON THE BALLOT. 3 CHARTS REVEAL THE REALITY VOTERS FACE AS THEY HEAD TO THE POLLS

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Graphic displaying the South Carolina Senate issues to include the economy, state of democracy, healthcare, and immigration.(Fox News)

Three-quarters said inflation caused their family hardship in the past year, and more than half are very concerned about the cost of gas, food, utilities and healthcare.

And voters blame Trump for their economic woes: six in 10 say his policies have made things worse, and more than half blame him for inflation.

AMERICA SAW THE BLUE WAVE COMING — BUT DRASTICALLY UNDERESTIMATED THE EXTENT OF THE DEM TSUNAMI

Graham was also found lacking as far as having the right experience to serve as senator. More than six in 10 said she did not.

OHIO

Democrat Sherrod Brown won back his seat in the Senate, flipping it into the “D” column. He was ahead in the polls throughout the race and pulled off a win against Republican Jon Husted, who had been appointed to JD Vance’s seat when he became vice president.

Husted tried to play the “extreme” card on Brown, which didn’t quite play among an electorate that was familiar with him after serving three terms in the Senate. More than half said he wasn’t.

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Graphic of the Ohio poll on the extremity of Brown’s views.(Fox News)

Brown did, on the other hand, wield the too-close-to-Trump card on Husted – and quite effectively at that, with close to six in 10 voters saying the Republican was too supportive of the president.

VANCE’S SCATHING IRAN WAR POSTMORTEM PUTS POTENTIAL 2028 GOP SHOWDOWN IN FOCUS: ‘EVERYONE KNOWS WHY’

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Graphic of the Ohio poll displaying what pollsters think of Husted being too supportive of President Donald Trump.(Fox News)

The question of whether Democrats could regain working-class voters amid concerns over the economy and affordability was at the heart of this race. And it appears they did.

Husted struggled with working-class voters. Two years ago, Trump pulled in 61% of voters with no college degree – Husted got only half.

Trump also dominated among rural voters two years ago, garnering 70%; Husted was about 11 percentage points below that.

Young voters: Trump pulled in 60% of voters under 30 in 2024; Husted, not even a quarter. That is an enormous swing to Brown and the Democrats.

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Graphic of young voters under the age of 30 in Ohio.(Fox News)

Hispanic voters were another huge swing back into the Democratic column. Trump got 58% to Harris’ 41% in 2024. This time, three-quarters of them went for Brown.

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Graphic on hispanic voters for the Ohio senate.(Fox News)

The economy was definitely at the top of voters’ minds. Close to seven in 10 say the state of the economy is not good, eight in 10 say inflation has been a hardship for them, and six in 10 say Trump’s policies are to blame.

Add that up, and Trump was no doubt a drag on Republican Husted. The president’s job approval is underwater by close to 20 points.

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Graphic on President Trump’s job performance poll in Ohio.(Fox News)

Six in 10 also say that Trump prioritizes his own interests rather than the country’s.

In the end, it was a tough year to run as a Republican – even in a traditionally Republican state – when the party’s president is unpopular and people are worried about their finances.

Finally, the top quality Ohio voters say they are looking for in a senator is change. And Brown is apparently that guy, with half of those voters backing him compared to about four in 10 for Husted.

The Ohio governor’s race was competitive, but ended in the “D” column as well. A controversial ad by the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign attacking Democrat Amy Acton appears to have had little impact, with voters who made their decision in the last week, basically breaking even between the two candidates.

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Graphic of the Ohio senate poll on Ramaswamy and Acton.(Fox News)

MAINE

Five-term Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican member of Congress from New England – and that total is now down to zero after first-time candidate Troy Jackson, a former logger and Maine Senate president, defeated the Vacationland mainstay.

The race was tight throughout, but Democrats spent a lot of time tying Collins as closely as they could to President Trump, who is not very popular among Maine voters. Six in 10 disapprove of the job he is doing.

That seems to have had an effect, with six in 10 saying she is too supportive of the president.

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Graphic displaying Maine poll on Collin’s support of President Trump.(Fox News)

Who controls the Senate was a big concern for Maine voters, with eight in 10 saying it was a crucial or major factor to their vote. Jackson carried those voters by more than 10 points.

