MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump is facing an uphill battle in convincing American voters that he has a handle on the war with Iran, and he's having a bad week with his other policies, too. Businesses can now request their money back after his tariff program was rejected by the Supreme Court. Virginians voted in favor of Democrats' push to remake the midterms map there. That's in response to the president's moves elsewhere. And polling shows the president's approval rating on the economy is tanking even further. It's putting the GOP in a tough spot ahead of the midterms in the fall. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is with us now to talk this through. Good morning, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: All right. So let's start with Iran. The war is now eight weeks in after the president said it would only last - what? - six weeks?
SHIVARAM: Yeah.
MARTIN: So how is the White House trying to explain this?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I mean, the timeline hasn't exactly been lining up with what the president has said, and he just keeps saying that the war will end soon. Trump extended the ceasefire again this week, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke with reporters yesterday. She insisted that the cards are in the president's hands and that Trump will decide when the ceasefire is over, although no details there on when that actually will happen.
In the meantime, Leavitt emphasized that the administration sees the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as successful and is basically hammering Iran's economy. Trump has spent a lot of time focusing on this conflict in the last two months. He keeps trying to argue why it was necessary, but at this point, he doesn't have much to show for it. Voters are consistently unhappy with the war and how Trump has handled it.
MARTIN: And voters are unhappy with his handling of the economy, too, and, you know, some of that is related to the war because of all that we've been reporting about the Strait of Hormuz, how much oil and commerce goes through there. But on top of that, his tariff policy hasn't gone as planned, and neither has redistricting efforts to remake the election map. I mean, it seems, you know, almost like the president's priorities are almost working against him.
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I mean, there was new polling that came out from the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago this week that shows some bad numbers for Trump. His approval rating on the economy has dropped from 38% last month, down to 30% this month, and his approval on specifically the cost of living, Michel, has lowered even among his own Republican supporters. On tariffs, like you mentioned, Trump spent a lot of time talking of how beneficial his tariffs would be. So now that companies are able to request these refunds, it's another loss for him there.
And in Virginia, voters narrowly chose to remake the election map in a way that could favor Democrats in this year's midterms, though a Virginia state judge blocked the certification of those results on Wednesday. The state has promised to appeal, but Trump has advocated for red states to try and remake their maps in favor of Republicans. So, yeah, another example here of Trump's plans kind of blowing back against him.
I talked to Brendan Steinhauser, who's a Republican strategist and has worked on campaigns in Texas. He said when it comes to Trump's second term, the president may have bitten off more than he can chew.
BRENDAN STEINHAUSER: I do think he's probably picked too many fights, and he's probably stretched himself very thin. But it's still relatively early in his second term, and I think he can right the ship. But obviously, he has a lot of headwinds against him.
SHIVARAM: And he says Trump has to find a way to better explain the higher costs that have come from the war. Right now, Steinhauser says Trump isn't really doing that.
MARTIN: And where does this all leave Republicans who are facing, you know, a tight midterm election and who need Trump to help them win?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. Typically, a midterms race after a presidential election does not favor the incumbent party in the White House. And right now, Republicans in competitive seats are in an even tougher spot with how voters are feeling about the economy and Trump. Steinhauser says GOP candidates are going to have to tackle that topic of costs and affordability head-on because it's going to be the number one issue in November. And he says when it comes to Trump, some Republicans may even try avoid talking about him at all.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Deepa, thank you.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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