Midwest farmers' struggles test GOP loyalty ahead of midterms |
Midwest farmers’ struggles test GOP loyalty ahead of midterms
Farmers in the Midwest are struggling under President Trump’s tariffs and rising costs during the Iran war, testing a key GOP voting bloc as the party seeks to hold on to its control of Congress this November.
Trump was overwhelmingly backed by farmers in 2024 — winning all but 11 of 444 farming-dependent counties, as defined by the Department of Agriculture. But the president has seen a drop in support from farmers since taking office, with the latest Farm Futures Q1 survey showing confidence in the president down 10 points from the previous survey.
Marc Short, longtime aide to former Vice President Mike Pence and chair of Advancing American Freedom, highlighted this falling support among farmers, noting “Make Our Farmers Great Again” hats were once commonplace at Trump campaign rallies.
“But things are different now,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Monday. “President Trump’s trade policies have punched farmers in the mouth, and this time there’s no global pandemic to blame.”
“Republicans who continue to ignore this reality do so at their peril,” Short warned.
Fertilizer prices have become a major concern, with 70 percent of farmers saying in a recent poll that they cannot afford all the fertilizer they need. At the same time, farm bankruptcies reached their highest level in six years this April, raising concerns that Trump’s policies could become a political liability for Republican candidates in key Midwestern states this November.
Last year, Trump’s tariffs triggered retaliatory import taxes from many of the country’s largest trading partners, contributing to a sharp decline in U.S. exports. In Canada, one of the top two U.S. trade partners, consumers boycotted some American goods, and U.S. agricultural exports fell by more than $1 billion.
The Trump administration, however, has signaled it recognizes farmers’ concerns. On Monday, the president signed a proclamation lowering tariffs on some aluminum and steel products,........