Trump Heads to California and Nevada as Just 32% Approve His Handling of the Economy

President Trump is spending Tuesday and Wednesday doing something he rarely does: campaigning on the West Coast.

He's set to headline a Republican National Committee fundraising dinner Tuesday at a golf club his family owns in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, according to Newsday. Wednesday, he's scheduled to talk economy at Red Rock casino in Las Vegas.

The goal, per Newsday, is to draw a contrast with Democrats on the economy, border security and crime ahead of November's midterms that will decide who controls Congress.

The economy is exactly where Trump is bleeding support.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in late July found only 32% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the economy. Sixty-nine percent called the current state of the economy "poor." Groceries and gas prices are a "major" source of stress for a lot of Americans, according to that same poll.

Trump's overall approval sits at 33%, according to Newsday, which is slightly below where he stood at this same point in his first term. Stock market gains and a low unemployment rate, the two things Trump touts most, aren't translating into people feeling good about their own finances.

This reflects a familiar tension that's plagued plenty of presidents: aggregate numbers looking fine while household budgets feel squeezed by inflation. Voters don't experience GDP. They experience the checkout line.

The Newsom Setup

No trip to California from Trump is complete without a shot at Gavin Newsom, and this one won't be different. White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told reporters the president plans to "draw a sharp contrast between his commonsense agenda and the radical policies of Democrats like Gavin Newsom," according to Newsday, touting tax cuts, fraud reduction in government programs, and immigration and crime enforcement.

Newsom is widely seen as eyeing a 2028 presidential run, and the two have a long, ugly history that goes well beyond politics-as-usual sniping.

When Trump toured California after January 2025's devastating wildfires, which killed more than two dozen people and left thousands homeless, Newsom greeted him at the airport and the two put on a show of cooperation, Newsday reported.

That didn't last. Six months later, after Trump deployed National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles over Newsom's objection, following protests tied to immigration raids, Newsom said "democracy is under assault." Trump, for his part, routinely mocks Newsom with a derogatory nickname. Newsom fires back on social media constantly.

Monday, ahead of Trump's arrival, Newsom posted that California is raising its minimum wage to $17.40 an hour next year, more than double the federal $7.25 floor, writing: "Donald Trump and the GOP are still defending a $7.25 minimum wage while workers scrape by. Pitiful."

The figures Newsom cited check out against Newsday's reporting. Whether it's the right minimum wage policy for the whole country is a separate argument he's not making here. He's just landing a political punch.

Trump's economic pitch rests on real data points: the stock market has posted gains, and unemployment remains historically low, per Newsday. Those are facts, and Trump is entitled to make that case.

But so is the AP-NORC poll. Both things are true at once. The market can be up and inflation-weary voters can still feel broke. That's not media bias. That's just how economic sentiment works when price increases hit essentials like groceries and gas harder than they hit stock portfolios.

Newsday's coverage also notes that Nevada, where Trump heads Wednesday, is led by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who faces Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford in a competitive reelection race, and that Nevada Democrats are running billboards tying Trump's visit to Lombardo and higher costs. The state is dealing with an affordable-housing shortage and rising energy demand tied to AI data centers.

What's unresolved is whether two days of speeches in California and Nevada move a single poll number. Trump has tried for months to sell voters on tax cuts and a manufacturing rebound, but Newsday notes high interest rates, gas prices pushed up by the Iran war, tariffs still reshaping the economy, and a housing shortage the White House itself has acknowledged. This trip is, at bottom, an attempt to give Republicans an economic message to run on before November, and a test of whether "look at the stock market" can outmuscle "look at your grocery bill" with actual voters.