00:00We start with the U.S. midterm elections.
00:03Democrats are benefiting mainly from voter dissatisfaction with U.S. President Donald Trump
00:09rather than support for their own policies, according to political analyst Dr. David Hopkins.
00:16The Boston College political science professor says that voters see the party
00:20as a way to express their rejection of Republican policies.
00:25Well, it's mainly about dissatisfaction with Trump.
00:30In fact, the Democratic Party, if you ask Americans what they think of the Democratic Party,
00:34they're not actually that happy about the Democrats either right now.
00:39But the Republicans are the ones in charge, and so they're bearing the brunt of the anger.
00:44And anger can be a very powerful motivator in politics.
00:48And even if people are not necessarily sold on every idea or policy position that Democrats
00:55are advocating, they really want to send a message to the Republicans that they don't
01:00like what the Republicans are doing.
01:02And the Democratic Party, therefore, just sort of becomes the instrument, the weapon
01:07that they use to sort of club the Republicans around the head.
01:11And that's really what polls suggest is going on in this election.
01:15And that's often the case when we have an election like this, is really there's a lot of the emotion
01:23is negative about one party rather than positive about the other.
01:27Hopkins said voters' dissatisfaction on Trump's performance was making the midterm elections
01:32a referendum towards him, as voters blamed the president and his party for the rise in cost
01:38of living.
01:40Sure.
01:41Well, midterm elections in the U.S., even though the president isn't directly on the ballot,
01:47are always, to a great extent, a referendum on the perceived performance of the president.
01:52And that is no exception this year, in 2026.
01:56Donald Trump's job approval rating as president has been declining steadily since he came back
02:04into office last January, and it's now sitting at about 35 to 40 percent of Americans approve
02:13of his performance.
02:14That's not very high.
02:15That's well under a majority.
02:17And so that alone suggests a tough year for other Republicans on the ballot.
02:25The main reason why voters are dissatisfied with Donald Trump is dissatisfaction with the
02:33cost of living in the U.S., the continued inflation that we've been experiencing along with much of
02:39the rest of the world over the last couple of years.
02:43And in particular, we've had an acceleration of inflation in fuel prices since the spring and
02:52the beginning of the war with Iran, which Trump, of course, instigated.
02:58And so there are a lot of people who are unhappy with the way things are going in this country.
03:03They're especially unhappy with the way the economy is going, the cost of living, the cost
03:08of gasoline, and they're blaming Donald Trump and the Republicans for those problems.
