Fox News Chief Political Analyst Brit Hume laid out a series of grim numbers Wednesday, warning that surging food and gasoline prices are dragging down President Donald Trump and his party heading into November’s midterm elections.
The inflation squeeze has been driven largely by Trump’s tariffs and his war against Iran. The president’s approval rating remains deep underwater across nearly every poll, with a UMass survey from August putting it at just 32 percent. Another poll found Democrats leading Republicans in a generic congressional ballot by a wide margin, 51 percent to 43 percent.
The economic pressure intensified Wednesday when Trump called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, just hours after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh announced a 0.25 percent rate hike, citing inflation concerns.
Speaking on Wednesday’s Special Report, Hume connected the Fed’s move directly to public sentiment. “The Fed is concerned about the same thing that our polling, that came out today suggests the American public is concerned about,” Hume said, before citing a newly released Fox News poll. “That’s the issue that helped elect Donald Trump, and I’m talking about inflation. Right now, the question has been raised, ‘Has the Trump administration made the economy better or worse?’ Fully 63% say he’s made it worse, and that’s 11 percentage points higher than the number of people who thought that last year.”
Hume went on to note that the same Fox News survey found 62 percent of respondents said grocery prices are a “major problem” for their families, while 61 percent said the same about gas prices.
“The president was elected in the hope, I believe, that inflation could be brought under control,” Hume said. “And to some extent on many products it has, but when it comes to gasoline, it reflects on the Iran war, and groceries, which have continued to go up. The problem is worse. And this is plaguing the Republicans, and it’s certainly plaguing the president. And it’s driving down his approval rating.”
Host Bret Baier then played a clip of Vice President JD Vance urging voters to give Republicans “another chance” in the upcoming midterms. Hume acknowledged Vance’s point had some merit, while stressing that pocketbook issues were overshadowing broader economic gains.
“Bret, he has a point,” Hume said. “The economy is growing, jobs are pretty plentiful. The poverty rate, I believe, hit its lowest point in modern history just about now. So, the economy is doing, in many respects, quite well. There’s growth. There’s the things you want. But this business with prices is just, it’s just killing this administration and the president’s party.”
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