Have voters already forgotten everything Trump got right? | Opinion - USA Today

Nearly 174 million registered voters are just days from the midterm elections, and the prediction market Polymarket is forecasting a Democratic sweep of Congress. Experts say affordability and the economy are voters' top concerns. If a blue wave is on its way, the electorate must believe Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration failed to address their priorities.

It's true: Gas prices are high and Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities. The Pew Research Center found that 60% of adults say they don't have enough income and 27% can't pay all their monthly bills. That's partly because President Donald Trump chose to start a war with Iran that has dragged on longer than he promised.

But looking at the political climate for Republicans, I worry about how easily voters – especially conservatives – have given in to cynicism thanks to selective amnesia. Americans have quickly forgotten the Trump administration's successes and are letting short-term problems like high gas prices overshadow them.

That could hand Democrats control of Congress – and the power to undo much of what Trump has achieved.

As soon as Trump took office in January 2025, he forged ahead with a sweeping agenda, moving quickly and methodically to deliver on the mandate more than 77 million Americans gave him. On July 4, 2025, he signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which extended his 2017 tax cuts and created new deductions for tips and overtime.

His aggressive, targeted tariffs brought in $260 billion in 2026, more than triple the tariff revenue collected in 2023, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Under Trump, the stock market has repeatedly hit record highs, and the national unemployment rate has hovered between 4.1% and 4.3% since March – not bad in a difficult economy.

One of my favorite underrated Trump achievements: He cut the federal civilian workforce by as much as 12%, shedding more than 250,000 employees and bringing it to its lowest level in decades.

Trump's biggest achievement by far was quelling the surge of illegal immigration, a top priority for Americans heading into the 2024 presidential election. Thanks to former President Joe Biden's disastrous policies, like ending "Remain in Mexico," illegal immigration hit a record in 2022.

Now, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the Southwest border is the "most secure" in history. The agency reports illegal crossings are down 95%, and it has gone 17 consecutive months without releasing a single migrant into the country.

Fewer drugs appear to be getting through, too: Fentanyl seizures at the Mexico border fell to 11,486 pounds in 2025 – the fewest since 2021 and a 46% drop from 2024.

Trump also had foreign policy successes, which could be keeping Americans safer. At the 2025 NATO summit, he secured a major agreement committing members to increase defense spending. That June, his calculated strike on Iran, which the administration said "obliterated" the country's nuclear sites, was a bold display of precision and leadership. (If only he'd left it there.) He has also helped toward a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and tried, unsuccessfully, to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

This year, not so much. Trump handled immigration but ignored the other looming concern Americans had in 2024 – and still have: the economy.

Rather than stick with his targeted approach, Trump waged war with Iran with little to no exit plan. That war, along with the one between Russia and Ukraine, pushed diesel and gas prices to record highs, leaving Americans paying about a third more for gas this year than the last. Inflation initially fell but has slowly ticked back up, and it seems Trump has forgotten his pledge to bring down the cost of living.

In fact, he mocks voters' affordability concerns, calling them “fake,” a “hoax” and a “scam," and dismisses them as a ploy Democrats are using to win votes.

Trump's dismissiveness is all the more infuriating given how much time and public and private money he's poured into White House renovations and other gaudy, unnecessary vanity projects – an estimated $1.6 billion.

As a mom of (almost) four teenagers, with plenty of hefty expenses, I find this frustrating. But temporary high gas prices aren't enough to make me vote for Democrats who, once elected, consistently raise taxes, grow the federal government, fail to stand firm against our foreign enemies and drive inflation to 40-year highs. And they're certainly not enough to give me selective amnesia about Trump's many early successes.

Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.