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Graphic on which party in Maine controls Senate to vote.(Fox News)

The state of democracy was the number one issue for Maine voters. And these voters went eight in 10 for Jackson.

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Graphic on the most important issue facing the country according to a Maine poll.(Fox News)

Three-quarters are angry or dissatisfied with the direction the country is going; again, those voters went overwhelmingly for Jackson.

The quality Mainers said they’d most like to see in their senator is the ability to bring needed change. Those voters went big for Jackson.

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Maine poll on which is the most important quality that can bring change.(Fox News)

Jackson bested Collins among women, young voters, college graduates, liberals, urban and suburban voters.

One of Collins’ strongest groups was non-MAGA Republicans, which was pretty much her brand. But not enough to carry the day.

IOWA

Trump won Iowa by 13 percentage points in 2024, but two years later, Republican Ashley Hinson was edged out by Democrat Josh Turek, who flipped the seat currently held by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst.

Hinson managed to hang on to rural voters, but not by as much as Trump did two years ago, and that could have been a key factor in the race, with rural Republican voters feeling hampered by tariffs, high gas and diesel prices and the Iran war.

Six in 10 voters say tariffs are hurting Iowa’s economy, the same number who say they are very concerned about the price of gas, and the same number yet again who say the Iran war, a major cause of high gas prices, was the wrong decision.

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Graphic of an Iowa asking whether the United States’ decision to take military action against Iran was right or wrong.(Fox News)

Iowa voters are not happy with the way things are going in the country, to say the least, with seven in 10 angry or dissatisfied about it.

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Graphic on Iowa poll about how things are going in the U.S.(Fox News)

Iowans don’t approve of the job Trump is doing, and Hinson likely paid a price for that, with more than half saying she is too supportive of him.

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Graphic of an Iowa poll on Hinson’s support of President Donald Trump.(Fox News)

In the end, Turek’s strength among young voters and Hispanics – two groups Trump did very well with only two years ago – plus college graduates and suburban voters was all too much for Hinson to overcome.

KANSAS

What seemed a safe bet turned into a surprisingly tough re-election bid for Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who lost to popular megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton in a flip for the Democratic column.

Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly 100 years. But Hamilton, being a well-known figure in the state, plus the headwinds of a tough economy and an unpopular president facing Marshall, was able to change that.

The price of gas was a big concern for Kansas voters, a fact Marshall himself acknowledged during the campaign. And indeed, more than half of them said they were very concerned about it.

The war in Iran, one of the causes of those high gas prices, was another concern, with six in 10 saying it was the wrong decision, and more than nine in 10 saying it was a factor in their vote.

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Graphic on Kansas poll on whether the Iran war is a factor to votes for congress.(Fox News)

Tariffs were another key issue in a farm state, with six in 10 saying they are hurting the Kansas economy.

Rural voters backed Trump 72% two years ago, but only about six in 10 did the same for Marshall.

Trump overall was not a help for Marshall, even though he campaigned for him in the state three times. His job approval is underwater by more than 10 points, and Marshall made no attempt to distance himself from the increasingly unpopular president.

That likely hurt him in the end, as six in 10 Kansas voters point the finger at Trump’s policies for inflation and for worsening economic conditions.

They also think Trump has taken his eye off the ball when it comes to what matters, with close to six in 10 saying the president is focusing on the wrong priorities. Those voters went almost 10 to one for Hamilton.

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Graphic of Kansas poll on whether President Trump has the right priorities.(Fox News)

In addition to rural voters, Marshall also underperformed rather spectacularly with young voters, who gave Trump 58% of the vote in 2024, but went more than eight in 10 for Marshall’s opponent, Hamilton.

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Graphic on Kansas poll of young voters.(Fox News)

MICHIGAN

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed pulled off a win against Republican Rep. Mike Rogers to keep Michigan’s Senate seat blue. He will be the first Muslim member of the Senate.

El-Sayed fended off charges of family ties to extremist groups and being too closely aligned with the far-left during the campaign. But when asked whether they found him too extreme, Michigan voters said no.

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Graphic of Michigan poll on El-Sayed’s views.(Fox News)

His opponent Rogers, however, faced the headwinds of an unpopular president of his own party with some policies that were pretty unpopular in the state he was hoping to represent. When asked if he was too closely tied to Trump, the answer was a resounding yes – with more than six in 10 saying so.

