JD Vance appears to be following in Donald Trump’s footsteps when it comes to reacting negatively to news coverage showing unfavorable voting results for the Republican Party.
Trump previously criticized various media outlets for similar coverage. Now Vance, after appearing on The Story with Martha MacCallum on Fox News on Tuesday, expressed similar sentiments when asked about a January Fox News poll. The poll showed that if midterm elections were held today, Republicans would receive 46% of the vote compared with 52% for Democrats.
When host Martha MacCallum said, “We’ve got a long way to go, but obviously that number would not be good for the majority,” Vance responded, “That would not be good. I will say, as much as we love Fox News, we always think Fox News has the worst polling.”
MacCallum: Democrats are winning congressional vote preference by 6 points. We’ve got a long way to go, but obviously that number would not be good.
Vance: Fox News has the worst polling
MacCallum: I could show you other ones that are very similar
pic.twitter.com/NP7hIdmDTD
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 18, 2026
To reinforce his position, JD Vance referred to the president, adding, “Me and the president agree on that. I’m sorry. It’s true.” While Fox News has been popular among Republicans, Vance appeared displeased that the network’s poll showed Democrats with a higher percentage of support.
However, host Martha MacCallum pushed back, noting that polling results from other media outlets showed similar trends. She added, “I can show you other ones that are very similar, but since they’re ours, I show ours.”
It is also worth noting that polling from YouGov, conducted this week, showed similar results, with 47% of voters saying they were likely to vote for a Democrat in the midterm elections, compared with 40% who said they were likely to vote for a Republican.
YouGov’s polling showed an even wider gap than the one presented on Fox News. Vance then continued outlining his party’s message before telling MacCallum, “I think the question we’re going to put to the American people is: do you want to give the government back over to the people who, frankly, burned down the house and made most Americans much less wealthy and much less safe, or do you want to double down on the president’s leadership, which has helped us recover from some of the problems caused by Joe Biden and then has built a lot on top of it?”
Election Enjoyer Midterm House Forecast:
🔵 Democrats: 54% → 231 seats (+16)
🔴 Republicans: 46% → 204 seats (-16) pic.twitter.com/SOWfiBYvQq
— Election Enjoyer 🇺🇸 (@ElxMapping) January 18, 2026
Unfortunately, this rhetoric put forward by the Republicans is now not working as greatly as it used to since the rising price of everyday items and the utter impossibility of affordable housing have made the citizens somewhat disillusioned with the promises that Trump had made before he took the office for the second time.
Moreover, the fact that Trump has often prioritized international matters over the concerns in America itself has also alienated a section of the MAGA population, who firmly believed that the President would indeed always put America first.
Adding to such already existing issues are now the scandal of the Epstein files and the violence of ICE all over the US and therefore the polling results presented by various media houses is not really surprising here, even if that does not sit well with Vance.
