Republican Politicians Are Not Confused. They Are Ignoring You on Purpose.
They Know. They Just Don’t Care.
The Disconnect You Feel Is Real, and It’s Deliberate
You already feel it. That gnawing sense that the people who are supposed to represent you in Washington are living on an entirely different planet. You watch them hold press conferences about culture wars and voter ID bills while your grocery bill keeps climbing and your health insurance premium just doubled. You hear them talk about a golden age while gas is pushing four, five and even six dollars a gallon because we are now fighting a war in Iran that most Americans did not want.
Here is the part that should make your blood boil. They are not confused. They are not misinformed. Republican politicians in 2026 know exactly what you need. They have the same polling data you and I can read. They see the numbers. They see the pain. And they have made a calculated decision to ignore it, because serving you was never the point.
They Are Not Listening Because They Are Not Trying To
Let’s start with what Americans are saying, loud and clear, right now. In a March 2026 Quinnipiac poll, Donald Trump hit his lowest second term approval rating at 37 percent approval and 57 percent disapproval. Pew Research found that only 27 percent of Americans say they support all or most of Trump’s policies and plans, a sharp drop from 35 percent when he took office in January 2025. And the erosion is coming from inside the house. Republican support for Trump’s agenda has started to crack, with Pew documenting that the decline in policy support has come entirely from within the Republican base itself.
A record 45 percent of Americans now identify as political independents, according to Gallup. Among true independents, those who do not lean toward either party, 65 percent disapprove of Trump’s job performance and only 24 percent approve.
These are not close calls. These are not margins of error. This is a majority of Americans screaming into the wind while Republican politicians plug their ears and chase the approval of a shrinking, radicalized base.
The Priorities Gap Is a Canyon
Ask any American what they need their government to focus on right now and the answer comes fast. Lowering prices. Making health care affordable. Keeping food on the table. An NPR poll found that 54 percent of respondents said Trump’s top priority should be lowering prices. Immigration, the issue Republicans talk about more than anything else, came in at a distant 22 percent. Even among Republicans, a Fox News poll found that 60 percent of all respondents said the president is focused on the wrong issues.
So what did Republican leadership spend their energy on? They let enhanced health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act expire at the end of 2025. The result, according to KFF, is that the average subsidized enrollee saw their annual premium payments more than double, jumping from $888 to $1,904. More than 20 million Americans relied on those subsidies. Congressional Republicans had months to act. They chose not to.
And it gets worse. The House budget resolution is targeting $880 billion in Medicaid cuts and $230 billion in SNAP cuts over the next decade. The Commonwealth Fund estimates that these cuts could destroy more than a million jobs nationwide, including nearly half a million health care jobs, while shrinking state economies by $113 billion. Rural hospitals could close. Food assistance for seniors is being gutted. Work requirements that create mountains of paperwork will knock eligible people off the rolls, including older adults and people with chronic conditions who are already working or looking for work.
This is what Republican politicians chose to do with their power. Not lower your grocery bill. Not protect your family’s health care. They chose to slash the programs your neighbors and parents depend on so they could fund tax cuts for corporations and the ultra wealthy.
A Party That Answers to Everyone Except You
The math is painfully simple. Republican politicians are not governing for a majority. They are governing for a donor class and a base that has been conditioned to cheer for cruelty as long as it is dressed up in the language of fiscal responsibility. They are governing for an audience of one, Donald Trump, whose own approval among Americans who are not part of the MAGA faithful continues to crater.
Look at the Fox News breakdown. Trump holds a 98 percent approval among self described MAGA Republicans. Among non MAGA Republicans, that drops to 63 percent, and only 57 percent of that group thinks he is even focused on the right issues. The party has become a loyalty test, not a governing coalition. And Republican members of Congress are so afraid of a primary challenge from the right that they will sacrifice your family’s well being before they will risk a mean tweet from Mar a Lago.
Meanwhile, gas prices have surged nearly a dollar per gallon in the last month alone, with the national average now sitting at $3.88 according to AAA. It’s almost $6 just down the street from my office here in California.
A YouGov and Yahoo News poll found that only 27 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of gas prices. The war in Iran, launched without broad public support, is directly connected to that spike. And what is the Republican response? Silence. Deflection. Or worse, blaming the last administration for problems that are happening right now, under their watch, with their votes, on their clock.
The World Is Watching, and It Is Not Impressed
This disconnect is not just a domestic problem. According to Gallup, U.S. leadership approval within NATO countries fell by 14 points in 2025, dropping to just 21 percent. Our closest allies, the democracies we have stood beside for decades, are pulling away because the people running our government have made America unreliable, unpredictable, and hostile to the values we once championed together.
Republican politicians do not talk about this. They do not talk about what it means when the rest of the free world looks at America and sees chaos instead of leadership. They are too busy passing voter suppression bills and calling it election security, even though experts confirm that noncitizen voter fraud is extremely rare, and even though nearly 6 in 10 Americans say it is more important to make sure everyone who wants to vote can vote.
The Exits Tell the Story
Here is a number that tells you everything. A record 51 members of the House have announced they will not seek reelection in 2026. Thirty of them are Republicans. When the people inside the building start heading for the doors, it is because they know the building is on fire. Polymarket gives Democrats a 70 percent chance of retaking the House. The Senate is on the table too. Democratic candidates won sweeping victories in Virginia and New Jersey in 2025. Even Miami, a city that has leaned Republican in recent cycles, elected its first Democratic mayor in 30 years.
Republican politicians see these numbers. They understand what they mean. And still, they refuse to course correct, because course correcting would mean standing up to Trump, standing up to the donor class, and actually doing the job the Constitution asks of them.
This Is Your Fight
You are not powerless in this. Every single one of these politicians answers to you. They work for you. And the moment they forget that, your job is to remind them, at the ballot box, in the town hall, in the letters you write, in the conversations you have with your neighbors who are still on the fence.
The 2026 midterms are not just another election cycle. They are a referendum on whether your government works for you or against you. A majority of Americans already know the answer. The question is whether that majority shows up.
Do not wait for permission. Do not wait for the perfect candidate. Do not sit this one out because you are tired. That exhaustion you feel is the point. They are counting on it. Prove them wrong. Register. Vote. Bring someone with you. Talk about what is happening at your dinner table, in your group chats, at your kids’ games. This is how you take your country back. Not with slogans. With action.
Mitch Jackson, Esq.
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