House Speaker Mike Johnson offered voters a remarkably blunt preview on Tuesday of what Republicans would do if they win this year’s midterm elections. They would keep pursuing the same agenda that has helped drive millions of Americans to oppose and disapprove of the Republican Party.

“What we would do in the next two years is exactly what we have been doing already and that is putting the conditions in place for a strong America,” Johnson said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Johnson portrayed the economy as “vibrant” under Republican control of the federal government and argued that Republicans had done “what we said we were going to do.” That rosy assessment clashes sharply with the economic judgment voters delivered in a recent Fox News poll.

In that poll, 63% of registered voters said Trump had made the economy worse than the economic situation he inherited from outgoing President Joe Biden in early 2025. That is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Republican record Johnson is promising to extend.

Most voters surveyed by Fox News also identified the economy and rising inflation among their top priorities. On those issues, voters said they trusted Democrats rather than Republicans, another warning sign for a party asking for more time to continue its current course.

Trump and his agenda have become an anchor on the Republican Party as the midterm elections approach. That includes the “Big Beautiful Bill” championed by Johnson, whose leadership has tied congressional Republicans closely to the president and his increasingly unpopular program.

Johnson and congressional Republicans have played pivotal roles in the party’s declining fortunes. Rather than allowing Congress to operate as a watchdog over the executive branch, Johnson has repeatedly deferred to Trump and kept his House majority aligned with the president.

That refusal to provide meaningful oversight has persisted when evidence of corruption has emerged within the Trump administration. The evidence includes instances in which Trump and other officials have used the presidency to enrich themselves, while Johnson has demurred instead of confronting the conduct.

Johnson has also led congressional Republicans through votes that rubber stamp Trump’s actions. Those votes include Republican support for the war in Iran, further demonstrating how readily Johnson’s House has followed Trump’s direction instead of acting as an independent branch of government.

The economic consequences are also central to the mounting political backlash. Through Johnson and his congressional allies, many of Trump’s tariffs have remained in place, and the increased costs created by those tariffs have been passed along to consumers.

The Trump induced burden on trade has largely stalled the jobs market as well. Yet Johnson’s answer is not to change course or acknowledge the strain felt by Americans, but to describe the economy as vibrant and promise more of the same.

Johnson’s record cannot be separated from the broader Republican leadership surrounding Trump. Alongside the president and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the House speaker has helped create conditions in which voters are now expressing high levels of support for Democrats in the midterm elections.

The warning signs are not hidden in obscure data or coming only from Democratic critics. A Fox News poll found broad dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the economy and greater voter trust in Democrats on the economic issues that respondents ranked among their highest priorities.

Johnson nevertheless presented continuity as the Republican plan for the next two years. His comments offered no acknowledgment of the blowback facing his party, even as Trump’s agenda weighs down Republicans and voters increasingly line up behind Democrats.

For voters unhappy with higher costs, a stalled jobs market, congressional submission to Trump, and a lack of executive branch oversight, Johnson has made the choice unusually clear. A Republican midterm victory would mean doubling down on the same agenda that produced the backlash in the first place.