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DAVID MARCUS: In rural Virginia, mixed signals for Trump and the GOP

9 49
09.02.2026

Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Cumberland Gap, joins Fox News Digital to discuss the slate of ‘bad bills’ percolating in the legislature as Gov. Spanberger takes sweeping day-one actions including breaking with ICE.

LEXINGTON, Va. – President Donald Trump’s poll numbers are a bit all over the place these days. The averages have him about seven points underwater, while some surveys show him down as much as 19. And then, one poll, the most accurate of 2024, has him up one point at 50%.

Likewise, large majorities of Americans say in polls that they want all illegal immigrants deported, but large majorities also say that the Trump administration is going too far in executing this policy. 

So, what do the American people actually want?

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has ended agreements between state law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

I traveled to Lexington, Virginia, to get a feel for what the reality is on the ground, below these shaky and inconsistent poll numbers, and what I found was good news and bad news for both parties and a midterm that is still wide open.

HEALTHCARE, ECONOMY AND THE 'ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL': WELCOME TO THE MIDTERMS

Brian, from nearby Lynchburg, was visiting town with his wife Erin. A chef in his early 50s and a former Republican, he finds Trump’s coarseness, and what he would call his racism, such as the recent social media post featuring the Obamas as monkeys, to be a........

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