IF THE ECONOMY WERE EVERYTHING, TRUMP'S POLL NUMBERS WOULD BE LOWER

NBC News has just released a new poll. It was conducted from February 27 -- the day before the Iran war started -- through March 3. The topline number is bad for President Trump, but not awful:

NBC's survey hasn't been one of Trump's really terrible polls -- we're told,

Trump’s job approval rating is at 44% — essentially stable since the NBC News poll conducted in October, when it was 43% among registered voters.

But Trump's overall job approval rating is much higher than his rating on the economy:

Across five issues tested, voters give the president their lowest marks on the economy, with 62% disapproving of Trump’s handling of inflation and the cost of living and 36% approving. It’s an issue Democrats are trying to capitalize on heading into the midterms, after the party’s candidates found success on the issue in 2025....

Many Democratic politicians and candidates behave as if the economy is the one and only issue they should talk about -- even when other issues are in the headlines. Here's Senator Mark Kelly, a likely 2028 presidential candidate:

Why do this? Why not criticize Trump's handling of the war by ... criticize Trump's handling of the war? The war is unpopular. Americans think Trump should be prioritizing their needs and not foreign adventurism. They think the war will make Americans less safe. Why not talk about that?

Democrats who broke out of the "talk only about the economy" straitjacket have helped drive Trump's poll numbers down on immigration (with an assist, of course, from brutal and incompetent Trump subordinates like Kristi Noem). They need to keep pushing on every issue, and offer real plans of their own that differ from what Republicans are doing. Voters still think Republicans have better ideas on too many issues:

And after all the Democrats' talk about the economy, they're merely even with the GOP on who'd do a better job managing it, probably because they mostly say, "I'm laser-focused on affordability," which is not a better idea, or an idea at all. (To be fair, cutting the gas tax is an idea, though it's a Republican-style idea.)

Sometimes you do want to pivot to the economy -- I recently wrote that Democrats should focus on the skyrocketing cost of this war. But Democrats should also talk about the war as a bad idea, one that's depleting our military resources, putting lives at risk, and highly unlikely to make the world safer or more stable.

Trump has thoughts about everything -- ignorant thoughts, but they're thoughts. They impress approximately 40% of the country. Democrats could try having well-thought-out responses to every issue. The public won't fully trust the party, especially with the White House, until it seems ready to handle every issue the country faces.