Voter voices: Trump's influence on US midterm voters

Donald Trump's approval rating stands at roughly 37%, and the BBC is looking at what that means for how Americans will vote in the 2026 midterm elections. Its Voter Voices series puts one question to ordinary people in different parts of the country: did they back Trump in 2024, and how have his past two years in office influenced the choices they make now?

The answers appear in a brief video built from interviews that reporters including Meiying Wu, Sheila Flynn and Regan Morris gathered and filmed, along with several of their colleagues. At issue is whether voters treat the midterms as a verdict on the president's performance, or whether other considerations carry more weight with them.

The video is one installment in a wider set of Voter Voices segments. Companion pieces ask Americans what they believe they are voting for, which issues matter most to them, and whether an individual ballot still counts for anything. One of those carries the title "My vote still matters."

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