ICYMI: POLITICO: Democrats gain an edge as poll show doubts on Trump energy strategy

Washington, DC – With the midterm elections fast approaching, new polling from POLITICO shows that voters believe Democrats are more committed to lowering energy costs than Republicans. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to cut energy costs by more than half, but a year later utility bills have increased by double digits. 

As American families struggle to pay their bills, Trump has called the affordability crisis a “con job” and a “hoax.” Instead of investing in homegrown clean energy, Trump and Congressional Republicans voted to take a sledgehammer to clean energy projects that would have brought more energy onto the grid and lowered costs for American families.

POLITICO: Democrats gain an edge as poll show doubts on Trump energy strategy

Slightly more Americans think Democrats, not Republicans, are the party most committed to reducing energy prices, a new POLITICO poll has found — yet another sign of potential trouble for President Donald Trump and the GOP on the issue of affordability.

Thirty-seven percent of U.S. adults believe Democrats care more about protecting them from spiking natural gas, heating and utility bills, compared with 25 percent who believe Republicans do, according to the poll of 2,093 people conducted by Public First on behalf of POLITICO.

While far short of a majority, the edge for Democrats on the question is striking given the decades that surges in fuel costs have tormented nearly every Democratic president since Jimmy Carter, giving Republicans a message to hammer at election time. As recently as late 2024, polls showed most voters trusting Trump over Kamala Harris to shepherd the economy.

But those tides may be turning, amid signs that stubbornly high — and rising — heating and electricity costs in much of the country could endanger Republicans’ slim four-seat lead in the House in the November elections. Trump has tried to quash unrest over skyrocketing electricity bills, which have soared despite his vow to slash energy costs in half during his first year in office…

Democrats already had a test run with the energy message in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial and Georgia utility commission elections in November, said Jesse Lee, senior adviser with climate advocacy organization Climate Power. Those races began as a “jump ball,” but Democratic candidates moved into the lead and secured victories when they hammered Republicans on energy prices, he said.

Lee said that Democrats will need to relentlessly “prosecute” the issue amid a crowded, chaotic political and media landscape. He said the party has coalesced around a message that Republicans blocked some new energy supplies when prices are rising.

“They do have to show some righteous anger and some urgent concern to show people that they understand what they’re going through,” Lee said…

Americans of all stripes are feeling the pinch as electricity rates have surged in many states. Data from the Energy Department’s statistical arm, the Energy Information Administration, show residential electricity bills increased 12.7 percent since January 2025, when Trump returned to the White House. And costs are expected to keep rising: The EIA forecast higher electricity demand through 2027 even as the U.S. power grid struggles to add significant amounts of new power generation for needs such as a booming number of artificial intelligence data centers.

Democrats in Congress blame GOP attacks on clean energy for stoking an electricity affordability crisis. They say those actions by Trump and GOP lawmakers — including sunsetting Biden-era tax breaks and ordering halts to offshore wind farms already under construction — have stymied new sources of power that could lower costs…