After a resounding 2024 election win, 2025 was marked by President Donald Trump’s political turbulence. Justified by a purported mandate to address America’s cost of living crisis, the commander-in-chief decimated swaths of federal workers, sent the national guard to U.S. cities, and abandoned America’s global leadership role regarding humanitarian issues.

This turbulence leaves many questions remaining for the year ahead. Will Democrats embrace Democratic Socialism as embodied by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani? Will Republicans distance themselves from Trump as the costs he promised to lower rise? And how will populist tides turn in the year ahead?

Politics is nothing if not unpredictable, but the 2026 midterms are already in motion, with political ad spending expected to set a new record and pollsters predicting a blue wave. President Trump’s economic approval rating dropping to a recent low of 31% certainly doesn’t help matters for Republicans.

Polling data points in one direction: Anti-establishment pragmatism is wildly popular. According to the latest research from Outward Intelligence, Americans are hungry for candidates who reject the status quo while maintaining practical, results-oriented positions on core issues. This increasingly popular worldview isn’t about ideology........

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