Trump’s Republican Party dismisses election losses

NEW YORK — Nearly two weeks after Republicans suffered landslide defeats in elections in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, many GOP leaders say there is no problem with the party's policies, its message or the leadership of President Donald Trump.

Trump says Democrats and the media are misleading voters who are concerned about high spending and the economy. Republican officials, eager to avoid another defeat in next fall's midterm elections, are urging candidates to fully embrace the president and talk more about his record.

Those were the key takeaways from a series of private conversations, briefings and official talking points with major Republican decision-makers across Washington, including inside the White House, following their party's Nov. 4 defeats. Their assessment underscores the extent to which the fate of the Republican Party is tied to Trump, a term-limited president who insists the economy has never been stronger under his watch.

This is despite a growing number of voters reporting a different reality in their lives.

But with few exceptions, Trump's aides who spearhead the GOP's political strategy have had no desire to challenge his wishes or beliefs.

“Republicans enter the next year more united behind President Trump than ever before,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Pels. “The party fully supports his America First agenda and the results he brings to the American people. President Trump's policies are popular, he drives turnout, and supporting him is the surest path to victory.”

However, Trump's approval is similar to that of former Presidents Barack Obama, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, at the same point in their terms. Their parties suffered major losses in the midterm elections.

Trump insists there is no affordability problem

After the election, the White House quietly decided to change its position and focus on affordability.

Much of the first year of Trump's second term has been shaped by his trade wars, a crackdown on illegal immigration, his decision to send National Guard troops into American cities and the longest government shutdown in US history.

Trump talked more about affordability after Election Day. On Friday, he cut tariffs on beef and other goods that consumers say cost too much. But Trump's main message is that the economy is better and consumer prices are lower than the media reports. It's much the same message that Democratic President Joe Biden and his allies have pushed for years, with little success.

In a social media post Friday, Trump said spending was “falling.”

“Affordability is a lie when used by Democrats. It is a complete scam,” Trump wrote. “Thanksgiving spending this year is 25% lower than last year under Crooked Joe! We are the Party of Affordability!”

A few days earlier, he had said on Fox News: “We have the greatest economy in history.”

Trump's numbers on the cost of Thanksgiving dinners are wrong. Food prices are 2.7% higher than in 2024.

Economic concerns were the dominant issue for voters in this month's election, according to the AP Voter Poll.

Republican strategist Doug Heye said Trump's approach isn't necessarily good for the GOP or its candidates, which already face a difficult political landscape in 2026 when voters will determine the balance of power in Congress. Historically, the party that occupies the White House has significant losses in non-presidential elections.

“Republicans need to let voters know that they understand what they're going through and that they're trying to fix it,” Hay said. “That can be hard to do when the president is unleashing a non-metaphorical wrecking ball on parts of the White House that distract so much of Washington and the media.”

“Candidates cannot afford to be distracted,” Hay added. “As we’ve seen in recent elections, especially in Virginia, if you don’t talk about what voters are talking about, they don’t listen to you.”

A look from the key gubernatorial race

The reality outside Washington suggests that not every Republican candidate shares Trump's views.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican leader who launched a campaign for governor last week, said there is no doubt about the top issue for her constituents: affordability. She also downplayed her party's focus on conservative cultural priorities, including transgender athletes, which was a top Republican priority in the recent Virginia gubernatorial race.

“Of course I support and advocate for women's and women's sports, but as you see in all of our communications, we're focused on the top issues, and every conversation we have with voters is about high taxes and spending, unaffordability,” Stefanik told The Associated Press.

She offered a nuanced look at Trump's leadership, unwilling to criticize any of his major policy decisions or leadership decisions but also unwilling to say her party has rallied completely behind him.

“I think our party is completely united on the issue of firing Kathy Hochul,” Stefanik said of New York's Democratic governor when asked about her party's support for Trump. “I'm focused on helping New Yorkers and putting New Yorkers first.”

While Stefanik said it was important for the governor to have an “effective working relationship” with Trump, she declined to say whether she would support Trump's hypothetical move to send the National Guard to New York, as he has threatened. “This shouldn't have happened if there was a Republican governor,” she said.

Stefanik's comments reflect the challenges facing Republican candidates navigating a challenging political landscape.

Provocative conversation topics

The Republican National Committee, the political arm of the Trump White House, has issued a series of talking points that dismiss recent election defeats as a byproduct of the advantage of Democratic voters in states where top races are being played out.

Talking points obtained by The Associated Press ignore Republican losses in Georgia and Pennsylvania. They also exaggerate Trump's political strength, arguing that he is more popular than Obama and Bush were at the same time during their presidencies.

This claim has been repeated by conservative media outlets in recent days.

AP's analysis of polls shows Trump's approval is no higher than Obama's or Bush's at a similar point in their second terms.

Trump's approval, at 36% in a November Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, is slightly higher than it has been so far in his first term. But according to the Gallup poll, both Obama and Bush had approval ratings in the 40s at this point in their second terms, similar to Trump's approval rating in the last Gallup poll in October.

As for Obama and Bush, their parties suffered big losses in the midterm elections that followed.

But the Republican messaging crafted by Trump's team is doubling down on support for the president and his policies.

The recent election “was not a referendum on President Trump, Republicans in Congress or the MAGA agenda,” RNC reports say. To win in 2026, Make America Great Again voters “will have to show up at the ballot box; President Trump and the Republicans are going to make it happen.”

Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Amelia Thomson DeVoe in Washington contributed to this report.