Flip voters discovered that Trump’s racism and xenophobia are expensive

Democrats did better in the 2026 midterms than pollsters expected, flipping Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio and winning in Republican strongholds such as Texas, South Carolina and Kansas, with Alaska and Mississippi still undecided. Writing in the Guardian, Saida Grundy argues that the surge came from Democrats outperforming their usual turnout and from "regret voters," a mix of swing voters and committed Republicans, including Gen Z men, Latinos and farmers.

Grundy contends these voters tolerated Donald Trump's cruelty toward marginalized groups and turned only when costs hit their wallets. Grundy says egg prices mattered more than shootings of citizens by ICE, gasoline prices more than a missile strike in Iran that killed 120 schoolgirls, and lost immigrant labor more than the nearly 60 deaths in DHS detention since the start of 2024.

Sarah Longwell, a political consultant and former Republican, said focus groups with Trump supporters always end up on prices, and that the economy shapes how much voters care about corruption. Grundy adds that Trump's tariffs and a $1tn cut to programs such as Snap worsened affordability, while his anti-immigrant rhetoric presents xenophobia as protection of Americans' finances.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →