It was the cry of the memorial and some rallies. For over five hours, Donald Trump’s biggest name in the universe gathered outside Phoenix to speak to the loyal Maga people.
They called for tens of thousands of people in the stadium, and across the country, to carry on Charlie Kirk’s conservative mission to engage with American youth and inject more Christianity into the US government.
Kirk always wanted to influence politics through his faith. “We’re bringing the Holy Spirit to Trump’s rally,” Tyler Bowyer, the top executive of Turning Point Action, a political advocacy group founded by Kirk in 2019, told the crowd.
The mission has been completed. Within the stadium, the atmosphere was more like a noisy megachurch service than a modest monument.
Trump praised the murdered activists as “martists.” This is a man who fought on a political battlefield and was defeated by an assassin bullet.
Depending on the people’s perspective, the president was militant or nervous.
The murder of 31-year-old Kirk shocked the Trump administration with nothing before.
At Kirk we saw the president’s disciples who devoted their lives to transforming young people into conservative causes. This is a key yet unreliable group of key popular voters who supported Trump in 2024 and his successor needs in 2028.
Many speakers said they hope that Kirk’s death will stimulate the power base of conservative evangelicals in the United States ahead of the 2026 and 2028 Congress and presidential elections.
In these votes, Republicans defend the “triples” that hold control of both the White House and Congress homes.
Of the approximately 100,000 people in the service, it was noteworthy that Kirk had reached out to the younger demographic.
But does Kirk’s legacy promote more voters in the vote?
A delicate political moment for Trump
The service ceremony came at a delicate political moment for Trump. Next year’s midterm election primary was creeping up on the radar of the people.
And the latest research suggests deep anxiety and widespread dissatisfaction among Americans.
A AP-NORC poll conducted days after Kirk’s assassination revealed that the outlook on the country’s direction has dramatically deteriorated.
And it is among Republicans that this sentiment is particularly prominent.
Today, only 49% of Republicans, who are falling from 70% in June, are looking at the country on the correct course.
This massive change is even more prominent among women and people under the age of 45, the key age group that Kirk tried to expand for Republicans.
Overall, about a quarter of Americans (Republicans, Democrats, and Independences) believe the country is on the right track since about 40% in June.
Interviews with Republicans who conducted the poll suggest that political violence and persistent concerns about social inconsistency play a role in a prominent change in their mood.
But they also mentioned typical bread and butter issues like work and the economy.
Trump’s polls are fighting
And here, Trump’s approval rate is marked.
In an AP-NORC poll, 62% of respondents said they disapproved of the way President Trump is dealing with the economy (up from 53% in August), while 63% are unhappy with his trade policy.
A post-IPSOS poll in Washington was also filmed after Kirk’s death painted a similar downbeat picture of Trump’s presidency eight months after his second term.
In the poll, respondents disapprove of how Trump handles tariffs (64%) and the economy as a whole (59%) with a large margin.
Also, 62% of respondents disapproved of how Trump handles inflation and cost of living, according to a Yahoo/Yougov poll from early September.
These numbers on the economy can be of particular concern to Republicans ahead of the medium term. More than two-thirds of Americans describe their economy as “poor” or “not very good.”
Last week, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum asked Trump about the equally bad vote counts of the conservative network himself, a pale-skinned Trump shot back.
“Fox poll, I have to tell you, I told you before, that’s the worst vote I’ve ever had… I told Rupert Murdoch, he stinks, so get yourself a new voter.”
Optimistic Republican strategist for mid-term next year
Despite the current strong headwinds for Trump in polls, Republican strategists are looking at the silver lining on the horizon.
They believe that the anguish and anger over Kirk’s assassination is driving young conservatives. Support hope they will help you win votes at the 2026 ballot box.
“It was a massive movement that Charlie started. President Trump helped the president more than anyone else in the youth vote in 2024,” said Joe Mitchell, founder of the Ran Gentz, a group that encourages young conservatives to run for elected offices. “And after he is assassinated, that would be ten times more in terms of voter participation.”
Republicans like Mitchell say they have already seen an increase in involvement in the last few days since Kirk died in both the form of financial contributions and volunteer sign-ups.
And they vow to find more ways to utilize it over the next few months, and are keen to find an effective way to persuade young conservatives to join the campaign.
“We are committed to continuing the movement of Charlie Kirk, who has won all the votes and influenced a new generation of conservatives,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
