A Republican convention about fear collides with a midterm about prices

In a Reuters-Ipsos poll last week, 47 percent of voters said that the cost of living would be the single biggest factor in how they vote this November. Thus, when Republicans gathered in Dallas last week for their first-ever midterm convention, they had an important opportunity to show voters how the party would ease the affordability crisis.

Indeed, the Republicans had billed their convention as a showcase for its affordability agenda — no tax on tips or overtime, tax cuts and an economy they insist is finally turning the corner. However, the message that actually filled the American Airlines Center was not that Republicans would make life cheaper. It was that Democrats are too extreme to be trusted with power.

President Trump used his keynote speech to warn that a Democratic-controlled Congress would be a “communist caucus.” Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) took a similar tone — “These people are sick.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) described Democratic candidates as the most “dangerous, radical and frankly, weird” in American history.

So, lacking an appealing economic message, Republicans are betting that they can make November an election about fear of Democratic extremism.

To be sure, this strategy isn’t baseless. Fifty-six percent of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, and 48 percent use the word “extreme” to describe it, according to CBS News . Democrats should take those concerns seriously, especially when the party appears more focused on ideological debates than the immediate economic pressures facing working- and middle-class families.

Where these tactics will fall short is that Republicans are in power at a time when poll after poll makes clear that voters’ overwhelming concern is the cost of living, not socialism. It also risks sounding disconnected from voters whose top concerns are not ideological labels, but grocery bills, rent, healthcare and gas prices.

To that end, even when affordability did come up at the convention, Republicans did themselves no favors. Trump continued his habits of mocking affordability concerns and asserting that prices are coming down. Yet the Consumer Price Index revealed that prices rose 3.4 percent year over year in July.

Likewise, Trump and other speakers put the blame for inflation on former President Joe Biden — despite Trump being in office for nearly two years, the impact of tariffs and the Iran war. As that war continues with no end in sight, pushing up gas prices and inflation, the failure of Republicans to communicate a coherent economic agenda or even show voters that they understand their pain will almost certainly hurt them at the ballot box.

With Republicans trailing key Senate races throughout the country, they know their best chance to retain control of Congress hinges on low-propensity voters who come out to support Trump but stay home when he isn’t on the ballot.

Desperate to turn out that base, Trump implored voters to consider the midterms as if he was on the ballot. That could mitigate some potential losses in deep red states and districts. But, combined with Trump’s offer of a $5,000 “dividend ” if Republicans win, also underscores Republican desperation and angst.

Not only are Democrats suddenly competitive in red states like Alaska and Texas, but Vice President Vance is being sent to Kansas to boost Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who faces a tough reelection fight in a state where Republicans haven’t lost a Senate seat in more than 90 years.

The irony is hard to miss. Despite two nights of branding Democrats as socialists, Trump dangled a government handout more sweeping than anything Democrats have proposed — one that economists predict would cost roughly $1.25 trillion, and fuel further inflation.

For his part, Vance came the closest to acknowledging voter discontent, though still couched in the convention’s unofficial theme of attacking Democrats. Speaking on the second night, he told the crowd , “Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there.”

Coverage of Vance’s address emphasized that he appeared very much like the 2028 presidential nominee in waiting, but a landslide defeat in November will weaken his standing.

Interestingly, Republicans’ 2026 playbook appears to mirror what Democrats did during Trump’s rise: emphasize the threat posed by the other party while failing to offer a sufficiently clear and compelling economic alternative.

That did not work for Democrats in 2024, and it may be no more effective for Republicans in 2026. Ultimately, for all of the energy Republicans spent casting Democrats as radical communists, they left Dallas having answered a question most voters are not asking.

Americans may not support all parts of the Democratic agenda, but they are more worried about bills that keep climbing, gas prices reflecting a war with no end and a Federal Reserve on the cusp of raising borrowing costs to fight the very inflation Trump keeps insisting is receding.

Trump asked voters to pretend he is on the ballot in November, but on the top issue they say will decide their vote, he already is — and voters are not happy .

Douglas E. Schoen and Carly Cooperman are pollsters and partners with the public opinion company Schoen Cooperman Research based in New York. They are co-authors of the book “ America: Unite or Die . ”