Trump invokes undefined 45% vote boost in midterm appeal

US President Donald Trump urged Republicans in a 3 October 2026 Truth Social post to vote early, by post or in person in the November midterms. In the accompanying video, he claimed a 45% vote boost whenever he is on the ballot, without identifying the elections or voters behind the comparison. [1] [11]

Trump acknowledged that he was not on the midterm ballot but asked supporters to “pretend” he was: “Whenever I’m on the ballot, we get 45% more votes.” The written post called for mass Republican turnout and linked to Swamp the Vote USA. [1] [11]

The video also called for a victory “too big to rig”. The linked website credits early voting and that approach with a previous Trump and Republican win, described only as “last November”, without naming the election year or races. [1] [2]

His encouragement of those voting methods is not new. On 19 June 2024, Trump directed supporters to the same website to plan voting by post, early in person or on election day. His video then also urged supporters to guard their votes and “stop the steal”. [10]

Swamp the Vote USA offers state election information and asks for contact details, including a home address, email address and mobile number. It says supplying a phone number enrols the user in a recurring text-message programme. [2]

While encouraging postal voting, Trump has also sought new conditions on federal ballot mail. His 31 March 2026 executive order cited fraud prevention; the resulting Postal Service rule provided for returning non-compliant outgoing ballot mail for correction. The rule expressly excluded citizenship and voter-eligibility checks from postal acceptance verification. [3] [4]

On 14 September, the Supreme Court refused the government’s request to suspend the temporary court order blocking the rule. Postmaster General David Steiner told the Associated Press on 17 September that work on the ballot-mail computer system had stopped because of that order. [5] [12]