Trump Asks MAGA Voters to ‘Pretend’ He Is on the Ballot in Midterms

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Donald Trump is pleading with his MAGA base to “pretend” he is on the ballot in the midterms in a desperate bid to avoid a GOP electoral wipeout.

The 80-year-old president’s plan to encourage unenthusiastic Republican voters to turn out in November was teased by Fox News’ Sean Hannity on his Wednesday night show, as part of a full interview set to be broadcast on Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy .

“There’s a theory that when Trump’s on the ballot they win, when he’s out of the ballot, the people don’t go to vote.

And I’m asking the people to get out and vote and pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump said.

“And if we don’t, our country is going to be in sad shape because we’re going to go through a lot of things.” Historically, the ruling party suffers major losses in the midterms.

Intense backlash to Trump’s second term and voter dissatisfaction with the economy mean the GOP could suffer particularly brutal defeats in November and potentially lose control of both the House and the Senate.

The GOP faces another worrying trend of Trump supporters not bothering to turn out to vote for Republican candidates unless Trump’s name is also on the ballot during a presidential election year.

Polls have frequently shown that Republican voters are also less enthusiastic about voting in November’s midterm elections than Democrats because Trump does not need their votes.

In February, a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos survey found that 85 percent of people who voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 said they were certain to vote in the midterms, compared with 70 percent of Trump voters.

The poll also found that 19 percent of Trump voters said they would only “probably vote” in November, while 10 percent said there was only a 50-50 chance that they would decide to turn out and cast a ballot.

Trump is so aware of the issue of his supporters not turning out when he is not on the ballot that he has instructed his team to paint November’s elections as a referendum on himself.

On Tuesday, The Atlantic reported that the president held an Oval Office meeting earlier this month to detail plans to launch a blitz of television advertisements highlighting his apparent achievements during his second term in an effort to convince his base to turn out to the polls in November.

However, some Republican strategists are concerned that it may not be a good idea to put the president, who is recording near-record-low approval ratings on hot-button issues such as the economy, front and center of the GOP’s midterm strategy.

“When the issues that you typically campaign on don’t move voters—or voters are p---ed off at you about those issues—the question becomes: What do you campaign on?” one person familiar with the Oval Office meeting told The Atlantic.