Texas voters reporting inflation hardship favored Talarico in Senate race

Maine voters favored change; candidate loyalty hurt GOP candidates in many states

In Texas, about 2 in 10 voters said inflation had imposed “severe” hardship on them and their family, and about three-quarters of that group backed Democrat James Talarico for the Senate. Roughly 6 in 10 additional voters said inflation had led to “moderate” hardship, and Talarico won the majority of that group as well. The AP said the drag caused by inflation helped Democrats even in Republican strongholds such as Texas.

The AP said voters could see inflation in receipts from grocery stores and gasoline stations, as well as auto-repair bills and utility bills after a sweltering summer. It said the same pattern repeated from state to state. Nationally, voters who said they were “very concerned” about everyday costs, including groceries, healthcare and gas, overwhelmingly backed the Democratic candidate in their local U.S. House race.

Voters nationwide also pinned blame on Trump for his tariffs, his war in Iran and his unfulfilled campaign promise two years earlier to bring down prices. About two-thirds said Trump’s policies had made the economy worse, and about 8 in 10 of that group said they backed the Democratic candidate.

The AP said voters in key races seemed to be looking to Democratic candidates for change. In Maine, most voters who said a candidate with “the right experience” mattered most to their Senate decision chose Republican incumbent Susan Collins. More voters cared about bringing about “needed change,” and they favored Democrat Troy Jackson.

After Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died in July, Trump chose Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, to fill the seat. She promptly decided to seek election, and the AP reported that she had difficulty on foreign-policy questions that had been her brother’s forte. About 6 in 10 voters in the South Carolina Senate race said she lacked the experience to serve in the Senate.

During the Texas Republican primary, Trump backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton over the sitting senator, John Cornyn. The AP described Paxton as “scandal-ridden” and noted that he had been impeached but not convicted. About two-thirds of Texas Senate voters said Paxton lacked the character to be a senator.

The AP said Trump-endorsed candidates faced voter resistance in places that had once been safely Republican. It also said Trump prized loyalty in Republican candidates and that this hurt Republican candidates in many states. In North Carolina, as in several other states, about 6 in 10 voters said the state’s Republican Senate nominee, Michael Whatley, was “too supportive” of Trump. They chose former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, for the Senate instead.

Beyond the candidate-specific results, the AP said most voters appeared “exhausted and exasperated” by Trump after more than a decade at the epicenter of U.S. politics. The report said his failure to deliver on key promises — most notably vows to tame inflation that had worsened instead — weighed on fellow Republicans in Tuesday’s House and Senate elections. It said the poll showed voters generally saw Trump as focused more on his own fortune and “gold-leafed existence” than their needs. The AP also said Trump helped elevate candidates with “obvious flaws,” amplifying their struggles in an already challenging year.

In a Tuesday evening Fox News Channel interview, Trump said Democrats “fought hard” and the Republican base “didn’t like the candidates” he had endorsed because some of his picks were not fully loyal to him.

More than half of voters nationally said government corruption was “crucial” for their congressional vote, a little more than the share who said the cost of living was crucial. About 6 in 10 said they were personally “very concerned” about food and grocery costs.

Despite Republicans’ suggestion that voters cared little about Trump making more than $1 billion last year from meme coins and cryptocurrency, the poll found most voters believed Trump prioritized his own interests. During his second term, Trump solicited donations from powerful companies to build his desired White House ballroom after rapidly demolishing the building’s East Wing. The AP said, “That tenor set at the top spilled over into business deals for his family and other deals by his associates involving pardons and federal policies.” About two-thirds of voters said Trump did not have the right priorities, and the overwhelming majority of these voters supported Democratic House candidates.

For much of the prior two years, Trump “acted on his own,” while much of the Republican-controlled House and Senate “barely objected to his whims,” the AP reported. Trump laid off federal workers, imposed sweeping new tariffs, launched the war with Iran, remodeled Washington in gold paint, threatened the Federal Reserve, the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution, and “bullied a bevy of longtime allies.” About 7 in 10 voters said Congress was not doing enough to provide checks and balances for the presidency, including about 4 in 10 Republicans. The AP said that finding set the bar for Democrats, who won back the Senate and the House.

Democrats held an advantage on key issues such as the economy, but their edge was relatively slim. On the economy, foreign policy, healthcare, taxes and immigration, roughly 2 in 10 voters said “neither” party was better equipped to handle those issues. An even larger share said neither party would be better at addressing government corruption or artificial intelligence. Those skeptical voters generally broke for Democrats.

Only about half of voters had a “somewhat” or “strongly” favorable view of the Democratic Party, compared with approximately 4 in 10 who viewed the Republican Party positively. The Democratic share was higher, but not by much. About 2 in 10 voters who supported Democratic candidates had a negative view of the party as a whole.

The AP Voter Poll was a survey of the American electorate conducted by SSRS for The Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, FOX News Media, NBC News and Versant. It blended probability-based and non-probability-based interviews with registered voters in all 50 states, conducted from Oct. 19 to Nov. 3 in Alaska and Oct. 22 to Nov. 3 in all other states. A detailed methodology statement is available. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 0.6 percentage points for the full sample.