Mike Johnson claims there is a concerted effort to discourage Republican voter turnout, and the mainstream media is helping the Democrats

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Democrats and their media allies are working together to lower Republican turnout before the November midterms. Speaking to Salem News Channel, he stated, “I believe there’s a concerted effort between the Democrats and the mainstream media, their allies in the media that are openly biased in their favor. They want to dispirit the Republican side. They want to discourage turnout on the Republican side.”

Johnson warned that the push could become self-fulfilling if Republicans accept it. “And so it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that they prevail in the election. We cannot buy into it. Don’t buy it,” he said. He also questioned the accuracy of current surveys, explaining that “I don’t believe there are reliable polls anymore” because many Republicans no longer answer them.

He described how candidates running internal polls struggle to reach GOP voters. “They even…they have a hard time getting Republicans to respond to polls because Republicans don’t trust pollsters anymore. And they can’t discern when they get a call who’s, who’s originating the call. And that is affecting the outcome of the polls,” Johnson added.

Polling shows Democratic leads while Trump approval remains underwater

A new Economist/YouGov Poll found Democratic candidates ahead by 7 points among registered voters. The same survey showed Democratic advantages of 8 points and 11 points among two separate groups of likely voters defined by YouGov screens. Those leads were all slightly narrower than the figures from the previous week’s poll.

YouGov’s “loose” likely-voter group produced the 8-point Democratic edge. That screen covers U.S. adult citizens who are registered or say they will register by November where registration is still available, and who have already voted or say they definitely or probably will. The stricter screen of registered voters who have already voted or say they will definitely vote produced the 11-point lead.

The poll noted that Democrats’ advantage among the strict likely-voter group is larger than the one they held with the same group ahead of the 2018 midterms. That year Democrats won the national popular vote by 9 points and picked up 41 House seats.

At the same time, 34 percent of U.S. adult citizens strongly or somewhat approve of President Donald Trump’s job performance while 62 percent disapprove, for a net rating of -28. That net figure matches recent weeks but sits well below the range of -10 to -20 that was common a year ago.

It is also lower than Trump’s net approval at the equivalent point in his first term (-10) and lower than Joe Biden’s at the same stage of his presidency (-1). Fifty-seven percent of Americans say their view of Trump has worsened a lot or a little since his second term began, the highest share recorded across six YouGov polls since April 2025, while only 16 percent say it has improved.

Among strong Trump approvers, 57 percent say their opinion of him has improved a lot and only 1 percent say it has worsened. Among those who only somewhat approve, 25 percent say their view has worsened compared with 20 percent who say it has improved, and 53 percent say it is unchanged. Forty-five percent of Americans say Trump’s current policy positions differ very or somewhat from those he held as a 2024 candidate, while 40 percent say they do not differ much or at all.

Of those who see a change, 24 percent prefer the positions he took while campaigning, 8 percent prefer the ones he holds now, and 63 percent prefer neither. 

Among the 28 percent of Republicans who believe his positions have shifted, 56 percent favor the campaign versions, and 30 percent favor the current ones. Some of his own supporters are also feeling worse off since his second term began. All 435 House seats and roughly one-third of Senate seats will be decided on November 3.