‘They will crawl over glass to vote for the president’: Trump needs to put himself on the ballot to juice the base

Republicans WANT the midterm elections to be a referendum on President Trump?  Why is that?  

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Sept. 09, 2026 -- DALLAS — President Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot in two months. But, for the next two days, he needs to persuade people he might as well be.

The president’s midterm convention, a hastily prepared affair the likes of which have not been seen in the modern political era, is going to be the Trump show — 48 hours geared in part toward turning out low-propensity voters who are loyal to Trump but tend to skip midterm elections. If they turn out, it won’t be because these voters like a particular lawmaker but because of their affinity for the president, whose job this week is to remind them of why they fell in love with him in the first place.

For Trump to succeed, more than a dozen Republicans operatives and strategists told POLITICO, the president’s keynote speech Wednesday and closing remarks Thursday must refrain from reflecting pools and helipads and focus on his signature achievements, the threat that Democrats are racing toward socialism and that the economy, for all its flaws, is better off in the hands of Republicans.

Trump, who is polling at near-record lows but still has a 90 percent approval rating with MAGA loyalists, is most useful, they believe, if he can close the enthusiasm gap facing Republicans and speak to voters who tune out most other politicians.

“In their districts, he can touch voters and reach out to voters that members and candidates would have a harder time reaching,” said Mark Bednar, GOP strategist and former communications director for Speaker Kevin McCarthy. “We’ve seen that a lot of Trump voters — they will crawl over glass to vote for the president.”

The president is expected to hit the highlights of his administration: no taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security; securing the border and banning transgender people from serving in the military, among them. None of these issues rank among the top concerns for swing voters, but they are paramount to his image as a fighter for conservative causes and do the most to sharpen the contrast with Democrats who Trump is expected to mock as clueless communists.

“He can paint a picture of the Democrats that energizes our base in a way that very few people can do,” said a GOP operative in Georgia, who like others in this story was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the stakes of the convention. “He can establish the contrast, effectively and dramatically. If we can see that skill put to use — oh my God — I mean, he would give talking points, and a new angle to the conservatives.”

Trump arrives in Dallas facing headwinds on several fronts. The war with Iran is stalled and the U.S. can’t fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, 41 percent of Americans in a recent survey said they worried about being able to afford food, oil is approaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July and the average price of gas is $4.15.

But the convention offers Trump a chance to pick and choose the topics and how they are framed. The first day will touch on trade, school choice, community safety, the TrumpRx prescription drug program and end with a keynote from Trump. The second day will focus on deportations and the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda before a keynote from Vice President JD Vance and a closing address from Trump.

A senior White House official said the convention aims to not only get low-propensity voters excited about turning out but also to persuade those on the fence by contrasting Trump’s vision with Democrats — and especially democratic socialists. Trump will highlight areas the White House thinks can appeal to disaffected Democrats including “what we were doing in inner cities, to see what we’re doing with disenfranchised voters, to see what we’re doing with homelessness.”

“There’ll be stuff for everyone. There’ll be red meat. There’ll be good stories,” the official said. “There’ll be something for everyone. That’s what conventions are for.”

Natalie Baldassarre, national press secretary for the RNC, outlined a two-part effort for the convention: attract voters who aren’t typically politically engaged in a midterm election and highlight the contrast between what Democrats are offering and what Republicans have not only achieved but also could achieve with two more years of GOP majorities.

“He’s the biggest turnout machine for our party by far,” Baldassarre said. “So, we’re going to put him on the ballot as much as possible and get those voters to the polls in November.”

Voters in South Carolina got a preview of that strategy last month when the president came to campaign for Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.).

“What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot. Just come and vote. It’s so important,” Trump told the crowd. “Just say that I’m on the ballot one more time.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said Friday that the president needs to reach the voters who typically sit midterms out.

“We need the president’s base to get out and vote,” he said. “There may be 200,000 people in Kansas that only vote when President Trump is on the ballot, so certainly he needs to communicate to them that he is on the ballot. That if we lose the House, it’ll just be one impeachment after another. His agenda is over with.”

The White House’s answer to Republicans nervous about their midterm prospects and the president’s sagging poll numbers has always been: Hug Trump even closer. The two-day convention, where multiple speeches are expected to praise the president, is just the latest example. The super PAC MAGA Inc., which has amassed over $403 million, plans to buy television ads that focus on Trump’s wins. A new ad from an arm of MAGA Inc., Securing American Greatness, touts Trump’s accomplishments such as tax cuts and lower prescription drug costs.

And nobody trolls quite like Trump, who is expected to hammer Democrats and members of Democratic Socialists of America as communists on the wrong side of every social and economic issue. That kind of rallying cry can unite a party in which factions are disenchanted by foreign wars, high gas and diesel prices, imported beef, high borrowing costs and a failure to deliver on sweeping promises to upend the health and immigration systems.

“You’ll also see the party come together around the DSA,” said a person close to the White House. “The national landscape isn’t one that any president or party would want heading into the midterms, and you’re going to see an offensive push to showcase the wins that have been drowned out by a number of self-inflicted wounds.”

Attacking Democrats as extreme is likely the GOP’s best answer to the economic anxiety plaguing the electorate. Blame the Biden administration for high inflation and warn that Democrats will make the problem worse, argued a former Trump administration official.

“If you make the election about Trump’s economy versus democratic socialism, I think we’re in a good place,” the person said. “If it’s only about the economy, there’s no argument to make, the empirical data is overwhelming that the economy is not better under Trump than it was under [former President Joe] Biden, at least the final year under Biden.”

Still, there are many in the party — even some who plan to attend the convention — who are skeptical that the confab will be worth the time and money expended.

“Do you really think that the party is going to get a bump for two nights of random talking points?” a second person close to the White House said. “One of the issues that we have seen over the last eight years is that when he’s not on the ballot, people are not as motivated.”

And the president has time and again proven to be a less-than-ideal messenger on the economy — struggling to adopt the kind of “I feel your pain” message Republicans think would be helpful.

If Trump fails to strike the right balance, that could actually turn off voters watching at home, Republicans warn.

“When Republicans go spend a bunch of money to go to a convention when you got people back home who worry about paying their gas next week to get to work … what’s the optics of that?” a GOP operative in North Carolina said. “It runs the risk of creating more harm. They’re going to see politicians doing politics and not taking care of them at home.”

Trump has to balance his economic message with the reality that the work toward improving people’s lives isn’t done yet, said Matt Whitlock, a GOP strategist and former National Republican Senatorial Committee senior adviser.

“He wants to find a way to paint a picture without saying you’re doing great, but saying things that we have done have improved the situation in a trajectory towards making your life better,” Whitlock said. “While simultaneously being able to make the argument: If you put the other people in charge, things are going to get a lot worse. And here’s some of their worst socialist ideas.”

Trump made gains with working class voters in 2024, including Black and Latino voters frustrated with the Biden-era economy. But now, only 1 in 4 Americans who self-identify as working-class say politicians genuinely want to help them, according to new results from The POLITICO Poll.

Half of self-identified working class Americans say Trump has spent too much time focusing on international affairs instead of on domestic issues and 35 percent say Trump, not Biden, is fully responsible for the economy.

“The economy is the key driver here. Words and conventions are not going to fix the problem. It’s going to be results at the gas pump but, more importantly, results at the grocery store,” the GOP operative in North Carolina said. “If the convention is able to show relief at the grocery store and the gas pump, then it will be beneficial. In absence of the relief, there’s a risk of doing more harm than good.”

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.