Administration

Trump’s Turning Point USA stop to bolster young voters

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by Mallory Wilson - 04/17/26 6:00 AM ET

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by Mallory Wilson - 04/17/26 6:00 AM ET

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President Trump is set to be the main speaker at Turning Point USA’s event in Arizona on Friday to bolster Republican turnout for the upcoming midterms.

The “Build the Red Wall” event that will take place at a church in Arizona comes at a time where support among young voters for Trump’s performance is slipping amid the Iran war.

Polls show young voters are also worried about the economy and affordability, and some see the administration’s actions towards immigrants as heavy handed.

The church setting is also notable given Trump’s controversies this week in posting repeated Jesus memes that have triggered blasphemy criticisms.

While some Republican strategists said it would be an opportunity for Trump to champion his accomplishments, others worry the heaping distractions away from his domestic policy could prove problematic for Republicans in the midterms.

“Trump is the best messenger for his policies, it’s just sometimes he doesn’t actually deliver the message,” Barrett Marson, a GOP consultant, said. “He needs to be talking about affordability, and the tax cuts of the ‘one big, beautiful bill’ and how it has saved Arizonans hundreds or even 1000s of dollars a year.”

“And he probably needs to talk a little bit about the Iran war, but talk about it in realistic terms, which he has yet to do,” he said. “Young people are very much against this war. He needs to try to work to convince them that what he is doing is right and worthy,” Marson continued.

“I know this is like a four-letter word for him, but focus. He needs to focus and he can’t,” Marson said.

Turning Point USA, a conservative political group that aims to bring conservative politics to high school and college campuses, attracts young people from across the country. After its founder, Charlie Kirk, was killed last year while speaking on a college campus, the organization said it received tens of thousands of inquiries for new chapters.

But the president’s approval ratings among voters has slipped since last fall, a new Yale Youth poll found.

Some 68 percent of voters aged 18-22 disapprove of Trump’s job as president, along with 72 percent of those aged 23-29 in the spring 2026 poll. The fall 2025 poll found that 64 percent of those aged 18-22 disapproved of Trump, while 66 percent of those aged 23-29 disapproved.

The poll also found that affordability is the top concern of those aged 18-34.

A Pew Research Center poll from March found that less than half, 49 percent, of Republican voters aged 18-29 approve of how Trump is handling the conflict.

Those issues among young voters have also been bubbling up in other key blocs for Trump, including among some of his conservative allies.

But the White House remains steadfast that the short-term economic pain caused by the Iran war is worth the long term benefit of Tehran not being able to produce a nuclear weapon, though no agreements have come close to a deal on the matter.

When asked for comment, the White House pivoted to Trump’s work on tax cuts and maintained the administration hasn’t lost sight of its focus on bringing down prices.

“President Trump has always been clear about temporary disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury, but tens of millions of Americans benefitting this tax season from the President’s signature provisions in the Working Families Tax Cuts – no tax on tips, overtime, or Social Security – reflect how the Administration hasn’t lost focus on delivering on our affordability agenda at home,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

Trump’s attendance at the Turning Point event Friday comes after he received criticism from some of his Catholic and Christian supporters and critics for posting an AI-image depicting him as Jesus Christ healing a sick person and for posting a lengthy Truth Social post attacking Pope Leo XIV for the pontiff’s comments against the Iran war.

It also comes on the heels of Vice President Vance’s Turning Point USA appearance in Georgia on Tuesday, where he was heckled by someone in the crowd unhappy with the United States’ Middle East policy.

“Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” the attendee yelled, followed by, “You’re killing children! You’re bombing children!”

The attendee also appeared to mention the war in Gaza.

Later in his speech, Vance acknowledged that “young voters do not love the policy we have in the Middle East.”

“OK, I understand that,” he said, before going on to say the administration secured the border, lowered hous