Republican Rep. James Gallagher Quietly Wipes Trump Endorsement From Campaign Website Amid President's Record Polling Lows: Report

Former Kentucky State Sen. Ralph Alvarado and California State Rep. James Gallagher are two prominent Republican candidates who recently updated their campaign websites to scrub endorsements and imagery featuring President Donald Trump as the president’s poll numbers continue to plummet to historic lows.

Alvarado, running for the seat vacated by Rep. Andy Barr, completely overhauled his website following his May primary win despite his strong endorsement from the POTUS.

He erased phrases branding himself an "AMERICA FIRST FIGHTER," removed a photo of himself with Trump from the homepage, and deleted a paragraph describing himself as "one of President Trump's earliest supporters."

His site now features the headline "INDEPENDENT LEADERSHIP" and emphasizes bipartisanship and affordable healthcare.

His campaign manager, Andy Westberry, dismissed the backlash, calling it a Democratic smear campaign and noting that a photo of Alvarado and Trump remains under the site's media tab.

“The socialists are going to have to do a lot better than this nonsense to win this district. We’ve proudly touted the endorsement, and our website still features a photo of Ralph with President Trump,” Westberry told the Daily Beast, which called the scrubbing a "humiliation" for the president.

Gallagher similarly removed references to Trump from his official campaign website.

Trump’s name and photo were previously featured prominently on Gallagher's "Endorsements" page between February and June.

An update made between June and late July stripped all references to the president from the endorsements list.

Political analysts attribute these adjustments to Trump's slumping poll numbers ahead of the November midterms.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey found the president's net approval rating tied at a career-low of 33 percent, with only 35 percent of Republicans saying they "strongly approve" of his performance.

This decline has forced some GOP candidates to shift toward moderate, independent messaging to appeal to general election voters.

Public dissatisfaction with the ongoing, near six-month military conflict in Iran is the primary anchor on Trump's numbers.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey found that overall public support for military action against Iran dropped to just 31 percent. Critically, self-identified Republican support for the conflict plummeted from 77 percent in March to less than a quarter in late August.

Fully 83 percent of Americans now expect U.S. involvement in Iran to last for an extended period, directly contradicting Trump's early assurances that the conflict would wrap up in a matter of weeks.

The administration's trade disputes, including an escalating trade war with Canada, and the costs of the conflict in the Middle East have heavily impacted voters' wallets.

According to a Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll, Trump's approval regarding prices plummeted to a net negative of -48.

Trump’s sharp focus on his base has eroded his support among center and swing voters. Approval among independents has plunged to 47 points underwater.

These low numbers are casting a heavy shadow over downstream Republican candidates on the generic congressional ballot, where Democrats have opened up a wide 11-point lead (50 percent to 39 percent) ahead of the November midterm elections.

Former New Jersey Gov. and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie summed it up with a prescient statement in 2023, saying Trump is "political poison up and down the ballot."