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Graphic on Michigan poll on whether Rogers is too supportive of President Trump.(Fox News)

Michigan voters really don’t like the job Trump is doing – six in 10 say they disapprove. Seven in 10 say the economy is in bad shape, eight in 10 say inflation has been a hardship for them, while four in 10 say their family’s financial situation has gotten worse over the past year. All of these voters broke for El-Sayed.

Israel became an issue in the campaign, with more than half saying U.S. support is too strong.

There was concern that Black voters wouldn’t come through for El-Sayed, but close to nine in 10 of them did, about the same level as they did for Harris in 2024.

Young voters: half of them went for Trump two years ago in Michigan. This time, less than a third backed Rogers.

Rogers did well enough with rural voters and those with no college degree, reliably Republican groups. But he couldn’t overcome El-Sayed’s strength among women, college graduates, urban and suburban voters.

MINNESOTA

In a race that seemed surprisingly close in a reliably blue state, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan succeeded in holding retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat for the Democrats.

Her opponent, longtime NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, tried to hit Flanagan hard on corruption, linking her to the massive fraud scandals unfolding in the state. And corruption is indeed a major concern for voters, with six in 10 saying it is a major problem. Those voters went more than two to one for Tafoya, but Flanagan carried the day just about everywhere else.

The top issue in Minnesota is the state of democracy. Flanagan carried those voters by four to one.

The economy was the No. 2 issue for Minnesota voters, and they are clearly not happy with any of it. Seven in 10 rate the economy as not so good or poor, eight in 10 say inflation has been a hardship for their family, six in 10 blame Trump’s policies for inflation, and two-thirds say Trump policies have made the economy worse.

Flanagan worked overtime to link Tafoya to the unpopular president, and it seems to have paid off. Voters also question Tafoya’s experience, with more than half deciding she didn’t have enough.

Flanagan’s far-left progressive politics don’t seem to give them pause, however, with more than half saying her views are not too extreme.

TEXAS

James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, flipping a Senate seat in a state Trump won by 14 points only two years ago and breaking a decades-long Republican hold on the Lone Star State. He is the first Democrat in more than 30 years to win a statewide race in Texas.

Hispanic voters, who gave half of their vote to Trump in 2024, turned around and supported Talarico by two-thirds.

Young voters turned out overwhelmingly for Talarico, with eight in 10 backing him – this after more than half of them supported Trump two years ago.

Trump carried 73% of rural voters in 2024. Talarico didn’t win them, but Paxton struggled with this die-hard Republican group, getting about six in 10 of their votes.

Paxton also held on to three quarters of non-MAGA Republicans, many of whom were expected to defect, but gave him about the same level of support as they did Trump in 2024.

Paxton was a controversial candidate, having won a divisive primary against longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn and facing various legal and personal scandals. His unfavorable rating reflects this, with six in 10 saying they don’t have a good opinion of him. Four in 10 say the same about Talarico.

Black support was crucial for Talarico, especially after his own divisive primary against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who did not endorse him. And turn out they did – nine in 10 of them. This after Trump managed to pull 20% of the Black vote in 2024.

Texas voters are in an ornery mood, with seven in 10 saying they are angry or dissatisfied with the direction the country is going.

They’re also feeling surly about the Iran war – perhaps not a surprise in a state so dependent on the oil business. Nine in 10 say the war was a factor in their vote, six in 10 say it was the wrong decision, and another six in 10 say they are very concerned about the cost of gas.

In the governor’s race, Republican Greg Abbott was seeking a historic fourth term, but lost to Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who will be the first Hispanic governor of the state and the first Democrat elected governor since Ann Richards in 1990.

Abbott’s loss is perhaps not surprising given more than half of Texas voters have an unfavorable opinion of him, compared to about four in 10 who feel the same way about Hinojosa.

ALASKA

In a race featuring the incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan, Democrat Mary Peltola, and independent “Decoy” Dan Sullivan, the Alaska Senate race remains too early to call at the end of the night.

The focus of the final week of the campaign turned on a New York Times report saying Alaska Democrats intentionally placed a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot in order to hurt the Republican’s chances. Peltola denied the report, but lawsuits and accusations were flying as voters headed to the polls.

As elsewhere across the country, affordability issues were a key concern. Just about half of Alaska voters were very concerned about the cost of gas, healthcare, food and utilities.

