Vice President JD Vance defended President Donald Trump’s self-awarded “A+” grade on the economy under pointed questioning from CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, telling her the benefits of the administration’s policies are still to come.
Collins asked the vice president why he and the president deserve top marks when inflation, gas prices and mortgage rates have all risen since the administration took office.
Vance told Collins: “You’re already seeing great benefits, but we’re going to see a lot more benefits come in the months and years ahead.”
Collins Presses on Prices
The administration walked into what Vance called the worst inflation crisis in 48 years, the vice president said. New investment of $19 trillion, a manufacturing boom and a surge in factory construction all went to his credit, and factories, he argued, take time to build and staff.
CNN polling reported in late September found only 27 percent of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put annual inflation at 3.4 percent in August, with September figures due Wednesday, Oct. 14. Gasoline averaged about $4.34 a gallon on Oct. 13, according to AAA. Gas sold for below $3 before the February strikes on Iran.
Vance announced at an appearance the same day that Microsoft has been suspended from the PERM green card program. The company, he charged, had abused the H-1B visa program and swapped out American workers for foreign workers.
Trump Gives Himself Top Marks
Trump awarded himself the grade in an August interview with Fox News, arguing that his employment record and the stock market had earned him an “A+” on the economy. He said costs for food and groceries were “coming way down.”
Trump told reporters while traveling to a campaign event in Texas that he deserved an “A+” across the board. The economic pain of the war with Iran, he said, was simply the price of stopping that country from building a nuclear weapon. In late September, he said more Americans are working than at any point in the nation’s history.
Trump faulted his own party in late September for an “extremely poor job” of selling his agenda. He said: “I’m going out because nobody’s selling it. I’m doing, we’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country.”
An AP-NORC poll conducted Sept. 24-28 found just 26 percent of adults approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and 82 percent disapprove of his handling of the cost of living, with 17 percent approving.
Employers added just 29,000 positions in the September jobs report, far below expectations. Wages are failing to keep pace with inflation, consumer sentiment has dropped near an all-time low, and mortgage rates stand at their highest level since November 2023.
A 32-Day Campaign Blitz
Trump launched a 32-day midterm campaign blitz on Thursday, Oct. 1. He opened with a tour of a Peterbilt Motors truck plant in Denton, Texas, in support of Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has proved more competitive than Republicans expected. He followed with an evening rally in Durant, Okla., for gubernatorial candidate Mike Mazzei.
Trump said that day, “My heart is in it like never before,” and said of the midterm map, “It’s all about 35 different contests.”
Vance has carried a softer closing message than the president, saying he hears voters’ frustration and that the fix is not finished. He campaigned in Texas for House candidate Eric Flores before a Florida stop for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., the Republican nominee for governor.
Vance told crowds at several rallies, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” In an interview with Real America’s Voice, he said no one should have expected every problem solved in 18 months, and that people’s concerns cannot be waved away.
Business, tech and investment leaders at the All-In Summit heard Vance ask them on Sept. 15 not to hand power back to those who created the problems he says the administration is repairing; another couple of years, he said, was what Republicans needed. He told a Breitbart News event in Washington on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, that the administration had heard the public and knew it would take time for people to feel progress. Republican losses in New Jersey and Virginia, which voters largely attributed to disappointment with Trump’s domestic agenda, had come weeks before that event.
Vance Weighs 2028 Timing
Republicans widely view Vance, 42, as their leading prospect for 2028, and he has consistently said any decision waits until after the midterms. An interviewer asked him whether a poor showing on Nov. 3 would weigh on his thinking.
Vance said in an interview published Oct. 1 and conducted aboard Air Force Two on the return flight from Lakeland, Fla.: “You make these decisions by collecting as much information and trying to make a wise decision.” He added: “Regardless of what happens over the next 35 days, there will be new information, new things you have to make a decision over.”
Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., and Donalds had drawn Vance to Lakeland for campaign appearances. A historical uphill climb faces the party, he acknowledged. Whether heavy losses would sour the climate for a run drew no commitment from him; he avoided hypotheticals and left the verdict to voters.
A statement from the White House said the president and vice president are delivering one message: more money, secure borders and safer streets await American families if Republicans hold Congress and keep advancing Trump’s agenda.
