U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi (not in the picture) upon his arrival at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, July 14, 2026. (Photo: Xinhua via IANS)
New York, November 3 (IANS): US citizens began voting on Tuesday in a midterm poll watched keenly around the world for their verdict on President Donald Trump, whose actions have severely impacted global economy in the recent times.
"The most important midterm I believe in our lifetime”, Trump called it at the last campaign rally on Monday.
The first voters entered the polling booths in Vermont State at 5 am local time (3:30 pm IST), and as voting continues across the vast geography of the US, Alaska will be the last sate to close the polls at 9 pm local time (11:30 am Wednesday in India).
As of Monday evening, 57 million voters of 174-million electorate had voted either by mail or at early voting booths and the rest are taking their turns to seal the verdict.
The first indication of the trends may trickle in around midnight in Washington (10:30 am Wednesday in India), but the final results may come later, days or even weeks, after being entwined in recounts and legal challenges.
Some glitches were reported Tuesday in the polling.
The voting machines failed to work in Westchester, a country north of New York City, and voters were asked to entrust paper ballots with election officials.
Trump's name is not on the ballots for 435 House of Representatives constituencies or the 35 Senate seats -- or the 36 Governors and thousands of state and local legislature races.
But having launched a tariff war and a conflict in the Gulf, he has made it a referendum on him, repeatedly telling voters, "Pretend I am on the ballot".
Most polls point to the Democrats winning control of the House, while the Senate hangs in the balance.
Trump sounded as if he was expecting this verdict after 32 days of whirlwind campaigning across 20 states with 30 rallies.
He said on Monday, “For some reason, the sitting President doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot".
Most of his campaigning was concentrated in the "red sates" -- those reliably dominated by Republicans -- in a sign that he was concerned about holding on to party base.
While the US was preparing to vote, far away in Iran’s Qeshm Island there was an echo of the issue that has contributed to Trump's slide, the Gulf conflict that has sent prices of everyday items, and petrol and diesel soaring.
The US said that it had hit the island on Monday with a "small-scale defensive measure" targeting missiles.
Although the economy grew by 3.4 per cent in the latest quarter -- a number economists consider good -- the inflation rate was 3.7 per cent in September, and its impact was amplified strongly in prices of food and other everyday consumer items affecting Trump's standing.
Polls show a big slide for Trump, who won the 2024 election with 49.8 per cent of the votes, and now RealClear Politics (RCP) aggregation of polls show overall support for Democrats in the Congressional elections at 52.1 per cent.
His job approval rating has spiraled down from 50.3 in the first week of his second term to 39.1 per cent now, and the disapproval rate has risen to 58.8 per cent, according to the RCP aggregation.
How this translates into seats in Congress will be determined when the election ends today.
It will also test the accuracy of polls that have shown a big advantage for the Democrats.
If Democrats get control of the House, they could crimp his agenda in the final two years of the second and last term of the 80-year-old President obsessed with his legacy.
And a Democratic majority in the Senate would compound his problem.
The other side of this is that Trump could defy Congress and rule by executive orders, testing the limits of presidential powers with the courts as arbiters.
He could intensify his actions against Democrats through his Justice Department and against perceived detractors.
An indication of a policy change that could be interpreted as score-settling is his announcement Tuesday morning that he would cut off $4 billion in aid to Israel, which joined him is starting the disastrous Gulf conflict.
"We give them more than anybody else, and they no longer need it", he said on Fox News.
He asserted that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed with him.
