A few years ago, polling firm YouGov asked people about insects. The resulting survey found that butterflies are America’s favorite insect, with eight in 10 having a “very or somewhat positive” reaction to them.
Most journalists will tell you to never trust polling, and they’ve been proven right many times over. Still, aren’t you curious how a random group of 1,148 adults feel about bugs?
Well, a YouGov poll also asked Americans about their least favorite insects. It found that 86% of people had a “very or somewhat negative” reaction to mosquitoes. Cockroaches have an 84% disapproval rating, while 76% of people dislike wasps.
Donald Trump’s disapproval rating, this time according to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, is currently 61% among all Americans, which means he’s not as popular as wasps, but more disliked than spiders (57% – I know, I know, spiders aren’t insects, but they’re on the list 5%).
It doesn’t look promising for ants or spiders or Trump with the 2026 midterm elections in mind. All House districts are up for grabs in November, along with 33 Senate seats and some governorships. A shakeup in the House in particular could thwart Trump’s goals.
In theory, the President’s approval does not matter in the interim year. Americans are voting for their members of Congress, not wasps or Trumps. But Republicans hold just four seats in the House, and the sitting president’s party will lose seats in the midterms; The more unpopular a sitting president is, the more seats he loses.
Trump should know. Republicans lost 40 House seats in the 2018 midterms, giving Democrats control of the House and leading to his two impeachments. There are signs the president is feeling the heat — last month he told Republicans at a policy retreat: “You’ve got to win the midterms, because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s going to be — I mean, they’re going to find a reason to impeach me.”
If Democrats win control, they could freeze Republican-led bills on things like health care and launch investigations into alleged government overreach.
One thing none of the insects included in the YouGov poll have going for them, however, is the huge amount of money Republicans have in their coffers.
The Republican National Committee had $95 million in cash on hand at the end of December, while Democrats had only $14 million on hand — and owed $17 million in loans. Republicans have also fared better in House and Senate fundraising, and notably, pro-Trump superpack giant Maga Inc, has about $304 million to spend: no Democratic equivalent. As of January 1, the Republican Party had more than $600m to spend in the midterms, while the Democrats had less than $200m.
That’s not the whole story. Outside groups and wealthy individuals are expected to spend $5bn on House and Senate races, according to AdImpact, with just the 100 richest families spending $2.6bn between them after the 2024 election. In 2024 $6.7bn was spent to support Democrats and $7.6bn to support Republicans, showing that the ability to attract big cash is simply not optimal.
So it is a bit early to tell what is going to happen. But what about Trump? How does a historically unpopular president stack up? Well, while he’s privately telling Republicans he’s worried about losing the House, publicly he’s putting on a brave, downright nasty face.
“Highest poll numbers I’ve ever received,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month. “Obviously, people prefer a strong and powerful country with the best economy ever!”
Trump says there is no evidence for his claim, because there isn’t any. And in the next few months, he’ll be desperate to improve those poll numbers. Beware of ants.
