Trump’s pro-family agenda has won bipartisan support, but economic anxiety clouds GOP midterm hopes

Some of these initiatives, such as the Trump Accounts, have been cheered by Democrats. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), a noted Trump antagonist, recently praised the accounts, saying he was “enthusiastic about encouraging people to get a Trump Account.”

“It’s a revolution, a positive revolution,” Trump said in the White House’s Rose Garden. “In everything we do, we’re empowering our nation’s parents. We’re restoring high standards and the pursuit of excellence, and we’re proving that the golden age of American education is just beginning.”

With respect to school choice, Trump’s signature legislative achievement, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, introduced a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to nonprofit organizations that award scholarships for tuition and other education services, commencing next year.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella told the Washington Examiner that the Trump administration and House Republicans are “putting parents back in control by expanding school choice and giving families more freedom over their children’s education.”

“The contrast in November is clear: Republicans are fighting for parents, students, and school choice, while Democrats defend biological males competing in girls’ sports and force their radical gender ideology in the classroom,” Marinella said.

But Republicans remain concerned Trump is not concentrating on the midterm elections.

“That’s been the case for months — both in funds that have gone unspent and not focusing on prices,” former Republican National Committee communications director Doug Heye told the Washington Examiner.

Those concerns were punctuated on Monday when Trump opened his remarks by commenting on the nearby White House ballroom and helipad construction before providing members of the audience, including the children present, a tour of the respective sites.

Other Republicans contend Trump has not gone far enough with his pro-family policies, specifically as it relates to his anti-abortion and pro-IVF positions.

In response to the IVF concerns, White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told the Washington Examiner that the Trump administration has “prioritized investigating the root causes of infertility and taken real steps to help Americans struggling to start families,” including by “creating a fertility-benefit option for American workers and reducing fertility drug prices by 90%.”

“Once children are born, parents have double the child tax credit to ease newborn expenses, as well as access to Trump Accounts to set children up for long-term financial success,” she said. “Now the administration has taken additional steps to support children’s development by allowing the freedom to choose the best education for their unique needs.”

As the administration touts its family agenda, election prognosticators say it’s a step in the right direction but that Republicans have been largely “off message” with fewer than 100 days before the midterm elections.

“They need, especially President Trump, to focus on the economy and the international problems,” Marist Institute for Public Opinion Director Lee Miringoff told the Washington Examiner. “This latest pro-family statement at least focuses attention on a policy.”

Inside Elections editor and publisher Nathan Gonzales agreed that “it’s possible that White House action [could] boost needed Republican enthusiasm in the midterms,” but added that “it’s not going to dampen Democratic turnout against the president or shift independent voters’ attention away from the current state of the economy.”

Franklin & Marshall College Center for Opinion Research Director Berwood Yost, who is based in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, was less optimistic, repeating that “voters are deeply concerned about the economy.”

“I doubt a conversation about school choice is going to make voters believe that the administration is doing something about the economic concern that is the most important issue to them,” Yost told the Washington Examiner.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball managing editor Kyle Kondik was more blunt: “Education does not seem like an issue of top or even medium-level importance this year in the midterm.”

To that end, 2% of respondents told the YouGov-Economist’s tracking poll last week that education was the most important issue to them, compared to 31% who said inflation and prices, 14% who said jobs and the economy, and 9% who said immigration.

Regardless, the White House remains undeterred, reiterating that Trump “is the most pro-family president in history” and that “no president has taken a more comprehensive, aggressive approach to advance family formation and prosperity.”

TRUMP TAKES CHILDREN ON TOUR OF HELIPAD AND BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION SITES

Meanwhile, Democrats are dismissing Trump’s pro-family accomplishments, arguing that they are “anything but ‘pro-family.’”

“Trump’s reckless tariffs and war with Iran have made life unaffordable for American families as the costs of groceries, gas, healthcare, and housing keep rising, forcing families to make tough choices each month just to make ends meet,” Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Jaelin O’Halloran told the Washington Examiner. “Now, as parents and teachers do their back-to-school shopping, prices on basic supplies are soaring, and families are spending hundreds more at the checkout counter.”