Nearly six months into President Trump’s second term, he has sown even more chaos and instability than in his first term, and public opinion of him has shifted negative.

Major polls show Trump’s approval rating in the mid 40s, with over 50 percent disapproving — worse than most recent presidents at this stage. Americans give him even lower marks on the economic issues that defined the 2024 election.

Midterm elections are rarely electorally successful for the party that controls the White House. Given that Republicans also hold both the House and the Senate, there’s little reason to believe 2026 will buck the trend.

The key question is just how strong the traditional voter rebuke of the party in power will be, and whether Democrats can execute a strategy to fully capitalize on it.

Many forecasters are already anticipating a backlash on par with the 2018 midterms, when Democrats gained a net of 40 seats in Congress in an election where Democrats won the national congressional vote by 8.6 points — all after losing the 2016 election.

While it’s impossible to know exactly how things will look in 15 months, Democrats should be treating 2026 as an opportunity comparable to 2018.

To seize that opportunity, Democrats need to start preparing now. And that includes crafting a serious approach to winning a Senate majority, which would give Democrats the full congressional power required to thwart Trump’s agenda and stem the Republican onslaught.

Yes, the Democrats’ path to taking back the Senate in 2026 is tough. But it’s not........

© The Hill