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The economy was not the No. 1 issue, however. The state of democracy took top place, and those voters went strongly for Peltola.

Trump carried the state by 13 points in 2024. Now, more voters disapprove of the job he’s doing than approve.

Two years later he’s not exactly a help. More than half say that Sullivan is too close to the president. Yet, almost one in five of those who say he is too supportive of Trump still back him.

Methodology for states

The Fox News Voter Poll is based on a survey conducted by SSRS with registered voters nationwide. This survey was conducted Oct. 19 to Nov. 3, 2026, concluding at the end of voting on Election Day. It includes more than 900 interviews with voters in South Carolina; 1,000 in Kansas; 2,900 in Alaska; 4,000 in Maine; 3,900 in Minnesota; 4,300 in Ohio; 4,400 in Iowa; 4,700 in Michigan; and 5,200 in Texas. Full methodological details are available here.

Wars, executive actions, and a lot of construction: How Trump is expected to handle being a lame-duck president

2026-11-04 / CNN

President Donald Trump, resoundingly rejected by voters on Tuesday night, is entering the final phase of his elected career wounded but newly determined to retain an iron grip on power.

The concluding years of his presidency will be frustrating ones, many of his allies admit, as Democrats embark on promised investigations that could ensnare the president and his top allies. Amid those fights, Republicans will eventually move to identify Trump’s successor, perhaps more quickly than the president once expected.

Trump has not ruled out trying to strike deals with the newly empowered Democrats, and some advisers say the president’s capacity for forging unlikely partnerships could serve him well as his time in office wanes. No longer the opposition party, Democrats will be under pressure to show an ability to govern, which could incentivize deal-making with Trump.

But he’s also recently dubbed himself “Mr. Veto” when musing about how he would handle Democrats controlling the legislative branch, and his record during his first term as president doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in cross-aisle cooperation. One source involved in internal discussions said while Trump may appear conciliatory in the immediate post-election moment, his behavior in the years ahead will come down to how Democrats wield their power.

“If you have a Congress that’s willing to strike deals, he’s a deal-maker,” the source said. “If you have a Congress that’s going to come in and immediately only focus on investigations — then you’re going to get a very different version of Trump.”

Tuesday’s outcome was one the president and his advisers have been anticipating and preparing for, even as Trump embarked on a month-long blitz of red states endeavoring to retain Republican congressional majorities but also demonstrate his singular status as the party’s head. The intensive campaigning left Trump, by his own admission, exhausted and ready for a break.

Still, the outcome was Trump’s worst-case scenario. And 10 years after first entering office, the prospect of being labeled a lame-duck is now driving him to consider new ways to assert his relevance, officials and advisers said, even as many in his party begin to envision a future without him as their leader.

In the immediate term, that could mean a swift renewal of the war against Iran, which Trump has strongly hinted he’s prepared to resume once the midterm season has ended. US and Iranian negotiators had been working unsuccessfully over the last several days to strike a new deal.

The president’s team has also spent months exploring ways to wield expansive executive authority to advance areas of his agenda that no longer appear likely to gain approval in Congress, including immigration and federal spending. Those close to the president say he’s ready to push the boundaries of his executive power to force through his goals.

No longer hampered by voters’ concerns he is spending too much time on foreign policy and his pet projects, Trump is expected to dive headlong into both, attending three major international summits over the coming weeks and dedicating more time to the various construction projects he has been pursuing in Washington, according to people familiar with the matter. The day after the election, Trump called an impromptu event to show off White House ballroom construction.

In the hours after both chambers were called for Democrats, the president did not seem prepared to accept responsibility for Republicans’ defeats. He has regularly pointed to historic precedent showing midterm losses for the sitting president’s party. Trump has also complained about certain candidates’ likability and inability to fundraise effectively — despite having chosen many of them.

He has griped privately at Republicans who questioned his approach of making the midterms about himself, blaming his past losses instead on candidate missteps or alleged fraud. He has rarely course corrected after past political setbacks.

Yet the prospect of a staffing shakeup has not been ruled out, and many administration officials have begun to look beyond the White House as they plot career moves, according to several Trump aides. His top political advisers have privately blamed Republicans’ shortfalls on the Iran war, and many believe Trump could be looking for a scapegoat.

