President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to new lows, and according to one former Republican lawmaker, the decline has made the midterm environment as difficult for the GOP as the period that followed the Watergate scandal. The warning comes with Republicans defending narrow majorities in both chambers ahead of the 2026 midterms, when all 435 House seats and roughly a third of the Senate will be on the ballot.

On Tuesday, CNN's Harry Enten examined a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing Trump's approval at 33 percent against 64 percent disapproval — a 31-point net deficit comparable to the lowest readings recorded during former President George W. Bush's administration, a period that also coincided with Republicans losing control of both the House and Senate in the 2006 midterms. The same poll had measured Trump's approval six points above water at the start of his second term, underscoring the scale of his slide in popularity.

"You know, if this were a game of limbo, President Trump would be winning," Enten said. "Unfortunately, this is the game of presidential popularity, and he is reaching record lows yet again. He is losing."

Host John Berman then discussed the numbers with Francis Rooney, a former Republican congressman from Florida who also served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See under Bush. Rooney, echoing remarks made earlier in the broadcast, described Republicans as "sclerotic" — slow and stuck in their ways — given that they "will still follow this guy after all the ridiculous things he's done."

"But then, on the other hand, I think they've lost moderates, Reagan, Bush republicans, and that's going to tell the tale when they show up or whether they don't show up; they're going to have a major impact on this election," Rooney said. "We could be in post-Watergate country now."

Berman asked whether Rooney believed the environment for Republicans might resemble the aftermath of Watergate in 1974, when the scandals surrounding former President Richard Nixon soured the country on Republican leadership. The historical parallel is a demanding one: Nixon resigned in August 1974, and in the midterm elections that November, Democrats picked up 49 House seats and expanded their Senate majority, with the large freshman class known as the "Watergate Babies." Since World War II, the president's party has lost House seats in nearly every midterm, with the only exceptions coming in 1998 and 2002.

"I think it could be, from what I'm reading about the polls and hearing around the country in different races and things," Rooney responded.

Berman also raised comments from West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice, who argued that Republicans need to pay more attention to the issues voters genuinely care about, such as affordability. Justice added that some of those concerns have been worsened by Trump's Iran war.

"I think it's a lot broader than just the war in Iran," Rooney said. "I think we have an administration and a president that really don't understand what drives and motivates your average American, your average person, who they don't have any connection with because they're all billionaires. [An average voter] cares about what his groceries cost, his car costs, his gasoline cost and his house mortgage cost. And none of those are going the right way. And they were not going the right way before Iran. But the gas part of it is, is significantly exacerbated after Iran."

Source: Alternet