Americans vote in midterm election seen as a referendum on Trump presidency

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Americans are voting in midterm elections that could shift control of Congress and constrain President Donald Trump’s agenda. The campaign has been shaped by economic frustration, including inflation and high energy costs, as well as the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Americans voted on Tuesday in a midterm election seen as a nationwide referendum on US President Donald Trump that could wrest control of Congress from his Republican Party and impose major restraints on the remaining two years of his presidency. Polls predict the Democrats will win a majority in the House of Representatives and possibly seize the Senate on the back of voter resentment at an unpopular president, soaring energy costs and the dragging conflict with Iran. Republicans losing the House would give Democrats the power to stall Trump’s legislative agenda and launch sweeping investigations of his administration. A Senate defeat would also threaten his ability to appoint Supreme Court justices and senior officials. Donta Comer, a 38-year-old project manager in an Atlanta suburb, told AFP he “voted for mostly Democratic candidates”. “It’s just about the cost of living, gas prices, those kind of things,” Comer said. “It needs to change for the everyday person and I’m an everyday person.” People exit the voting booths at the ward 2 voting site at the Barn at Bull Meadow on Nov 3, 2026 in Concord, New Hampshire. — AFP Trump defended his record in a final TV phone-in pitch to voters on Tuesday, saying he had rebuilt the country through his immigration crackdown, war on Iran and tariff policy. “We have to keep America great. We’re great now. We were terrible two years ago,” Trump told ‘Fox & Friends’. All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are at stake, along with governorships in 36 states. Democrats need only three House gains and a net four seats in the Senate to wrest both chambers from Republican hands. Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump as he delivers a speech marking the end of the midterm election campaign at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, on Nov 2, 2026. — AFP Trump returned to office last year promising to bring down prices, but inflation, tariffs and fuel costs inflated by the Middle East conflict have squeezed Americans. The 80-year-old’s approval rating has hovered near the low 30s. In the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, retired teacher Jane Callum, 77, was among Democrats canvassing for Senator Jon Ossoff, who framed the race as a watershed moment for the country’s future. “I really feel an obligation to do everything that I possibly can to change the direction that our country is going in now, and put it more on the path to democracy and away from autocracy,” she told AFP. Economic discontent Republicans insist that Trump’s tax cuts and anti-migrant stance will benefit voters, and they are portraying Democratic candidates as left-wing radical socialists — a message that seemed to resonate with Daryl Ruley, an 84-year-old voter in Austin, Texas. “A lot of today’s younger people think socialism is the way to go,” Ruley told AFP. “They don’t understand history if they believe that’s the case.” But in his final public campaign appearance on Monday, Trump barely touched on the election and gave a rambling talk about his problem-plagued renovation of Washington’s Reflecting Pool. “This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime,” he said, 26 minutes into the speech, before quickly returning to talking about renovations. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer branded it a “pathetic closing message”. Some Republican supporters remain confident. “We’re going to win. As a matter of fact, we’ve probably already won,” Texas military veteran Yvonne Clouser told AFP. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority, but the battlefield has extended into once reliably conservative states like Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska. US Senator Elizabeth Warren (L), Democrat from Massachusetts, joins Democratic US Senate candidate for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed at a midterm campaign rally in Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbour, Michigan on Nov 2, 2026. — AFP Democrats must also defend competitive seats, including in Michigan, where a bitter internal dispute saw Congresswoman Haley Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers rather than the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed. Decision Desk HQ’s final forecast projected 241 House seats for Democrats against 194 for Republicans, and a narrower 52-48 Democratic Senate majority. Trump, who will watch the midterm results at the White House on Tuesday night, signalled that if he does lose control of Congress, he could simply defy Democrats. “I veto everything,” he told a podcast on Monday, although he said he might strike deals with Democrats eventually. Justice Department to monitor elections in all 50 states More than 57 million Americans had already voted early before Tuesday, indicating high engagement. The campaign has attracted more than $11 billion in political advertising, while billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican political efforts.