President Donald Trump is making a rare visit to California and Nevada this week, framing the trip as an 'affordability' contrast with Democrats ahead of November midterms that will decide control of Congress. The numbers on the ground are not cooperating.
An AP-NORC poll conducted in late July found that only 32% of U.S. adults approved of Trump's handling of the economy. In the same survey, 69% of Americans characterized the state of the economy as 'poor,' with many citing the cost of groceries and gas as a 'major' source of stress. Trump's overall approval rating sits at 33%, slightly below where he stood at the same point in his first term.
California stop: RNC fundraiser, Newsom contrasts
On Tuesday, Trump will speak at a Republican National Committee fundraising dinner at a golf club his family owns in Rancho Palos Verdes, in the Los Angeles suburb. On Wednesday, he moves to Las Vegas for an economy-focused event at Red Rock Casino.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said the president plans to 'draw a sharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical policies of Democrats like Gavin Newsom,' pointing to tax cuts, reductions in government fraud and immigration enforcement. Newsom, widely viewed as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender, fired back on social media Monday, noting that California is raising its minimum wage next year to $17.40 an hour — more than double the federal minimum of $7.25.
Relations between the two men have been openly hostile since Trump sent National Guard troops and U.S. Marines into Los Angeles without Newsom's consent following immigration raids, prompting the governor to declare that 'democracy is under assault.'
The economic headwinds are real
The policy backdrop complicates the tour's message. Interest rates remain elevated. A gallon of gasoline costs more due to the Iran war. Tariffs are still reshaping supply chains and consumer prices. By the White House's own estimates, a national shortage of affordable housing persists — a shortage Trump's own housing bill was meant to address. The president himself called that bill a 'yawn.'
A speech last week at a General Motors facility in Michigan, billed by the White House as an economy address, veered into what the Associated Press described as 'Trumpian weaves about his political enemies and construction projects in the nation's capital.'
In Nevada — a state led by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who faces Democrat Aaron Ford in what analysts consider one of the most competitive governor's races of the cycle — the state Democratic Party is running billboard ads tying Trump to Lombardo and higher costs. Nevada is also grappling with an affordable housing shortage and exploding energy demand from artificial intelligence data centers.
CEO Times take
The market has already voted: when 69% of Americans call the economy 'poor,' no amount of stock-market talking points closes the gap. The president's strongest economic arguments — tax cuts, deregulation, low unemployment — are being drowned out by the costs voters feel at the pump and the checkout line. That is a messaging failure, but it is also a policy one.
Free-market voters expect a president who champions limited government to keep his own house in order: pass the housing bill, hold the line on spending, and let supply respond to demand. Calling your own legislation a 'yawn' is not a rallying cry — it is an opening for every Democrat on a ballot this November.
