A Republican operative working on battleground races offered a bleak verdict on whether President Donald Trump can still turn things around for his party.
This operative, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told Politico in a report on Saturday that Trump has no moves left to reverse Republicans' sinking midterm prospects with Election Day weeks away and that voters wouldn't trust him if he tried.
"There's nothing that Trump can do, and frankly, even if he did something, no one would believe it anyway at this point," the GOP operative said. "The ship has sailed on any external event changing the dynamics of the election."
The comment came alongside a new Politico Poll finding that most Americans wouldn't be swayed toward Republicans by a late breakthrough from Trump. Majorities said they wouldn't be more likely to back the GOP even if the president declared the war with Iran over, lowered gas prices by $1 a gallon or created 100,000 jobs before November.
Democratic and undecided midterm voters barely moved in any of the scenarios, according to the survey, which was conducted by London-based polling company PF Global.
Many respondents also doubted Trump could pull off those feats in the first place. Just over a quarter believed he could cut gas prices by $1 a gallon by Election Day, while 27 percent said he could end the war and the same share said he could significantly reduce grocery prices. Among Trump's own 2024 voters, only 43 percent thought he could deliver on gas.
"I think a lot of the die is already cast," said Mike Noble, who founded the Arizona polling firm Noble Predictive Insights. "Democrats are clearly motivated."
Trump has claimed for months that the Iran conflict is nearly finished, yet military leaders haven't started pulling troops or equipment out of the region. Energy experts have warned that gas prices would need months to fall back to prewar levels even if fighting stopped immediately, and high fuel and fertilizer costs are only beginning to ripple through food supply chains, Politico noted.
"Trump is saying himself that the war with Iran won't end before the elections," GOP strategist Doug Heye said.
The poll surveyed 2,001 U.S. adults online from October 3 to 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
