Veteran Fox News analyst Brit Hume delivered a grim midterm warning to President Donald Trump on his own preferred network Wednesday, pointing to fresh polling showing serious trouble for Republicans in Michigan and beyond, The Daily Beast reported.
Host Bret Baier walked through new Fox News numbers on Special Report showing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed leading Republican Mike Rogers 51 percent to 48 percent in Michigan's Senate race, with 69 percent of voters in the state naming the cost of living their top concern less than five weeks before Election Day. Trump has continued brushing off affordability worries even as his war with Iran keeps pushing gas prices higher.
Hume didn't sugarcoat what the numbers mean for his own party. "Overall, Republicans don't have much going for them this cycle. The polls all suggest that, the mood of the country suggests that," he said.
Asked about the economic concerns driving voter frustration, Hume predicted little relief is coming before Election Day.
"I don't think much is going to change on the cost of living over the next month, but it could change a little," Hume said. "Republicans have to worry... the opinions have solidified and not in their favor. And that number suggests that that may be the case."
Michigan isn't an isolated data point. Trump's disapproval rating hit 61 percent this week, the worst of his second term, according to an Angus Reid USA survey of 1,205 adults conducted September 19-25, which found just 34 percent approval overall. Independents broke against him even more sharply, with 72 percent disapproving of his performance.
El-Sayed, a Michigan-born epidemiologist who would become the Senate's first Muslim member if elected, has built his campaign around Medicare for All and relentless criticism of Trump's economic record, even as Trump has falsely branded him a communist. El-Sayed argues the attacks are a deliberate distraction from the affordability crisis gripping voters.
"He's more focused on me and what I'm going to do while we're living through an affordability crisis that is generational," El-Sayed told CNN in August. "People are paying nearly $5 in gas because of a war he started. And half the time, if he's not talking about me, he's talking about the drapes in his ballroom."
Rogers is further facing scrutiny over allegations he secretly lives in Florida, and his ties to a church abuse scandal.