Democrats have made clear they intend to use congressional majorities to issue subpoenas and hold hearings focused on the actions of the president and his allies. Trump warned on the campaign trail that he could be impeached again. Polls showed that voters’ corruption concerns surged ahead of the election.

“Lawyer up,” read a two-word statement from the incoming Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee Robert Garcia after his party won control of the chamber — and its subpoena power.

Administration lawyers have been expecting potential investigations for months. Yet as late as September, the extensive preparation that some in the West Wing had anticipated to ready the president and his senior advisers for potential Democratic probes wasn’t happening in earnest, Trump advisers told CNN, even as some officials have personally lawyered up.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, in particular, would often shut down conversations regarding a likely onslaught of oversight probes into those operating at the highest levels of the administration, one of the advisers said, believing it could pull focus away from the campaign.

“She would always say, ‘We are going to win and we’re going to put all our energy into winning,’” the adviser remarked of Wiles’ attitude in the months leading up to the midterm elections.

Other White House officials argued that Wiles had privately told the White House Counsel’s office to prepare for what Democrats may do, even as she told staff to “keep their eye on the prize” — as one of them characterized it.

“Quietly preparing for that scenario doesn’t mean deployment of that scenario,” one of the officials said.

The Counsel’s office has also hired an additional 15 lawyers in recent months dedicated to protecting the administration from future oversight probes.

“If crazed Democrats want to abuse their power and politicize the process of investigating and subpoenaing and try to destroy lives, they should be reminded that we still control the federal government and all of its powers,” a White House official said.

Still, some officials have hired their own attorneys or considered purchasing legal insurance to cover what many anticipate will be steep fees if they become embroiled in an investigation. After many staffers in the first administration were burned by exorbitant expenses during the January 6 investigation, other junior staffers have privately mulled if they should stay at their jobs, noting that they expect Democrats to cast a wide net.

There have also been conversations involving Trump and White House counsel Will Scharf, among others, over the wisdom of preemptive pardons for staffers. They have not decided whether to proceed, though Trump has not ruled it out.

Many in the West Wing believe the president is personally expecting the worst when it comes to Democratic investigations — having already experienced two impeachment trials during his first term.

“He went through this already once before, of course he expects the worst,” one source told CNN.

There have been moments in his private discussions with his most trusted allies when he acknowledged the magnitude of what a Democratic-controlled Congress could mean for his final two years in office, sources familiar with the discussions said.

“He remembers what it was like to have his family and his aides be dragged through the mud, let alone face two impeachments,” a White House official said.

Still, Trump insisted Wednesday that he’s “not even a little bit” concerned about the potential for another impeachment investigation.

“I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that. Impeachment for no reason. What? For having a successful country?” Trump told reporters at the site of his White House ballroom.

White House officials are clear-eyed that divided government means any sweeping legislation Trump wants passed will be virtually impossible. But they’re also quick to remind the president that his agenda throughout his second term has largely been carried out via executive order without relying on Congress.

Advisers say that pattern will only intensify with Democrats in control of the House and Senate with ample majorities.

The president’s expansive use of his executive authority has been headed by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget chief Russell Vought. Both played major roles in planning some of the more controversial actions Trump took early in his term, such as immigration crackdowns and steep cuts to federal government programs.

Now, administration lawyers are looking at actions on immigration, federal spending and tariffs that could advance areas of the president’s agenda where congressional action appears unlikely. Possible measures include tightening rules on visas, applying new duties on imports and easing certain regulations.

A narrow Democratic majority in the Senate may not make a drastic difference in Trump’s legislative strategy. Filibuster rules require most major legislation to secure 60 votes. However, a notable exception is presidential nominations, including for federal judges — Democrats could block any potential nominee to the Supreme Court if a vacancy arises over the next two years, something multiple Republican officials expressed concern over.

Some Trump advisers believe Democrats, looking to demonstrate governing abilities, will seek out areas of compromise, at least in the narrow window before the 2028 presidential election cycle begins.

“I’m a person that likes getting things done, and there are things that we can work with,” Trump told Fox News on Tuesday night, only listing immigration as an area of potential compromise but not elaborating further.

Trump has promised he will veto any legislation sent by Democrats that butts up against his promises, and on Tuesday posted an image of a red hat with the word “VETO” in large white letters. Overriding a presidential veto requires two-thirds of the House and Senate.

