(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has relied on social media posts and Washington interviews in recent weeks to flesh out a more populist economic message that he hopes will help Republicans keep control of Congress. On Tuesday he’ll make those arguments in a key battleground state.

As voters express mounting frustration over the president’s economic agenda and the cost of living, Trump will visit a factory making Ford Motor Co. F-150 trucks and promote his tariff and manufacturing policies at an event sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Why the Renovation of Federal Reserve Headquarters Costs $2.5 Billion

New Design Plans Revealed for White House Ballroom

Summit Properties Wins Auction for Bankrupt NYC Apartments

The Latest Brand of Tech City Dreams: Virtual Residents

In Birmingham, a Stadium Plan Shows UK Football’s Flashy Side

The visit — his third to a bellwether state since early December — comes after his administration floated a slew of ideas it says will build on last year’s efforts to rein in inflation and lower gas prices.

“With a little bit of patience, the American people are going to continue to see that the best is yet to come,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News before the trip.

Yet with the calendar barreling toward the November midterms, Trump is rushing to assure voters that he’s got their backs. Since the new year, the administration has called for caps on credit card charges, said it would ban institutional investors from buying rental homes and vowed to buy mortgage-backed securities to help push interest rates lower. And it has doubled-down on efforts to go after the Federal Reserve.

Late Monday, Trump said in a post that he wanted to ensure that “big Technology Companies” don’t leave consumers with higher utility bills as the result of a surge in data center construction linked to the artificial intelligence boom.

Democratic strategist Jim Manley said that Trump’s recent efforts suggest he is frustrated with the public’s views about his economic policies: “It reinforces the idea that he understands that he’s in a bad place right now and he’s throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.”

In a sign of how important a political issue “affordability” has become, Trump even placed a surprising call Monday to a longtime antagonist: Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who had just given a speech calling out her own party for not embracing a more populist economic agenda.

“I’m not going to talk about details of a conversation, but I just want to say it was all about costs, about how we reduce costs for American families,” the Massachusetts senator said Monday on Bloomberg Television’s . Warren criticized the president’s economic policies but said she’d “absolutely” work with him on issues she supports.

That includes helping get Congress to pass legislation capping credit card rates “if he will actually fight for it,” Warren said in an earlier statement.

A White House official, who asked not to be identified discussing a private conversation, said Trump and Warren had a productive call about credit card interest rates and housing affordability, without providing details.

Despite the importance of pocketbook issues, many Republican lawmakers are nervous that headlines about foreign affairs, from the intervention in Venezuela to potential strikes on Iran and talk about taking Greenland, are distracting from the administration’s economic message and hurting their chances in November.

Polling shows that Trump’s approval ratings have declined since he took office. About 40% of voters approve of the way he’s handling the presidency, compared with 54% who disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month. Just over one-third of voters characterized the state of the economy as “excellent” or “good” while 65% described it as “not so good” or “poor.”

Tuesday’s visit marks the second time this term that Trump has traveled to Michigan, a perennial battleground that was among the last of the Democratic “blue wall” states to narrowly fall to him in 2024. This year it could be pivotal again: both the governor’s mansion and a Senate seat will be decided, and at least a couple of House races there are seen as very close.

Michigan’s economic situation under Trump has been mixed.

The state is dealing with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, though that has been trending downward. Unemployment was 5% in November, down from 5.5% in April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But that was partly driven by a shrinking labor force. There were more than 55,000 fewer people in Michigan’s labor force in November compared to April.

Michigan’s economy is also particularly exposed to Trump’s tariff policies, though it still saw employers add jobs in 2025. Forecasters at the University of Michigan expect the state to lose 2,000 jobs this year and see unemployment rising to 5.6% by the second quarter of this year.

Trump’s tariffs have squeezed automaker profits and pushed up costs. So far, the carmakers have coped with it. Relief given by the administration in October has lessened the tariff burden on parts from Canada and Mexico and automakers have pushed to sell larger, more expensive vehicles like pickups and SUVs.

It’s not clear if Trump plans to increase his travel to battleground states after Michigan. Ten months out from the midterms, a Republican close to the White House expressed confidence that the party could hold the Senate, but was more skeptical about maintaining a majority in the House. The White House should have been more sensitive to the significance of prices and cost-of-living issues to voters, given that similar frustration over the economy drove voters toward Trump in 2024, the person said.

This Republican said Trump’s advisers recognize the issue and want him to hit the campaign trail to sell his policies harder.

After spending little time traveling domestically in 2025, Trump did two campaign-style events designed to address economic concerns in December, in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. But he spent much of them arguing that he has improved the economy and frequently veered off-message. A key question this year is if he will embrace more regular domestic travel ahead of the midterms.

Republican pollster Greg Strimple said one advantage Trump has heading into November is a sizable campaign war chest to finance Republican efforts.

“I think that they are going to have money to define the race economically earlier in the cycle than normal,” he said.

He also argued that while Trump is projecting some anxiety about the midterms, his concerns could also prove to be motivating for the president. Strimple cited Trump’s comments to Republican lawmakers last week, in which he warned about the risks of Democrats retaking the House.

“The most important thing he said last week — if the Democrats take back the House he’s afraid he’s going to be impeached,” Strimple said. “I think that’s animating.”

--With assistance from Jarrell Dillard, David Welch and Emily Birnbaum.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

I’ve Studied How Democracies Fail. Here’s My Unified Theory of Trump

The Curious Cult of Aldi

Inside the White House, Stephen Miller Is Making His Vision of America Real

This Is Who Companies Call When They Want to Become a Bank

Do You Want Your Food Made by a Robot?

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.