“I guess I’ll become Mr. Veto,” Trump told the New York Post podcast before Election Day. “And then at some point, we’ll probably make deals.”

A freer hand on foreign policy

After spending much of the past two years focused intently on wars abroad, Trump sought to put the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine on the backburner during the midterm campaign. Efforts to end both definitively are now poised to ramp back up.

Many presidents in their final years turn to foreign policy, where their unilateral powers are greater and Congress has limited ability to restrict their actions. And it has the potential to burnish a presidential legacy.

For Trump, who openly pines for a Nobel Peace Prize, it has also proved frustrating. The war in Iran has stretched longer than anticipated, and Trump has privately vented that it badly damaged his party’s midterm chances.

Some Trump allies expect he will find someone to take the blame now that the campaign is over. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been a proponent of the war, is seen by some allies as potentially vulnerable. Democrats and even some Republicans have already suggested Hegseth will be a prime target for potential impeachment proceedings, among other probes. Meanwhile Trump, always one to crowdsource an opinion, has asked allies about their thoughts on Hegseth’s performance of late.

“The bottom line is that Trump feels misled (on the Iran war) — he was misled,” one Trump adviser told CNN. “And somebody should pay for that.”

Trump told Fox on Tuesday he was not considering a Cabinet shakeup, and another member of Trump’s circle said the president has made clear he believes Hegseth should fight back against potential impeachment proceedings. Trump has defended Hegseth and dismissed Democratic efforts to remove him, calling him a “great warrior.”

In 2006, then-President George W. Bush swiftly announced the departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after Republicans suffered a drubbing in that year’s midterms, driven in part by the unpopular Iraq war.

It’s not clear whether Trump would shake up his team before a definitive end to the Iran conflict. For weeks, top advisers have been debating plans for new strikes on Iran, hoping to bring the eight-month conflict to a conclusive end. Not everyone on the president’s team believes imminent action would be productive, and some are pushing for more time to try striking a deal.

Either way, the Iran war has become a burden for a president who once promised not to get the country embroiled in a foreign conflict. Similarly, the Ukraine war — which Trump vowed to end within a day of taking office — has come to represent an unfulfilled promise.

Talks between Ukraine and Russia mediated by the United States will resume this week in the United Arab Emirates. And planning is underway for a trilateral meeting between Trump, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping when the men convene in Shenzhen, China, later this month.

For more than a decade, Trump has steered the Republican Party with an iron grip, banishing dissent and shunning those who were disloyal. That era, even his allies admit, is nearing an end.

Reasserting his relevance amid this week’s results will be a challenge, some Republicans said. Where Trump was once viewed as the party leader few could challenge, his political capital has waned and many will now view him as an early lame duck.

Trump views it differently — and isn’t prepared to let go of his influential role as the party jockeys ahead of the 2028 primaries.

Unlike during the first year of his second term, when he would swiftly shut down any talk of his future successor, the president has been more readily willing to discuss his thoughts on 2028, his advisers said. One source close to Trump said the president is aware the second he anoints a successor, his lame-duck status will be cemented. Advisers said specific conversations around this topic would likely begin in in earnest in January.

“I don’t want to talk about individuals because it’s still a little bit too soon to do that,” Trump said Tuesday night. “We still have a long way to go, but I guess it’s going to be time now.”

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump approached the selection of his running mate with that key question in mind: Who might be best to eventually replace him and carry on the MAGA torch? That argument was central in his decision to go with JD Vance.

But as he’s polled those around him over who should be the future GOP presidential nominee, Vance is not alone on the list. Secretary of State Marco Rubio often comes up as well.

Trump has told allies that he wants to see how the primary campaign plays out — especially in the beginning, sources familiar with the talks said. Trump advisers who support Rubio are hoping the president will make a decision sooner rather than later, noting while Rubio has name recognition they believe he will need a longer runway than Vance to get to know the American public.

As he was crisscrossing the country last month, Trump made little mention of what role he would play once he has left the White House. But he made clear he wasn’t planning to relinquish his authority.

“You know, we only have a little more than two years left. Can you believe it?” he told an adoring crowd in Sioux City, Iowa, who booed in disappointment.

But,” he went on, “I’m going to have a lot of power when I leave.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.